Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition is, at least in theory, a game of ifs. You'll love the game if you're not afraid to get blood on your hands and laugh at the same time. The game looks great - if you can run it. Dead Rising 3, Apocalypse Edition is easily the best and most complete version of the game to date, but it still suffers from a number of problems that plagued the original game's release on Xbox One late last year, and unfortunately suffers from some major performance issues that'll likely effect a good portion of PC players looking to run the game. That being said, if you're looking for a fun zombie experience that's not afraid to laugh at itself; you can;'t go wrong with Dead Rising 3.

"...why not go the extra mile and attach a table saw to the end of that thing?"

For those unfamiliar with the Dead Rising series; think of it as the ultimate zombie playground. You're set (mostly) completely free in a city overrun with zombies and it's your job, well according to the game it's your job to save the city but come on, your job is really to splatter as much zombie blood as possible with whatever you can get your hands on. Here, you play as mechanic Nick Ramos, who has the unique knack to take ordinary items and fuse them together to create the most fun and unique tools of zombie destruction. Sure, you could just smash into the zombie horde with a sledgehammer, but why not go the extra mile and attach a table saw to the end of that thing? It's a whole lot of fun and extremely rewarding to watch your kill count pile up as you slash through the hordes of the undead - especially when you're doing it with some of the game's stranger weapons like random fish you'll find throughout the city. No seriously - fish.

The fun and rewarding combat of Dead Rising 3 is it's greatest feature, but it can also be a burden in a way. The story is so lackluster that I often found myself avoiding missions and just looking for fun ways to take out zombies. While I rarely ran out of things to do per say, it all started to run together and feel very repetitive. This way fixed very quickly by having a friend join me in the super fun co-op mode, but even that started to feel like more of the same after while. Apocalypse Edition comes packed with most of the DLC that's been released for the Xbox One version of the game, but lacks the Super Ultra Dead Rising 3 Arcade mode released earlier this year.

"...plow through hordes of the undead in some of the most hilarious ways."

Dead Rising 3: Apocalypse Edition still suffers from some of the same issues that plagued the original game since it's release like uneven boss characters, a camera that rarely helps and a map that makes little sense at all. Unfortunately, these are the least of the game's problems as the PC release suffers from a slew of technical problems that are likely to make the game unplayable for most. Everything from crashes to frame rate drops have been reported, and while a lot of the issues have been fixed by patches released by Capcom, I still encountered a number of them throughout my time with the game for review. Apocalypse Edition is easily the best version released of the game, if you can run it.

Playing Dead Rising 3 is a lot like being let loose in a playground with all of the best toys at your disposal...only there's zombies...and the toys all have sharp edges. It's a complete blast to plow through hordes of the undead in some of the most hilarious ways you can imagine. You're not likely to find yourself invested in the story, and the game can become repetitive if you play for too long but that's a problem easily fixed by adding a friend in the great co-op mode. The zombie genre may be a crowded one, but Dead Rising 3 is a standout, and Apocalypse Edition is easily the best version of the game to date...if you can run it.