Combining two of our favorite addictions, theTVaddict.com has begun periodically turning off the TV in order to review TV-related iPhone Apps.
After months of hype following Marc Ecko’s Comic Con announcement to a roomful of eager fanboys (and girls), DEXTER: THE VIDEO GAME has finally arrived on the iPhone and iPod Touch. Unfortunately, much like his ubiquitous clothing line, the game itself is all style and very little substance.
What Works: DEXTER: THE VIDEO GAME is visually stunning (ranking right up there with the best looking games in the App Store), fantastic sounding (courtesy of a soundtrack ripped directly from the Showtime series), and affordably priced at $3.99 (also known as far less than our daily Starbucks addiction). Regrettably, the positives end there.
What Doesn’t Our biggest problem with the game lies with the fact that the entire adventure (or lack-their of) is a carbon copy of the first season’s story-line. Getting the opportunity to play America’s favorite serial killer Dexter Morgan, as he tries to balance his day job as a mild-mannered blood splatter analyst with his extra curricular activities that involve avenging some of the city’s most gruesome criminals and hunting down the elusive Ice Truck Killer is all well and good if you’re a DEXTER neophyte. But if you’ve seen the series (and odds are if you’re visiting this site you have), the game is nothing more than a glorified rerun.
Added to the monotony is a mixed bag of missions which try far too hard to utilize the touch screen controls on your iPhone/iPod Touch. Unlocking doors, digging graves, jumping, and hacking all by swiping your hand across the screen gets old, and fast. What’s worse, the stealth missions that have you stalking your prey are far more frustrating than fun thanks to a control scheme that is virtually unusable. While mini-games that challenge you to analyze evidence, compare DNA, pick locks and analyze blood will have your very-own dark passenger boiling.
The Bottom Line: As the evidence suggests (see: unoriginal story, poor controls and tedious gameplay) DEXTER: THE VIDEO GAME is most definitely not the killer game fans deserve.
DEXTER: THE VIDEO GAME is available on iTunes for $3.99. 