Capcom Vancouver presented Dead Rising 3 behind closed doors, walking us through the demonstration that debuted during the Microsoft press conference while answering questions about the direction that they've taken. The changes that you can see in images were not a fluke. Capcom is pointedly trying to appeal to a wider audience in this latest iteration, saying it's going after the Call of Duty player. Gone is the cartoonish visual design, replaced by a more "realistic" interpretation of a viral apocalypse. That change is part of the maturation. By shifting the art style, the combat can be "more visceral" than in previous versions, with "real gore."
Another notable shift is to the pacing. The urgency that defined Dead Rising has been turned off in the demo we were shown. Time created "extreme pressure" in the original games, and Capcom wants the zombies to be your biggest threat this time around. In Dead Rising 2, you now run around broken-down neighborhoods, killing zombies in horrific ways without real motivation to push forward. Because of the shift in artistic tone and the nonstop combat, this Xbox One launch game now looks like any other open-world game. The team is confident that the ability to create unique weapons will separate Dead Rising 3 from the crowd, but that spark of originality was absent in the demo we were shown.
There are some additions to the expected zombie slaying. The Kinect is used to communicate to zombies (a loud noise is enough to get their attention), and there are motion controls as well. You know how games often force you to wiggle the stick when enemies grab you? Well, in Dead Rising 3, you can shake your arms to get them off. SmartGlass is also implemented. By using your phone or tablet, you can call in an airstrike or locate items on the map. It will be handy to find a sledgehammer whenever you need one, but it clashes with how Dead Rising used to familiarize you with environments. Before, you would play and replay until you learned the layout. Now? Everything is handed to you.
