Review a Week: Dead Island has all the amenities you could ever want!

Upon first reading, and seeing Dead Island in action, I wrote it off as a Left 4 Dead wannabe with melee weapons instead of guns. So when I picked it up last week, I was pleasantly surprised to find a much deeper experience then the previews for the game were able to get across. 

 

Set in a fictional island of Banoi, just off the coast of Papua New Guinea, four different characters (which you can choose from and have your friends play the rest) wake up at the Palms Resort hotel to zombies everywhere. The four survivors, immune to becoming zombies, are tasked with protecting other NPC survivors and solving the constant zombie problem.

 

The story starts off as simple as can be, you wake up in the hotel, grab a weapon (melee only) and start fighting off the undead. As you get further in the game, characters start to pop up and the characterization starts in. I was impressed with the amount of characters and how different they all were in the short time I spent with the game. 

 

The four main characters are memorable in their own right, but other NPC characters I won't forget. Two in particular, a married couple, you help the husband who's been bit by taking his wife to safety, and she asks you to check in on her husband. When (or if) you return to the husband, he's a zombie, and you're given the choice of running away and leaving him by after hearing his story and helping him, or chopping his head off. The more missions you take, the more diverse characters you meet. It becomes obviously shortly into the game that this is no rip off, and the team behind Dead Island really tried hard to make the setting and characters eat up the set pieces around you.

 

So, you're given mostly melee weapons to use, and while their are guns, ammo is low and it's hard to come by enough guns to just blast all the zombies away. Your best bet is to stock up on melee weapons, and spend time repairing and creating new weapons to use. This is where my first issue with the game comes into play. Weapons can get worn down, and that's not an issue, it makes perfect sense. 

 

My issue is that weapons get worn down extremely quickly, and considering in some cases you fight off eight to ten zombies at a time, you don't always have the presence of mind to change weapons, and end up wearing one out completely. So when you wanna repair it, you're paying out some big bucks. 

 

Now, there is a skill tree for each character (more on that in a second), where you can upgrade your character and make your weapons not wear out as quickly, but that presents another issue. Choosing to have your weapons wear down slower ties up a skill point that could help you in health or how much damage you dish out.

 

The skill tree is the meat and potatoes of the game, allowing you to upgrade your health, how much you attract the undead, how fast your weapons wear down, and how much damage you dish out. This is great for those who rack up the experience points, and grind their character to exactly their playstyle. The trade off however, is that something is bound to suffer. Because you can only upgrade so much over time, you have to pick and choose wisely. Eventually you're going to have to ignore one skill you need for another. This of course does bring the tension up, but in a cheap way that shouldn't have been allowed to happen.

 

You will also need to keep an eye on your stamina gage, making sure that your health stays up is important, but if you're just slicing and dicing away, you'll wear yourself out and will easily be taken down by the undead. It's a neat way to keep you on your toes, and forces you to play the game smart instead of going balls deep into action. 

 

There's a great looting system in place for those who love to look in every corner, and doing so will reward you with plenty of cash and items to sell and upgrade your weapons with. Exploring each area takes some time, dealing with the undead and everything else, you'll be struggling to decide if you wanna continue on down the beach or retreat for safely. 

 

When it comes to scares, there's some decent ones. It's hard to not be creeped out when you're walking or driving along and hear that scream of a zombie noticing you. Then having them run directly at you drives the intensity up. I loved letting a zombie come running up and kicking them, a move a zombie can't block or avoid. It's rewarding and opens the door up for more attacks. 

 

Speaking of attacks, I suggest everyone use the stick controls for using your weapons. Sure the default setting is easier, but there's something very rewarding about looking up slightly and taking the right analog stick to the left, then across to the right and swiping a zombie's head off. 

 

The graphics, when it comes to the setting and the design of the zombies, is off the charts. The island is beautiful, and the sounds make you honestly feel like you're there. However, when you're slicing up the zombies and watching characters move and talk, you'll notice a lack of polish. It's not a real knock, considering how much they packed into the game, but most will notice the lack of detail in the gore effects. 

 

The achievements are a mixed bag of ones that you'll get for story progressive, online cheevos, and ones you get from grinding away. They're great for any achievement hunter, and they encourage you to visit every inch of the island. This is a game that, to get all the cheevo's, you'll need to put some real time into the game, and that's not a bad thing.

 

I can say that Dead Island is not only worth a rental, but also worth a buy. If you're into zombie bashing, and first person shooter games, then this is right for you. With the looting, skill tree, and plenty of gore you'll be stuck on this game for weeks if not months.