Dead Island Review (Xbox 360)

Posted by Todd Vote on 09.27.2011

Ready for Dead Island? Well it is here anyways, so gear up to survive another zombie apocalypse. Does Dead Island carve its own path, or fall into the same old same old? Come inside for the full review.


Title: Dead Island
Publisher: Deep Silver
Developer: Techland
Genre: Action Horror RPG
Players: 1-4
Rated: M for Mature

Dead Island takes the tried and true formula of zombies, and throws in on a resort island. An easy way to describe the game would be to take some Left for Dead, add in some Dead Rising 2, and put it in an open Fallout 3 type world. There is a bit more going on here, but the game does do a serviceable job of blending elements of those three titles into a new experience that manages to carve a spot for itself in a very crowded zombie sub-genre.

At it's heart, Dead Island is an RPG. You have weapons you can repair, upgrade, and use to create modded weapons. There are both common weapons, and if you look around enough, you will find some very rare and powerful weapons. You have three separate skill trees to work with to improve your characters ability to battle the undead. As your character level increases, so to does the level of the undead you come up against. This is an RPG, with zombies.



The game starts by giving you a choice between four different characters, each with a different specialty to bring to the table. For the sake of this review, we will be using Sam B. Sam is the powerhouse of the game, Logan offers a level of expertise with throwing weapons, Purna is a firearms expert, and finally Xian Mei should be your choice for knives and stabbing weapons. As I said, we will be using Sam for this review.

Techland and Deep Silver have crafted quite the world for your zombie apocalypse, by giving you the fictional island of Banoi to explore and find out just what has happened. I like the fact that they went with a fictional place for the purpose of this game. It opened the developers up to really create the world they wanted. Hotels, bungalows, city-scapes, and jungles are just some of the things you will come across in your travels on Dead Island. You will also run into a whole host of interesting NPC's as well, as the game is chock full of side missions for you to gain XP and become the full on bad ass zombie killer that Deep Silver intends.



Dead Island is played from the first person perspective, which really lends itself to sudden scares. I have to admit I jumped a bit the first couple of times one of the infected grabbed me from behind. You are given two options to control your character, digital, or analog.

Analog controls have you using a setup similar to what you see in Fight Night, or EA Sports MMA. You use the left trigger to lock your right stick, while holding the left trigger, the right stick becomes your means to attack enemies. Analog controls for me are new for a FPS style of game. The right stick is used to look left or right, and when you lock it for attacks you lose that ability. You are stuck looking in whatever direction you chose to lock on, until you release the left trigger button. Analog controls does have an advantage, however. I've found that maiming, and decapitating zombies was a far easier task with the analog controls turned on. The analog controls are a very interesting attempt at bringing something new to the genre, but I think it just falls short. When you get surrounded by a horde of the undead, being able to turn and swipe at the opponents is a very key component. It takes a lot to get used to the analog controls. A little advice for ya, if you want to use the analog controls, turn them on right away when the zombies are at lower levels, and easier to kill. If you try it when you excel further into the story, they will eat you alive, no pun intended.



Digital controls see a more traditional take, where the attack button is mapped to the right trigger. While the analog controls had their advantages, I don't think you can beat the traditional FPS controls. Especially a game where you can be completely surrounded by enemies. You never know how much you appreciate the ability to turn and attack simultaneously until it is gone. The only time you need the left trigger with these controls is when you want to throw a weapon away, or look down the iron sites of a gun. Much better suited to this game type, and I am really glad they gave the option of both instead of just going with the analog style.

I spoke in the opening frame there about the huge open world that you get to play in, and that is not an exaggeration. Banoi is big enough to get lost in without your map, and handy dandy little GPS function that is available to tag the waypoint of every mission. The backgrounds, while not exactly amazing or breathtaking are well done, considering how big the place is. Some colors tend to wash into others, and areas can start to look the same after a bit. For example, when you reach act II, and get into the city, it is very hard to distinguish where you are just by looking around for landmarks, or familiar buildings. By comparison, playing games like Saints Row, or Red Dead Redemption enough you can start to get a feel for where you are just by looking at the area. I never once got that sense of familiarity from this game.

It's not necessarily a bad thing when dealing with zombies, as it actually helps add to the feeling of panic that you may experience if you were put into a similar situation. I suppose in a zombie apocalypse, the last thing on your mind should be sight seeing. The buildings that do stand out though, are the ones that should, meaning your bases and safe houses. Also, should be noted that the waypoint guide can be a bit wonky at times. If you take a wrong turn it will redirect to show you the best way, not from where you are standing, but it almost seemed as if it did it from the direction you are facing. This only really seemed to be an issue when playing with other people, because we would get separated easily. Minor gripe, but if I didn't mention it, my Xbox Live buddies would tear me up for it.

Dead Island is also home to a fairly deep leveling system. When you level up, you are given three different skill trees to place your attribute points on. Your fury tree is the place to put your points if you want to increase your special attacks. Each character has a Fury attack, Sam for example hulks up and just starts making zombies explode with his fists. Adding points here can do things like increase the damage you deliver, or increase the amount your fury meter builds when you attack enemies.

Your combat tree increases your prowess with weapons. For Sam, you increase the damage he does with blunt object weapons, the durability of these weapons and unlock new attacks for Sam to use. The tackle is particularly effective. As you rank higher, you can add skills to make you more proficient with firearms as well.

The final tree is for Survival. As it suggests, this is where you will want to place your points for survival skills. You can add an ability to regenerate health, pick locks, increase your inventory, and things of that nature. Once I realized that combat wasn't everything, I really started to notice the advantages of spending some points on this particular tree.



Your weapons selections range from sticks and caveman like clubbing weapons to more refined knives and stabbing weapons, to the occasional firearm and explosives. Perhaps it was my use of Sam B., but I found that sticking with the melee weapons was far more effective against the undead. The only time I liked to use the firearms was when going up against human enemies.

Dead Island also gives you the ability to build custom weapons. As you do quests, you will sometimes earn mods. From things like shock mods to torch mods, to creating explosives by combining two sticks of deodorant, and some duct tape. Unlike Dead Rising 2, you can't create a weapon just by grabbing a squirt gun and a gas can. These designs require quite a bit more work. You will need a base item, like a baseball bat, and from there you will have to gather all the necessary parts. The more elaborate the mod, the more parts you will have to scavenge for.

I'm not going to sugar coat this, and I am sure it is no surprise, Dead Island is best when played with a group of friends. It's not so much a strategy thing, though I'm sure the old strength in numbers thing definitely comes into play. I'm more referring to the fact that this is far to big of a world to go at it alone. What I mean by that is there are so many side quests to keep you busy. One of the best parts I found about playing with others, is that if you don't feel like going with your partners, you can set your own waypoint, and go take care of a side mission by yourself. You can get so much more done that way, and the best part is the whole party will reap the rewards from each quest. Plus if you happen to get bored from the hundreds of quests to do, you can always use some deodo-bombs to torture your team.

Pros:
+ Deep leveling system
+ More fun when playing with friends
+ Weapons Mods
+ Huge open world

Cons:
- Backgrounds can be difficult to distinguish from one another
- Analog controls are a nice attempt, but I feel they fall short

The 411:

All in all Dead Island offers both a new, and familiar take on the zombie game. By adding all of the RPG elements, they brought something more than just shooting an undead in the head. Yes, I can't believe I am saying it. I like this RPG game. While offering a fairly deep leveling system, nothing gets so over complicated that it wears out it's welcome.

Graphics	7.5	Well done, huge world. Some colors run together, and the environments can be hard to tell apart at times
Gameplay	8.5	Deep leveling system, and plenty of ways for you and your friends to re-kill the undead
Sound	8.0	Sounds are well done, bones snap, zombies moan, music cues all pick up in appropriate places.
Lasting Appeal	9.0	There is so much to do in Dead Island. Plenty of quests to keep you and your friends coming back for more.
Fun Factor	8.0	The game is a blast, but it is not as fun to play by yourself as it is to play with friends.
Overall	8.2   [ Very Good ]