It appeared to have been the deciding factor in plummeting scores of some reviews. Is the change of approach in cinematic boss scenes really that important? What about the increased number of cutscenes for regular enemies and survivors? Do those count? Why is this never mentioned? Cold, hard facts supersede semantics and emotion, though, and Dead Rising 4 not only has bosses, and cutscenes, but a separate bosses for multiplayer. "Psychopaths" are what the bosses were called in the first Dead Rising. Dead Rising 4 also has bosses, and they are referred to as "Maniacs". Both imply that said characters have become mentally-unstable from the zombie outbreak, and in both games they are presented as boss enemies. Despite the mental gymnastics, "Psychopaths" and "Maniacs" are both one-in-the-same - they are bosses, no matter how hard video game media wants to deny it. This isn't based on Metacritic emotion, YouTube half-wits, or hipster meltdowns; it is fact. The media is wrong. Single-player (Frank) bosses range from the explosive Sadistic Claus, her royal highness Sandra, the corrosive Sibyle, miserable mascot Grim Gobbler, zealot Cult Leader, the humorous Captain BlackFridayBeard, the blazing Flame Trooper, the cowardly Lieutenant, and the unsuspecting Calder. Adding insult to the injury of the media-influenced assumption that there are no bosses in Dead Rising 4 is that it's rarely (if ever) mentioned that multiplayer has its own bosses.

Four-player multiplayer (Jessa, Isaac, Jordan, and Connor) bosses include alternatively-evil Santa Claws, possibly-gender-confused Monorova, Obscuris Exo-Suit soldier Bhom, and the triple elemental threat Tri-Sarah Tops. Don't take my word for it, though; play it for yourself and see. There are four total bosses when you play Dead Rising 4 in multiplayer, and they're all optional. Another point I rarely see made is that these bosses only appear after certain conditions are met, much of which requires team synergy and strategy. It might be possible for a single player to meet all of the conditions required to make bosses appear, but the requirements were obviously meant for players to cooperate on. A player may fulfill conditions an make the boss appear, but the actual allotted boss fight time expires during the fight and the player doesn't really get to fight the boss in its entirety. I've yet to see this mentioned in regards to "replay value".