With the release of its The Last Agent add-on, Dead Rising 3‘s zombified saga has seemingly come to an end. That is, unless another batch of downloadable content, or a related expansion, ends up being announced.
In The Last Agent — which exists as the fourth and final episode of the game’s Untold Stories of Los Perdidos mini-narrative — players control ZDC agent Richard Park, who finds himself in dire straights prior to a chance encounter with Nick Ramos, the main campaign’s lead protagonist. Infected, turning and alone, the agent-with-a-conscience nearly ends up becoming one of the creatures that his employer is responsible for. However, thankfully for himself, and those who end up depending on his assistance throughout this 1.5 to 2 hour-long mini-campaign, that doesn’t end up happening.
Upon regaining his alertness and health, Agent Park resumes helping a former ally, a female doctor whose goal is to help her fellow survivors avoid infection and escape the dangers that Los Perdidos is full of. Thus begins a quest that involves collecting faulty (infection-preventing) chips and counterfeit doses of Zombrex — both of which turn into bonus collectibles following their respective missions — then morphs into a search for the truth. It’s a story arc that we’re quite familiar with, as it takes on the motif of, “Company man starts to find out that his employer isn’t as pure and innocent as it once seemed.”
It’s obvious as to why The Last Agent was left for last, because it does a pretty good job of tying up the game’s overarching storyline. To avoid spoilers, I won’t go into detail, but let’s just say that you’ll come across some familiar faces as the episode comes to a close, and will  be a big part of their search for safety. There’s very little dialogue exchanged between those individuals, though, so don’t expect any grandiose speeches or anything like that.
The gameplay is as expected, as it doesn’t stray from the formula that we’ve become used to. A new weapon, in the form of a neat gun that can turn multiple zombies’ heads into mush with one shot, is added, as is a tank-like truck that shoots out three balls of freezing goo. Both are welcomed additions that stand out among the crowd. However, while only the one new weapon is advertised in the pack’s description, I also found a turbine gun that shot powerful wind gusts at unsuspecting zombies, as well as a pistol/flashlight combo. The trailer also shows others, though I personally didn’t come across them.
For the most part, I enjoyed my time with this seemingly final story-based add-on for Dead Rising 3. However, I went in knowing what to expect from having played the previous three episodes of the Untold Stories of Los Perdidos arc. That is, a short campaign that adds some new toys and an extra outfit or two. I’ve become used to the formula, and have come to peace with it by understanding that I’m not going to get the badass expansion I was hoping for with these episodes. They’re decent and fall into the “pretty good, but far from great” category. Do I wish there was more to them and that they were a bit better as a whole? Absolutely, but I still enjoyed playing through them.
The Last Agent is perhaps the best of the four Dead Rising 3 add-ons – at least, as far as its design goes. The collectibles were less frustrating to find and obtain, and things felt more cohesive overall. However, I encountered some notable issues that will prevent me from giving it the score I otherwise would have.
During my playthrough — which lasted over three hours, due to collectible hunting and a forced mission restart — I encountered several instances of major pop-in. At first, it wasn’t anything worth worrying about, but then I had walls pop-in right in front of me. Then, as I neared its end, I noticed that achievements weren’t unlocking. At least, I thought they weren’t, because their notifications were not popping up. I guess some sort of a glitch prevented them from showing, though, because they appeared when I took my curiosity to the achievements app and saw them there.
The missions themselves were in line with the types that made up the core game. That means that you’ll be doing a lot of travelling from one point of the map to another, while collecting, saving and fighting. The downside here is that another vehicle mission is included, and it once again forces us to keep a vehicle from blowing up while driving it from point to point to point. I’ve previously mentioned how annoying those scenarios are, and how I feel they mar the game. However, if you missed it, the gist is that simply running over a zombie hurts the vehicles’ health. So, being that you’re constantly running over zombies, since there are hundreds if not thousands of them cluttering each major roadway, you’re looking at quite a bit of damage you can’t help but take. It eventually adds up, and if you don’t drive almost perfectly, will force you to restart a lengthy mission because of its own faults.
If you’re like me and don’t like having to carefully drive through a zombie-infested city that keeps having its routes changed through added roadblocks, then you’ll want to keep this tip in mind: Make sure to find the player skill book that keeps your vehicles from taking as much damage as they normally do, and equip it when you’re driving. That way, you’ll get a bit of a grace period. Not much of one, but one nonetheless.
In conclusion, Dead Rising 3: The Last Agent is an entertaining experience, albeit a middling one. If you love the series, or at least its latest retail release, then you probably had a good idea as to whether this would be a worthwhile purchase for you before you read this review. Conversely, if you don’t like the game, or haven’t liked its previous downloadable content packs, then this one won’t be for you. It’s far from revolutionary, and is simply more of the same with a couple of minor additions and a mediocre new protagonist. I enjoyed it because I love Dead Rising 3 and it gave me a reason to do more questing within that game world, but you may feel differently.
This review is based on the Xbox One exclusive, which we were provided with.
