In case you have’t seen it already, the internet is a buzz with the release of the new Dead Island trailer. Many people are also saying that it’s one of the best trailers out there. It’s certainly a solid enough argument to make. It’s a very smart trailer in both the design and the storyline with some great editing and being just over three minutes, could class itself as being one very good and very short “short film”. It’s both controversial and visually stunning and I think this trailer would gain a much stronger response if it had been for a film for example. The musical score can only be described as beautiful and works very well with the on screen material.

Of course the peril with CGI heavy “cut scene” animation trailers is that often the games don’t play as the trailer might suggest. Take Section 8 for example, some of the best designed suits and a fantastic trailer but the game is so poor, I’d class it as laughable. The Final Fantasy franchise is often guilty of such deeds, producing sparkling and gorgeous looking trailers without an actual game that meets up to it’s expectations and yes I’m looking at you Final Fantasy XIV. These are just two examples of the plethora of video games which have fallen for  the “epic trailer but game is actually rubbish” trap.

With that in mind, does having a great trailer up the expectation so much that it simply sets the video game up for a fall? For example if the trailers to Haze or Star Wars: Force Unleashed were poor would that have created a lower expectation for the game itself visa-vie making the game, “better than expected”? It’s true to say that you’d inevitably lack the buzz that trailers aim to create and that in itself is a problem but what’s the worse of two evils; a great trailer and a lame game or a poor trailer and an underselling game? Clearly the studios and development houses will opt for the former but after many years of E3, Comic-Con and the like style announcements, should we the consumer be more hard skinned before making preconceived judgements on a new video game? This isn’t just solely placed in the lap of the video games industry either, films suffer much the same fate and an over hyped film can often leave a poor taste in movie-goer’s mouths as many of you will have experienced. So aside from concentrating their efforts on making video games that are as good as the trailers themselves what else is there you can do?

What are your opinions on the trailer and the subject? Love it or loathe it?