Tom Bramwell
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Writing For
EurogamerLatest Reviews
Dead Rising 3 is the weakest in the series, then. It's no kind of technical showcase for Xbox One, although that didn't really bother me once I got into it, and if all you want for a launch title is something passably entertaining to plug away at for a few long evenings, it will suit you fine. Just beware, once you get over the pleasure of the first few combo weapons, Dead Rising 3 is just a solid zombie brawler set in an open world, not the strange game of tender heart that used to be so funny and surprising.
Before you go after anybody though you will want to reclaim some Agency Supply Points, or else you'll keep having to start over from the Agency Tower. The Tower's not so bad - there's the supercar, an awesome drive-over-anything SUV and a truck cab on permanent standby for deployment, along with tunnels to each of the three ganglands - but supply points are nearer to the action, not to mention more, er, vertically exciting. When you're close to one, it shows up on the mini-map and needs to be reclaimed from a token enemy force. Claim it and you can use it to store weapons (any enemy weapon deposited at a supply point is available through the supply point network), respawn in the event of death, or even teleport throughout the network if you fancy heading off somewhere else.
And so, with the Bando Gora threat extinguished, it's clear that LucasArts has made another pretty and stylish foray into their galaxy far, far away, encompassing virtually all of Jango's myriad exciting abilities just as it said it would. Meanwhile, production values are on a par with the likes of Jedi Starfighter and The Clone Wars, but ultimately the familiarity of the Star Wars characters, the injection of John Williams' ubiquitous score and the addition of quirks like secondary bounty hunting can't mask the shallow, unexciting gameplay from view.
Luigi's Mansion is a delightful little game, instantly appealing to anybody with more than a passing interest in its heritage, but it isn't the GameCube equivalent of those platform classics I name-checked at the start of the review. A competent, atmospheric adventure and truly a new direction for the characters, but at this length it simply isn't worth the £35, let alone the cost of the console. If Miyamoto's vision of shorter games more often is to become reality, then the pricing structure will need serious adjustment...
At the end of the day, although Dynasty Warriors II is a competent and entertaining game which does well to take advantage of the PlayStation 2's graphical hardware, any game that becomes tedious through repetition deserves more than a raised eyebrow. Although there's some fun to be had here, for what we dole out for PlayStation 2 games it should last beyond a first day's worth of play, and that's why we have to be so harsh on it.