Hey guys! Here is the first of what will be an intermittent segment called “Mike Check”. What is Mike Check? Well, it’s basically a review of something I, Mike, have done/seen/experienced lately. And by “basically a review”, I mean it’s a review. So, without further ado…
Microsoft’s annual Xbox Live Summer of Arcade! This week brought the arrival of Deadlight, a 2.5D zombie infested action/platformer. Read on to find out what we thought of it.
DEADLIGHT
Tequil Works
08/01/2012//1200 Microsoft Points
Deadlight is a 2.5D Xbox Live Arcade game and is the third installment of this years Microsoft exclusive lineup know as Summer of Arcade.
In Deadlight you play as Randall Wayne, a man at the end of the world in a zombie infested 1980’s Seattle. In search of his wife and daughter, Randall ventures through the aftermath of post-society, has a few relatively meaningless encounters with other survivors, and experiences a ham-fisted sub-plot about “humanity at its worst”. That is the bulk of Deadlight’s pretty bland story that ultimately leads to an even more bland ending. It’s disappointing to say the least, but maybe that’s because I’ve been spoiled by the great storytelling of properties like The Walking Dead that handle these concepts much better. Really, the strength of Deadlight lies in its visual production values.
From start to finish, which for me was about 3.5 to 4 hours, the game is 2.5D eye candy. The derelict streets of Seattle are beautifully rendered in shambles. The ravaged homes and office buildings that lay demolished under the ash grey sky set the dark mood of this tone heavy game very effectively. Spain based developers Tequila Works really poured their hearts and souls into the details and color pallets of Deadlights aesthetics. Not only that, but the use of foreground, middle, and background are to the fullest potential. Every single environment is chock full of things to look at. But unfortunately, just having good looks aren’t enough to get by in this day and age. Especially at the $15 price tag that have previously offered up great games like Braid, Super Meat Boy, and Limbo.
Deadlight has an old school control scheme inspired by 2D games of the video game days of yore. For instance, when moving forward and jumping, Randall always leaps at a fixed distance (think original Prince of Persia). For the most part this is only an issue when trying to traverse some of the more tightly crafted corridors with the game’s less than precise controls. Really, where players may end up losing most of their patience is with the trial and error heavy gameplay. More often than not, Randall will meet his untimely end due to traps and pitfalls that are completely unavoidable simply because the player could have never known they existed. Or with a particularly frustrating scene involving a helicopter rooftop chase. Deadlight is not a game built for speed, but Tequila Works likes to act like it is sometimes.
The combat of Deadlight is pretty standard fare. First, you’ll have access to a fire axe, then a pistol, then a shotgun. They all work as advertised. Press B to swing the axe. Right analog stick aims a gun. Right trigger shoots said gun. Headshot. Dead zombie. Being that this is the zombie apocalypse though, ammo is somewhat scarce. And when you take that into account with Randal’s inability to take on more that a few zombies at a time, the tension can get pretty high when you feel backed into a corner. That is a very important thing to capture in zombie/horror themed games.
I feel like I have more bad to say about Deadlight than good and I don’t feel it’s necessarily unprecedented. However, for SOME reason, I still enjoyed my time spent with Deadlight. Maybe it’s the use of tone mixed with the visual fidelity and occasional tension. Or maybe it’s was just a right place/right time thing for me. But when considering the brisk campaign, lack of replay value, and the much better Walking Dead zombie games that are available, the $15 dollars price tag is a bit much to chew one. That being said, I’ve had worse times at movie theaters for roughly the same price. Deadlight is a game that I could recommend. But maybe when it goes to Steam on the PC. And then maybe once Steam has a sale event.