Dead Island First Impressions

It used to be that World War II games were the laughing-stock of the gaming world thanks to their abundance, but the most blatant fad today has got to be zombie games. We might have Valve’s Left 4 Dead to thank, because since its release in 2008, there have been a countless number of zombie-based games released, or games that feature some sort of zombie mode (Call of Duty: Black Ops is even set to release a zombie-specific DLC soon). There have been cute zombie games and there have been serious zombie games. What’s clear – this fad, like zombies, refuses to die.

That said, I am not a particular fan of zombie games, though I am a fan of zombie movies. I have tried out various zombie games in the past and none have hooked me, but when I caught wind of Dead Island, I wondered if I could be. In the most general of descriptions, it seemed to be a game that took Borderlands and Left 4 Dead and put them into a blender. From as far as I’ve gotten into the game so far, that seems to be a valid description.

As the name suggests, the entire game takes place on an island – with a lot of undead. You can choose one of four characters; two female and two male, each with their own strengths. Like Borderlands, Dead Island is best played with friends, up to a maximum of four. With each friend that joins in on the fun, the enemies become stronger, but given the extra firepower, that won’t be a problem.

The game, similar to other action role-playing titles, has a great deal of variety where missions are concerned. There are some missions that are integral to the story, and also many side-quests that don’t have to be completed but do offer experience points and other nice bonuses. There isn’t much of a story that I’ve been able to garner from the game so far, with most quests having to do with retrieving items or people for someone.

One of the more unique mechanics of the game is the weapon system. Many weapons can be found on killed-again zombies, or can be taken from the environment itself. As one example, I tore a pipe off of a building and used that to lay some zombies flat. Where the unique comes in is with the fact that all weapons will become unusable after some time. Most of the weapons I’ve found so far have been made of wood, and after five or so zombies, it’s to the point where I have to throw it to the ground and use another or resort to punching.

At certain locations, weapons can be repaired or upgraded, though I haven’t managed to do the latter at this point. Throughout the landscape you will find many random objects though, such as glue and wire, so I am betting that these have to do with upgrading and will become a lot more useful as time goes on.

If you don’t manage to overtake an enemy, or you are simply knocked down due to the sheer number of them, you might have the option to wrestle one off of you. If this happens, a quick-time event (QTE) will appear where you will have to click the left and right mouse buttons on queue in order to shake them off. I hate QTEs, and this is no exception. The problem here is that the icons that flash telling you which button to click are not large, and in the heat of battle, fade away quick so you are left to simply button-mash.

In terms of items, there is a lot to pick up in this game, from items to cash to weapons to collectibles. The latter, in co-op, have to be picked up by each player, while imperative quest items will affect all players regardless of who picks it up. This is somewhat inconvenient, as it means you will need  to (unless you are uncaring) tell your friends where a collectible is to make sure they don’t miss out.

The sound from what I’ve heard in the game so far is fantastic, with the voice-acting doing most of the impressing. The graphics are good, not great, as can be seen in the screenshots here. There’s no DirectX 11 support, but that’s little surprise. The game is an obvious console port, and some low-res objects might detract a bit from the gameplay, but it still looks quite good overall and features a huge amount of eye-candy. Especially if you like crystal sand, blue sky and lots of shrubbery and forest. Not the best-looking PC game, but attractive enough.

I hope to get a lot more Dead Island action in over the next week, and will prepare a review if time allows. If any of our readers owns the game already and would like to hook up, please let me know in the thread!