Isle of the Dead (video game)

Isle of the Dead
CD Cover
Developer(s) Rainmaker Software
Publisher(s) Merit Software
Designer(s) A. Sean Glaspell
Programmer(s) Bruce J. Mack, Bryan Kelsch
Platform(s) DOS
Release December 1993
Genre(s) First-person shooter, Point-and-click adventure game
Mode(s) Single-player

Isle of the Dead is a video game developed by Rainmaker Software that was published by Merit Software in 1993 for IBM and compatibles.

Gameplay

Isle of the Dead is a first-person shooter and point-and-click adventure game where the player is the lone survivor of a plane wreck on a mysterious tropical island, teeming with flesh-eating zombies under the control of an evil mad scientist.[1] After retrieving items from the wreckage, the player can explore the beach and move further inland by hacking at the undergrowth with a machete.[2]

Development and release

The game's concept and design was created by A. Sean Glaspell, programmed by Bruce J. Mack and Bryan Kelsch, featured art by Myk Friedman.[1] The music was by Scott "The Skinny Man" Loehr.

Isle of the Dead had two releases; each was slightly different from the other and had different box art. The first release had box art of a skull with decomposing flesh emerging out of the water near an island with words under it reading "Isle of the Dead". The second release's box features a man holding a shotgun standing next to a woman near a crashed airplane.

A port for the Atari Jaguar CD was in development but never released.[3][4]

Reception

Reception
Review scores
PublicationScore
Dragon[1]
Pelit13/100[5]

Upon its initial release, Isle of the Dead received negative reviews from reviewers. Reviewers compared the game to Wolfenstein 3D.[1][2][6] Sandy Petersen for Dragon in their "Eye of the Monitor" column gave the game zero out of five stars in the magazine's rating scale, advising readers to avoid playing the game.[1] Peter Olafson at Compute!, while negative towards its graphics, compared its mood to EC Comics horror magazines.[2] In their 15th anniversary issue, Computer Gaming World rated Isle of the Dead the 32nd worst game of all time, noting its "crude graphics, weak sound, and a weak 3D engine."[7]

"You don't play this shooter for fun. You play for penitence."

PC Gamer's Richard Corbett on Isle of the Dead.[8]

Retrospective reviews for Isle of the Dead were also negative towards the game. Kurt Kalata from Hardcore Gaming 101 said that Rainmaker Software took the worst elements of point-and-click adventures and first-person shooters and turned them into "an overtly shlocky mess", criticizing the lack of feedback when taking damage and the death animations throughout the game.[6] PC Gamer's Richard Cobbett, in his "Saturday Crapshoot" column, criticized its structure and the in-game map for being unhelpful.[8] Corbett would later call it one of the weirdest shooters of the 1990s.[9] Adam Smith from Rock, Paper, Shotgun called it one of the worst games he ever played.[10]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Petersen, Sandy (June 1994). "Eye of the Monitor" (PDF). Dragon. No. 206. pp. 58–59.
  2. 1 2 3 Olafson, Peter (July 1994). "Isle of the Dead (Software Review)". Compute!. No. 166. p. 115.
  3. ↑ "News - Jaguar Plugs into the CD revolution - Jaguar CD games in development". Edge. No. 20. May 1995. pp. 14–15.
  4. ↑ "Breaking - Jaguar Plugs into the CD revolution - Jaguar CD games in development". Next Generation. No. 6. Imagine Media. June 1995. p. 18-19.
  5. ↑ Salminen, Tapio (March 1, 1994). "Isle of The Dead – Aivokuolleiden saari". Pelit (in Finnish). Fokus Media Finland. Retrieved August 28, 2017.
  6. 1 2 Kalata, Kurt (August 28, 2011). "Your Weekly Kusoge: Isle of the Dead". Hardcore Gaming 101. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  7. ↑ "50 Worst Games of All Time" (PDF). Computer Gaming World. No. 148. Ziff Davis. November 1994. p. 94.
  8. 1 2 Corbett, Richard (March 23, 2013). "Saturday Crapshoot: Isle Of The Dead". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  9. ↑ Corbett, Richard (August 23, 2013). "The weirdest shooters of the '90s". PC Gamer. Future plc. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
  10. ↑ Smith, Adam (June 4, 2016). "Have You Played… Isle Of The Dead?". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Gamer Network. Retrieved August 24, 2017.
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