Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel Review (Xbox One)

The second of four planned add-ons for Xbox One exclusive Dead Rising 3, Fallen Angel takes us on a journey with Angel, a member of the resistance struggling to fend of the military and zombies. While her story is quite different from previous DLC protagonist Adam Kane's, it's still just more of the same action.

Things pick up in Angel's story sometime after the zombie breakout is Los Perdidos occurred. Her small group of survivors is holed up in a high school, and in desperate need of a new location and supplies if they hope to keep surviving the horde onslaught. There's actually less plot in Angel's narrative than there was in the previous DLC, Operation Broken Eagle. Kane had a clear set of goals and it was easy to see how his story tied into the main narrative. Angel's story is a bit less engaging, and there's little story to relate beyond that she's simply helping more survivors escape. There's a tease of personality in there, but Angel is very much a one note hero. Still, it's all very surface-level stuff, and that's partially due to the short length of these Untold Stories.

Like Broken Eagle, Fallen Angel is about an hour long. There are no real new elements offered from a gameplay perspective, though there some cool new weapons like a spiked mace and dual machine pistols. It's unfortunate, but these Untold stories, while offering us new characters to play as, don't really need these new characters. Since there's so little development in plot or the character, you could easily replace Kane or Angel with Nick, the hero from the main campaign. Considering all the stats, attributes and weapons you've earned carry over, the distinction between the new protagonists and Nick is minimal at best.

Sure, you get some new toys and you get to see a slightly different side of the battle of Los Perdidos, but Capcom misses a huge opportunity with this DLC. We don't get to see the true struggle of the resistance. We barely get to spend any time with Angel, the series' first female lead, who is barely given any kind of personality beyond a drinking problem and a distrust of authority. Nothing accomplished in Fallen Angel provided any new insight. It's just more zombie slaying, only this time you have a bare midriff and new weapon blueprints. It's frustrating because there's an opportunity to really showcase another side of this evolving saga, and Capcom was merely interested in glossing over every last bit of potentially interesting content.

Both of the released add-ons for Dead Rising 3 have been rather disappointing. Fallen Angel is slightly more of a waste when considering Capcom's failure to capitalize on aspects like the female lead or the real motivations of the resistance. It could have been fun and different, but instead Fallen Angel is the equivalent of playing more Dead Rising 3 with a new costume. Were these merely skins offered to give players more variety, it would be a different story. Capcom's selling these tales as new adventures, but it's more like a new dust jacket for the same book you've already read.

This review was completed using a purchased copy of Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel for the Xbox One.