Sub-par vampire slaying thrills
The Robert Rodriguez/Quentin Tarantino vampire movie is the rather odd inspiration for this little known tie-in and while it could have resulted in a quirkily enjoyable game, the result is a bog standard shooter. However, it's not the complete disaster that most movie licences are (Home Alone 2 anyone?)and does expand slightly on the movie's plot while providing some reasonably exciting action but it's far from a must play. The game takes place after the movie, with the player taking on the role of Seth Gecko (let's face it, who would want to play Tarantino's character?) as he languishes in a floating jailhouse. However, he is not free from the vampire menace as they manage to infiltrate the prison and it falls to him to escape and end their threat, by terminating them by any means necessary. From Dusk Till Dawn does a reasonable job of recreating the movie's style, with a good atmosphere and impressive production values, while the shooting action does remain consistently enjoyable. However, there are some fairly major issues that hamper its overall quality and which prevent it from reaching its potential. The control system is noticeably awkward, lacking precision and feeling heavy and slow, while the unimaginative creature and level design mean that things run out of steam quite soon after an energetic opening. There are also some seriously dodgy NPCs who are lacking in AI and some annoying mini-games to wade through, while the poor script lacks any real wit or intelligence. Individually, these problems could be overlooked but when taken together they create a game which is easily avoided.
