Dead Rising 4 continues the zombie slashing series by returning to the brash photojournalist Frank West, protagonist of the original game from 2006. Here in this Christmas-themed fourquel, you’ll revisit the snow-flaked Coloradan town of Willamette, again originally seen in the first Dead Rising, to investigate yet another biohazard breakout that has plundered the town into a festive mess overrun with undead. You’d think they’d get a handle on them by now.

Dead Rising 4 positions itself as part fan service, part sequel, but sadly the game is a bit of a mess overall. While the core combat elements are still occasionally fun, with enough bizarre and absurd weapons to make cutting through dozens of zombies a novel distraction for a couple of hours, Dead Rising 4’s cookie-cutter objectives and missions never really evolve into anything more exciting than the opening.

Willamette itself is a big, sprawling open world made up of a huge mall and several surrounding suburban areas, but it’s not a captivating place to explore despite its wintery Christmas aesthetic. The Mall itself has evolved beyond recognition in the ten years since we last visited it, with all new sights and sounds including a small race track that you can commandeer, and an entire Santa’s village to fit the festivities. Overall, though, Willamette is a bit of a flat place to be. A lack of tension results in an absence of atmosphere, and compared to zombie contemporaries like Dying Light, Dead Rising 4’s sillier side can’t make up for the lack of “wow” moments.

That’s not to say the game needed to be more horror-focused, but the zombies you fight end up acting more like annoying interruptions instead of satisfying targets for your arsenal of weapons, while the complete removal of the timer removes any urgency. In terms of an open world experience, that should be an improvement – one that unfetters up your thinking and allows for more freedom to explore and take your time – but in reality it results in a place where nothing feels compelling.

The only time Dead Rising 4 attempts to give Frank a challenge, it stumbles, throwing well-armed military men at you. These soldiers carry assault rifles and automatic shotguns, meaning you have to fend off people against which you have no real defence. Sure, you can use guns yourself, but this is by far the least enjoyable way to play the game, with imprecise aiming and looting that makes picking up replacement weapons a complete pain. Fumbling around trying to pick up a pistol in a sea of coffee cups, stackable chairs, keyboards and wet floor signs is not a fun experience.

Frank himself is a brash moron, devoid of any real care for other people, but he’s by far the most entertaining thing about Dead Rising 4. He’s a wisecracking reporter who’s all about getting the story on camera, and reintroducing Frank gives the game several laughs while he chases down his protégé, Vick, as she gets herself on the wrong side of the wrong people. Wandering around the world trying on different outfits – fireman’s clothes, big LEGO heads or gold Roman helmets with joke beards – is enough to elicit the odd smirk, and there’s occasional excitement in toying around with lightsabers, flaming axes, ice swords, customised grenade launchers, machetes and hockey sticks, among a ton of other options. But only for a couple of hours.

Your missions rarely ever switch things up, resulting in boring investigations that force you to use Frank's camera to scour the environment for clues. These should be compelling draws to find answers about the various conspiracies lying at the core of Dead Rising 4, but instead of creating a sense of investigative fervour as per Rocksteady’s Batman series or The Witcher 3, this zombie-fest is content with making its main objectives feel like a tiresome irritation rather than a compulsive reason to continue pushing forward.

Outside of the main thread, the game populates the world with a dirge of side missions, but these all follow three similar formulas: saving people from zombies; rescuing them from Obscuris (that collective of aforementioned army dudes); or blowing up Obscuris equipment that lies around the world. It’s the worst kind of Ubisoftitis since the lowest points of the *Assassin’s Creed *franchise. You’ll also find safe houses around Willamette, and once these are cleared they’ll become a small hub for NPCs to sell weapons, clothing and food. Complete further tedious side missions and these safe houses will level-up, unlocking more things for you to buy. But what’s the point? When your main activities feel so rote, there’s very little draw.

Overall, it’s a game that relies on buffoonery and gimmicks – the return of Frank, the revisit to Willamette and the mall, the Christmas theme, and the fact you’re, yet again, killing tens of thousands of undead with ridiculous weapons and vehicles. For a small few devout fans, these novelties will undoubtedly be enough to deliver hours of senseless enjoyment as you plough through hordes of zombies and turn them all to bloody pulp. Stacked up against the past few great open world games, though, Dead Rising 4 is a boring, flat adventure that, most of the time, just feels dead boring.

The Dead Rising 4 release date is 6 December on Xbox One and PC

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