Console: Xbox 360/ PlayStation 3/ PC
Players: Single & Multi player
Release Date: 9th September 2011
Developers: Tech land
Publishers: Deep Silver
Genre: Horror-Survival, Action-Adventure, Sand-box
Price: €44.99*
Immediately when we think of Dead Island we can only think of two things – that amazing trailer that we fell so deeply in love with (seriously beautiful music and terrifying scenes…AMAZING!) and Dead Rising and Left4Dead hooking up and giving birth to Dead Island the game!
It is often to even the casual gamer that the video game world is somewhat overrun by hordes of zombie themed games from Resident Evil, Left4Dead, Dead Rising, Evil Dead, Dead Space and House of the Dead (oh and these are just some of the big series of games, we didn’t even touch on once off releases or even the online world of flash gaming!). Zombies are everywhere so it’s important for developers and writers to think outside the rotting box!
Have Techland and Deep Silver done that?
Should have gone to Trabolgan instead…
On our first attempt around the island we were somewhat annoyed by the game, it looks nice, handles alright but we got lost and got killed by a pipe venting steam! We switched the game off and decided playing with a headache was not a good idea!
Round two kicked off the following morning and this time we were ready for Dead Island and thankfully we had the sense to tackle the game in the right spirits and with more than 2 hours sleep!
As the player you can take on the role of one of four survivors trapped on the fictional island of Banoi which has over night become infested by the walking dead. You are immune to the virus and the plot of the game centres around you finding other survivors and ultimately searching from a safe way off the island all the time guided by a mysterious man who seems to be able to monitor your every move and calls himself your friend!
The four survivors are:
Xian Mei – a Chinese informant who joined the Hong Kong police force in an effort to make her father proud of her but was placed on assignment spying on rich Westerners who frequented the Banoi island hotel.
Purna – a former police officer who was removed from the force for shooting a child molester responsible for the suicide of his own daughter. Purna now acts as a bodyguard for the rich socialites who visit the island.
Logan – A former pro-athlete, this hot head had everything until he let his ego get the best of him and crashed his car killed his passenger. After his release from prison Logan was kicked from the team and when offered a trip to Banoi all expenses paid he couldn’t refuse.
Sam B. – The one hit rap wonder, Sam coined the phrase ‘Who do you Voodoo, bitch?’ which shot him to stardom but only temporarily. Taking the gig at the Banoi resort he hopes some rich show business folk will give him a second chance to make it big!
Xian, Logan, Sam and Purna discussing how low their careers had sunk!
As one of the four you will navigate the island using whatever you can get your hands on as a weapon, this being a holiday resort guns aren’t readily available so you will need to use everything from kitchen knives to paddles and wrenches to defend yourself. Killing zombies will grant you experience points as will completing missions which can then be used to level up and unlock skill points allowing you to increase your characters abilities and your chances of survival.
Dead Island is…to be blunt a little stiff! Yes your environment is spectacular and combination of various game styles and elements makes for an interesting game but we can’t help but feel it falls short of the mark. Like many others we invested too much hope after watching the feature trailer and while the game offers a lot it doesn’t really live up to our expectations.
There are a lot of problems with the game including the navigation and completion of quests, we ourselves had to complete one quest three times before the game realised we had! The combat system is a little frantic and not because we were afraid of zombies more so the actual fluidity between attacks and landing them!
The production of the game is also not without its own controversies with the box art for America needing some rework after complaints about the hanging corpse which in the US is now just a zombie standing tall, Purna was meant to be able to unlock a skill called ‘Feminist Whore’ which was quickly changed to ‘Gender Wars’ and PC players have noted over 37 technical problems with the game alone which Techland sought to remedy on the first day of release!
Pinned for 2006, the game was pushed back to 2011 for whatever reasons but surely given the five years they could have worked on sorting out any and all issues with the game!
If you’re looking for something to fill the void until the release of Skyrim, Arkham City or Revelations then you wouldn’t go wrong with Dead Island as despite its faults the game is visually a feast of delicious graphics and landscapes and has enough playability in it to keep you playing for a while but if you’re looking for the next big Zombie game then best steer clear of this one!
Good Points
Visuals are amazing
You get to kill zombies
Mixed gaming elements is an interesting twist
Bad Points
Sloppy gameplay
Boring storyline
Terrible Quest system
Glitches galore
Rating
67/100
Dead Island…about as much fun as a crowbar to the eye!
And just because we loved it so much…
