The Zombie Apocalypse seems to be all the rage these days so it’s only appropriate that we expand on it as much as possible and I feel like Dead Island does just that. The game can be looked at as a crossbreed between Fallout and Dead Rising. Does it live up to all the hype it received since its first trailer however? I think it more then does.
Set on a remote island off the coast of Papua New Guinea, you take the role of one of four characters. Each with their own backstory you wake up to find yourself amongst the living dead. Your character however does not get infected like the others so it is up to you to find out what is going on and find a way off the island. While traversing through the main game you can will span over huge open world environments. A resort, city and sewers are some of maps you will encounter. Taking on the story and tons of sidequests which will earn you money, experience points and items.
As you earn experience your character will go up levels and can use points on the three skill trees you have to work with. Each have a slightly different tree to work with but range from special abilities, weapon durability, and weapon damage bonus etc. Weapons lose their durability while hacking and slashing zombies. Workbenches can be found throughout the game that can repair, upgrade and even mod weapons. One of the big things to note is that while the game does have guns, it isn’t the main focus as melee combat is.
Dead Island has a great way of never making you feel alone and are constantly looking over your shoulder. You won’t go a couple of feet without running into a zombie and different ones at that. There are all kinds of zombies that are unique to one another. Big zombies that can knock you a couple of feet off the ground with one swing to full on sprinters. There will be no shorter of cutting off limbs and heads here.
The game looks gorgeous. Environments are crisp and zombie gore is on point! Listening to creaks and zombie grunting becomes essential for navigation.
Of course one of the games biggest features is the ability to play four player co-op with friends and or strangers. It is primarily easy to get into ones game or vis versa and your even able to join strangers in mid progress that are near you. All of this while playing smoothly on little to no lag. Nothing is better then taking on the zombie apocalypse with others.
Glitches have been known to be an issue in the game and was once riddled with bugs. Textures sometimes don’t load right away and have seen quite a few rag doll physics issues. A patch has been made to fix most of the issues and have not seen anything that would make me think otherwise.
Dead Island is one of those games that had me hooked from beginning to end. It was easily addicting and made me feel like I was apart of the island. Some glitches here and there and melee combat gets some getting used to but the reward is great as things can only get better from here. Four player co-op can’t be beat and should be the new standard for games like this. One of my favorite titles of the year so far and can’t wait for the future of the franchise.
