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Dead Rising 3

Platform(s): PC, Xbox One
Genre: Action
Publisher: Microsoft Game Studios
Developer: Capcom
Release Date: Nov. 22, 2013

About Brian Dumlao

After spending several years doing QA for games, I took the next logical step: critiquing them. Even though the Xbox One is my preferred weapon of choice, I'll play and review just about any game from any genre on any system.

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Xbox One Review - 'Dead Rising 3' Fallen Angel DLC

by Brian Dumlao on March 20, 2014 @ 2:30 a.m. PDT

Set 10 years after Dead Rising 2, Dead Rising 3 takes place in Los Perdidos amid a zombie outbreak that's about to decimate mankind.

So far, "The Untold Stories of Los Perdidos" isn't going as swimmingly as expected. Operation Broken Eagle started things off with lots of environment recycling in a short campaign, a soulless character, an equally banal story, and a few new items to go with the shared ability and experience system. It didn't justify the cost of the DLC alone or put much faith in the rest of the DLC from the season pass. The second episode, Fallen Angel, looks to do a much better job of fleshing out the world of Dead Rising 3. It's a better experience than Adam Kane's adventure.

You play the role of Angel Quijano, a member of the illegals who has sworn to protect them and help them survive. The job isn't easy, and the setbacks and losses have caused her to turn to alcohol to cope. She is good enough at what she does that she's trusted to protect the remaining illegals. During a seemingly routine supply run, her resolve is tested as the authorities invade a few of the safe houses, forcing her to fight back and rescue them.


The story isn't that amazing because Angel is such a one-note character. She plays the tough girl very well, and even though her fondness for alcohol is mentioned, you don't see it affect her. As a stand-alone story, there's nothing to get invested in here. If you look at the big picture, you finally see how the illegals and other survivors are coping with the outbreak. It's something you never saw in the other main games, and though there isn't much insight to be gained, at least the approach is novel.

Just like the previous DLC chapter, the main missions are pretty straightforward but provide some variety. Most are either retrieval missions for specific items or vehicles, or they may be clearing missions where you need to take out government soldiers or zombies. There are a few missions where you're assigned to protect your friend Doug as he either picks locks or acts as bait for enemies.

One thing that is truly different is the zombie makeup you'll encounter. There are more instances of special zombies in the form of cops, firemen and soldiers who are stronger but provide more XP when they are defeated and give up some good weapons, like assault rifles, fire axes and shotguns. As a result, you'll be tempted to use more guns than before, since they're more readily available, and you'll also be able to grind to higher levels faster if you still need to do so.


The side missions in this DLC are a little more varied and require some thought. The simplest one asks you to find all of the health packs scattered throughout Los Perdidos. You're tasked with destroying all of the ZDC cameras in the city, and while it may sound simple enough, they sound alarms when they catch you in their sights, and the alarms attract more of the undead in your direction. There are also ZDC posters you can burn down, but you need a fire-enabled weapon.

Finally, there are survivor rescue missions where you have to rescue captured survivors on the street before they're executed by a soldier. These are like the rescue missions in the main game, except you have to kill the soldier and untie the survivors before the zombies get them. At least you don't have to worry about protecting them once they go free, and even though these are optional tasks, they are more fun than the simpler ones in Operation Broken Eagle.


As for the new items, they're about the same as the ones offered in the previous DLC. Melee weapons include a defibrillator, a spiked mace, and a nitrogen-infused cattle prod that freezes enemies on contact and shatters them. In the firearms category, there are dual-wielded Uzis and zombie gas, which is more of a defensive weapon than an offensive one, since it makes zombies passive. There's only one blueprint weapon here, but it's powerful since the new gun shoots electrified bullets that take down all sorts of enemies. As for vehicles, you have access to a burger truck that is rather big and silly instead of useful, especially when compared to the previous DLC's Armadillo, which at least had a gun to go with its armor.

Like Operation Broken Eagle, Fallen Angel doesn't increase the level cap, leaving it as a mission beneficial only to those who haven't fully leveled up Nick. The skill upgrades are also the same, and Angel doesn't have unique traits to call her own, making her a clone of Nick but with a different attitude. There's also no multiplayer, which sticks out more since fellow illegal, Doug, is present in a few sections. While it would be nice if these things were rectified in the next two DLC packs, chances are that they'll also be hit with the same complaints.

Fallen Angel is certainly the better of the two DLC packs so far, but that isn't saying much. Angel is certainly more interesting, even if they barely give her a backstory, and the story is more interesting once you see it as part of the bigger picture. The side missions make up for the rote main missions, and the additional weapons are nice. The main campaign is painfully short and doesn't give you much of a reason to spend $9.99. There are two more DLC episodes to go, so here's hoping they'll be more exciting.

Score: 6.0/10



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