Deadlight Review (PC, Xbox 360)

The gameplay is reminiscent of the old-school 2D scrollers that many of us grew up with, but with much better graphics.  This is called 2.5D, as in two-and-a-half-dimensional.  Check out the dictionary for details on this style of gameplay.  As you make your way from building to building, and room to room, there is highly detailed artwork going on in the background in what looks like a comic book form.  Most of this game takes the form of a graphic novel, really.  The foreground is black, as is the side of Randall that faces the screen.  Everything else is brightly lit, yet dark and gloomy.  The dimensions of the walls on the background, the shadows, the smoke rising from buildings in the distance, it all gives the game a depth that makes it feel like more than just a scroller.

The heads up display (HUD) shows that you have a health meter and a life meter.  I’ve found that, just like in I Am Alive, the stamina meter drops quickly as you hang from objects.  It then fills back up quickly once you climb up or drop to the ground.  I hung onto a ledge to see what happens when it runs out.  The screen starts flashing blue around the edges and then you fall.  If you survive, it fills up.  If you die… draw your own conclusions.  The meter also runs down while swinging a weapon, although it doesn’t affect you much.  Your swings just get a little weaker and there is more time between them.

While you are pretty much stuck in the defined path set for Randall, the zombies can come from anywhere.  When you escape from the lower confines of the city and get to the rooftops, you see Ben and the rest of your group escaping in what looks like an ambulance.  There are zombies chasing them, and then they stop and just start mulling around on the street below.  Once again, for a game that is played like this one is, the background art is beautiful.  It really looks like some of the lesser-known parts of Seattle.  You know, the places the Space Needle tourists tend to avoid.  As I look at the street below Randall, I can’t help but think that I’ve driven down it.