Dead Island Reviews

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Written by WorstUsernameEver on September 7th, 2011

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In a time when Deus Ex: Human Revolution has completely captured my attention, I was surprised with how much I wanted to jump back into Dead Island. As a fan of all-things zombie, I went in with high expectations and found that the game ticked a lot of the right boxes. Throw seamless drop-in/drop-out co-op into the mix so all of this can be enjoyed with friends or randoms and the appeal is a whole lot stronger, particularly considering the clever variations between quests. For those who love zombie games or those looking for an open-world RPG that offers plenty of hours for your investment, Dead Island is well worth the visit.

If you are a zombie fan though and the idea of a low rent Fallout clone with your favourite movie monsters sounds appealing then this is by no means a disaster. There's no local co-op play, but if you can work through the campaign with a trio of online friends then there's definitely fun to be had. Even if you can't save manually whenever you want, which seems madness for an open world game so much inspired by Fallout.

But overall this doesn't live up to either of its obvious gaming inspirations, and certainly not the trailer that popularised the game in the first place.

Dead Island is the closest thing to date to an open world co-op action RPG. As an added bonus, it has zombies. There's plenty of content here as well with lots of side quests to keep you occupied. You should have no problem putting 30 hours into the game before seeing the end with one character. Not to mention all the return vacations you'll be making to Banoi with friends. Dead Island breathes new life into the zombie genre.

Although lacking a bit of polish, Dead Island offers an unbelievably robust experience for zombie fans. The amount of content Techland has crammed into this gorgeous island paradise is staggering, ensuring hours upon hours of gameplay. You could easily pour 40-something hours into a single playthrough, before diving into New Game+ for additional entertainment.

On their own, the gameplay elements supporting Dead Island are far from original, but as with many cross-genre titles, originality is born from the artful manner in which these elements are combined. The premise of the game is one we've heard many times before, and the story lacks significant narrative impact. The open world and character progression pales in comparison to true RPGs like Elder Scrolls and Dragon Age: Origins, but Techland has essentially cannibalized parts from such titles and integrated them with the frenetic action of a zombie game. This doesn't necessarily make Dead Island better than its competitors, but it's definitely unlike any zombie game you've ever played.

Dead Island is worth checking out just for the moments where it does manage to brush its filthy, rotting fingertips against its own lofty ambitions.

It does, now and again, feel like the most vivid, most convincing zombie outbreak you've ever played even Left 4 Dead feels like a bit of a mindless shooter by comparison. But it's very hit and miss, and the thriller-to-filler ratio just isn't as high as it should be.

Dead Island is not perfect, but it's a lot better than most people thought it would be after its development issues. That's something it might actually have going for it the makings of a sleeper hit. I'm actually surprised by how much I like it. There are tons of zombie games these days, but I can't think of one I like more than Dead Island. Better than Resident Evil 5? Yes. Better than Dead Rising 2? Yes. Dead Island went well above my expectations, and being able to play it with my friends is keeping it in my disc tray while Deus Ex waits on the sidelines.

As a sandbox action role-playing game based on killing zombies with friends, Dead Island is a proposition rich with possibilities, and it exploits a good deal of them, if imperfectly. There's easily 20 hours of content in a single playthrough--much more if you're exploring the Polynesian paradise sandbox and messing around with trucks as much as you should be. If you don't step off the boat expecting a taut horror experience, a masterful gun game, or compelling characters, you'll have a bloody good time.

Techland relies heavily on gamers' inherent love of zombies, but even an island full of them isn't enough to make this game anything more than frustrating. Even with its open-world environment, the experience here never matches the excitement and cooperative fun in Left 4 Dead.

For everything that's good about Dead Island, there are even more things that are bad. And it's rather disappointing, because at its core, Dead Island is a game that has depicted a zombie apocalypse like no other - it's made it more palpable. It's just not possible to overlook the disjointed story, uneven gameplay elements and frustrating glitches. Fans of zombies games should definitely check this out, if only for the thrills of the scenario.

Considering our aforementioned proportions, this seems particularly inexplicable. The world doesn't have the charm to warrant forgiveness, and progress-halting bugs prevent it anyway. With regular AI freezes and vanishing items, a mistimed autosave can prove fatal. Ultimately it all invites the refashioning of another line from Romero. When there's no more room in development hell, the dead losses will walk the Earth.

Dead Island has some good ideas and satisfying gameplay to offer in places, all that's needed is a niche audience willing to dig a little to find it. If anything, this one will find success as a guilty pleasure, but that'll be after it's been utterly pooh-poohed by gaming connoisseurs.

Dead Island isn't a perfect game, but it does manage to do everything that's important incredibly well. The loot is solid, the weapons are satisfying, the combat is surprisingly good, and the gore is top-notch. For a game that takes place primarily in the daylight, it's also really fucking terrifying. This is an unforgettable experience that's as addicting as it is well-paced. If you're a fan of RPG's, zombies, or sandbox games, or simply want a game to play with your friends.

The main question everyone will be asking is (does Dead Island live up to its trailer?) and without doubt the answer is yes. The thing about Dead Island is that it takes games such as Fallout, Left4Dead and Dead Rising and welds them together into one massive, unmissable adventure. Sure it's not perfect, but it's still a bloody great game and one that you won't regret spending your cash on for one zombie filled minute.

For once here's a game where I want to stick a score on the end of the review, just to make it clear that the 5s and 6s it's been receiving are plain wrong. There's enormous ambition here, and much of it is realised. It's on a huge scale, extremely involved, and for all its illogical inconsistency it holds itself together well.

And that's just the single-player. Like Borderlands, I find myself actually wanting to play with other people a feeling so rare to me I wonder if I'm coming down with something.

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