Dead Rising 3: Fallen Angel Review

Operation Broken Eagle certainly wasn’t the worst DLC offering we have ever seen, but it just didn’t provide a suitable amount of new things to do. After taking on the role of a Spec Ops commanding officer, The Untold Stories of Los Perdidos continues with the story of Angel: one of the so-called illegal infected who are hidden throughout the city, trying to survive.

That name might just ring a bell if you have already finished the main campaign in Dead Rising 3, because Angel is a minor footnote in the infected resistance from Nick’s campaign, but Fallen Angel allows us to learn more about the character and the events that lead to her eventual fate in the core game. Therefore, from the first few moments, there is a sense of foreboding about the story. Even if you don’t remember the events from the campaign, you know that this isn’t going to end well. Angel is a general worker for her group of infected it seems – if they need something done, she seems to be the girl to get it sorted. It is a shame therefore that her character isn’t especially likeable.

As such, Fallen Angel features a fair bit of variety in the few missions which it provides. There is a protection mission; one where you must deliver a vehicle back to base unharmed; another where you have to clear out a safe house that has been overrun and you need to find supplies and bring them back to base. This does mean that the content is certainly not repetitive, but as with Broken Eagle, it really suffers from the same fate: it is incredibly short. There are only four or so core missions to tackle in Fallen Angel, and none of these will keep you busy for very long.

In fact, forgetting about side-quests and collectables, this is possibly even shorter than episode one. It isn’t that the story wouldn’t have supported more missions, in fact it feels like a wasted opportunity. One illustration of this is that the content starts with an ocean liner that has crashed into the sea wall. You naturally think this will be exciting; exploring the ship. And yet, all this consists of is boarding the top deck, grabbing a medical kit and leaving again. You just feel like the set-up could have allowed for an interesting boat-based section, but this is over before it even begins.

The side missions aren’t especially exciting either. One has you scouring the city for medical kits – in theory to supply your infected buddies – and another tasks you with destroying eight security cameras in each of the four main districts of Los Perdidos. So, no imagination there – these are almost identical to existing collectibles in-game. The third sees you encountering random Spec Ops soldiers as you roam the streets, and saving their infected prisoners from execution.

The most interesting things to find in this add-on are the new weapons at your disposal. For some reason, Angel’s signature weapon is a Medieval style spiked mace. This doesn’t make much sense – where would she have found this? – but it is a formidable melee weapon. Other new items include chest paddles that you can use to shock Zombies, and a useful new combo gun that combines the chest paddles and an assault rifle to produce an electric rifle or sorts. This weapon easily takes down small crowds of enemies and is an effective gun for clearing areas.

VERDICT: Fallen Angel suffers from all of the same issues that were encountered with Operation Broken Eagle and perhaps even more. Whereas Broken Eagle at least changed the way you play the game, Fallen Angel makes no real attempts to differentiate play style at all. Angel is a one-dimensional protagonist and is unlikely to resonate with players greatly, and the DLC is again woefully short and lacking in content to justify its existence.

POOR. Games tagged 4/10 will be playable, perhaps even enjoyable, but will be let down by a slew of negative elements that undermine their quality and value. Best avoided by any but hardcore genre fans.

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