EXPERIENCE THE REALTIME INTERACTION IN A MOVIE At its core Stay Dead is a 'round beat'em up' like Street Fighter with elements taken from rhythm games. The brand new idea behind Stay Dead is to have a real time interaction inside a cinematographic scene, using the main character as if he would be a videogame character. Stay Dead is the union of movies and videogames. Finally, the sound and graphic quality of a movie joins effectively the interaction of a next generation videogame, creating a unique and involving game experience. LIBERTY OF ACTION In Stay dead, even if the graphic is entirely shot in real life, you can move your character and you can perform more than 150 different techniques distributed in 5 stages. Use all the classic moves of the fighting games, just watch the result of your stunts with a never seen before spectacularity that just a real life shot with a cinematographic direction can provide.
I can understand why this is poorly rated. It's short and simple, and people may not feel like the game is worth the cost. Yet I still found it enjoyable.
At its core, Stay Dead is a rhythm game. If you play it for awhile, you can really get into how fights flow. You'll notice how scenes change and be able to predict what button you'll need to press before it even comes up on screen.
I do admire what the developer is trying to go for - basically making a cinematic game that's as fun to watch as it is to play - but its hangups as a game diminish its effect. The plot is non-existent in the game appart from having to go from one fight to the next, and you have to look up their website or pay close attention to your opponent's names to get any idea of what's going on, and even then the plot is non-existant.
Really, the best I can say about this is that is tries something different. Yet those flaws still exist, regardless of intentions. I hope they continue to make games, and hope that with time and polish they'll be able to come out with something closer to what they're striving for.
The TL;DR of it is: if you like rhythm games, you might enjoy Stay Dead. Otherwise, you'll be turned off by the short game length (beat it in a single sitting), and non-existent plot.