Escape Dead Island Review

I don’t like Escape Dead Island.

I’m quite ashamed I don’t. Me and my brother put so much time into Dead Island, and glanced over Dead Island Riptide. Many an hour of fun was had battering all seven shades out of zombies with many a makeshift weapon and despite the flaws it’s a game we have gone back to several times.

Whether or not you like Dead Island or Riptide gameplay will matter not with Escape Dead Island. This is a whole different genre, simply within the same universe. 6 months after the events of Dead Island, you play as Cliff Calo; son of an enterprising business man who he is not on good terms with. This is presumed because after the loony bin of a tutorial (which involves a gas mask wearing soldier with a terrible attempt at an accent and a katana,) you are sailing towards the neighbouring island to Banoi, Narapela, on your dad’s stolen boat with your two friends in an attempt to get the story of a lifetime about the zombie outbreak. Arriving on the island, it only takes 5 minutes for it all to hit the fan, you losing your boat and sustaining a major trauma injury which causes major hallucinations through the rest of the game, you’re tasked with continuing you’re coverage of the incident whilst trying to find a way home.

The gameplay breaks down into 3 parts: Exploration, Stealth, and Combat. Exploration is by far the best part of this game. The island of Narapela is beautifully drawn. The Cell-shaded ‘paradise’ is truly nice to explore. Some paths do shrink down into tunnels you need to crawl through, ruining the grandeur of the island. While playing, I found the game was optimised enough to keep textures from popping in, apart from when I bolted it between two areas (PS3.) Areas are locked down by simply making you require an item to break the obstacle. There are plenty of items to collect across the island yet the island doesn’t try to hide them as they all seem to be just off the path between areas. Later in the game areas are recycled and what took ten nail-biting minutes of stealth becomes a hopeful sprint through the zombies.

Stealth is disappointing in all as a mechanic. The linearity of the game means stealth falls into ‘crouch and keep as far away from zombies as possible while going through this area.’ Exclamation marks above the zombie’s head denote their alertness to your presence. Most areas can be traversed by activating a distraction and hugging the far wall as it’s incredibly difficult to see which way a zombie is facing until you’re too close and realise he is facing you. Even if you’re spotted, bolting it can mostly save your skin. You can stealth kill zombies. But there is really no incentive as there is no levelling system to convince you to kill more than necessary.

Combat is by far the biggest failure of the game. I can see the premise behind giving the fighting some tactical form, however the execution simply means the combat is a major tedium. Cliff is not a fighter (though he might be and the game has an awful combat system,) and launching in headlong like this is Dynasty Warriors will get you pasted. Generally the best method is to dodge a lone zombie’s attack then hammer him with the fast attack. However, when you are forced into a combat situation zombies usually comes in groups of 4 up, with even the weakest of the litter being able to kill you in a few hits. Cliff moves sluggishly anyway and with a two second warm up to the heavy attack you are left at a severe disadvantage from the get-go. I gave up continuing the game just under an hour in after being cornered in an airfield fighting several zombies. Even after being given a pistol, the combat was so horrendous and after the third dozen pounding by the spitter (yes, just like L4D,) who is fully capable of landing a small ball of acid in your chest from 100 yards, I gave up the game in frustration. Combat drains all possible fun out of the last hour of exploring you did by locking you into a small hell.

This is likely to be the situation for a multitude of people who pick up this game. A game that has dragged the Dead Island franchise into a Walking Dead-esque adventure with some twists and turns has fallen at its inability to implement basic mechanics well. Exploration is glorious, even if Cliff is a wee bit slow moving. The stealth has no depth and no mechanic past sight and is more of an annoyance. The combat is sluggish and is likely to force the most monk-like of gamers into a ‘roid fuelled rage. The game seems to be the Walking Dead and Uncharted slammed together into a horrible Frankenstein.

This game is not a stealth game as you’re forced into combat situations. This game is not a fighting game as you’re forced into stealth moments and the combat makes Cliff appear borderline retarded. This game is not an exploration game as the exploration is following a path with no major obstacles, unless breaking something and crouching is what you enjoy. Regenerating health means there is no resource management and the game seems more than willing to throw bullets at you. I hate that this game is bad. I had such hope that this would revitalise my love for the franchise and prepare me for the upcoming Dead Island 2; instead I got vomited upon from a great height by an interesting story surrounded by so much bad gameplay I cannot force myself to put any more time into the game.

My score for this game is somewhat influenced by other reviews I’ve seen. While I find the game an offence to my existence; several reviews have praised aspects of the game in what I can only assume is an industry-wide trolling. So I’m going to tentatively give this game a 2. Demo it by all means; and if you are a hard-core Dead Island Fan or enjoy bouts of self-torture you may just enjoy this game. But for the majority of you note Dragon Age Inquisition is currently out. Go play that.

Disclaimer:All scores given within our reviews are based on the artist’s personal opinion; this should in no way impede your decision to purchase the game.