SUBSIM Radio Room Forums

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 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