The undead awaken on PC: Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition

As the unsung hero amongst an otherwise muted collection of Xbox One launch titles, Dead Rising 3 finally delivered on the promise offered by its predecessors.

Now it’s time for PC fans to take on the zombie apocalypse. Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition provides PC gamers with the original Dead Rising 3 game plus the four DLC “Untold Stories”.

Whilst both Dead Rising and its sequel were fun to play, with their tongue-in-cheek take on a zombie apocalypse, neither of them quite gelled with me. They seemed a bit forced.

Even though it retains the series’ outlandish zombie-bashing weapons, Dead Rising 3 is a slightly more sombre zombie experience.

A lot of that is down to the level of graphical fidelity this time out. The game looks fantastic. The sheer quantity of zombies on the screen at any one time is amazing. There are hundreds of them.

The game is set ten years after the initial zombie outbreak in the first game and three days after the town of Los Perdidos has become overrun with the undead. You control Nick Ramos, a mechanic who is somehow immune to the zombie infection.

As before, the game is played in third-person, but this time the city environment is huge compared the previous games. Luckily the unfortunate citizens of the city have left their rides littering the streets. There’s a choice of buses, trucks, motorbikes, construction vehicles and cars to choose from.

Making crazy combo weapons is a mainstay of the series. With the right blueprints combining random, and not so random items creates exotic devices with which to take on the undead. As Nick is a mechanic, his MacGyver-like combo skills can also be put to work on vehicles- creating outlandish machines capable of mowing through zombies like a knife through butter.

The plot is simple enough and keeps with the limited timeline of the previous games. With only six days until the city is nuked, the main aim is to escape the city before it is destroyed. In order to do so a number of missions are going to have to be completed.  These are dotted around the city, which is full of thousands of zombies. Unlike before, I didn’t feel quite so hurried this time and was able to enjoy the game pretty much at my own pace.

As well as the main plot mission there are other survivors that need saving in the city. Nick can recruit some of them as allies, providing that their requests are fulfilled in time. There are also some optional psycho mini-bosses to take out. All your successes earn attribute points which can be used to upgrade abilities and improve health.

Whilst it’s got a decent plot and a great supporting cast, but it is the many different way it which to dispatch the undead that makes the game such fun. Dead Rising 3 should be offered as therapy for people with anger management issues. I found mowing down the zombie horde is such a deliciously guilty pleasure.

If I had to find fault in the game it would be the developer's choice to lock the game at 30fps. It can be unlocked with a hack, but come on, we are PC gamer, just give us the option and we'll decide if it upsets our experience.

Other that that very minor gripe Capcom have balanced the game perfectly, offering a gory yet slightly tongue-in-cheek zombie apocalypse. Whilst they could have gone totally over the top with the idea and given us something more along the lines of the levels of lunacy that the Saint’s Row series has degenerated to, it’s still fairly grounded and that's a credit to them.

Dead Rising 3 Apocalypse Edition isn’t setting out to break the mould, it’s just great zombie-bashing fun from start to finish. With all the included extra DLC, this is a great package for PC gamers.

Verdict: 8.5/10