Dead Rising 3 – (2013)
Dead Rising 3 is the point in the franchise where things start to go off the rails. Don’t get me wrong, I still enjoy this installment. Its gritty, open-world city is a perfect setting for a zombie apocalypse, its main character (Nick Ramos) is a likable guy, and the weapon and vehicle crafting (first introduced in DR2) isn’t too outrageous or game-breaking yet. So it’s a better game than DR4, but it also marks the beginning of the end for the franchise as it shows the series shifting focus to wacky weapons while downplaying the ticking clock that added so much tension to the older games.
