Epidemics. Zombies. Blood. Gore. A tropical paradise. What else could you ask for? Techland, a Polish video game developer, offers this and more in the release of their new game Dead Island, a first person shooter and melee combat game featuring hoards of zombies and survival horror. Taking place on the Island of Bonoi, just off of the coast of Papua New Guinea, Dead Island takes the player through a gorgeous tropical heaven offering rainforests, virginal white beaches, mountain highlands you can hike, and mysterious caves you can walk through. The catch? This wonderful utopia is riddled with zombies and infected starving to chew a piece of your flesh.
The game starts with the character waking up in a hotel room at the Royal Palm Resort. There are four different main characters to play as either Purna, a former officer of the Sydney Police department, Logan, a former football star spoiled by his successful lifestyle, Sam B, a one-hit wonder rapper who’s booked to perform at the hotel, and Xian Mei, an employee at the Royal Palm Resort. Greeted by an announcement, the character is told to flock to the nearest stairs and leave. It’s quickly learned that the character is immune to the infection after being attacked and waking up in a safe house where the quests, main and sides, are finally presented. What seems easy enough quickly turns into a challenge when the nearest weapon is a paddle outside of the safe house where hoards involving blood, guts, and beheading, it also creates a frightening environment for the player. Survival feels like the only option in this game as the characters have a limited stamina bar, and med kits prove difficult to find. Running and swinging weapons lowers stamina, making the player pay close attention so their character doesn’t get tired. Weapons degrade as they’re used, but finding a “workbench” will help keep them in the best shape. The player rarely feels safe walking through the game; they must be wary of infected who pretend they are corpses and strike, to the scarily quiet surroundings suddenly pierced by the screams of thugs waiting to attack. While the game itself doesn’t prove to be perfect, having rough visual of zombies, blood, and bites are flying from every direction. Each character possesses a “fury skill”; abilities gained by an accumulated rage bar. They also have specialties, and an un-blockable melee kick. There are multiple zombies in the game, ranging from a slow walker who roams the streets looking for flesh, to a butcher, an armless zombie that uses its exposed forearm bones as sharp weapons.
While Dead Island succeeds in creating a gory game involving blood, guts, and beheading, it also creates a frightening environment for the player. Survival feels like the only option in this game as the characters have a limited stamina bar, and med kits prove difficult to find. Running and swinging weapons lowers stamina, making the player pay close attention so their character doesn’t get tired. Weapons degrade as they’re used,but finding a “workbench”will help keep them in the best shape. The player rarely feels safe walking through the game; they must be wary of infected who pretend they are corpses and strike, to the scarily quiet surroundings suddenly pierced by the screams of thugs waiting to attack.
While the game itself doesn’t prove to be perfect, having rough visual flaws and a somewhat un-natural first-person melee combat,it makes up for itself in the experience of the player. It’s not the game itself that makes it good, but the enjoyment of the storyline and the characters.
For fans of: Dead Rising, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Borderlands.
Consoles: Playstation 3, X-box 360, PC. With online 4-player,co-op.
For fans of: Dead Rising, Fallout 3, Left 4 Dead, Borderlands.
Consoles: Playstation 3, X-box 360, PC. With online 4-player, co-op.