Can't combine weapons to make crazy weapons. That's one.

I don't know why but I guess I'm playing the role of "guy with dissenting opinion". I like the series but I guess I'm not a hardcore superfan. I think it would paint a better picture if the just did an evolution of the series. 1 to 2. Then, 2 to 3. Finally, 3 to 4. Comparing 1 to 4 is a drastic jump. 

Are there some changes that could have been handled better? Sure. I thought it was cool that they were going back to three original location with the original main character and streamlining the experience. I hated some if the mechanics in DR1 and even DR2 (though there's temptation to buy the Collection so I have them all on one console...).

Maybe I'm too forgiving or easily pleased.

Likewise, combo weapons make up for the downgrade of not being able to take everything that isn't nailed to the ground. It's not that much of an upgrade but a workaround through a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place, given that Dead Rising 2 manage to include both the crazy combo weapons and everything lying around.

I guess if you're not that huge of a fan of the originals, these new games do cater highly toward you, which is nothing bad and the reason why you probably prefer them. They stripped or removed altogether the elements of identity of Dead Rising and made a zombie game about killing zombies (and that's pretty much it). That's why you probably see 1 to 4 as a drastic jump (I'm guessing you disliked or found outdated those elements in the first place), whereas I see it as a drastic crash and burn (as I loved everything that DR3 / DR4 took away).

Not everything is bad, in my opinion. Brad coming back is a nice plot device. The camera mechanics being improved upon, instead of being removed altogether (like in DR2 and DR3) is a godsend. But then there's that myriad of issues because of "streamlining"; something that evidently shows how much out of touch this developer was with "Dead Rising roots" or whatever they tried making.

The end result is something that huge fanboys of the original, like me, look in disgust, but something that people who didn't enjoy them that much in the first place can find it more to their liking.

Likewise, combo weapons make up for the downgrade of not being able to take everything that isn't nailed to the ground. It's not that much of an upgrade but a workaround through a problem that shouldn't exist in the first place, given that Dead Rising 2 manage to include both the crazy combo weapons and everything lying around.

I guess if you're not that huge of a fan of the originals, these new games do cater highly toward you, which is nothing bad and the reason why you probably prefer them. They stripped or removed altogether the elements of identity of Dead Rising and made a zombie game about killing zombies (and that's pretty much it). That's why you probably see 1 to 4 as a drastic jump (I'm guessing you disliked or found outdated those elements in the first place), whereas I see it as a drastic crash and burn (as I loved everything that DR3 / DR4 took away).

Not everything is bad, in my opinion. Brad coming back is a nice plot device. The camera mechanics being improved upon, instead of being removed altogether (like in DR2 and DR3) is a godsend. But then there's that myriad of issues because of "streamlining"; something that evidently shows how much out of touch this developer was with "Dead Rising roots" or whatever they tried making.

The end result is something that huge fanboys of the original, like me, look in disgust, but something that people who didn't enjoy them that much in the first place can find it more to their liking.

The survivor AI was beyond terrible in the first game and not much better in the second game(s) so I'm glad they removed that you actually had to rescue and escort surviors from the third and fourth game.

I can understand complains with the braindead AI in the first game, but the survivors in the second game hardly ever pose any problem, you have indicators to realize where they are or if they are close to the Safe Room, and generally speaking a vastly improvement, especially when there were less "hold my hand" survivors this time around and more self-preservative characters.

Removing that altogether is not only a lazy mechanism from the developer, it's a sign of their inability to improve mechanics and having to resort to erase them. Incidentally, they chose to remove said mechanic in games where the timer stopped counting for crap (Being just an annoyance over your head in DR3 that bears no significance whatosever in the time you do the main objectives, and non-existent in DR4), so it's even worse, because it's not like time is of the essence this time around.

Them removing the timer isn't a big deal either I don't have to rush for the kill count achievements.