Dead Island Review

[Susan Arendt]

Dead Island Review

Welcome to Banoi, where you'll probably be eaten soon.

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[Valdimarr Ravenkin]

Good review, you hit it right on the nose

 

[Ghengis John]

Good review though I have to note, Susan:

The one hitch is that everyone has to be roughly in the same part of the game; you can't jump ahead just because your buddy happens to be in a more advanced part of the game. He can backtrack to join you in an earlier chapter, but he'll have to leave his skills and toys behind and settle for a nerfed version of his character.

If a friend invites you to his advanced game you can jump ahead and play through it with them, the only catch is the game will notify you that quest completions will not be saved, just experience, cash and inventory. He can also back track if you send him an invite. Of course, neither situation is ideal. Smashing lvl 1 zombies with a lvl 50 character or getting mauled by lvl 44 zombies at lvl 4 both lack some appeal.

 

[Sneaky-Pie]

My only bicker with the game is better inventory management on PC.

That and please somehow let me choose the order of weapons that it defaults to after I throw one so it doesn't change to my primary melee but rather to my next throwing blade.

I would be pleased as punch.

 

[unacomn]

I found the melee combat to be unbearably clumsy, which made the simple act of mass zombie genocide less fun than it should have been.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Good review though I have to note, Susan:

The one hitch is that everyone has to be roughly in the same part of the game; you can't jump ahead just because your buddy happens to be in a more advanced part of the game. He can backtrack to join you in an earlier chapter, but he'll have to leave his skills and toys behind and settle for a nerfed version of his character.

If a friend invites you to his advanced game you can jump ahead and play through it with them, the only catch is the game will notify you that quest completions will not be saved, just experience, cash and inventory. He can also back track if you send him an invite. Of course, neither situation is ideal. Smashing lvl 1 zombies with a lvl 50 character or getting mauled by lvl 44 zombies at lvl 4 both lack some appeal.

Actually, backtracking can be useful. The zombies scale to the host, but the rewards scale to the individual players. So it can be easy money and experience for people who go backwards.

It's way more fun to go through the story together, though, I found. Experiencing things for the first time, like new zombies, is more enjoyable when it's new to both of you.

 

[hazabaza1]

You forgot to mention that around half-way through act 2 the game forgets it's about zombies for about 3-4 hours.
But otherwise seems about right. Been having fun with it otherwise.

 

[Iron Lightning]

Whether Dead Island is a good game or not doesn't even matter to me anymore. I'm not going to buy it because it's another bloody zombie game starring people immune to infection for no discernible reason. Zombies are as overdone as World War II games.

There's one thing that could make me buy another zombie game: actually infectious zombies instead of these weird "clean" zombies we have now. That would be an interesting scenario, especially if becoming a zombie wasn't just a game over. A game where too many bites and not enough medication could turn you completely against your former human friends would at least be interesting.

 

[sephiroth1991]

Good Review, I've only played about 5 hours so far, but I'm enjoying cutting of Thugs arms and watching them try to bite me, however i do find it annoying that the game wants you play co-op with dialogue by NPCs going along the lines of "You guys did a great Job"

 

[Dabono]

So... I play one of four characters that is trying to escape from an area that is infested by zombies. Zombies that became that by an extremely infecteous disease that affects all but us, who are immune. The zombies vary in type, including a fat one that explodes and one that spits noxious goo.

All that, and no mention of Left 4 Dead 2?

 

[Exius Xavarus]

Whether Dead Island is a good game or not doesn't even matter to me anymore. I'm not going to buy it because it's another bloody zombie game starring people immune to infection for no discernible reason. Zombies are as overdone as World War II games.

There's one thing that could make me buy another zombie game: actually infectious zombies instead of these weird "clean" zombies we have now. That would be an interesting scenario, especially if becoming a zombie wasn't just a game over. A game where too many bites and not enough medication could turn you completely against your former human friends would at least be interesting.

Yes! Thank you! This is exactly what I want in a zombie game! One where you don't end up dying if you're destroyed by zombies, but instead you turn into a zombie and you have to kill the people you were previously working with. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person in the world that thinks this would make for an enjoyable zombie game, anymore.

As for Dead Island, my only gripe is that once I got into Act II, Walkers all but disappeared, and now I get hordes upon hordes of Infected upon me, and maybe a Ram or two at a time.

 

[Kopikatsu]

I like how during the meat of the review, it was basically smacking downed zombies in the face, then it goes all crazy action-y at the end.

I'm kind of impressed that you managed to kill a zombie with a shotgun, Susan. My level 38 Swift Shotgun actually manages to do less damage on headshots than my level 30-32 Devestating Heavy Pistol does on bodyshots...

Without spoiling anything, the second to last cutscene will probably make you shout, "NOOOO! MY WEAPONS!"

Whether Dead Island is a good game or not doesn't even matter to me anymore. I'm not going to buy it because it's another bloody zombie game starring people immune to infection for no discernible reason. Zombies are as overdone as World War II games.

There's one thing that could make me buy another zombie game: actually infectious zombies instead of these weird "clean" zombies we have now. That would be an interesting scenario, especially if becoming a zombie wasn't just a game over. A game where too many bites and not enough medication could turn you completely against your former human friends would at least be interesting.

Yes! Thank you! This is exactly what I want in a zombie game! One where you don't end up dying if you;re destroyed by zombies, but instead you turn into a zombie and you have to kill the people you were previously working with. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person in the world that thinks this would make for an enjoyable zombie game, anymore.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will have this.

 

[Exius Xavarus]

I like how during the meat of the review, it was basically smacking downed zombies in the face, then it goes all crazy action-y at the end.

I'm kind of impressed that you managed to kill a zombie with a shotgun, Susan. My level 38 Swift Shotgun actually manages to do less damage on headshots than my level 30-32 Devestating Heavy Pistol does on bodyshots...

Without spoiling anything, the second to last cutscene will probably make you shout, "NOOOO! MY WEAPONS!"

Whether Dead Island is a good game or not doesn't even matter to me anymore. I'm not going to buy it because it's another bloody zombie game starring people immune to infection for no discernible reason. Zombies are as overdone as World War II games.

There's one thing that could make me buy another zombie game: actually infectious zombies instead of these weird "clean" zombies we have now. That would be an interesting scenario, especially if becoming a zombie wasn't just a game over. A game where too many bites and not enough medication could turn you completely against your former human friends would at least be interesting.

Yes! Thank you! This is exactly what I want in a zombie game! One where you don't end up dying if you;re destroyed by zombies, but instead you turn into a zombie and you have to kill the people you were previously working with. I'm glad to see I'm not the only person in the world that thinks this would make for an enjoyable zombie game, anymore.

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will have this.

I was already planning to get it, but that just makes me all the more excited for it. :D

 

[sooperman]

Oh god, numbers-based damage. I put like 45 hrs into Borderlands, gritting my teeth and putting up with the fact that bullets = numbers. Looks like Dead Island gets a pass.

snip

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will have this.

It's not really the same, but give it a look. If you've never heard of it; it's a survivor vs. zombie MMO in which you can die and become infected.

http://www.urbandead.com/

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Oh god, numbers-based damage. I put like 45 hrs into Borderlands, gritting my teeth and putting up with the fact that bullets = numbers. Looks like Dead Island gets a pass.

snip

Resident Evil: Operation Raccoon City will have this.

It's not really the same, but give it a look. If you've never heard of it; it's a survivor vs. zombie MMO in which you can die and become infected.

http://www.urbandead.com/

I switched off as soon as you mentioned MMO

 

[Micalas]

I can honestly say this a very good game. Glad you agree! I just wish you got the title of the game correct. It is most definitely called L4Borderland: New Vegas.

 

[Susan Arendt]

Good Review, I've only played about 5 hours so far, but I'm enjoying cutting of Thugs arms and watching them try to bite me, however i do find it annoying that the game wants you play co-op with dialogue by NPCs going along the lines of "You guys did a great Job"

That bugged me, too. It's part of that overall lack of polish I mentioned. Lots of tiny things that could've been just a little bit better.

Good review. I only played it for a couple hours last night but I am loving it already. My only problem is that weapons right now seem to break every 15 zombies or so. This problem is solved by the mass quantity of weapons that I find lying around everywhere.

Upgrade your weapons when you can. Helps improve their durability. You also find sturdier stuff pretty soon - crowbars and machetes and the like. If you haven't chosen the lockpicking skill, you might want to do that, as the best weapons tend to be locked up (or are quest rewards).

 

[xchurchx]

Its an OK game and all but i would wait till the price lowers and they fix a few bugs. However the biggest problem i found was that you couldn't say no to someone joining your game. if some one joined i would have to leave manually, then i found out i couldn't make my game private. now to some this may be a small problem however any weapons the person picks up or energy drinks the consume will not reappear when you disconnect.

 

[Fasckira]

This game gets a big "meh" from me. I find it hard to care about any of the characters (the player character or any of the NPCs), the quests so far have all be fetch quests with the exception of two escort missions, and weapons so far have been relatively pointless when I can spend the entire time just kicking zombies. Ive only had to use weapons so far against thugs.

Im persevering though, trying to give this game a chance as I get a feeling it may be like Two Worlds was for me - I hated it at first but after forcing myself to play for a few hours I started to develop a taste for it.