Thanks to Hamada for helping with edits.
I dislike Dead Rising 4, the latest game in its long-running series. It stars Dead Rising’s original frontman, Frank West, and thoroughly mishandles him; 4’s immature caricature neither sounds nor acts like Frank’s younger incarnations. And that’s only the tip of this iceberg—Dead Rising 4 is deeply flawed. One character in particular is an unholy chimera built from its rotten parts, and since this will hopefully be my final time covering the game, let’s use him as an outlet to discuss many of its issues.
Calder, seen in 2016’s Dead Rising 4 during a flashback (Image: Capcom)
Originally, developer Capcom Vancouver was helming a gritty Dead Rising reboot codenamed “Climber.” After their parent company shut that down, a more conventional sequel featuring Dead Rising’s original protagonist and setting was settled upon. As a consequence of the game’s troubled development, however, several ideas went unused. One casualty was the “Evo Queen,” a villain who would’ve spawned the game’s new Exo Zombies. Another villain did fill in for her, though…
Calder’s History
Before Frank arrives at Willamette, Lance Corporal Calder was a respected leader within the Obscuris paramilitary unit. Alongside his men, he was investigating Dr. Russell Barnaby’s laboratory, discovering a recording detailing his research. Unfortunately, an accident causes a swarm of the scientist’s Queens, bees that carry the zombie virus, to break free and attack Calder’s team. Then they target Calder himself, backing him inside a machine. Seemingly figuring he had nothing to lose, the desperate Calder activates the contraption, which mutates him into Barnaby’s “ideal” zombie: he’s ageless, strong, and retains his human intellect.
Concept art depicts “Patient 0” as a woman, though later renders feature the commander we know. Nicholas Anton voices Calder. (Image: Capcom)
However, that came at the cost of the soldier’s sanity. Now believing zombies are a necessary check to mankind, Calder rampages across Willamette. Ultimately, Frank descends down the town’s sewers to pilfer Barnaby’s hard drive from the chatty corpse. The photojournalist successfully nabs it and flees, though Vick Chu intercepts Frank and steals Barnaby’s research—and, then, Calder intercepts Vick, starting a brawl between him and Frank. With Vick’s assistance, the veteran reporter emerges victorious.
So, what’re my thoughts on Calder?
Gameplay-wise, Dead Rising 4’s biggest selling point is the Exo Suit, armors Frank can use to power himself up. The idea itself isn’t inherently bad (well, some former Capcom Vancouver staff might disagree)! Giving players numerous tools to play with is a Rising hallmark, something this stat-enhancing getup could’ve augmented—can you imagine swatting a zombie with a baseball bat and seeing it fly into the stratosphere? Instead, these exoskeletons limit Frank; only a handful of Suit-specific items work with them, the elemental add-ons (barring the vacuum) are woefully ineffective, and Exo Suits automatically break after two minutes. DR4’s changes to the series’ combat and inventory systems already greatly reduce player expression; the Exo Suit’s lackluster implementation frustratingly furthers that.
Ultimately, the U.S. government established Obscuris because they wanted to create zombies to use as cheap labor. (Image: Capcom)
And how the game doles out Exo Suits is erratic. They’re rarely seen in the wild and, again, are too restricting to justify using. Dead Rising 4 makes you wear them during certain story missions, though. Since these segments take longer than two minutes to clear, the game awkwardly handwaves the Suits’ timer by saying these areas contain “wireless recharge stations,” which… just raises questions. If you return later while wearing a Suit, their two-minute timer is restored. Were those gizmos deactivated, broken, or removed? Why would some of these places, like an abandoned construction site, have these chargers, anyway?
A lackluster enemy lineup complements Dead Rising 4’s weaker combat. Standard zombies are boring, frankly more so than ever; their animations are stiffer and they no longer get tougher at night. Earlier Dead Risings also use zombies to feed into their timer and resource management mechanics. Whenever a hoard approaches, you’ll ask yourself, “do I really need to spend ammo and time clearing these pests, or can I find another, safer route?” If you’re escorting civilians or rushing to finish a mission, that question becomes all the more loaded. And that question is something DR4 never raises; it just haphazardly plops ghouls and guns in front of you with wild abandon.
Calder is arguably the game’s best built-up character. Notably, Dead Rising’s head writer left during 4’s production, and there wasn’t enough time to polish its script. (Image: Capcom)
Fighting the game’s new goons isn’t more rewarding, sadly. Like prior entries, Dead Rising 4 introduces new zombie varieties: Fresh Zombies and Evo Zombies. Again, neither are bad conceptually (okay, Capcom Vancouver might disagree), but the execution is. The former just sprint at you; they are nearly indistinguishable from their forebears. The latter jump around, lunge at you, and occasionally stimulate their undead brethren by shrieking. Killing Evos is merely time-consuming, not enjoyable or challenging. Oh, and some Obscuris soldiers don Exo Suits and are even less engaging to fight—you can safely shoot at them from a distance.
Now, what happens when you smash the Exo Suit and an Evo Zombie together? You get Calder. Once the fight begins, you’re allowed to inflict a paltry amount of damage before he’s rendered invincible—yup, you must hop into that extra Exo Suit to continue hurting him. This duel is long, boring, and formulaic: you punch Calder, he lunges at you, stupidly gets himself stuck in the ground, you punch him again, Calder heals himself and spawns mooks, and the cycle restarts. Dead Rising 4 never asks you to master any of its mechanics over the course of the game, and Calder certainly doesn’t test you on them.
Initially, Frank tries reasoning with Calder, showing he’s regained some common sense. It’s immediately undercut by the everyman making yet another humorless quip afterwards, though. (Image: Capcom)
It’s also worth discussing the series’ timer mechanic. The earlier games are built around it, giving you finite time to juggle multiple objectives simultaneously. Though their bosses are by no means bad, this framework does mean they can’t be too complicated and, therefore, time-consuming. Since Dead Rising 4 instead gives players infinite time, that should inform its boss design—they can employ more elaborate strategies and scenarios than their predecessors could. But… they don’t; a clown with two chainsaws should not be a craftier, more interesting fighter than a military-trained, super-powered mutant.
Anyway, the aftermath of Calder’s defeat is disastrous, ending an already tone-deaf game on a sour note. After Frank and Vick’s contrived reconciliation, the zombies randomly become smarter, seemingly acting on some sort of hive mind. They take down our heroes’ rescue helicopter, forcing them to survive waves of the creeps until a second arrives. Once it does, a cutscene plays where our heroes are running towards it—but Frank’s inexplicably lagging behind, and though he reaches the ride, a chain of zombies grab him, dragging it down. Frank releases his grip, seemingly falling to his death… leading into Frank Rising, a then-upcoming downloadable campaign. Honestly, even calling this an “ending” is disingenuous; it’s a teaser.
I stared at this screen for about four minutes my first time through the game, wondering how such an artless, slapdash product hit store shelves. (Image: Capcom)
Oh, and Calder’s character is barely worth discussing, which is problematic for a game that supposedly wants to portray its cast as multilayered, wounded survivors. A soldier who values his men devolving into a hateful, murderous monster could’ve been compelling. But DR4 never interrogates that; whenever Frank sees Calder, he’s either rampaging or delivering pretentious speeches. The brute’s presence is so weightless that even DR4 sometimes treats him as an afterthought. Now, you never see the zombified Calder’s face during his initial appearances; he’s either cloaked in shadows or facing away. You would, therefore, assume Capcom Vancouver was saving his proper unveiling for a dramatic reveal, perhaps one selling his grotesque transformation. But… no; Case 3’s recap unceremoniously shows him.
Calder embodies Dead Rising 4. While Vick and Tom Pickton also highlight the game’s unpolished writing, Calder also represents its gameplay innovations and single-handedly demonstrates how half baked they are. And he’s one of 4’s focal points, a villain Frank hypes up as a “Godzilla strong” animal with “a serious hate-on” for his former employers. Calder’s failures even inspire curiosity over what could have been; Climber may have lacked the Dead Rising spirit, but I’d happily have taken it over the shambling husk we got.
Mechanically, all Calder healing himself accomplishes is prolonging the fight. Narratively, it acts as a conduit to help repair Frank and Vick’s relationship. (Image: Capcom)
Executive producer Bryce Cochrane once cited Dead Rising 4’s deviations from its predecessors as a necessary means to grow the franchise and establish a foundation for sequels. Though 4’s underperformance shocked the series into hibernation, that’s preferable—a “Dead Rising 5, 6, and 7” that continued down 4’s path would be a more horrifying sight than any zombie outbreak.
Despite my negativity towards Capcom Vancouver’s console swan song, though, I want to stress something: I’m still a fan of theirs. Incredibly talented people worked there—Dead Rising 2 and Case Zero are fantastic—and seeing Dead Rising 4 suffer due to reasons beyond their control is upsetting. None of that excuses its subpar quality, of course; this buggy game is what hit store shelves. Still, I’m optimistic that this once-immaculate franchise will rise again someday, and I hope Capcom Vancouver’s former employees are happy and getting to put their talents to good use.
Congratulations, Calder! The chain… remains…
Capcom Vancouver didn’t believe in the Exo Suit or Evo Zombies, so maybe there wasn’t any hope for Calder to rise above the sum of his parts. (Image: Capcom)
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