Dead Island Review
Developer Techland
Publisher Deep Silver
Platform Xbox360, PS3
Release Date Out Now.
Dead Island is brilliant, despite its faults and it has many, it has really managed to capture the Zombie genre perfectly, it has annoying characters, silly set pieces and over the top zombie skull smashing, low budget tricks of the trade that are all synonymous with the Zombie genre, and this is why the fans have been lining up to get a piece of the action while many critics have totally missed the point.
Set in an open world of the stunning looking Banoi open resort island, a picturesque holiday retreat that is home to a mix of holiday makers that make sure every cliché character is covered, the annoying over bearing football player, steely honest older gentleman to keep things together and of course plenty of bikini clad hysterical young ladies.
In the opening sequence you fall around blind drunk until you stumble of to bed, in the haze you spot a few odd happenings but are too drunk for them to click. Waking up with the mother of all hangovers the following morning the last thing you need is a zombie virus running riot on the island.
You must then team up with the remaining survivors to try and cobble together a way of not getting eaten alive, which is harder than it sounds. Your character despite getting bitten is immune to the virus and this is how the game balances the idea that you have to do all the tasks as you are the only one who can’t turn into a zombie, but you can still certainly die!
The game then turns into a Fallout type experience with you going from pillar to post collecting a whole host of different objects essential to the story, spare car parts are needed to repair your method of transport around the island. Medical supplies are required to heal the injured survivors, you know the usual Zombie apocalypse stuff.
Unlike other games in the genre you are not loaded up with an insane amount of guns and ammo, in fact guns are quite scarce and you must make do with what you can pick up. Boat paddles, iron bars, kitchen cleavers. Weapons have their health bar and will break quite quickly after smashing a few zombies, thankfully there are a number of work benches that allow you to repair the weapons and to upgrade them. That simple broom handle can now be turned into a pointy stick with nails driven through it! Making it an effective zombie killing apparatus.
Stamina is the main factor that gives the game its survival feeling, swinging your weapons or punching a zombie reduces your stamina meaning you can’t just run into a room full of Zombies and start smashing them apart. Your best bet is to avoid the Zombies unless absolutely necessary.
Dead island has managed to do something no other zombie game could manage since Resident Evil 1 and that is to create a believable, entertaining and genuinely engrossing zombie title.
Is it the best game you will play? not even close, is it still brilliant? you bet your zombie smashing ass it is
Score 9/10
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