Dead Island

[Spike88]

Don't know much about this game, other than the fact it's only for PC and 360, it has zombies, and is made by some polish developer. But Holy crap, this is an awesome teaser:
http://www.ign.com/videos/2011/02/16/dead-island-announcement-trailer


And an article:
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/115/1150368p1.html

[ajrimmer42]

wow, looks pretty decent. It is on PS3 too apparently.

[Weiss Pinguin]

That trailer was something :o

Definitely going to be looking for this game.

[Spike88]

Just read through the article.

It will be for all 3 systems.
It will be FPS/Action-RPG.
It will be story based
It will have 4 player Co-op play.


Sounds like they took Left 4 dead and changed the formula.

[SgtPotato]

More melee weapons and less firearms/ammo.

I like the challenge. If it have a chainsaw, I'm happy. :rock:

[ajrimmer42]

:arrgh!: be good if they get the dismemberment right too, as in bits come off where you slash them lol

[Arclight]

Yep, I'm interested. Kinda weird considering I neither like FPS games or zombies in particular. Open world sounds good though, combined with survival gameplay it should be interesting, in theory at least. :hmmm:

Trailer is excellent... until the facebook link at the very end. That completely killed the mood for me, for some reason. :doh:

(same stuff basically: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/02/16/bleak-doesnt-begin-to-say-it-dead-island/)

[Arclight]

Some screenshots: http://kotaku.com/#!5766354/this-is-what-dead-island-the-game-looks-like/gallery/2

Actually ashamed to link to Kotaku nowadays. :oops:

[Wolfehunter]

that is one of the best trailers I've have ever seen. I can really feel it. damn great stuff. Good on them. :yeah:

I actually felt bad for that kid.....

[Oberon]

I do believe that is probably the hardest hitting trailer I have ever seen...

Just....well, words don't work for it.

[Weiss Pinguin]

I actually felt bad for that kid.....
I do believe that is probably the hardest hitting trailer I have ever seen...

Just....well, words don't work for it.
:yep: IMO the music is what really makes it.

[Weiss Pinguin]

DOUBLE POST

Looks like someone made a Shaun of the Dead Island mashup:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yR9WsSTAqvg

[Dowly]

Yahtzee:
http://www.escapistmagazine.com/videos/view/zero-punctuation/4694-Dead-Island

[Ducimus]

Yatzee nailed it on what the game was influenced by. It takes A lot from borderlands, throws in the "get creative with your melee weapons" from dead rising 2 (im guessing on that, never played it), and has some definate left for dead influence. (There's even a achievement called Right4Life) but, aside from yazee's compairison there,. *I* happen to really like it. Hell, im hooked on it. I guess zombie shooters just haven't gotten old to me yet. Hell, i was playing killing floor just yesterday.

Anyway, here's what i like from what i've played thus far:

Open world exploration. (IE, NOT a rail shooter. )

A bit of survival aspect to it. I like picking up pipes, wrench's, boat oars, and using them tell they break, throwing it away, and grabbing something else. It's almost like a bar room brawl. You can also customize weapons. Generally speaking you have to scavange to survive.

Can be creative with combat, it seems fluid, and attempts a little more realism. For instance kicking is definatly handy, but its more like a combo opener. You can for example, doing a flying kick with one character, but it eats half your stanima, but its a garunteed knockdown. If you pick up a lead pipe, use it enough and it starts to bend and be blood caked. Eventually it just becomes unusable.


Bottom line in my book is, if your not tired with zombie games , hate COD styled rail shooters, prefer open world exploration, and if you liked borderlands, you'll probably like dead island. On the other hand, if your bored with and tired of zombies as the bad guy, you might not like it so much.

[Dowly]

Haven't played it myself, but have watched few Let's Plays and it looks kinda cool.

Especially the detail to combat/weapons is nice. :yep:

Might have to pick this up later on. :hmmm:

[ajrimmer42]

I like it, it's a half decent zombie based fps, but it gets very boring very fast unfortunately :(

[Ducimus]

I like it, it's a half decent zombie based fps, but it gets very boring very fast unfortunately :(

So did borderlands. I think this is a game that will get better with a few patch's and DLC's. When i do eventually get bored with it (as i eventually do with all games i get into), ill just go back to leveling perks in killing floor or something. :haha:

I think this is game best played in short spurts. When it gets old, put it down, come back to it later. Same thing for Farcry 2 and Borderlands.

[ajrimmer42]

I think this is game best played in short spurts. When it gets old, put it down, come back to it later. Same thing for Farcry 2 and Borderlands.

couldn't agree more :up:

[SgtPotato]

It does get boring and frustrating when playing alone. I'm not sure if we can try to play Co-Op

[Ducimus]

Well, the game does have a Co op mode. Personally i disabled people joining my game, while leaving the option open to join someone elses game. Right now i find myself making my own scheduale when playing. You know.. i want to go check out this area over here. Hey what's that over there? You know, ill bet this person might be found over there, i think ill systematically go through that area and find out.....

Then there's the dillweed that jumps into your game that wants to rush through everything like he's playing COD or something, and then another brain dead moron jumps in with a crystal clear voice over IP , and all he wants to talk about smoking pot, because the other idiot who wants to rush through everything is named after smoking weed or something. Blech. I had that happen first time i started playing. Quickly disabled public character slots on my game after that.

[SgtPotato]

I wouldn't mind to play with you, Ducimus, if you got time on the weekends.

[Ducimus]

Ok, so i have about 48 hours played in this game, so i guess im qualified to give give something of a review/guide on it. Although I haven't finished the game yet, and barely started Act 3 ( there are 4 acts), before deleting my character and starting over.

First, you better decided from the very outset, if your going to play mulitplayer or not. Because this dictates choice of character and skills.


About that firearms expert......
My first go at the game, i picked the Firearms expert. What can i say, i love shooting zombies.

Now if you intend to play solo, i would not suggest the firearms expert. The use of guns from what i played (up to the a little into act 3), is very sporadic. About the only time you really use guns a lot, is against human bandit styled NPCs. At all other time's, the use of guns was impractical because:
a.) you won't find ammunition for them except on humans who use them.
b.) It takes a quite a few shots to down a zombie, even while shooting at the head.
c.) Until you get deep into the survival tree, you can't carry much ammunition.

If you intend to play mulitplayer, this character will probably be of greater value. Two things the firearms expert has going for it:

a.) A synergy skill that boosts some of your damage stats as well as team mates.
b.) probably the best "oh crap, I win" button of the 4 rage skills available. (special revolver attack that requires no ammo) I put exactly 1 point into it, and it remained useful. Using it only for special zombies i couldn't remove with a bomb of one sort or another, or for huge hoards i couldn't remove any other way. It's worth noting that it when i hit the high 20's, it wasnt as effective against special zombies as it once was, leaving perhaps 1/4 life left in them. Still, quite handy.

Gunplay....
Front what i experienced, you do NOT play Dead Island for gunplay. The NPC's that do shoot back, they don't appear to have any special tactics except for hide behind something and take shots at you. All i did, was hang back at a distance behind some cover, aim down the iron sights and wait for them to stick their head out. BOOM headshot. Then aim the next idiot, who, half the time, took the covered position of the previous idiot. Shooting at the head, id drop humans in 1 or 2 shots. Center of mass, about 3 or 4 shots.

Considering how few and infrequent these situations are, truly, it's melee weapons that are the star of this zombie show. Although I have heard firearms make themselves more pronounced farther into act 3 and surely by act 4. But when i finally quit my firearms expert and started over (poor skill choices), i had 68% of the main plot done. So id say at the least, 70% of the game, you really don't need guns all that much, or at the least, not enough to need a dedicated firearms expert. That said, i would not be surprised if the last 25% of the game becomes very "Gun-centric".

Oh and while im on the subject of ranged attacks. Zombies CAN throw melee weapons at you, which can hurt.

Speaking of melee......
There is little doubt in my mind that this is the star of the show. This includes throwing weapons. Most of the weapon modifications you'll find, are for melee weapons. Most of the time, your using a melee weapon of one sort of another, even when playing the firearms expert.

You can cut off limbs, heads, curb stomp, etc. As one example, one special zombie (the first one you encounter), has a ton of hit ponits. You can cut off one arm, he'll swing at you with his one good arm. Cut that one off, and he tries to bite you. Reminds me of the "tis but a flesh wound" scene from Monty Python's holy grail.

As an aside, if this youtube video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7y57s0G0C4U)is any indicator, the most consistant ranged attack you can use in this game is thrown melee weapons.

About them zombies....
Your never truly kick ass, as the zombies level with you. So the only real advantage to be had is in a remarkable weapon, and the built up skills of your character. There's always some situations where if you don't handle them right, you'll get mauled. Aside from zombies occasional amazing aim with a melee weapon, for the most part they act like youd expect zombies to act. Meaning you can get up on high places to avoid a fight or for tactical advantage. In the city area, my ass is on the rooftops as much as possible.

Occasionally, the game will kick your ass too. One of my most dreaded scenario's is when two or more infected come screaming at me. They run fast, the swing fast, and they interrupt all your attacks because your too busy being pummeled. If you try for a well timed swing to the head, odds are you'll miss and get a beat down. These scenarios are when kicks are most helpful. Either a well timed running jump kick, or do your imitation of the karate kid and do the Dead island version of the crane by just sanding in place, jumping up, and kicking them. Either jump kick will knock the screaming infected on their butts.

Game remembers your main story progress if you reroll....
Interesting bit. Say you feel you Fubar'ed your skill selection and want to reroll. You can select which chapter you want to start in, assuming you've reached that chapter with that character type. So with the fire arms expert, i can start at chapter 11 if i want, and the game auto level's you to what it thinks is apporpiate for that chapter. Also gives you $4000 cash, and a couple of melee weapons, and access to a decent AK47 with one round. (ha ha).

Doing this, you can go back to the start of the game and do all the side quests if you really want to. There is one small problem. Some of the weapon mods are given by the main quest arc. Say for example, i rerolll and wanted the formula to make molotov cocktails. This is where the problem starts because it's in act 1, when you enter the main hotel, and you can't acces the area its in because its a scripted event that's part of the main story arc which as flagged as completed since i started at chapter 11. Now there are other ways to get molotovs, but making them yourself is the most economical way.

Now on the other hand, some of the weapon mods are given by side quests. So not all is lost. The deoderant bomb, thankfully, is easy to acquire, and frankly does a helluva lot more damange then a molotov coctail anyway.

Multiplayer.....
Haven't played much. The way it works is you can join or have someone join your game if you happen to be in the same area in the game world. If for example your in the life guard station, and someone else is, as well who has the same progress on the main quest that you do, the option to join them will appear. Sort of a seamless, entry i suppose.

But if your the explorer type who likes to take their time, multiplayer is probably not for you. Of the two games i played, (granted thats not much), it's all rush rush rush rush rush. I think multiplayer is the realm of, "ive already completed the game solo, so i don't need any of this talk nonesense, and i already know what i need to do" type of thing.

Also, Co'op, didn't really feel like it either. Just people joining in, and rushing the main quest. It's not like L4D where you REALLY neded to cooperate to survive.

BTW, if you don't want people joining into your game, just select the internet options in the play menu to "single player". You can still join someone elses game if they happen to be in your area (or so the on screen indicators tell me), but your game is not visible to others. You can change this setting at any time without starting a new game.

The one immersion breaker....
When your playing the game solo, get to a cut scene movie, and all 4 of the games characters are in the cut scene. It's a standard cut scene, and does not reflect your choice of character, it always shows all 4, even if they arent present.


Still fun though, but im going through it again and will finish it this time with the throwing weapons expert,/ jack of all trades character. At that point, ill probably go play something else for awhile.

EDIT:
Hilarious Dead Island Parody:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uLK2yD5kvmA

[darius359au]

Nice review and pretty spot on ,melee is definitely the star in this game which makes it a nice challenge having to get up close and personal with the zombies.
Another tactic that works with infected charging you in a mob is to throw a weapon in one's face then kick the others in the head to knock them down and then try to decapitate them while their on the ground!
Best use I've found for guns is shooting propane tanks near mobs of zombies for instant BBQ ,work well on all the specials I've come across so far:up:

[Dowly]

Been playing for 2-3 hours now. Absolutely love it! It's exactly as I thought it
to be. :yeah:

Chose the asian chick, sharp weapons expert. Think I made the right choice for
my first playthrough, easy to kill the zombies, just kick them to the ground and
decapitate them with 1-2 hits.

Can't say I've had this much fun killing zombles in a long time. :DL