Escape Dead Island
Overview -
'Escape Dead Island' is a spin-off of the 'Dead Island' first-person tropical island zombie-killing quasi-MMO franchise. Unlike the first two releases in the series, this title was developed by small Swedish studio Fatshark, whose best-known console title to date is probably 'Bionic Commando Rearmed 2'.
Video Review
'Escape Dead Island' eschews traditional visuals in favor of a cel-shaded motif, which is increasingly common in contemporary gaming. In this game the visuals are not flattering. Colors bleed into one another or are otherwise oversaturated, models are subject to frequent clipping, and the textures exhibit a low level of detail. The draw-in is abysmal, with shrubbery and other background objects filling in just a few feet away from Cliff. Action is punctuated with comic book-esque text pop-ups (think the old 'Batman' TV show, with exclamations like "kapow” when a zombie is executed) that are subdued and faint. A camera mode exists for no other purpose than to relay one-liners and make Cliff vulnerable for eating. The whole thing just looks kind of cheap. Bugs are relatively common, and the game has a tendency to freeze during checkpoint restarts.
There are solid frame, hand-drawn screens that pop up during some cutscenes. These are actually well-done and, despite the clear inspiration from graphic novels, add more realism than the cel-shaded theme does.
Audio Review
The game’s audio adds little to the experience. The music is instantly forgettable and the sound effects are generic. The voice acting is decent at best and some of the performances are just not good, like those for Xian Mei and Kilo Two. Linda and Devan are some of the better performances, but the wan script gives them scant chance to shine.
'Escape Dead Island' is more or less playable from a technical standpoint. I wish I could praise it more than that. It has almost no redeeming qualities, no personality to speak of, and really isn’t fun at all. Many of the design decisions are inscrutable. The 'Dead Island' series is not the best zombie gaming experience out there, but the previous two titles are at least worth playing. This one is not.