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When Techland first announced Dead Island back in 2005 we were just heading into the full zenith of the zombie craze. As its development wore on, and like a typhoon rushing toward shore, we would soon be bombarded with the undead in almost every form and function. Both our games and our media would become supersaturated with decayed flesh, and the moans of the walking dead soon became as familiar to us as the sound of the coins in Super Mario.
Now in 2011, two Left 4 Dead's, two Dead Rising's and an entire truckload of indie-zombie shovel-ware later, we are finally getting our hands on Techland's hat as it's thrown into the somewhat tired and worn zombie ring. In this new environment, Techland couldn't just make any zombie game and hope to ride the contrails of a fad. No, for Dead Island to break through our current undead-fatigue it would have to provide something special. It would have to approach the genre from a new perspective and, in the process, utilize a host of tried and true ideas.
Did they succeed? Does Dead Island make fighting the undead fun and fresh again? Well why don't you just read our review to find out.
Title: Dead Island (Xbox 360)
Developer: Techland
Publisher: Deep Silver
Release date: September 6th, 2011 (North America)
One cannot talk about what Dead Island is without first talking about what it is not. Techland's first trailer for the game, though good visually and a luscious piece of marketing for the game, couldn't have been more unrepresentative of the final product. People expecting an emotional zombie game, with a deep story and the heartstrings of Heavy Rain, will not find it here. Instead you'll find a minimalistic and poorly written tale which exists only as a feeble binder to get you from location to location. There are instances where Dead Island tries to put on the waterworks and throw a human face on all the carnage, but the effort is so transparent that these attempts not only fall far-short of achieving the moment, but they also take themselves so seriously that one cannot just chalk it up to Camp, chuckle, and move on.
The fact that the characters are also fairly languid surely doesn't help, and though the voice acting of the NPC's is fairly good, the voices of the main characters in-game are so bad they border on the hilarious. When I listen to an NPC wax poetic about about his suffering wife who needs medicine only for my character to shout “Sho' nuff!” when I accept the quest leads me to believe that Techland must be being ridiculous on purpose.
But honestly, none of this really matters because I just made a poisonous fire-axe and I'm carrying a gun that shoots electricity bullets.
You see, while Techland gets everything the trailer tries to convey wrong, they get everything the trailer does not convey right. The essence of the game is much more B-horror movie than complicated drama, and the very distillation of the emotional aspects found in the game are a direct result of that. It's hard to feel sorry for a bikini-clad woman who wants water when you just can't wait to stab a zombie in the head and shove him into a pool. And, often times, side-quests are just this tedious. But the reward of XP and cash are the very lifeblood the game runs on. So you'll bring her the water, just in the hopes that you can repair your favorite weapon that broke on your way to get it.
Though you can use anything you like as a weapon, all weapons break down over time so you'll need cash to repair them at workbenches. Luckily, since repairing high level weapons can become an expensive ordeal, cash can be found all around the island and on enemies you kill. It's a delicate balancing act between fighting to survive, and running away to preserve your best items, that's compounded by the fact that deaths are punished by a loss of cash. A handful of bad moments and it won't be long until you find yourself with all your good weapons broken and not enough money to make a repairs.
I've found myself in this type of position a few times. Having spent all my money on one good weapon, and no money to repair my spare, I was forced to brave the infested streets in a search of cash before I could even think about doing a mission. It was a frightful and harrowing experience that existed outside the confines of any scripted event or mission branch. Rather, it was an authentic byproduct of the game world Techland created. A moment of Survival-Horror in its most pristine form.
Generally speaking, this is what makes Dead Island work so well. It takes the idea of apocalypse, and eschews contemporary video game conceptions of players as Mad-Max type super heroes. Rather, Techland wants you to be the father in The Road, fighting and running away for your survival. Its a semi-realistic survival approach which, on one hand, keeps you in a state of constant dread as your trying to use anything you can to fight your way from one area to the next, but it also succeeds at keeping one foot firmly lodged in the fantastic, and allows you to combine weapons in some fairly obscene ways.
Weapon modification is one of the main systems in Dead Island and it's only a shame that it isn't explained a little better in the game. You'll end up with a virtual mountain of in-game components but you'll have no idea what to do with them unless you find the blueprint for the different mods. This means that you'll end up keeping everything just in case you need it later. And though components don't take up inventory space, it would be nice to have an idea of what components are beforehand.
If you have a blueprint and the correct components you can modify any weapon in the game, granting it the ability to do all sorts of alternative damage effects. From an Electrical Axe, to poison bullets, to fire sticks, almost anything is possible. And this weaponized environmental damage isn't just limited to whatever weapons you use. Zombies will take damage from the game world as well. They'll catch on fire or be electrocuted if you can manage to knock them into something deadly. You'll even be able to drown them if you kick them into pools. I wasn't aware that zombies needed oxygen, but there ya go.
Weapon damage is further modified by the abilities of the character you choose at the beginning of the game. In Dead Island you play as one of four archetypes, each with their own proficiencies. Xian Mei is best at using bladed weapons, Sam B is all things having to do with blunt weapons, Logan specializes in cutting and throwing weapons, and Purna is your gun expert. It should be noted that even though these are preset archetypes anyone can use any weapon they choose, but within the skill trees of these characters are the skills which allow them to make the most of their proficiencies.
Skill trees are separated into three trees, Fury, Combat and Survival. The Fury tree has to do with each characters special ability which they can trigger when they have obtained enough 'Fury' set it off. It's a timed special move which allows the character to do massive damage to large groups of enemies for a short period of time. The Combat tree raises the characters abilities with their preset proficiencies, and the Survival tree provides skills in things like lock-picking, damage reduction and health regeneration.
If you're starting to think this game seems a lot like Borderlands, you're right. In fact, there are so many aspects of Dead Island which are clearly gleaned from other games that you can almost make it a mini-game to find them all. (There's a weapon called The Ripper – Fallout anyone?) But there is certainly no harm in doing what works, especially when Techland has managed to take some of these ideas and improve on them significantly.
Like the real world, guns are not in big supply in Dead Island so you'll be doing most of your fighting melee style. For this game to work at all, Techland would have to nail down a combat system that many developers have struggled with in the past. Luckily, Techland has done a wonderful job at creating a melee system that becomes deep by its mere simplicity. To put it in contrast, Condemned 2 had a good melee system that ended up being weighed down by it's own attempt to expand itself. It relied on complicated combo moves that where difficult to master and made it hard to do anything truly amazing. Dead Island, on the other hand, has a simple and forgiving melee combat system that allows you to easily string together fantastic moves that would otherwise not even be possible.
For example, I was able to kick a charging zombie in the face just before he reached me, throw a knife into his chest, then move back in and hit him in the head with a wrench which exploded his head. As he stood there motionless in front of me, I grabbed the knife back from his twitching body and kicked his bleeding corpse onto the ground. Needless to say, melee combat in Dead Island feels fantastic and moments like these never cease to be fun and feel generally inspired.
This is not to say that there aren't problems with Dead Island. First and foremost, it's a buggy game that certainly shows signs of needing more time in development. For example, my first excursion with a vehicle ended quickly when I clipped through a planter and became stuck. Clipping problems like this exist throughout the environment which allows zombies to force their way through gates (beware the city alleyways) or become stuck on world objects. Also, the menu system is sluggish and not very well organized. When trading with NPC's, your currently equipped weapons are not marked, and more than once did I end up selling off equipment that I really needed. There is a “Buy Back” option but marking equipped items is a staple of modern RPGs that should have been included.
Furthermore, though the environments look great, character and zombie animations leave a lot to be desired. It's not as noticeable on the zombies since you can chalk up the movements to them being....well, zombies. But the human enemies in the game move just as jarringly, and their robotic movements look very archaic in a game being released in 2011. Shooting also feels fairly clumsy but I'm going to excuse that for the fact that the characters I played simply don't know how to use a gun, and I doubt I would do any better in the same situation. Be warned though, the clumsy gun-play excuse shatters when using Purna.
The game also has some balancing issues in that it has a tendency to over-spawn enemies at times, or just overly pound the player for no good reason. Dead Island just loves to spawn multiple Infected or Thug zombies out of nowhere which will makes short work of you if you can't get away. Because of this, death can come quick and often in later levels, and in its current state Dead Island can be far more brutal to players than any other zombie game out there today.
Coop worked flawlessly in my playthroughs as far as connectivity goes but the game allows anyone on your team to finish missions, even if you've just been standing by and watching the entire time, or somewhere else entirely. I suppose this makes a little more sense but it led to my partner just finishing a bunch of missions for me as soon as we got in, leading me to just simply watch the “Quest Completed” titles flash across my screen and my gameplay to fly away with it.
Dead Island is set to be released with a large patch on its opening day, and I can guess that there will be even further patching in the future. I hope so. When the game is good it's one of the best zombie survival experiences on the market, and a little more love by Techland to help it along would do the original dream justice.
It's quite possible that the first Dead Island trailer might just be the best and the worst thing that could of happened to this game. As much as it was fun to watch, I fear that it may not prepare people to accept it in its final state; to understand what Dead Island actually is and to fall in love with both its horror and its absurdity. For their part, Techland probably would have been better off falling in love with the absurdity a little more themselves, and crafting a tale that didn't take itself so seriously as to stand in harsh contrast to the gameplay beneath it.
And that gameplay is, without a doubt, some of the best survival-horror gameplay I've experienced to date. The fact of the matter is, Dead Island is an emotional game, but it has nothing to do with the emotions of the characters in it. It is the feeling you get when you have a “flimsy stick,” no money, and you need to go from one end of the city to the other with hundreds of infected dead standing in your way. That emotion is fear. Something Dead Island gets right.
Comments
13 years, 2 months ago
Nice review Joseph! I might have to figure out a way to rent this...Redbox perhaps. Regardless, I'm a little sad I didn't save for this when I had the chance.
13 years, 2 months ago
Sounds good, i'm impressed
13 years, 2 months ago
Great review, I should be playing this game tomorrow, seems like just what I expected. On the note of trailer not entirely showing how the game actually feels... The Secret World has been having some really awesome cinematic trailers that do not really give you the same vibe that the actual gameplay does.
I also think that quite a lot of people put too much value in Dead Island's first trailer, I did see the combat and saw these characters in a situation that did not necessarily mean the characters I played as would be. I don't think Dead Islands trailer is far off from what the actual gameplay is compared to The Secret World.
13 years, 2 months ago
Awesome review Joseph. I was very hesitant about this game but now there is only one question left in my mind.
Should I get this on 360 or PC?
13 years, 2 months ago
Somehow the fact that the trailer didn't match up to the gameplay does not surprise me. Glad to hear that it at least lived up to the hype of being "fun"...glitchiness can add to that, on occasion. Physics exploitation? Someone will do it.
Anyway! Thank you very much for this review, Joseph. Always glad to hear such a well-worded opinion.
13 years, 2 months ago
yes! I'm glad its the survival horror open world zombie game I've been waiting for! Thanks joseph :D
13 years, 2 months ago
"It is the feeling you get when you have a “flimsy stick,” no money, and you need to go from one end of the city to the other with hundreds of infected dead standing in your way."
Love this feeling. Or more the feeling you get when you end up getting to the other side of the city with just that flimsy stick and no money. It's what survival horror is all about son!
13 years, 2 months ago
Thanks for the great review Joseph! I wasn't sure whether or not to buy this game, but I think this has convinced me to spend the sixty bucks. I've waited a long time for a zombie game with this kind of visceral melee combat. I have a feeling it'll be a game with a well-deserved spot on my top ten list for 2011.
13 years, 2 months ago
Great review! I'm glad this game is turning out better then I thought it would. Seeing this review and others has me now excited for this game. Before, I was cautiously optimistic. Now, I can't wait till I get my copy in the mail.
13 years, 2 months ago
the review felt lacking
i got to this point and honestly this is where the review can be summed up and expected to go where:
"The fact that the characters are also fairly languid surely doesn’t help, and though the voice acting of the NPC’s is fairly good, the voices of the main characters in-game are so bad they border on the hilarious. When I listen to an NPC wax poetic about about his suffering wife who needs medicine only for my character to shout “Sho’ nuff!” when I accept the quest leads me to believe that Techland must being ridiculous on purpose.
But honestly, none of this really matters because I just made a poisonous fire-axe and I’m carrying a gun that shoots electricity bullets."
vast VAST majority of the review was about the weapons, which dont get me wrong is detailed and well written, but the review was lacking over all because of it. barely mention anything of story and other features.
however that is my personal opinion. i respect your review and i enjoyed reading it.
13 years, 2 months ago
Great review christ
13 years, 2 months ago
But i don't want poisonous fire-axes and I don't want simplistic melee combat. I seriously doubt this game could invoke fear with how over the top it sounds. I can understand the hilarity but sadly it just doesn't seem unique.
Good review but I'm not buyin' it....no pun intended.
13 years, 2 months ago
Not sure if this is true for the console versions, but they sent out the wrong version of the game for the PC. There are pdb files included in the install and no-clip is mapped to Y. Good job, techland.
http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2101468
13 years, 2 months ago
your review and gameinformer's have tipped me over the edge, just to make me sad that it's not out three days prior here, so I have to wait till the 9th to get it D=
I went from almost not caring to I wanna buy this game now in two days
13 years, 2 months ago
I still can't believe people are bitching about the CGI trailer! It's not the first time the first trailer doesn't represent the final game. Sure, when I saw it I thought it would be emotional and stuff, but after a few weeks when Techland said the game was nothing like that, I just changed my expectations. Remember the CGI trailer for Assassin's Creed? You had a crossbow in it. When you finally got a crossbow in Brotherhood, you already had a freaking gun.Remember the E3 demo? That level wasn't even in the final game. I just don't understand why they complain about Dead Island.
But it was a great review, Joseph. But I was hoping you would talk a little more about the environment.
13 years, 2 months ago
Yep, like someone said above, they left no clip in the PC version of game with just one button press.
They kinda dropped the ball on that and from what I've seen, this is a buggier mess than New Vegas. And seeing how this game was in development for 5+ years, that's rather unacceptable.
13 years, 2 months ago
Thanks for the review.
This is one I already have on pre-order. I'm glad to hear the co-op is robust, and most of the issues you had with the game are ones I was already aware of or suspecting about.
I can definitely say I'm in this for the action and the atmosphere, rather than some kind of labyrinthine emotional storyline, which sounds for the best anyway!
If there's a patch coming out, it does sound like maybe one to hang fire on for a couple days before playing, perhaps.
13 years, 2 months ago
Got it special at midnight, and played an hour before I went to sleep. I love the simple, visceral nature of the combat. Plus, the draw distances are so great in this game. There's actually chance to see your enemies before engaging them.. makes me feel so well-prepared.
13 years, 2 months ago
'it’s a buggy game that certainly shows signs of needing more time in development."
You're telling me. http://youtu.be/ny_sAqDPhi8
13 years, 2 months ago
I've been excited about this game for a while, since I could never get into Dead Rising. (I hated the mission structure.)
Also, the Ripper was the coolest weapon in Dead Space.
13 years, 2 months ago
That was a nice read. Wish the PC version wasn't such a mess right now.
13 years, 2 months ago
I'm still not convinced enough to buy this game. It seems like something I should be excited for and want to play but I'm just not feeling it.
I also have to agree with some of the comments before me, I don't see how this game could make me feel fear.
13 years, 2 months ago
Great Review. I'll probably wait a while to get this game since I wasn't really looking forward to this one. Your review definitely intrigues me about this game.
13 years, 2 months ago
Everyone knows I'm not the biggest fan of the Zombie genre in gaming, but the fact that I've heard this game is bringing back the "Survival/Horror" factor is enough to peak my interest. As always, Joseph, great review.
13 years, 2 months ago
When I first heard that the game was basically Far Cry 2 with Zombies, RPG elements and Co-op, I got excited. Some of the reviews Dead Island has been getting have worried me, but I trust your opinion when it comes to games, Joseph. I'll definitely pick this up as it seems to have EXACTLY what I was looking for in it.
13 years, 2 months ago
I had a feeling from the start that Dead Island's trailer would be very, very misleading once the final product came out. Everything I saw since then only confirmed as much, and so I wish they could have marketed it more appropriately. Regardless, I didn't expect that it would be a bad game. It does seem like a fun experience, with the customization and B-horror goodness, and I'm sad to have to miss out on it.
13 years, 2 months ago
Well, I hated the look of this game after I watched gameplay videos of it. However, the way this review describes the game makes me reconsider my opinion a bit. Time to go to my friend's house and get a feel for it. :D
P.S. Nice Review, Joseph.
13 years, 2 months ago
Great Review Joesph. I hope I get as much fun/entertainment as I'm anticipating this title to bring me. :D
13 years, 2 months ago
Good review, I think i'll wait to rent this game.
13 years, 2 months ago
Much want. I'll wait for a patch or two, then get it on Steam right away.
13 years, 2 months ago
Looks like an alright game once they iron out the bugs. Looking for a bit more story and less lightheartedness myself, so I think I'll pass.
13 years, 2 months ago
Great comprehensive review I'm glad to hear this game isn't horrible. Much like Deus Ex in the begging i was hesitant but now I think i might pick this up. I can't help my zombie killing urges. I also like the sense of survival you get sometimes while playing the game, like you mentioned above. Thanks for the review Joseph.
13 years, 2 months ago
Thanks for the review! I think i might rent it.
13 years, 2 months ago
Awesome review. Thanks!
13 years, 2 months ago
Good review but I'm still largely weary of this game, while it sounds like the combat is entertaining I just don't know if that would be enough to drag me through the entire game and what sounds like mediocre at best quests. Maybe if the world is fun to explore, I guess it's worth a rent to see.
13 years, 2 months ago
Here is my horror story from Dead Island. I had the game all pre-loaded and everything and was waiting until the second it was unlocked to start playing. This all went down without a hitch and I played a good 3 hours into the game before I went to sleep. When I woke up the next day I got back into dead island and downloaded the patch they had put out. When it first started up, the message that originally said "Ripper DLC available" was replaced with an error message. I disregarded this as a bug they would hopefully fix soon and continued my game. I spawned on top of the lighthouse where I last was and was puzzled to find that no one was up there with me when there should have been some NPC's. I searched around the lighthouse and found that I was trapped inside with all the NPC's missing. All my missions had disappeared and the game had lost my completed missions. My game complete percentage was back to 0% and I was broken hearted. I had to start the game all over again and rush through the first missions I had already completed the night before. I don't know what that was all about but I hope they at least fix the DLC problem because I hate owning something and not being able to use it. Thank god the game is super fun or I would be a lot more pissed.
13 years, 2 months ago
this game is amazing co-op, i mean even with 4 ppl you still get scared when going off on ur own....I mean its the open world zombie game that a lot of us has wanted. Its great, but is a bit buggy at times.
13 years, 2 months ago
Well now I want this game more than ever.
13 years, 2 months ago
The review has definitely got me interested in giving it a buy.
13 years, 2 months ago
I've really been enjoying Dead Island so far, been playing it co-op with my cousin. Where this game really excels is when you unintentionally force yourself into a dire situation while goofing around.
I think the simplistic combat is rather satisfying. It's a breath of fresh air coming off of Deus Ex. I'm still pissed off that they balls up any opportunity for intuitive melee combat in favor of take-downs in that one.
13 years, 2 months ago
I know exactly what Joseph means. Ive been playing through this game and I have gotten many of those "dread moments". I was super low on health after fighting off infected while loading supplies into a truck. Midway through I heard the blood curdling scream of some of the "sprinters" in the distance. I had no choice but to drop supplies and run. And that shear terror of hearing them right behind me as I darted away is exactly what this game is all about. I literally felt like I was running from those bastards.
13 years, 2 months ago
Hey Joseph in the second paragraph you spelled genre, "genera"
13 years, 2 months ago
I'm so torn. To buy? To wait and see?
Nice interview.
13 years, 2 months ago
Very nice review, Joseph.
13 years, 2 months ago
Damn fine reporting Joesph. I'm still hesitant on it but I think I'll give it a try thanks to this
13 years, 2 months ago
By the way, the character logan totally reminds me of you joe
13 years, 2 months ago
So I don't know about you, Joseph, but the glitches I've encountered so far in the game are absolutely horrid. I know you mentioned them a little how you can occasionally get stuck by driving into a planter, but they get much much worse than that. As in, missions can get buggy, making them impossible to finish, forcing the players to redo their progress. On multiple occasions, my teammates and I have had their game crash on them while driving in a vehicle together. Getting stuck on surfaces, sometimes for even up to an hour, animations not registering properly, etc. I haven't seen a buggier game since Alpha Protocol. Sure it's a fun game to play with your friends, but all of these bugs are making it near impossible to consistently enjoy it.
13 years, 2 months ago
I thought this review was very fair! Great writing too! IDK about the confusion in regards to selling stuff though-I think the stats are pretty clear. However, I do agree that the game really could've done a better job explaining some of the finer details more- meaning of different colors for weapon/object labels or why you even need algae? for example. And could it have hurt to provide us with some sort of reliable save system? Regardless, I felt very similar towards the game and got stuck in the same situation earlier today with all worn weapons and only my fists to make it from the north portion of the island to the lighthouse @ level 17-it was a rough run!
13 years, 2 months ago
Anyone who hasn't played this game saying "I don't see how this game could make me feel fear" should actually play the game themselves.They haven't adventured out in the world hearing the breathing of zombies as you approach an area and you're forced to swivel around trying to figure out where they are before you let your guard down to search for items. And the sound of the infected shrieking as they run to your position and you only have precious seconds to prepare and figure out where they're coming from is unlike anything I've ever felt. Left 4 dead never gave this sort of feeling.
13 years, 2 months ago
I just finished the game last night playing Co-Op with some friends. It took me around 35 hours, including (I think) all of the side quests.
It was certainly a great experience. Apart from my asshole friends telling me to go to a certain spot because they found a cool item, only to shoot a propane tank at my feet and kill me.