The best Dead Rising games

Capcom's second biggest horror franchise, outside of Resident Evil, would be Dead Rising. Focusing more on quantity than quality, Dead Rising filled an area with as many zombies as the developers could and let you decide the method of carnage.

The first two games are still revered as incredible seventh-generation titles, but the series overall is quite different in terms of quality. It actually ranges from the best of the best to the absolute worst experiences, and the same can't be said of most series. Since many titles are Xbox exclusives, that will be the platform of choice for the franchise.

Updated October 17, 2024 by Dominic Allen: With the release of Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster, the complete semi-remake of Dead Rising 1, this list needed to be updated to include this recent title. Choosing which is the best version of Dead Rising 1 to play can be trickier than you might think, so it's more important to point this out now than ever.

9 Dead Rising: Grind until you drop

A mockery of the original game

Many of you probably thought that Dead Rising 4 would be the worst game in the series, but at least it was original. Dead Rising: Chop Till You Drop takes one of the greatest zombie games ever made and completely ruins it. You can no longer take photos, which was a core element of the gameplay, as well as the real-time clock and the feeling of doing what you want.

It was really cool to theoretically be able to sit there on the helipad for six hours at the start of the game and get an ending. Now that's gone, and the campaign is mission-based, requiring you to rescue survivors in an incredibly repetitive way. If you played this game first, it could ruin the series for you, and for that, it has to be the worst title in the series.

8 Dead man resurrected 4

Killed the franchise, for a while

Many people didn't expect Dead Rising to return at all, due to the massive critical and commercial failure of Dead Rising 4. This was a game that looked promising on the surface. Frank West returned as the protagonist for the first time, canonically, since the original, and you returned to Willamette, the location of DR1.

It seemed like a match made in heaven, but it was a match made in Hell. The gameplay was boring, the graphics looked poor, and Frank West just wasn't the same character. He's no longer the nice, down-to-earth, likable guy he was and is much more annoying. Sure, there was solid DLC content, but even with that, DR4 has to be the worst mainline entry in the series.

7 Dead Rising 2: Case Zero

A solid prologue chapter

Dead Rising 2: Case Zero is what Metal Gear Solid 5: Ground Zeroes should have been. It's priced low at just $5 and offers a unique taste of what to expect from the full DR2 experience. It has a unique story that takes place three years before DR2, with multiple endings and all, and while the map is really small, what would you expect from a $5 prologue?

You get your money's worth from this game, but there's no denying that it lacks content, and if you play it on newer Xbox systems, its 30fps cap looks terrible compared to the 60fps of DR2 and Off the Record. When switching between the two, Case Zero seems to run in slow motion. Regardless, it's still an unmissable chapter in the Dead Rising saga.

6 Dead Rising 2: West Case

The better of the two standalone DLCs

Set after the end of A of Dead Rising 2, Case West is the canon ending to the Dead Rising 2 story, and it's a lot of fun. Co-op was absent in Case Zero but is present here, and in DR2 it's one of the most overlooked elements of the series.

It's a great time, plus it helps with the combo weapon system as you now have two inventories in play. Plot-wise, Case West concludes DR2 in a satisfying way with plot revelations and character reveals that tie the entire story together. The map, again, isn't too large, but the new additions here make the price increase to $10 worth the money.

5 Dead man resurrected 3

Better than I remember

One game that is much better than people realize is Dead Rising 3. It definitely has its share of problems, but it was a really good launch game for the Xbox One and something you definitely didn't see at first. at the beginning of this current generation. It had that next-gen showcase feel with the huge number of zombies on screen and the additions to the gameplay were excellent.

The combo vehicles and new super combo weapons were great to play with and were great to use. The huge city divided into four sections was really well designed, with each district being unique. On the other hand, the obstacles were really annoying, and maxing out your character essentially made you a God. Some sort of prestige system would have helped a lot here. All in all, DR3 is a solid game.

4 Dead man resurrected 2

The birth of combo weapons

Dead Rising 2 was a huge step forward for the franchise, introducing the gameplay element most synonymous with Dead Rising: combo weapons. Since Chuck Greene was not a journalist, he did not have a camera to use, but could instead create combo weapons thanks to his background in motocross and mechanics. These were the new and very successful destructive weapons that you had to use.

They were a lot of fun to play, and once again, they worked phenomenally for cooperative play. The Fortune City location was very well designed, being a perfect expansion of what the Willamette Mall offered. The AI ​​has also been significantly improved and DR2 overall is exactly what a good sequel should be.

3 Dead Rising 2: Unregistered

Even better

Being a “What if?” The story, Dead Rising 2: Off the Record, puts Frank West in place of Chuck Greene among a myriad of other changes. This has to be the best DR2 experience out there. The campaign has been significantly expanded with many new sections throughout the story; you have a whole new area to explore, the difficulty has been increased slightly, and you have the new addition of Sandbox mode.

By removing the timer, Sandbox is an expansion of what was Infinity Mode in DR1 minus the whole survival mechanic. This was a great mode to mess around with and get results without the timer getting in the way. The return of the camera was also a lot of fun and a highly requested feature among fans at the time.

2 Dead man resurrected

A great zombie game of all time

You just can't top the original. Even though Dead Rising 1 has terrible AI, everything else is about as perfect as it gets. The fun camera system, the stunning graphics for 2006, the freehand campaign, and even the surprisingly compelling story. It's definitely a twist and doesn't go where you think, considering Dead Rising is essentially Dawn of the Dead: The Game.

All side missions have an interesting element and are not soft. You will meet a mom who just watched her baby get eaten or who could potentially watch another person die. It's not a pure masterpiece, but definitely a flawed one in gaming history.

1 Remastered of Dead Rising Deluxe

There's no going back after this

Although Capcom calls this game the Deluxe Remaster, it is essentially a remake as it is completely recreated in the RE Engine instead of the MT Framework of the original. Dead Rising Deluxe Remaster is incredibly faithful to the original, down to the smallest details. There's one key aspect that makes Deluxe Remaster the best version: time skipping.

Waiting was one of the worst aspects of the original and killed the pace of the game. Once you start skipping time, you can't go back. It's a really important thing. Unfortunately, the different voice actors aren't as good as the original, but there's a mod on PC to restore them, making it the definitive way to play DR1.