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Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick

What is it about the Evil Dead franchise that keeps people coming back for more? There have been numerous versions of the three films released on DVD, one game already made (best forgotten about though) and still fans clamor for more. That’s where Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick comes in.

Bypassing the previous game and taking place as sort of a sequel to Army of Darkness, ED:FoB puts players square (jawed) into the role of Ash, as portrayed by genre favorite Bruce Campbell. Here he not only reprises his role in voice and spirit, but as a guiding force as well. This game actually attempts to be the 4th movie that fans have been clamoring for.

Set in Dearborn Michigan, Ash finds himself once again in the center of a war against the deadites. Still missing his right hand, but armed with a jaw that more than makes up for it, Ash winds up collecting a nice array of available weapons to dispose of the latest infestation. Of course the trademark chainsaw and shotgun are represented. But there are pistols of varying sorts, machine guns, a flamethrower, even a shovel that are at some point part of Ash’s arsenal.

The plot really does take a few liberties not only with the Evil Dead license (as is to be expected), but with “reality” as well. Given that time travel is possible it should only be to a location that would exist within the reality set up by the premise – sure, Dearborn was around in colonial times, but was it really a major part of the Civil War? Maybe I should just brush up on my American history…

Graphically, ED:FoB is decent, but doesn’t take advantage of “next-gen” capabilities. Textures are a bit flat, interactivity with the environment is extremely limited, and the same character models keep cropping up over and over. However, this shouldn’t be taken that the game is a visual slouch. Some of the character animations, particularly Ash wielding his chainsaw and the beheaded deadite are joys to watch.

So, yes, there is time travel involved. Clever plot device or overused cliché? A bit of both actually, but when it comes to the (mis)adventures of Ash, it’s not really a fine line that’s being tread, it’s rather wide and all encompassing. Ultimately, who care? The recreation of Ash and the Evil Dead universe done with care is enough to make any fan of the series look past the game’s cheesy dialogue and … well … wait, that’s part of Evil Dead as well …

So, I the Evil Dead universe has been fairly well represented making the Evil Dead fans happy, what about the actual game portion – the combat? There are two primary attacks, one for each hand. One hand will have a ranged weapon (such as the shotgun, dynamite, etc.) while the other has something attached (chainsaw, flamethrower, etc.) each with a designated button for use. Targeting is automatic, which can be problematic. It would have been nice to be able to choose targets.

There are spells which can be used as well, and they vary from bolts of electricity to making Ash large and strong to actually possessing a deadite. Gathering mana to conduct a spell is as easy as killing a deadite – they have a little bit o’ mana hidden in them (some will have health power ups, other ammo).

All of this combines into the primary gameplay of wandering around and staying alive in a city teeming with deadites. Players get to not only utilize weapons against enemies, but (and this is key) several insults as well. There will be many times when the player feels like pressing an extra attack button and having Ash hurl one of his wisecracks to the deadites. These are all spot-on, further adding to the immersion of the player into the Evil Dead universe.

There is the requisite puzzle solving to accomplish as well, but nothing that would tax Ash’s brain too much. It’s all pretty straightforward, and doesn’t really detract from the primary purpose of the game – to blast deadite after deadite back to their own dimension.

Not really a survival horror game, Evil Dead: Fistful of Boomstick really acts more like an action game – which works rather well, since the first Evil Dead film was more horror than action, and the third being more action than horror. The shift in emphasis makes a natural transition to videogames. But, take away the Evil Dead license, and do you have a good game? Yes. Not a great game, but a decent one. Without the various bits that make Evil Dead what it is (Ash’s cheesy dialogue, chainsaw beheadings, etc.) this would just be an average game. As it is though, this belongs on the shelf next to your 3 different DVD versions of Army of Darkness.

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Posted by Daniel "monk" Pelfrey on Jul 29th, 2003 and is filed under Reviews, Xbox Reviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can post a comment, or trackback from your own site.

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