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Dead Island
Take a pinch of Resident Evil, add the best of Carmageddon, season with some RPG elements and set it all on an island as pretty as any Crysis environment, and you would end up with something that is most definitely not Dead Island. It would be close, but there would still be something missing…
The story so far…
You take on the role of any one of four main characters, each with their own personality traits, skills and bonuses, trapped in a beautiful holiday destination that, overnight, has turned into a living nightmare. After a particularly rough night in which you are bitten by a crazed drunk, you have awoken to total devastation, destruction and the sounds of violent struggle. Your hotel is trashed, and the dead are walking, seeking out the living to feed their unholy appetites. Welcome to Banoi, formerly playground of the rich and famous, now home to the zombie apocalypse.
Having survived the bite, your fellow survivors realise you are immune, and that makes you important. You may hold the key to a vaccine within your blood, a slim hope for those that remain alive, but more immediately, it gives you the potential to complete some key tasks that the others would be unable to do. It’s down to you to fetch, forage and clear the path using whatever means are at your disposal. You have a whole island to play on and a mystery to unravel; where do the zombies come from, and how do you stop them? Best get started…
Gameplay
In a word, the gameplay is “odd”. This is not by any means a bad thing, in fact it’s that oddness that gives the game some individuality and prevents it from being just another RPG “pretender”. It’s not deep enough to be described as RPG, although elements of character development do exist. You have three “skill trees” to work with, and as you level up you get to spend your points on new facets to develop your character. These range from survival skills (such as the ability to make weapons last longer) through to combat traits (hitting harder, better stamina etc.) or “Rage” skills (your special ability, accessible once your rage meter is full).
The simplicity of the skill development system however is misleading. The choices you make here seriously affect the way your character behaves in combat, forcing your hand when it comes to picking equipment or choosing a path to a quest goal. I am actually quite in awe of this, it goes a long way to making the game replayable without the usual complexity of most big character driven games. Quests are given in traditional RPG fashion, and you work to complete them in any way you see fit.
But, the real heart of the game is the combat. Hordes of undead, shambling, mindless killers, interspersed with rapidly moving (and just as rotten) screaming corpses, backed up by an ever growing array of tougher, more resilient abominations will attempt to chew your face off, stab you with machetes or throw lumps of wood and steel at you. Very quickly, you’ll start to use everything you ever learnt from watching zombie films in order to avoid an untimely demise; climb on top of a wrecked car, chuck down a hunk of meat and wait for a sea of angry dead things to amass around you, close enough to start picking them off from the relative safety of your perch, or lure them into close proximity of a flaming dumpster and watch their dry flesh burst into flames. Molotov cocktails are especially useful when faced with a large group, and sometimes a single well- placed bullet at a gas cylinder can be far more efficient than attempting to take them out one at a time. This is most definitely a game that makes you think.
On the subject of guns, these are rare, and the bullets rarer still. This game is about as up close and personal as you could get, and this is where you’ll be spending most of your efforts. Weapons like baseball bats, crowbars, kitchen knives, hammers and machetes are plentiful. Collect all the required components and a modification plan, and you can start augmenting your favourite pieces. How about a flaming bat, doused in petrol? Or maybe strap a couple of big batteries to a machete, get a bit of an electrical kick going? There are dozens of mods available, and plenty of new and innovative methods for dealing with the enemy, but first you’ve got to find them.
Still, guns are available, and later in the game you can find a plan to make your own bullets out of scrap, and you will also find a trader who occasionally will supply you with ammo. Guns can be modified too, and these can add to the effectiveness, reducing the amount of ammo you use. You will, however, find that you are keeping your guns mainly for using against the gangs of living punks and rogues taking advantage of the situation.
These living enemies give an entirely different experience when it comes to combat. The AI is pretty good, and they will use cover, flank you and attempt to take you out as cleanly as possible. They do also provide an interesting opportunity, in the form of “luring” a zombie horde (with a well placed Meat Bomb) and getting them to finish each other off… very satisfying! Again, the key to success here is to think, to be inventive, and this is possibly the key to why this game is such good fun.
The island is big… Really big. Best way to get about is to find a useable car and drive as far as possible toward your goal. In fact, some of the missions will require it. Cars also make really good weapons, provide you with some protection and allow you to transport supplies for your survivor friends. Remember Carmageddon? Run ‘em over, get points… It’s the same deal here. However you choose to kill the zombies, you get the points, so use your car if you have one. It’s also quite a lot of fun…
Cars are also useful when you get joined by another player. See, Dead Island is not strictly single player or multi player, but rather a slick, seamless combination of the two. With a persistent internet connection, the game alerts you of nearby players doing similar quests, and they (or you) can choose to drop in and team up to complete quest lines, trade or swap info. Cars will carry up to four people, so if you are joined by the full quota, you’ll all fit; one to drive, three to shoot. Add to this that the game is intelligent enough to adjust difficulty to suit, and once again it’s a whole new ball game. Enemies will be more frequent, tougher and more resilient, providing a suitable challenge for your party.
Ups and Downs…
So, overall, this is an original game. With interesting quests and storylines, inventive gameplay, adaptable progression and slick controls, a varied combat system, drop in play and intelligent levelling system, it packs a lot in. But, therein lie some of the problems…
Sometimes it’s a little irritating when you are joined unexpectedly by another player; you can drop out, but that can break your stride, and this isn’t a game that forgives mistakes. I would rather be given the option to accept than be given freedom to join; personal preference, I know, but nonetheless…
This single/ multi player hybrid system precludes the use of saves. There is instead a series of checkpoints, frequent and sensibly placed, yet too far apart for comfort, requiring a little planning before ending a gaming session in order not to lose too much. A minor point perhaps, but I would rather the option to save as and when.
The drop in play system can unexpectedly add new quest lines to your journal (from the other players’ lists), so you get a new objective without finding out why. It does tend to make things a little more complicated than they need to be. Add in a handful of minor bugs, particularly with some of the side quests, and there is definitely room for improvement. Perhaps a patch will be forthcoming soon…
And yet, there’s one simple fact that overrides all of this and keeps Dead Island up amongst my most recommended games. It negates the importance of everything that I’ve already written, because despite all of the innovation, regardless of some of the best visuals, and unspoilt by the obvious flaws, Dead Island is reassuringly “Old School”. The combat is visceral, the action fast paced and it just feels so utterly retro, like an old Doom game, meaning that you can’t help but love it.
A Final Word…
Absolutely not for kids, don’t even play it in front of them! The language is ripe, the gore considerable and the environments as creepy as hell at times; if nothing else, your kids would end up with a phobia of desert islands and palm trees, and they’d never go near a beach hut again. They would, however, know more choice words than your average merchant seaman…
Deserving of the 18 rating, and worthy of a solid 8.5 / 10.
Take a pinch of Resident Evil, add the best of Carmageddon, season with some RPG elements and set it all on an island as pretty as any Crysis environment, and you would end up with something that is most definitely not Dead Island. It would be close, but there would still be something missing…
The story so far…
You take on the role of any one of four main characters, each with their own personality traits, skills and bonuses, trapped in a beautiful holiday destination that, overnight, has turned into a living nightmare. After a particularly rough night in which you are bitten by a crazed drunk, you have awoken to total devastation, destruction and the sounds of violent struggle. Your hotel is trashed, and the dead are walking, seeking out the living to feed their unholy appetites. Welcome to Banoi, formerly playground of the rich and famous, now home to the zombie apocalypse.
Having survived the bite, your fellow survivors realise you are immune, and that makes you important. You may hold the key to a vaccine within your blood, a slim hope for those that remain alive, but more immediately, it gives you the potential to complete some key tasks that the others would be unable to do. It’s down to you to fetch, forage and clear the path using whatever means are at your disposal. You have a whole island to play on and a mystery to unravel; where do the zombies come from, and how do you stop them? Best get started…
Gameplay
In a word, the gameplay is “odd”. This is not by any means a bad thing, in fact it’s that oddness that gives the game some individuality and prevents it from being just another RPG “pretender”. It’s not deep enough to be described as RPG, although elements of character development do exist. You have three “skill trees” to work with, and as you level up you get to spend your points on new facets to develop your character. These range from survival skills (such as the ability to make weapons last longer) through to combat traits (hitting harder, better stamina etc.) or “Rage” skills (your special ability, accessible once your rage meter is full).
The simplicity of the skill development system however is misleading. The choices you make here seriously affect the way your character behaves in combat, forcing your hand when it comes to picking equipment or choosing a path to a quest goal. I am actually quite in awe of this, it goes a long way to making the game replayable without the usual complexity of most big character driven games. Quests are given in traditional RPG fashion, and you work to complete them in any way you see fit.
But, the real heart of the game is the combat. Hordes of undead, shambling, mindless killers, interspersed with rapidly moving (and just as rotten) screaming corpses, backed up by an ever growing array of tougher, more resilient abominations will attempt to chew your face off, stab you with machetes or throw lumps of wood and steel at you. Very quickly, you’ll start to use everything you ever learnt from watching zombie films in order to avoid an untimely demise; climb on top of a wrecked car, chuck down a hunk of meat and wait for a sea of angry dead things to amass around you, close enough to start picking them off from the relative safety of your perch, or lure them into close proximity of a flaming dumpster and watch their dry flesh burst into flames. Molotov cocktails are especially useful when faced with a large group, and sometimes a single well- placed bullet at a gas cylinder can be far more efficient than attempting to take them out one at a time. This is most definitely a game that makes you think.
On the subject of guns, these are rare, and the bullets rarer still. This game is about as up close and personal as you could get, and this is where you’ll be spending most of your efforts. Weapons like baseball bats, crowbars, kitchen knives, hammers and machetes are plentiful. Collect all the required components and a modification plan, and you can start augmenting your favourite pieces. How about a flaming bat, doused in petrol? Or maybe strap a couple of big batteries to a machete, get a bit of an electrical kick going? There are dozens of mods available, and plenty of new and innovative methods for dealing with the enemy, but first you’ve got to find them.
Still, guns are available, and later in the game you can find a plan to make your own bullets out of scrap, and you will also find a trader who occasionally will supply you with ammo. Guns can be modified too, and these can add to the effectiveness, reducing the amount of ammo you use. You will, however, find that you are keeping your guns mainly for using against the gangs of living punks and rogues taking advantage of the situation.
These living enemies give an entirely different experience when it comes to combat. The AI is pretty good, and they will use cover, flank you and attempt to take you out as cleanly as possible. They do also provide an interesting opportunity, in the form of “luring” a zombie horde (with a well placed Meat Bomb) and getting them to finish each other off… very satisfying! Again, the key to success here is to think, to be inventive, and this is possibly the key to why this game is such good fun.
The island is big… Really big. Best way to get about is to find a useable car and drive as far as possible toward your goal. In fact, some of the missions will require it. Cars also make really good weapons, provide you with some protection and allow you to transport supplies for your survivor friends. Remember Carmageddon? Run ‘em over, get points… It’s the same deal here. However you choose to kill the zombies, you get the points, so use your car if you have one. It’s also quite a lot of fun…
Cars are also useful when you get joined by another player. See, Dead Island is not strictly single player or multi player, but rather a slick, seamless combination of the two. With a persistent internet connection, the game alerts you of nearby players doing similar quests, and they (or you) can choose to drop in and team up to complete quest lines, trade or swap info. Cars will carry up to four people, so if you are joined by the full quota, you’ll all fit; one to drive, three to shoot. Add to this that the game is intelligent enough to adjust difficulty to suit, and once again it’s a whole new ball game. Enemies will be more frequent, tougher and more resilient, providing a suitable challenge for your party.
Ups and Downs…
So, overall, this is an original game. With interesting quests and storylines, inventive gameplay, adaptable progression and slick controls, a varied combat system, drop in play and intelligent levelling system, it packs a lot in. But, therein lie some of the problems…
Sometimes it’s a little irritating when you are joined unexpectedly by another player; you can drop out, but that can break your stride, and this isn’t a game that forgives mistakes. I would rather be given the option to accept than be given freedom to join; personal preference, I know, but nonetheless…
This single/ multi player hybrid system precludes the use of saves. There is instead a series of checkpoints, frequent and sensibly placed, yet too far apart for comfort, requiring a little planning before ending a gaming session in order not to lose too much. A minor point perhaps, but I would rather the option to save as and when.
The drop in play system can unexpectedly add new quest lines to your journal (from the other players’ lists), so you get a new objective without finding out why. It does tend to make things a little more complicated than they need to be. Add in a handful of minor bugs, particularly with some of the side quests, and there is definitely room for improvement. Perhaps a patch will be forthcoming soon…
And yet, there’s one simple fact that overrides all of this and keeps Dead Island up amongst my most recommended games. It negates the importance of everything that I’ve already written, because despite all of the innovation, regardless of some of the best visuals, and unspoilt by the obvious flaws, Dead Island is reassuringly “Old School”. The combat is visceral, the action fast paced and it just feels so utterly retro, like an old Doom game, meaning that you can’t help but love it.
A Final Word…
Absolutely not for kids, don’t even play it in front of them! The language is ripe, the gore considerable and the environments as creepy as hell at times; if nothing else, your kids would end up with a phobia of desert islands and palm trees, and they’d never go near a beach hut again. They would, however, know more choice words than your average merchant seaman…
Deserving of the 18 rating, and worthy of a solid 8.5 / 10.
Nin wrote:
chasfh wrote:
[i]I am with you though, I would have preferred to have a proper single player game.
Why couldnt you have that? In the options you can switch off all online modes. That was the default for me as I have no internet.[/i]
Proper as is cut sequences not designed for multiplayer, gameplay designed for single player and optimised for single player etc...
I am aware that you CAN play it as single player, however it is not DESIGNED to be played as such.
chasfh wrote:
[i]I am with you though, I would have preferred to have a proper single player game.
Why couldnt you have that? In the options you can switch off all online modes. That was the default for me as I have no internet.[/i]
Proper as is cut sequences not designed for multiplayer, gameplay designed for single player and optimised for single player etc...
I am aware that you CAN play it as single player, however it is not DESIGNED to be played as such.
I rather liked Dead Island.
I played nothing but single player but it was a little irritating when the cut scenes had all the characters together despite the fact I hadn't met any of them.
I found mowing down zombies in a 4X4 strangely relaxing.
I played nothing but single player but it was a little irritating when the cut scenes had all the characters together despite the fact I hadn't met any of them.
I found mowing down zombies in a 4X4 strangely relaxing.
chasfh wrote:
I am with you though, I would have preferred to have a proper single player game.
Why couldnt you have that? In the options you can switch off all online modes. That was the default for me as I have no internet.
I am with you though, I would have preferred to have a proper single player game.
Why couldnt you have that? In the options you can switch off all online modes. That was the default for me as I have no internet.
Dr. Garin wrote:
I didnt dislike it. Steam tells me I've played it for 20 hours. Pretty sure it wasnt 20 hours of torture!
I just wish the story had been more engaging I suppose.
20 hours is pretty presentable actually... I think I may have invested a little more than that. Funny thing is, I just sort of accepted that all the cut sequences would have all four characters in, and all the other little oddities, mainly because of the drop in play.
I am with you though, I would have preferred to have a proper single player game.
I didnt dislike it. Steam tells me I've played it for 20 hours. Pretty sure it wasnt 20 hours of torture!
I just wish the story had been more engaging I suppose.
20 hours is pretty presentable actually... I think I may have invested a little more than that. Funny thing is, I just sort of accepted that all the cut sequences would have all four characters in, and all the other little oddities, mainly because of the drop in play.
I am with you though, I would have preferred to have a proper single player game.
I didnt dislike it. Steam tells me I've played it for 20 hours. Pretty sure it wasnt 20 hours of torture!
I just wish the story had been more engaging I suppose.
I just wish the story had been more engaging I suppose.
Dr. Garin wrote:
I just finished this last week actually. I suppose its a Diablo/Titan Quest type thing in a first person perspective really.
I really wish they'd kept the single player totally separate, the multiplayer spoilt the game mechanics too much for me. Game immersion got diluted and dying basically had no consequence. And the automatic difficulty adjustment just meant from beginning to end you had the same fight time & time again.
The story was pretty weak irrespective of that though. Almost like an after thought to contrive reasons for visiting various areas. And the cut scenes always depicted all 4 characters even though I was on my own 100% of the time, I found that really annoying! Having said that, I've just finished Rage today. The story in that was bordering on the pointless.
Perhaps I'm on my own liking this then...
As I said, it was actually quite nice to have a proper old style game to play, leaving me free to think about things like new and inventive ways to destroy the enemy...
Perhaps I'm easy to please...
I just finished this last week actually. I suppose its a Diablo/Titan Quest type thing in a first person perspective really.
I really wish they'd kept the single player totally separate, the multiplayer spoilt the game mechanics too much for me. Game immersion got diluted and dying basically had no consequence. And the automatic difficulty adjustment just meant from beginning to end you had the same fight time & time again.
The story was pretty weak irrespective of that though. Almost like an after thought to contrive reasons for visiting various areas. And the cut scenes always depicted all 4 characters even though I was on my own 100% of the time, I found that really annoying! Having said that, I've just finished Rage today. The story in that was bordering on the pointless.
Perhaps I'm on my own liking this then...
As I said, it was actually quite nice to have a proper old style game to play, leaving me free to think about things like new and inventive ways to destroy the enemy...
Perhaps I'm easy to please...
I just finished this last week actually. I suppose its a Diablo/Titan Quest type thing in a first person perspective really.
I really wish they'd kept the single player totally separate, the multiplayer spoilt the game mechanics too much for me. Game immersion got diluted and dying basically had no consequence. And the automatic difficulty adjustment just meant from beginning to end you had the same fight time & time again.
The story was pretty weak irrespective of that though. Almost like an after thought to contrive reasons for visiting various areas. And the cut scenes always depicted all 4 characters even though I was on my own 100% of the time, I found that really annoying! Having said that, I've just finished Rage today. The story in that was bordering on the pointless.
I really wish they'd kept the single player totally separate, the multiplayer spoilt the game mechanics too much for me. Game immersion got diluted and dying basically had no consequence. And the automatic difficulty adjustment just meant from beginning to end you had the same fight time & time again.
The story was pretty weak irrespective of that though. Almost like an after thought to contrive reasons for visiting various areas. And the cut scenes always depicted all 4 characters even though I was on my own 100% of the time, I found that really annoying! Having said that, I've just finished Rage today. The story in that was bordering on the pointless.
Nin wrote:
Could have been really good but the controls badly let it down. Add a bit more depth to the story, sort the controls out and a sequel would be a potential game of the year.
I can only assume that in terms of controls, you were using a game pad, as the keyboard and mouse controls seemed fine to me. Standard FPS layout, responsive and easy to learn, I was comfortable with them within the first ten minutes.
I do agree that the storyline could maybe have had a bit more depth, but then potentially you'd move the game further into the realms of RPG and away from the old school shoot/ beat 'em up that I actually found so appealing. Not 100% convinced that would be better, it would just be different...
Could have been really good but the controls badly let it down. Add a bit more depth to the story, sort the controls out and a sequel would be a potential game of the year.
I can only assume that in terms of controls, you were using a game pad, as the keyboard and mouse controls seemed fine to me. Standard FPS layout, responsive and easy to learn, I was comfortable with them within the first ten minutes.
I do agree that the storyline could maybe have had a bit more depth, but then potentially you'd move the game further into the realms of RPG and away from the old school shoot/ beat 'em up that I actually found so appealing. Not 100% convinced that would be better, it would just be different...
Could have been really good but the controls badly let it down. Add a bit more depth to the story, sort the controls out and a sequel would be a potential game of the year.
Dead Island
Take a pinch of Resident Evil, add the best of Carmageddon, season with some RPG elements and set it all on an island as pretty as any Crysis environment, and you would end up with something that is most definitely not Dead Island. It would be close, but there would still be something missing…
The story so far…
You take on the role of any one of four main characters, each with their own personality traits, skills and bonuses, trapped in a beautiful holiday destination that, overnight, has turned into a living nightmare. After a particularly rough night in which you are bitten by a crazed drunk, you have awoken to total devastation, destruction and the sounds of violent struggle. Your hotel is trashed, and the dead are walking, seeking out the living to feed their unholy appetites. Welcome to Banoi, formerly playground of the rich and famous, now home to the zombie apocalypse.
Having survived the bite, your fellow survivors realise you are immune, and that makes you important. You may hold the key to a vaccine within your blood, a slim hope for those that remain alive, but more immediately, it gives you the potential to complete some key tasks that the others would be unable to do. It’s down to you to fetch, forage and clear the path using whatever means are at your disposal. You have a whole island to play on and a mystery to unravel; where do the zombies come from, and how do you stop them? Best get started…
Gameplay
In a word, the gameplay is “odd”. This is not by any means a bad thing, in fact it’s that oddness that gives the game some individuality and prevents it from being just another RPG “pretender”. It’s not deep enough to be described as RPG, although elements of character development do exist. You have three “skill trees” to work with, and as you level up you get to spend your points on new facets to develop your character. These range from survival skills (such as the ability to make weapons last longer) through to combat traits (hitting harder, better stamina etc.) or “Rage” skills (your special ability, accessible once your rage meter is full).
The simplicity of the skill development system however is misleading. The choices you make here seriously affect the way your character behaves in combat, forcing your hand when it comes to picking equipment or choosing a path to a quest goal. I am actually quite in awe of this, it goes a long way to making the game replayable without the usual complexity of most big character driven games. Quests are given in traditional RPG fashion, and you work to complete them in any way you see fit.
But, the real heart of the game is the combat. Hordes of undead, shambling, mindless killers, interspersed with rapidly moving (and just as rotten) screaming corpses, backed up by an ever growing array of tougher, more resilient abominations will attempt to chew your face off, stab you with machetes or throw lumps of wood and steel at you. Very quickly, you’ll start to use everything you ever learnt from watching zombie films in order to avoid an untimely demise; climb on top of a wrecked car, chuck down a hunk of meat and wait for a sea of angry dead things to amass around you, close enough to start picking them off from the relative safety of your perch, or lure them into close proximity of a flaming dumpster and watch their dry flesh burst into flames. Molotov cocktails are especially useful when faced with a large group, and sometimes a single well- placed bullet at a gas cylinder can be far more efficient than attempting to take them out one at a time. This is most definitely a game that makes you think.
On the subject of guns, these are rare, and the bullets rarer still. This game is about as up close and personal as you could get, and this is where you’ll be spending most of your efforts. Weapons like baseball bats, crowbars, kitchen knives, hammers and machetes are plentiful. Collect all the required components and a modification plan, and you can start augmenting your favourite pieces. How about a flaming bat, doused in petrol? Or maybe strap a couple of big batteries to a machete, get a bit of an electrical kick going? There are dozens of mods available, and plenty of new and innovative methods for dealing with the enemy, but first you’ve got to find them.
Still, guns are available, and later in the game you can find a plan to make your own bullets out of scrap, and you will also find a trader who occasionally will supply you with ammo. Guns can be modified too, and these can add to the effectiveness, reducing the amount of ammo you use. You will, however, find that you are keeping your guns mainly for using against the gangs of living punks and rogues taking advantage of the situation.
These living enemies give an entirely different experience when it comes to combat. The AI is pretty good, and they will use cover, flank you and attempt to take you out as cleanly as possible. They do also provide an interesting opportunity, in the form of “luring” a zombie horde (with a well placed Meat Bomb) and getting them to finish each other off… very satisfying! Again, the key to success here is to think, to be inventive, and this is possibly the key to why this game is such good fun.
The island is big… Really big. Best way to get about is to find a useable car and drive as far as possible toward your goal. In fact, some of the missions will require it. Cars also make really good weapons, provide you with some protection and allow you to transport supplies for your survivor friends. Remember Carmageddon? Run ‘em over, get points… It’s the same deal here. However you choose to kill the zombies, you get the points, so use your car if you have one. It’s also quite a lot of fun…
Cars are also useful when you get joined by another player. See, Dead Island is not strictly single player or multi player, but rather a slick, seamless combination of the two. With a persistent internet connection, the game alerts you of nearby players doing similar quests, and they (or you) can choose to drop in and team up to complete quest lines, trade or swap info. Cars will carry up to four people, so if you are joined by the full quota, you’ll all fit; one to drive, three to shoot. Add to this that the game is intelligent enough to adjust difficulty to suit, and once again it’s a whole new ball game. Enemies will be more frequent, tougher and more resilient, providing a suitable challenge for your party.
Ups and Downs…
So, overall, this is an original game. With interesting quests and storylines, inventive gameplay, adaptable progression and slick controls, a varied combat system, drop in play and intelligent levelling system, it packs a lot in. But, therein lie some of the problems…
Sometimes it’s a little irritating when you are joined unexpectedly by another player; you can drop out, but that can break your stride, and this isn’t a game that forgives mistakes. I would rather be given the option to accept than be given freedom to join; personal preference, I know, but nonetheless…
This single/ multi player hybrid system precludes the use of saves. There is instead a series of checkpoints, frequent and sensibly placed, yet too far apart for comfort, requiring a little planning before ending a gaming session in order not to lose too much. A minor point perhaps, but I would rather the option to save as and when.
The drop in play system can unexpectedly add new quest lines to your journal (from the other players’ lists), so you get a new objective without finding out why. It does tend to make things a little more complicated than they need to be. Add in a handful of minor bugs, particularly with some of the side quests, and there is definitely room for improvement. Perhaps a patch will be forthcoming soon…
And yet, there’s one simple fact that overrides all of this and keeps Dead Island up amongst my most recommended games. It negates the importance of everything that I’ve already written, because despite all of the innovation, regardless of some of the best visuals, and unspoilt by the obvious flaws, Dead Island is reassuringly “Old School”. The combat is visceral, the action fast paced and it just feels so utterly retro, like an old Doom game, meaning that you can’t help but love it.
A Final Word…
Absolutely not for kids, don’t even play it in front of them! The language is ripe, the gore considerable and the environments as creepy as hell at times; if nothing else, your kids would end up with a phobia of desert islands and palm trees, and they’d never go near a beach hut again. They would, however, know more choice words than your average merchant seaman…
Deserving of the 18 rating, and worthy of a solid 8.5 / 10.
Take a pinch of Resident Evil, add the best of Carmageddon, season with some RPG elements and set it all on an island as pretty as any Crysis environment, and you would end up with something that is most definitely not Dead Island. It would be close, but there would still be something missing…
The story so far…
You take on the role of any one of four main characters, each with their own personality traits, skills and bonuses, trapped in a beautiful holiday destination that, overnight, has turned into a living nightmare. After a particularly rough night in which you are bitten by a crazed drunk, you have awoken to total devastation, destruction and the sounds of violent struggle. Your hotel is trashed, and the dead are walking, seeking out the living to feed their unholy appetites. Welcome to Banoi, formerly playground of the rich and famous, now home to the zombie apocalypse.
Having survived the bite, your fellow survivors realise you are immune, and that makes you important. You may hold the key to a vaccine within your blood, a slim hope for those that remain alive, but more immediately, it gives you the potential to complete some key tasks that the others would be unable to do. It’s down to you to fetch, forage and clear the path using whatever means are at your disposal. You have a whole island to play on and a mystery to unravel; where do the zombies come from, and how do you stop them? Best get started…
Gameplay
In a word, the gameplay is “odd”. This is not by any means a bad thing, in fact it’s that oddness that gives the game some individuality and prevents it from being just another RPG “pretender”. It’s not deep enough to be described as RPG, although elements of character development do exist. You have three “skill trees” to work with, and as you level up you get to spend your points on new facets to develop your character. These range from survival skills (such as the ability to make weapons last longer) through to combat traits (hitting harder, better stamina etc.) or “Rage” skills (your special ability, accessible once your rage meter is full).
The simplicity of the skill development system however is misleading. The choices you make here seriously affect the way your character behaves in combat, forcing your hand when it comes to picking equipment or choosing a path to a quest goal. I am actually quite in awe of this, it goes a long way to making the game replayable without the usual complexity of most big character driven games. Quests are given in traditional RPG fashion, and you work to complete them in any way you see fit.
But, the real heart of the game is the combat. Hordes of undead, shambling, mindless killers, interspersed with rapidly moving (and just as rotten) screaming corpses, backed up by an ever growing array of tougher, more resilient abominations will attempt to chew your face off, stab you with machetes or throw lumps of wood and steel at you. Very quickly, you’ll start to use everything you ever learnt from watching zombie films in order to avoid an untimely demise; climb on top of a wrecked car, chuck down a hunk of meat and wait for a sea of angry dead things to amass around you, close enough to start picking them off from the relative safety of your perch, or lure them into close proximity of a flaming dumpster and watch their dry flesh burst into flames. Molotov cocktails are especially useful when faced with a large group, and sometimes a single well- placed bullet at a gas cylinder can be far more efficient than attempting to take them out one at a time. This is most definitely a game that makes you think.
On the subject of guns, these are rare, and the bullets rarer still. This game is about as up close and personal as you could get, and this is where you’ll be spending most of your efforts. Weapons like baseball bats, crowbars, kitchen knives, hammers and machetes are plentiful. Collect all the required components and a modification plan, and you can start augmenting your favourite pieces. How about a flaming bat, doused in petrol? Or maybe strap a couple of big batteries to a machete, get a bit of an electrical kick going? There are dozens of mods available, and plenty of new and innovative methods for dealing with the enemy, but first you’ve got to find them.
Still, guns are available, and later in the game you can find a plan to make your own bullets out of scrap, and you will also find a trader who occasionally will supply you with ammo. Guns can be modified too, and these can add to the effectiveness, reducing the amount of ammo you use. You will, however, find that you are keeping your guns mainly for using against the gangs of living punks and rogues taking advantage of the situation.
These living enemies give an entirely different experience when it comes to combat. The AI is pretty good, and they will use cover, flank you and attempt to take you out as cleanly as possible. They do also provide an interesting opportunity, in the form of “luring” a zombie horde (with a well placed Meat Bomb) and getting them to finish each other off… very satisfying! Again, the key to success here is to think, to be inventive, and this is possibly the key to why this game is such good fun.
The island is big… Really big. Best way to get about is to find a useable car and drive as far as possible toward your goal. In fact, some of the missions will require it. Cars also make really good weapons, provide you with some protection and allow you to transport supplies for your survivor friends. Remember Carmageddon? Run ‘em over, get points… It’s the same deal here. However you choose to kill the zombies, you get the points, so use your car if you have one. It’s also quite a lot of fun…
Cars are also useful when you get joined by another player. See, Dead Island is not strictly single player or multi player, but rather a slick, seamless combination of the two. With a persistent internet connection, the game alerts you of nearby players doing similar quests, and they (or you) can choose to drop in and team up to complete quest lines, trade or swap info. Cars will carry up to four people, so if you are joined by the full quota, you’ll all fit; one to drive, three to shoot. Add to this that the game is intelligent enough to adjust difficulty to suit, and once again it’s a whole new ball game. Enemies will be more frequent, tougher and more resilient, providing a suitable challenge for your party.
Ups and Downs…
So, overall, this is an original game. With interesting quests and storylines, inventive gameplay, adaptable progression and slick controls, a varied combat system, drop in play and intelligent levelling system, it packs a lot in. But, therein lie some of the problems…
Sometimes it’s a little irritating when you are joined unexpectedly by another player; you can drop out, but that can break your stride, and this isn’t a game that forgives mistakes. I would rather be given the option to accept than be given freedom to join; personal preference, I know, but nonetheless…
This single/ multi player hybrid system precludes the use of saves. There is instead a series of checkpoints, frequent and sensibly placed, yet too far apart for comfort, requiring a little planning before ending a gaming session in order not to lose too much. A minor point perhaps, but I would rather the option to save as and when.
The drop in play system can unexpectedly add new quest lines to your journal (from the other players’ lists), so you get a new objective without finding out why. It does tend to make things a little more complicated than they need to be. Add in a handful of minor bugs, particularly with some of the side quests, and there is definitely room for improvement. Perhaps a patch will be forthcoming soon…
And yet, there’s one simple fact that overrides all of this and keeps Dead Island up amongst my most recommended games. It negates the importance of everything that I’ve already written, because despite all of the innovation, regardless of some of the best visuals, and unspoilt by the obvious flaws, Dead Island is reassuringly “Old School”. The combat is visceral, the action fast paced and it just feels so utterly retro, like an old Doom game, meaning that you can’t help but love it.
A Final Word…
Absolutely not for kids, don’t even play it in front of them! The language is ripe, the gore considerable and the environments as creepy as hell at times; if nothing else, your kids would end up with a phobia of desert islands and palm trees, and they’d never go near a beach hut again. They would, however, know more choice words than your average merchant seaman…
Deserving of the 18 rating, and worthy of a solid 8.5 / 10.