Summary [7.0 out of 10]

Dead Island generated immediate buzz when its first trailer hit and news of the gameplay kept it going with what sounded like a fun and intense zombie survival experience. Playing the demo at E3 took it a step further and had us really excited for the release. The reality of the game, however, is considerably less exciting and fun than all the hype was supposing. The game has all the elements it should but it is in serious need of tweaking and balancing. As the game stands now, there are some really cool things going on and it gets better when  doing the co-op multi-player, but the missions felt like more of a chore to complete than a fun challenge and I didn’t find myself wanting to come back to it much when I wasn’t playing. As cool as some elements are in the game I should never be more inclined to watch Glee than play a kick ass zombie game.

What It’s Like

•  Dead Rising 2: A major element of Dead Island, although not major enough for some tastes, is the ability to not only pick up found items to use as weapons but to also customize those weapons and combine them with other things to create new weapons. Dead Island has some cool custom weapons but it could have done with less stringent requirements for putting them together.
  

• Left 4 Dead: The co-op and variety of undead are very reminiscent of Left 4 Dead. It doesn’t feel derivative but rather just similar. If you liked those aspects of the two Left 4 Dead games you will most likely enjoy them here.

 

The Great:

• Intensity: Dead Island doesn’t play around when it comes to throwing a challenge at you. If you have played other zombie games and find the challenge something to be desired, this is going to make you happy. The zombies run fast and hit hard and if you find yourself surrounded by more than three zombies the you are pretty boned. It is nice to have a game that doesn’t pull punches like this but at the same time this is a double edged sword that will be addressed later. The main plus about this is that it really advances the feeling of what a real zombie onslaught might be like from a challenge perspective.

•  Graphics: Despite some hiccups, the graphics are pretty gorgeous here. From animation to gore to fine details. everything looks really good. The environment is lush and if you can keep zombies from biting on your ass long enough it is nice to stand and just look out over the island. The zombies themselves look great with very detailed wounds and decay effects. Pretty much everything here looks great and really builds up the next category:

•  Atmosphere:  All of the elements here collectively build the over all atmosphere and that is spot on. When you walk up some stairs to a pool area and there is a body floating in water turned completely red, that really sells the fiction. Aside from that, the lighting and level design further makes the island feel real and just dripping with the undead. If you let it happen, you will find yourself engrossed in the world and all the stress that comes with it.

 

• Concept: Conceptually this game is 100% win. Who wouldn’t want to play through a zombie invasion on a tropical paradise? Four characters with unique and upgradable skills taking on an army of varying zombie sorts against a sunsoaked backdrop and moody shadows and darkness sounds pretty great on paper.

The Good:

 

• Voice Acting:The game’s voice work is pretty good across the board. There are a few missteps here but given how much the game relies on verbal directions and interactions with the NPCs the voices needed to be top notch. For the most part, they are and really elevate the material.

•  Controls:  There are a lot of different things to do here and the ways to do it are mapped out intelligently on the controller and while you will probably throw it across the room in disgust it probably won’t be the fault of the controls. Controls are intuitive and easy to use and won’t screw you.

•  RPG Elements: As difficult as the game is, the RPG elements help improve your character as you progress and give you a lot of options on how to play. Things that seemed impossible seem slightly more possible as you upgrade until you have a character capable of being killed much more slowly than before. It really lets you play the way you want to play and makes you feel like you are actually doing something in the game and improving yourself as you progress.

•  Co-Op: The game is really made for Co-op and fall kind of flat without it. When you have multiple players helping you out the frustrating difficulty becomes fun as you can work together to sort things out. It is pretty self explanatory how this would improve things in general but in this case the game is actively designed for this play style in mind. It makes me wish that the single player had bots helping you out to try to make that a bit more accessible but getting together with a friend is the best way to go anyway.

 

The Bad:

 

• Balance: The difficulty is fine insofar as offering up intensity but the balance of that is really off and at times can get so extreme that going on missions become a chore. The missions give you the difficulty rating upfront which is nice but when they throw very hard missions at you right away it can be frustrating. I am not saying I want the game to be easy but consistent difficulty would be nice.

•  Stamina/weapons degrade: These are both examples of how the game is balanced badly. If the rate of stamina loss or degrading of weapons could be tweaked in such away that they still provide challenge but give a bit of relief from the difficulty. As it is, they happen so rapidly that it feels like you are having to constantly micromanaging your resources and stamina. You can upgrade and improve these over time but this still doesn’t do the trick. Tweaking these to values would open up the game in a big way and I hope that a sequel will do just that.

•  Side-quests: These are by and large annoying and boring. There are a ton of side-quests but none of them feel vital or exciting. Yes I know that the nature of side-quests is that they aren’t mission critical but it would be nice if they felt like they actually meant something or were worth more than some extra item or experience. I would hope that they would add to the experience instead of feeling like it is just busy work to artificially extend play time.

•  Lack of Fun: This is the really big one. This game, due in part to the balancing and uninteresting side-quests, just isn’t that fun. I am not sure if it is because intense realistic zombie survival isn’t nearly as exciting as being a raging badass mowing them down left and right or if it is just because so much of the game feels like a chore or a combination of both but I rarely felt the burning need to play more. I think when you are cleaning your cat boxes instead of playing the game, and not because they need it, there is something inherently wrong. Add that to the fact that when I WAS playing it I was falling asleep or thinking of other things and you have a game that just doesn’t deliver on fun.

 

Conclusion [7.0 out of 10]

I really wanted to like Dead Island. I was very excited about it before it came out and I ranted about it to anyone who would listen. The disappointment made me want to drop the score even lower but looking at it as objectively as possible, there are things that work pretty well here. Unfortunately those elements don’t gel with other elements or elevate those elements into something enjoyable to play. There is a ton of potential here and if a sequel happens I really hope they rebalance and find the fun because a Dead Island game could be pretty terrific. Unfortunately, this is not the one.