Let's be honest here for just a few moments people. Who here is already tired of all the countless zombie games? Left 4 Dead, Killing Floor, Zombies from Black Ops, you probably wondering what Dead Island is doing now with all the zombie goodness. Well, I can tell you that Dead Island will become a sleeper hit and here's a few things why.
Dead Island is your zombie game but with the added twist. Taking stuff from Dead Rising and Fallout 3, players are on an island (duh) and for some reason, zombies are popping out and it's up to you to figure out what is going on around here. In a first person perspective, you travel the island as one of four characters, each with a story of their own, as you take everything and anything as a weapon in order to fight off the living dead. But wait, there's more to this game then what meets the eye.
The weapons can range from a 2x4 or a paddle to swords and guns (guns will actually come way later in the game, took me a couple of gameplay hours to see a pistol). On top of that, mods improve your weapons in some way, like giving a sword an extra kick of electricity or wrapping barbed wire on a bat for more damage. However, using the weapons will lose their durability after awhile and it's best to find a workbench to fix it up before it brakes. And to make things even more interesting, you have a stamina bar, which depletes whenever you run or swing a weapon around. Once that is empty, you are left standing there and won't defend yourself for a few seconds.
Does Dead Island have a plot? Yes in some way but it's never really explained. There are three Acts in the whole game and you start getting somewhere after you start the third act. Even if that means you have to explore the entire island, it's worth to see the beauty (and deadly) view. The graphics are nice as you travel from the hotel where you start to deep in the jungle.
Another kick in Dead Island is that it's like an RPG. Every zombie you encounter and kill have their own health bar and exp. bar. Once you kill them, you gain whatever exp. they have. As you progress in the game, the zombies get harder and new kinds of zombies appear before you that are deadlier then the last. You have your Walkers, who roam the area in search for food or to kill a player. And then we got the Infected, which charges at the player at lightning speed and will attack, wailing their arms at you. And then the Thug, which wail their arms at you, sending you flying backwards. And then, there are the Special Infected.
The Floater spews out acid at you, blinding you in green ooze as you take damage from it. The Ram will charge at you, knocking you down and can kick you, sending a massive amount of health down with you. The Butcher has no arms but it's bones are sharp at the tip and will cut you into pieces. Last but not least is The Suicider, its deformed body cries for help as it explodes on you, killing you instantly. The player must think of ways to defeat each new zombies and this is where the element of fun happens.
At first, I started playing and I'm like, this game is another zombie game. Many hours later, I'm running for my life as zombies start attacking me from every direction. Plus with the exp gained for a certain character will unlock other abilities for that character as well. Some reduces melee damage while others increases the exp. for breaking the bones of the zombie. The game itself is slow at the beginning but it slowly picks up just when you start Act II. With an entire island to explore, it's no wonder why this game is becoming popular. The other day when I went to Gamestop with my friends, I was talking to one of the workers and said that every other Gamestops in my city had sold out of Dead Island so most likely it will become a good sleep hit as we head into the fall.
Now you must be wondering, what about the mulitiplayer aspect of the game? Well, I can believe that working with a team is better then working alone (trust me on this, I died many times during my single player run at the game so I can say that playing with others is better). And if you have all four of the main characters in one game, then the chances of you surviving the game are that much greater but the zombies become more tougher to kill. Just be sure to start a new game with four level 1 players, it's best to have it equal then unbalanced. *At this point, I have yet to try it myself but I will write more in the future*
Aside from a few things, Dead Island is a game I can recommend to most gamers, if they want a nice RPG game or to fight hundreds of zombies, the game won't disappoint if you like that kind of game. Giving it an 8 out of 10, I'm sure to come back to the island again and again.
