ESCAPE DEAD ISLAND (PS3)
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Publisher: Deep Silver.
Developer: Fatshark. Released: November 2014. Genre: Stealth Adventure. Other versions: X360. Posted 11th January 2015. By Tom Clare © 2015 |
It’s hard to think of a game in recent years that falls apart as quickly and as completely as Escape Dead Island. A seventh-gen stop-gap between the first and second Dead Island titles, Fatshark’s third-person stealth adventure initially looks set to cement itself as a sleeper hit. The first couple of hours are pleasant, delivering an absorbing and decidedly different take on the well-worn zombie formula. Whilst a little rough around the edges, a commendable pool of ideas act as an acceptable trade-off for the game’s budget presentation. Endeavour beyond the midway stages however and both the technical stability and the design quality take a complete leave of absence.
Fatshark went someway to distinguishing EDI as its own game. It’s all change: it opts for a new third-person perspective, cel-shaded visuals, regimented stealth gameplay as opposed to all-out, open-world action, and a more concerted focus on story and individual characters.
After powering through a sinister tutorial as a rather deranged assassin, you assume the role of poor lil' rich kid Cliff, accompanied by his friends Devan and Linda, as they make their way to the island of Banoi, looking to bag an exclusive story. Pretty soon it becomes apparent that they’ve more than they bargained with, as the largely deserted luxury hotspot is infested with the living dead, as well as some nasty experiments.
You'll have more pressing things to worry about than chivalry
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Zombies er, can't smell you when you're crouching
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It sets its stall out relatively well, at least in the early stages. Cliff is relatively vulnerable in combat, so it pays to tread carefully, as he's resourceful enough to be able to make a bit of scouting and planning work to your advantage. Using various bits of cover and sneaking up behind zombies is the best plan, whilst turning on radios can act as a handy diversion. As Cliff is a wannabe photographer, he carries with him the game’s best individual asset: a camera. Essentially, it offers a more imaginative means of collectible hunting, as taking pics of highlighted items adds them to a gallery, a complete with a brief bit of insight from Cliff himself. Whilst no one amongst the cast will live long in the memory (in truth, they’re all a bit irritating), they help to carry a story that harbours at least some potential, charting the fractured psychological state of the game’s central figure through increasingly abstract imagery.
Undoubtedly, there’s the whiff of ‘budget release’ about it, with comic-book style stills where you would normally expect to find animated cut-scenes, and a vibrant if basic graphics engine where everything save for the human characters is lacking detail and polish. Textures are slow to animate, and as a consequence, enemies look low-rent and environs as a whole feel unfinished. Still, its limited resources are managed relatively well to begin with, though Escape Dead Island soon takes a turn for the worse.
Little niggles that were moderated before suddenly become big, big problems that the game seems purposefully to exacerbate. The enemies become a huge source of frustration, as you’ll routinely get attacked aggressively and in number, and with Cliff rarely able to sustain more than three hits, you’ll get very used to him dying. Checkpoints fail to protect you from encounters that will take a dozen or more attempts to best, as repeated deaths result in ammo being dumped unceremoniously at your feet in mute apology at the punishing difficulty. EDI also has a nasty habit of forcing you to sit through the same pre-combat cut-scenes over and over every time you die.
Undoubtedly, there’s the whiff of ‘budget release’ about it, with comic-book style stills where you would normally expect to find animated cut-scenes, and a vibrant if basic graphics engine where everything save for the human characters is lacking detail and polish. Textures are slow to animate, and as a consequence, enemies look low-rent and environs as a whole feel unfinished. Still, its limited resources are managed relatively well to begin with, though Escape Dead Island soon takes a turn for the worse.
Little niggles that were moderated before suddenly become big, big problems that the game seems purposefully to exacerbate. The enemies become a huge source of frustration, as you’ll routinely get attacked aggressively and in number, and with Cliff rarely able to sustain more than three hits, you’ll get very used to him dying. Checkpoints fail to protect you from encounters that will take a dozen or more attempts to best, as repeated deaths result in ammo being dumped unceremoniously at your feet in mute apology at the punishing difficulty. EDI also has a nasty habit of forcing you to sit through the same pre-combat cut-scenes over and over every time you die.
The pistol can be a useful ranged weapon against the beasties
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Gaming 101: Two butchers at once is two too many
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Sluggish controls aren’t helpful, and nor is Cliff’s piteous stamina gauge, which depletes massively after short bursts of running, or instigating necessary attacks or dodge manoeuvres, leaving you quickly vulnerable. If the fearsome butcher monsters don’t rip you to shreds, you’ve always their annoying acid-spitting cousins to keep you irritated. Hurling biological projectiles is one thing, but continually hitting you dead-on from vast distances becomes unremittingly tedious.
Difficulty spikes test the patience (and by the end, render the game a misery to play), as do the mounting number of bugs and glitches that manifest in the latter stages. Cliff gets stuck in scenery, zombies get stuck in doors, the action is beset by slow-down, and in my case, Escape Dead Island on a number of occasions froze in the same spot just before reaching a save point at the end of a punishing sequence of foes. The heinous amount of location recycling and backtracking you have to endure deepens its woes, as you’ll pass through the same airfield, tunnels and valley passes four or five times each, which is disappointing and lazy.
If nothing else, Escape Dead Island is proof-positive of why reviewers should always play a game thoroughly. Fatshark evidently didn’t bother with the second half of the game, as a likable beginning soon descends into a broken, lazy, frustrating mess that feels as though it was never playtested. The game’s moniker offers apt warning, but it’s better to avoid it altogether.
Difficulty spikes test the patience (and by the end, render the game a misery to play), as do the mounting number of bugs and glitches that manifest in the latter stages. Cliff gets stuck in scenery, zombies get stuck in doors, the action is beset by slow-down, and in my case, Escape Dead Island on a number of occasions froze in the same spot just before reaching a save point at the end of a punishing sequence of foes. The heinous amount of location recycling and backtracking you have to endure deepens its woes, as you’ll pass through the same airfield, tunnels and valley passes four or five times each, which is disappointing and lazy.
If nothing else, Escape Dead Island is proof-positive of why reviewers should always play a game thoroughly. Fatshark evidently didn’t bother with the second half of the game, as a likable beginning soon descends into a broken, lazy, frustrating mess that feels as though it was never playtested. The game’s moniker offers apt warning, but it’s better to avoid it altogether.
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VERDICT
Visual: 4/10
Audio: 5/10 Gameplay: 3/10 Longevity: 3/10 OVERALL: 3/10 |