Dead Island

Available on: Xbox 360, PS3, and PC
Played it on: Xbox 360
Played it for: 40 hours

RATING: 8/10

Many people were incredibly disappointed with Dead Island for a myriad of reasons. Some were so saddened by how different the trailer was compared to the game that they refused to play the game. Some hated the mechanics of the game. Some didn't like how the difficulty curve works. But I am here to say that this game is good. No, it's not perfect, but it's worth the money in the end, and besides the broken trailer promises, it has the ability to prove its worth, unlike many current games.

Dead Island starts you off in a relatively classic RPG way. You find yourself abandoned in a hotel, you wander around a bit, and then you have your first contact with the enemy: the horde. Fighting will get you killed, so your only option is to run from the raving lunatics who want to eat your face. This establishes the enemy, and the rest of the game is spent trying to kill them all. As the player begins to level up, there are better weapons that can be found around the island, and eventually the player can make his or her own weapons that are far superior to any other weapon that can be found generically. And, as the player's level increases, so do the levels of the infected.

But this is where it begins to differ from other RPG's. Dead Island's mechanics differ considerably from games like Fallout 3, where it's possible to completely change the main character based on perks, appearance, and just about any other factor imaginable. Like a little game called Borderlands, this game begins with choosing one of four characters. The difference is that they don't have powers, but instead have specialties. The choice of character is based on a proficiency with sharp weapons, blunt weapons, thrown weapons, or firearms, and the perks branch from there. Survival strategies can be made alone or in groups, and perk choices should be based off of these decisions, not the other way around. In this way, it's actually a very team-oriented game, and is much more enjoyable to play in groups than alone.

The similarities between this and Borderlands continue, as this game also uses elemental weapons to fight the horde. Weapons can be altered with fire, shock, or poison damage depending on the desired effects. Shock and fire are obvious inhibitors to combat, but poison is perhaps the most useful, as it forces zombies to stand in place and get sick, opening the window for tons of damage on more difficult enemies. And just like elemental weapons in Borderlands, elementals in Dead Island are far more coveted than standard weaponry.

Thankfully, though, it's not just a complete ripoff of our beloved 2K classic. The way that the players go about quests and overall completion of the game is far different from the usual RPG, and the game can get extremely difficult as levels start increasing. If the player has no one to watch his or her back, they can die almost instantly in an ambush, as there are zombies literally in every part of the island. And going solo is almost not an option at all after reaching the slums, as the group needs to allocate different people to different jobs, and going solo can't accomplish all these roles. Dead Island also likes to borrow from Valve's zombie game Left 4 Dead, and introduces "special infected" later on in the game, and they range from sprinting zombies (that cannot be outrun), to charging zombies, exploding zombies, super strong zombies, and poison zombies. And that's along with the walkers, who frequently hold weapons of their own. In short, the difficulty curve skyrockets fairly quickly, and the game is not for the casual player.

To add to this, the game has a very different kind of combat system. You can't just swing around a sword and hope to hit everything in front of you. The game has a "smart" combat system that targets key points on the body of whatever the player is attacking, and that means strategy. If the player is fighting a fast zombie, attack the head and neck because they're not very strong. If it's a very strong zombie, attack the arms to try and sever or break them to make it easier to kill without getting hurt. If the player is fighting a poison zombie, attack with a fire weapon from behind. The poison cloud is combustible, and attacking from behind means the zombie won't poison you. This becomes vital in a group of zombies, as the player has to choose which zombies are the most important to kill quickly, and even more vital with another group of players, as different play styles are better for killing different zombies. This adds a ton of realism to the Dead Island world because, contrary to what most zombie games would lead the player to believe, killing massive amounts of zombies is actually extremely difficult. It's impossible to mow down hordes in Dead Island, even with guns, increasing the challenge to an even greater extent.

Dead Island does lose a few marks in mechanics. Sometimes the difficulty curve can be too intense, and cause the player to rage quit. It wouldn't be too much of a problem if it only happened once or twice, but when it happens almost every other time you play, it becomes a bit of a detriment to Dead Island's reputation. And it can be aggravating when the smart combat system doesn't do what you want it to, and you end up dead. It can also feel a little stiff and clunky, which reduces the amount of time that the player can be engaged in the game because it can get tiresome. And lastly, guns don't appear until about 33% through the game, which is a major problem for guns specialists. These are what give Dead Island an 8/10 instead of anything higher.

In conclusion, Dead Island is a good game that can be very rough around the edges. Fortunately for those who see promise in the game, the sequel, Dead Island Riptide will release in early 2013, with very high hopes for fixes to the problems with the original. And for those who don't want to wait for the sequel, Dead Island is well worth the $20.00 or $30.00 it currently costs.