Wed 05 Oct 2011
Playstation
Dead Island Review
Unlike Left 4 Dead, Dead Island has a much lighter tone to it that seems
to take more from Dead Rising, although not quite as light or as silly
as Dead Rising, Zombie’s aren’t even remotely scary in Dead Rising. It
leans towards the older Dawn of the Dead movie in tone, but contains
Zombies that are scary like in the 2005 Remake (not the ones whose faces
are visible painted blue). This sharp contrast between debauchery and
paradise, and cannibalism and death is quite prevalent throughout the
entirety of this game and just makes it really fun.
In Dead Island you awake on a gorgeous Island resort that has just been overrun by Zombies, how exactly? You’re not really sure at first, but it quickly becomes clear that you’re special and immune to the walking to dead......it’s your basic run of the mill excuse for carnage, mayhem and bikini clad women. Zombie films can really only go one of two ways, the religious route which was prevalent in the early days of Zombies films, you know hell, the end times etc. Etc. And the more modern concept of Science, humans tampering with genetics, disease, you know what I’m referring to. The survival concept and gameplay trumps the narrative and story aspect of the game, so it is more focused on the gameplay than anything else. If you’re looking for a good story or a fresh take on Zombies, this isn’t it. The game does give occasional hints early on as to why Zombies all of sudden appeared out of nowhere, but ultimately the story is pretty predictable anyways, as mentioned above it can really only go one of two ways.
All the playable characters have their own background stories which are woven into the games dialogue, but ultimately their background stories are uninteresting and pretty cliché, it looks like someone whipped them up in about ten minutes......a bit like this review, kidding. The Island is massive and has a lot of variety in terms of the environment, this is no Gillligan’s Island, this place is huge, there’s dozens of hours of exploration and plenty of quests, some of which are vital to the plot, others which are just there for the experience. What’s cool about this game is there’s although only a few types of enemies, almost every type of Zombie ever witnessed in cinema is featured in this game, there’s the slow walkers, the runner, the brutes, and even some new ones, so I liked that fact that there wasn’t just one or the other, it was all there in one big package. There are also a lot of different looks and environments packed what could have easily been one monotonous environment given that it is an Island, but the developers managed to include a lot of variety.
There’s a ton of side quests as well which add to Dead Risings the replay value. The single experience is engrossing and very long, worthy of being called an RPG game. The one thing that really separates this from any other Zombie game is it brilliantly incorporates RPG elements and manages to feel like the perfect blend between Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead. Every character has their own special weapons, of course weapons will break and need to be repaired, you’ll find numerous new weapons as you progress throughout the game, food and energy drinks heal you as you move onwards. If you die you lose 10 percent of your cash, so there is an incentive to stay alive, however a lot of these quests can seem kind of frivolous and pointless at times. But where Dead Island really shines is in Co-op mode, Dead Island like Left 4 Dead is a game made for Co-op, you can ride shotgun in vehicles while your friend drives it, the enemies becomes more difficult as you add more players, so it always feels difficult. The best way to play this game is with a friend, but whether you choose to play with or friend or go it alone, this game will captivate you.
Rating: 90% “Left 4 Dead on a boutique Island, obviously you want this game.”
Pros:
Brilliantly weaves the RPG element into the Zombie survival genre to make for something refreshingly original
Tons of gameplay worthy of being called an RPG
Great to play a friend
Fantastic Graphics and sound
Cons:
Cliché characters, not the most original story
In Dead Island you awake on a gorgeous Island resort that has just been overrun by Zombies, how exactly? You’re not really sure at first, but it quickly becomes clear that you’re special and immune to the walking to dead......it’s your basic run of the mill excuse for carnage, mayhem and bikini clad women. Zombie films can really only go one of two ways, the religious route which was prevalent in the early days of Zombies films, you know hell, the end times etc. Etc. And the more modern concept of Science, humans tampering with genetics, disease, you know what I’m referring to. The survival concept and gameplay trumps the narrative and story aspect of the game, so it is more focused on the gameplay than anything else. If you’re looking for a good story or a fresh take on Zombies, this isn’t it. The game does give occasional hints early on as to why Zombies all of sudden appeared out of nowhere, but ultimately the story is pretty predictable anyways, as mentioned above it can really only go one of two ways.
All the playable characters have their own background stories which are woven into the games dialogue, but ultimately their background stories are uninteresting and pretty cliché, it looks like someone whipped them up in about ten minutes......a bit like this review, kidding. The Island is massive and has a lot of variety in terms of the environment, this is no Gillligan’s Island, this place is huge, there’s dozens of hours of exploration and plenty of quests, some of which are vital to the plot, others which are just there for the experience. What’s cool about this game is there’s although only a few types of enemies, almost every type of Zombie ever witnessed in cinema is featured in this game, there’s the slow walkers, the runner, the brutes, and even some new ones, so I liked that fact that there wasn’t just one or the other, it was all there in one big package. There are also a lot of different looks and environments packed what could have easily been one monotonous environment given that it is an Island, but the developers managed to include a lot of variety.
There’s a ton of side quests as well which add to Dead Risings the replay value. The single experience is engrossing and very long, worthy of being called an RPG game. The one thing that really separates this from any other Zombie game is it brilliantly incorporates RPG elements and manages to feel like the perfect blend between Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead. Every character has their own special weapons, of course weapons will break and need to be repaired, you’ll find numerous new weapons as you progress throughout the game, food and energy drinks heal you as you move onwards. If you die you lose 10 percent of your cash, so there is an incentive to stay alive, however a lot of these quests can seem kind of frivolous and pointless at times. But where Dead Island really shines is in Co-op mode, Dead Island like Left 4 Dead is a game made for Co-op, you can ride shotgun in vehicles while your friend drives it, the enemies becomes more difficult as you add more players, so it always feels difficult. The best way to play this game is with a friend, but whether you choose to play with or friend or go it alone, this game will captivate you.
Rating: 90% “Left 4 Dead on a boutique Island, obviously you want this game.”
Pros:
Brilliantly weaves the RPG element into the Zombie survival genre to make for something refreshingly original
Tons of gameplay worthy of being called an RPG
Great to play a friend
Fantastic Graphics and sound
Cons:
Cliché characters, not the most original story
