Escape Dead Island is a game (I use that term loosely) based in the same universe as Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide. The game tasks you with playing as Cliff Calo, a guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth and a determination to find out if the rumours of a zombie-infested island are true and to win his media mogul fathers love and respect.
As I have written above its the story of Cliffs quest to find his way in the world of journalism which is presented via some bizarre drug induced hallucinations that beggar belief and do nothing to draw you into the game or connect you with Cliff. These hallucinations continue throughout the game and always end with you waking up in a storage container for some bizarre reason.Unlike the game it's based on Escape Dead Island is played using a third person perspective and not first person like the games that came before it. This also means a new cell shaded graphics approach has been used which looks terrible even for a last generation game. Some glaring omissions that aren't include are hardly any loot to plunder, no handmade weapons and persistent stat improvements all missing it makes you wonder what the hell is the point of trying to fit it into this universe at all.
Escape Dead Island tries to play up to its stealth setting. But it's unlike any half decent stealth game I have ever played. You are incredibly vulnerable which in a game that reminds you about that but also allows you and gives you the tools to compensate for that vulnerability all is good. But in this game there is no good, only bad. The stealth options here are basically sneaking up behind a zombie, stabbing them in the head with a screwdriver or running like hell. The HUGE problem with sneaking up behind a zombie is you can't tell until the last moment which way the zombie is facing. You can spend a long time sneaking up on a groups of zombies only to find at the last minute that they have been looking straight at you the whole time and then pounce when you have no chance of escape. Other times I have taken out one zombie after another. It's pot luck unfortunately and just an example of sloppy programming.
And how about the sections where you are forced to kill every zombie in a specific area? There sections fair no better. Unseen forces block your path so you can't move on until you finish the task at hand. One section in particular gave me nightmares after the final zombie glitched into the scenery time and time again making it impossible to kill it and move on. I lost count of the times I had to restart that section because of it glitching. This glitching is common place throughout the game. You are provided with two pointless guns which you collect during the game. In a game of this type ammunition is usually very scarce, but not here. Escape Dead Island is so thoughtful that if you die a couple of times at a checkpoint that unseen force rears it's ugly head again and spawns ammunition out of thin air in front of you.
I love a good zombie game but this is such a turgid mess that it defies belief. How this game got released in this state is sadly a sign of the times. I would recommend anyone to avoid this game at all costs even if it eventually becomes available on Games With Gold.
