Zero Punctuation: Dead Island

[DanHibiki]

Won't a wolfman apocalypse only be bad for one day a month?
Rest of the time everyone would be normal and that one full moon day the earth's population would turn in to wolves and try to hunt down the last surviving silver miner.

 

[A Raging Emo]

Ugh... Dead Island.

I hate to admit it, but I bought into the trailer's hype, and was expecting the epitome of Zombie Survival games - you know, Dead Rising but in first person and completely free roam.

What I got was a linear, sub-bar shooter with an emphasis on melee combat. Ironic, really.

Don't get me wrong, it was great the first time through the game, despite the bad voice acting and so on, but still. It's has a grand total of zero percent replay value for me.

 

[DexterNorgam]

I would like to put to bed this ridiculous notion that L4D2 was somehow superior to L4D. This is just false.

1. the second crew of survivors isn't fit to carry spare health packs for the first team. They are obnoxious, and the writing of their interactions is so weak compared to the fist team.

2. The addition of the melee combat didn't impress me much, it was straight out of half-life and had no feeling of "connectedness" (for lack of a better word.) No sense of the laws of physics being applied to the target.

3. The atmosphere of the first game was lost. The first game was dark, and it worked. If you took the time to play through the dev commentary it made it clear how much thought was put into the lighting and the setting and the camera to capture the feel of a survival movie and to subconsciously influence the player to move along the right path. L4D2 abandoned that. (I pin this on turtle rock studio's departure.)

4. The online play didn't run nearly as smoothly as the first game. I'm not sure what they did to the netcode/servers but it was WAY harder to find a game with players enjoying a decent match without one party or another experiencing crippling lag. (before anyone pipes up I had confirmation of this issue from valve themselves.)

5. The balance of the second game was totally jacked up. In the first game I had many more good close games between coordinated teams, with both survivor teams dragging severely wounded people into the saferoom/rescue vehicle each round. The Second game tilted the balance so far in favor of the infected that it became nearly impossible to find a pick-up-team that could survive. (that was the magic of the first game, getting in a pickup team that worked.)

L4D2 was the sequel that never needed to happen, let alone be rushed out 1 year later without the original developers. Even more so than Bioshock 2.

Okay that right there. Seriously? Opinions cannot be wrong, unless they based off a fact that was mistaken and incorrect. Which game is better is a clear one opinion against another opinion situation. So people who think the second game is better cannot be incorrect, because it's their opinion. You on the other hand can be incorrect, because who seem to misunderstand the meaning of the word opinion.

Yes yes, blah blah blah, typical escapist garbage about how opinions cant be incorrect. (not true). Do you have any facts to support their opinion being correct? Or is your whole argument that opinions are all equal? (they aren't) One person might be of the opinion that a kick to the dick is better than a blowjob... they would be wrong. This is just one example. Opinion does not make something impervious to being retarded. And stating that l4d2 is superior to l4d is plain retarded.

 

[DexterNorgam]

Ugh... Dead Island.

I hate to admit it, but I bought into the trailer's hype, and was expecting the epitome of Zombie Survival games - you know, Dead Rising but in first person and completely free roam.

What I got was a linear, sub-bar shooter with an emphasis on melee combat. Ironic, really.

Don't get me wrong, it was great the first time through the game, despite the bad voice acting and so on, but still. It's has a grand total of zero percent replay value for me.

Dead rising doesn't need free-roam. It would just ruin that game. There are a number of ways to kill zombies, once you've done that what else is there to do in free roam? Timers are what makes Dead rising the game it is.

 

[A Raging Emo]

Ugh... Dead Island.

I hate to admit it, but I bought into the trailer's hype, and was expecting the epitome of Zombie Survival games - you know, Dead Rising but in first person and completely free roam.

What I got was a linear, sub-bar shooter with an emphasis on melee combat. Ironic, really.

Don't get me wrong, it was great the first time through the game, despite the bad voice acting and so on, but still. It's has a grand total of zero percent replay value for me.

Dead rising doesn't need free-roam. It would just ruin that game. There are a number of ways to kill zombies, once you've done that what else is there to do in free roam? Timers are what makes Dead rising the game it is.

I think you mis-interpreted me; I never said it did, Dead Rising (The first) is one of my all-time favorite games.

 

[JasonKaotic]

I just "love" it how Tourette's Syndrome is referenced for comedy. As if anybody who does that actually knows what it is. Who else has their neurological disorders laughed at?

I have tourettes and I don't really care...

So do I, and the jokes don't keep me up at night, but it gets a little irritating.

*High-five*

I've never really understood why people get annoyed about people making a joke about a disability, though. They're not making fun of the people, just a joke about the disability itself.
But that's just me.

 

[The3rdEye]

Yes yes, blah blah blah, typical escapist garbage about how opinions cant be incorrect. (not true). Do you have any facts to support their opinion being correct? Or is your whole argument that opinions are all equal? (they aren't) One person might be of the opinion that a kick to the dick is better than a blowjob... they would be wrong. This is just one example. Opinion does not make something impervious to being retarded. And stating that l4d2 is superior to l4d is plain retarded.

Actually, by definition opinion does not require or imply fact or certainty beyond the holder.

"1. judgment or belief not founded on certainty or proof "
"2. a personal view, attitude, or appraisal."

Asking for proof that their opinion is correct is the equivalency of asking to divide by zero. Taking issue that someone doesn't share in your opinion does not invalidate that opinion. And yes everyone is entitled to an opinion, regardless of how crass or crude it may be.

 

[weirdee]

ho hum

so much money wasted on that ad campaign. can't follow through for once? make a great game, nobody hears about it, make a mediocre game, every damn store, channel, and site is plastered with the ads for weeks.

 

[Danceofmasks]

WHAT THE FUCK.

Oh, nothing about the video, I'm commenting on the ad.
A Clean & Clear BFF ad about "jewellery stacking" in which white teens actually used the word "bling" ... ?!
SERIOUSLY?

 

[gphjr14]

You guys are misunderstanding each other.
There's a autosave glitch, though there is no ''normal'' save function.

I'm not misunderstanding anything, I made a statement and instead of researching the issue he attempted to 1 up me by being pretentious then to save face made it seem as if I was misleading in some way which isn't the case if you actually know the issues the game has been having.

Either way I don't care.

 

[DragonManRen]

*High-five*

I've never really understood why people get annoyed about people making a joke about a disability, though. They're not making fun of the people, just a joke about the disability itself.
But that's just me.

Jokes about Tourette's Syndrome, among other conditions, tend to illustrate a vast ignorance of the subject. Yahtzee's joke in this week's ZP is clearly a reference to the "profanity as a verbal tic" version of Tourette's Syndrome, which I've heard of, but never seen. But that's what people think Tourette's Syndrome is, because it's the most humorous and noticeable possible symptom and therefore the one that gets talked about. I, on the other hand, have a slightly unusual blinking pattern, a speech impediment when I get emotional, and a tendency toward OCD behaviors. Not anything particularly awful, but more common for Tourette's Syndrome than the profanity thing. Jokes about the profanity as if it is what Tourette's Syndrome undermines understanding of the disorder.

 

[BakedAlaskan]

Yey Yahtzee- Dangermouse FTW! Massive kudos to David Jason!!

As well I feel (and am not alone) disability remains funny- just like last century and those before that! Imagine it not being in 2224- explain...

 

[JesterRaiin]

Escort missions...

Really : does anyone actually enjoy this concept ?

The natural answer is "hell! Fucking NO!" But then ICO is a cult classic so, who knows?

Sometimes i wonder : what's the driving force behind trying solutions-that-didn't-made-it ?
Obvious answer should be "money", since "money" is almost always a valid point, but hell, is there money in frustrating products ???

 

[Mangue Surfer]

Escort missions...

Really : does anyone actually enjoy this concept ?

The natural answer is "hell! Fucking NO!" But then ICO is a cult classic so, who knows?

Sometimes i wonder : what's the driving force behind trying solutions-that-didn't-made-it ?
Obvious answer should be "money", since "money" is almost always a valid point, but hell, is there money in frustrating products ???

I think there is a niche for everything. Since retail games cost a lot to make developers and/or publisher try to get them all.

 

[Bolt Van Der Huge]

Those sewer levels really did send the game down the drain for you, don't they Yahtzee?
I felt let down by this game as soon as heard there wouldn't actually BE any children zombies in it. An outright betrayal of artistic integrity in my opinion.

He missed a trick by not using "sewercidal" anywhere...

 

[Mozza444]

Actually surprised to see so much hate for this game..
Picked it up as a chance and i fucking LOVE it! Best zombie game i have ever played... one of my GOTY for 2011

(But they really do need to work on the fucking bugs)

 

[mGoLos]

HHAHAHA, oh man, I bought this game on day one I agree with everything you said.

Also, you obviously didn't play this on the ps3. My game refuses to save after chapter 5 and there's a good chance that the next update will ruin it and reset my trophies. So, 20 levels and 5 chapters gone. Very nearly 18 hours of my extremely valuable spare time ...

In conclusion: Screw you Deep Silver, screw you for releasing an unfinished product that I worked 10 goddamn hours to afford.

 

[Gyrefalcon]

Glad to see Yahtzee agrees with me on the setting for act 2. Once again, this gritty, depressing, drab, ghetto atmosphere every game is set in any more needs to STOP!

Agreed. I was attracted to Dead Island BECAUSE it looked like it would be brightly colored and have a strong sense of incongruity and wrongness because of it. Done well, it can be more chilling and creepy than the done-to-death bombed out city ruins.

I was also very disappointed to hear that it wasn't built around a family trying to survive or sets of survivors, like a group of spring break college students. I thought it was going to present some serious attachments between the characters so that if you had someone in your party turn it would really BE horrific. (Actually, it seems that you always happen to be immune. That is the license to kill without consequence. A game where you had to be cautious might ramp up the psychological horror more, hmm.)

Anyway, between Yahtzee and G4 both giving it bad and thorough reviews, I am afraid this one is going to be a pass. :/

 

[JesterRaiin]

I think there is a niche for everything.

Daikatana. Your argument is invalid.

Since retail games cost a lot to make developers and/or publisher try to get them all.

Still - i don't see any logic in selling products with flawed elements to people who do not demand them.

 

[AzureDemon]

Sad sad yatzee....
You had to play the console version didnt you? The horribly UNPATCHED version that screws you over whenever it can?

Play it on pc...you will LOVE dead island...minor the boring plot holes and the last part of the game.