Summary
TheDead Risingfranchise has had many playable characters, but which one is the best to have around when the zombies hit the fan? Some of these characters have featured in multiple games, while others appear only in side stories, DLC, and multiplayer modes.
Each have their own unique charm, though. Even those who can only be used as multiplayer avatars allfeature in the series' stories as NPCs. Still, notall playable characters inDead Risingare equal. Fans have their favorites for a reason, and some are arguably better than others for various reasons.
Jordan originally appears as an NPC inDead Rising 4, meeting Frank West at the Willamette Jr. High School. She appears a couple of times in the story as a useful, if not particularly memorable, character.
Players can take control of Jordan in theDead Rising 4multiplayer mode, making her officially a playable character. Unfortunately for her, she is simply not the best one that players will have access to.
10Connor McMann
The Altruist
Connor pops up a few times throughout theDead Rising 4campaign, fighting alongside Frank and helping out other survivors. He’s not playable during the campaign, but he makes for a good pick as a multiplayer character.
This is not only due to his altruistic personality, but it’s also because he’s the only multiplayer character whostarts with a healing item, making him pretty reliable in dangerous situations.
9Isaac Tremaine
A Natural Born Poet
Isaac might be the most interesting of the multiplayer-only player characters inDead Rising 4. In the campaign, he starts off as an enemy to Frank, working for Tom Pickton. Later, he helps Frank against Pickton, working with Jordan, Connor, and the other militia members.
An interesting quirk of Isaac’s is that the game establishes his love for poetry in-lore. Then, it reinforces it by having him recite poetry in the multiplayer mode. This interesting aspect of his personality helps him to stand out from his fellow multiplayer-restricted characters.
Dick acts as the main backup for Nick Ramos inDead Rising 3.He’s present throughout the events of the campaign, having been trapped in Los Perdidos along with Nick and the others. If players join a game as a co-op player, they take on the role of Dick.
It was a good way of adding a co-op character who has an excuse to be present whether there’s another player or not. Dick’s backstory is fleshed out further in theDead Rising 3prequel comic, revealing that he rescued Nick before joining his group and becoming a friend.
7Hunter Thibodeaux
A Biker Boss
Hunter originally appears inDead Rising 3asthe Psychopath leader of a biker gang, serving as an early boss encounter. In theChaos RisingDLC, he was thrust into the main character role. The DLC covers his story immediately preceding the battle with Nick.
His story tells the straightforward tale of his escape from jail after the zombie outbreak, and it follows his subsequent revenge mission against a rival biker boss who murdered his friend. It all seems fairly throwaway given that his death is already guaranteed by the main story, but it still gives Thibodeaux more backstory and character than most villains receive.
6Adam Kane
A Rogue Agent
Adam Kane is a dogmatic American patriot and an experienced soldier. He’s willing to carry out his orders even at the cost of lives, at least in his initial appearance in theDead Rising 3campaign. In theOperation Broken EagleDLC,Kane takes the protagonist role, and a little more of his personality is revealed.
His dedicated approach to his mission is the same. He relentlessly pursues the president even after the rest of his team is killed. Then, in the latter part of the story, he ignores orders to preserve the truth aboutthe government’s activities in Los Perdidos. This is later shown to have positive consequences when he meets Brad Park, giving his death a little meaning and nobility.
5Angel Quijano
A Fallen Angel
Angel Quijano was a minor character in Red’s gang in theDead Rising 3storyline, but she gets a fully fleshed out DLC explaining her tragic and selfless demise. TheFallen AngelDLC had players take control of Angel and play out the events leading toher death at the Burgess-Dawson Hotel.
Her fight centers on the people of Los Perdidos, who are being rounded up and either killed or captured by the military. After rescuing the main bulk of the captives, Angel sets a trap for the soldiers. She leaks the hotel address to the soldiers, pretends that the freed captives are there, and then sets up an ambush. Unfortunately, she eventually dies in the ensuing fight. Her death is treated as a minor and forgettable tragedy in the main campaign, but the DLC story helpedelevate her character with her noble sacrifice.
An Agent Of Change
Brad Park first appears inDead Rising 3’sThe Last AgentDLC as a ZDC soldier whoeventually turns on his organizationafter finding out the atrocities they’ve been committing. He’s a tough survivor and one of the few who manages to escape the events in Los Perdidos.
As part of his escape, he recovers evidence of the government’s wrongdoing from Adam Kane. This is one of the key factors in him renouncing his former government loyalty. This changes later, as Brad appears again inDead Rising 4as a partner to Frank West, rejoining the ZDC and becoming a colonel.
3Nick Ramos
Nick The Mechanic
Of the three major protagonists of theDead Risingseries, Nick Ramos probably has the least distinctive personality. The core of his character is defined by him being a mechanic andbeing able to make weapons. Add that to his initially mysterious past that even he doesn’t remember, and he doesn’t have much room to be an iconic character.
He plays the role of reluctant hero well, though, and his backstory is neatly tied into the Santa Cabreza incident later on. (That’s the precursor event to the storyline that unfolds in the originalDead Rising.) At least he offers a more stoic alternative to Frank West’s sardonic and quipy character.
Chuck might be themost relatable of theDead Risingprotagonists. While it’s difficult to imagine being a war photographer thrusting themselves into ridiculous danger, it’s much easier to feel the drive to protect a family member or loved one. That’s the core of Chuck’s character, he’s a guy in an impossible situation just trying to protect his daughter. For him, saving the rest of the survivors and escaping the situation is all a means towards doing just that.
Adding to that, the story of him being framed and having to prove his innocence lends an underdog flavor to the character. His backstory, which suggests he wasn’t always such a sainted family man, just makes him all the more likable.
