Graphics
Instead of going for the realistic approach, Escape Dead Island take cues from Telltale Games’ The Walking Dead and The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker. The comic-book style cell-shaded art direction makes for a fantastic setup and at times look downright stunning. When you see the beautiful island the bright blue ocean it comes as a bit of a shock to see some bloody zombies shambling around what would otherwise be a serene paradise.
Characters and zombies alike are well animated, though not without some minor faults. During the few cut scenes that aren’t presented in comic-book style clips there’s a certain stiffness that seems to come over character models and their limbs. It’s a small complaint but it’s there non the less.
It’s certainly a far cry from previous Dead Island games but it’s a nice change and something of a rarity in games these days and it takes advantage of the platforms it caters to – PS3 and Xbox 360, though there is a PC version also.
In short, the visuals are more than good enough and you’ll enjoy the comic-style if you’re a fan of cell-shaded game, just don’t go into it expecting some ground-breaking graphical masterpiece.
Conclusion
Escape Dead Island teeters on the edge of being an exemplary game in both style and substance. The story starts out strong and actually presents a character worth knowing, only to veer off course and end with a disappointing finale. The gameplay also falls victim to being one lick away from great, but with seemingly bipolar tendencies and at times frustrating to manage combat it settles with being OK. In an essence, it’s on OK game and if you’re fan of the series you’ll be more than happy to take on the zombies once again, albeit from the third-person and with less focus on inventory management and RPG aspects.
Escape Dead Island is available on the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC. You can get your copy from Amazon UK to tide you over until Dead Island 2 releases next year.
Review carried out on the Xbox 360 using a copy purchase by the reviewer.
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