The year of 2011 has proven to be a strong start for the video game industry in the new decade. While 2001 to 2010 had its share of the fantastic and the lame, 2011 surely gave us gamers quite a lot to work with in where a released game belonged. Was the game worth the $65 or should it have been less? Was the game revolutionary in some way or is it following a trend? Was the game a good experience or a waste of time? Well, let's take a look back and see what 2011 offered us as I review one of the most anticipated zombie games to come out as of late: Dead Island.
With zombies being a popular medium of horror fiction, or even fiction in general, it's no surprise that people got really hyped after seeing the teaser trailer for Dead Island. The somber piano and violin instrumental in the background of the chaotic situation that has befallen the island resort of Banoi was told through a family who became victims of this zombie plague. I must say that I got goosebumps with how the trailer was made because it told me something about Dead Island that I can expect.
I was expecting a lot of character emotion, beautiful landscapes, chaos where you least expect it, and a mystery that leaves you guessing on what started this hellish nightmare. Did I get what I expected? Most certainly. Dead Island is brimming with that and more as I got to experience a little something different.
To start, gameplay can be personalized to the player depending on which of the four characters is chosen. First is Logan Carter, a former NFL star, who is a Throwing Expert. Second is Purna, a former police officer, who is a Firearms Expect. Third is Xian Mei, an employee at the resort, who is Blade Weapons Expert. Fourth is Sam B, a rapper looking to make it big again, who is a Blunt Weapons Expert. Tie those specialties in with three skills trees that you can add skill points to so your character get stronger.
There is Fury, Survival, and Combat. Fury emphasizes more on your character's specialty in that they become a rage-like combatant. Survival focuses on making your character tougher and more resilient with finding money and bettering their skills. Combat allows you to become a tough adversary for the undead legions with better attack damage and damage resistance. I found myself focusing more on Survival and Combat rather than Fury because the character I chose was Sam and he's plenty tough. I've seen what Fury does for each character, but I managed to play through the entire game without using so much as three skill points in Fury. If anything, Survival and Combat prove to be the better choices for gameplay, but it's always up to the strategy of the player.
Also, being that this is a first person shooter with a huge emphasis on melee combat, I suggest you get used to hardly finding any guns. You'll find more bladed and blunt weapons around than guns and ammunition. This literally forces the player to accept that this isn't going to be a straight up first person shooter. On top of that, melee weapons have a durability meter (reminiscent of Dead Rising) that lets you know when the weapon will break. No worries with Xian and Sam, though, as their specialties allow their weapons to not break, but rather be less effective at 0% durability.
There are also a ton of upgrades that be done with weapons. Not only will you focus on upgrading damage and handling, but you'll also find blueprints to crafting weapons with other items you find around the island. REMEMBER: Looting is necessary (and the collectibles are very informative)! Every battery, every roll of duct tape, every rag, every electronic scrap is necessary and essential if you want to craft effective weapons. One that I really enjoyed was a baseball bat that had barbed wire wrapped around it.
Next let's talk enemies. Now while a majority of the zombies you face are labeled as Walkers and Infected, it's the bigger and agile ones you need to watch out for. Thugs are tall, muscular zombies who have a nasty knockdown attack. Suiciders are zombies with pulsing muscles and skin that explode when you get too close. Floaters are big zombies found in sewers that spew toxins at the characters. That's just to name a few of the tougher zombies. I've often found myself having a difficult time with them, but once you figure out their attack patterns and behaviors you will have an easier time striking down these undead behemoths.
Other enemies include actual living humans who have taken it upon themselves to take advantage of the current state of Banoi. Gangs of punks and thieves guard territory and blockades like ravenous animals guarding their food. All are armed with melee weapons and guns. But just because they are ordinary humans does not mean they are pushovers. A smack to the face from a gangster using a steel pipe can do some major damage. Keep in mind to never underestimate the enemies in Dead Island.
The graphics are nice, but can be choppy at times. Loading screens and recovering segments may lead to textures loading for a few seconds longer. However, by staying in a single area, the loading textures are not a problem. Banoi is beautiful as well. The differing locations among the city, resort, jungle, and other places offer new environments for players to look at and admire. Cutscenes, on the other hand, suffer quite a bit. Loading textures and polish sometimes interferes with matching dialogue lip movements and sound effects for items (like gunshots).
The story is intriguing and will keep you guessing as to what is causing this zombie outbreak. You will hack your brain trying to figure out why your characters are immune. Even then, unfortunately, when you get to the end of the story your reaction may end up the same as mine. Which was, "Wait, what?" Story to me is very important for all forms of fictional media. When I get a video game, I'm hoping that I'll enjoy the story and learn more about the world I'm playing in outside of reading the small plot synopsis on the back of the cover. While the mystery itself keeps you engaged into wanting to know why this is all happening, the end leaves you on a cliffhanger which, yes, there will be a sequel.
The problem being that the ending is unsatisfactory. It left me with a feeling of disappointment and although I really don't want to spoil anything major as to the story plot, some of the side quests that you do and the characters you help (which are plentiful) lead to nothing. Sure you might help someone at one of the main safe houses get medicine and you're helping everyone there survive, but the end cutscene shows that that doesn't matter. Why put characters into the game if they don't really amount to the conclusion? I was into helping the people at the safe houses and finding a way to escape Banoi. That would give a sense of accomplishment like as if to say, "Yeah, I helped those people." But because Techland wanted to turn this into a franchise instead of a great single title, I left Dead Island with a sense of questioning what was the point of doing certain things if it didn't count toward the overall goal?
While the end of the story was a major disappointment for me, the gameplay makes up for it. However, story is something I hold high in my view of video games and Dead Island is something I doubt I'll load up anytime soon knowing full well what the end leads to. Are there games with senseless/linear plots that I enjoy? Of course there are, just check out early arcade games or the Sega Genesis. Plots in some of those games are simple. Or even downloadable games from PSN or XBox Live and games like Buzz and You Don't Know Jack. But when something like Dead Island comes out and has an interesting premise and characters, and then leaves you on a cliffhanger note or even an unaccomplished ending, then I get sad. It is unfortunate for me, but perhaps you will enjoy it enough that the end won't be too sour for you.
We might be in the age of remasters, but it doesn't look like the Dead Island 2 devs believe remaking the original game is the right move for the series.
but remakes require far less effort for these companies and they can still charge $70 for them!
Feel like everyone makes fun of Skyrim re-releasing like 18 times yet applaud these remasters elsewhere. Would much prefer NEW games
Making sequels really is the way to go. Otherwise we'll be stuck playing only the first entry, forever!!!
Josiah Motley of KnowTechie writes: "I love video game trailers. While I don’t believe they are an integral part of a game’s success (especially these days), there’s something about a well-produced trailer that really just reminds me why I like video games."
How so? Because it focused on a family that you see dying? (innocent question, haven't gotten a chance to play any Dead Island game yet)
More the tone of it - the tone of the trailer suggested something personal and dramatic, but the game was very much reminiscent of Left 4 Dead in that you were just there to kill zombies and nothing more
You play as a singular character there is no family involved at all in the game. Still a stand out trailer that I remember clearly from years ago.
Did you not like the game?
I remember going in expecting a L4D style of game, but the excessive camera swaying honestly made me feel ill, and it's rare for a game to do that to me, still don't understand why the need for anything other than maybe a subtle slight camera movement when doing melee attacks etc. Other than that i didn't really find the game that good. In all honesty i had more enjoyment out of DNF, and i know many people crap on that game.
It’s the music. It’s perfect. I agree with this for sure, it is well choreographed….unfortunately the game didn’t live up to the trailer.
Maybe not, but it was still a good game. I liked how they expanded things with Dying Light, but Dead Island was a great first attempt! I really liked all the Easter eggs and homages to other horror franchises sprinkled throughout. Sure it was a little cheesy and over there top, but it was a good happy medium between Far Cry and Fallout with zombies.
Have you ever seen any of the MGS 3 or MGS 4 trailers? Those blow this out of the water for me.
They require prior knowledge of the franchise, tho. You show this trailer to anyone, and I mean ANYONE, and they can understand what's going on and relate to the family dynamic almost immediately. No need to know who is Snake, or Fox Hound, or Raiden, or Metal Gear...
Kevin F. from Link Cable Gaming writes: "Many of the best Xbox 360 games are playable on the Xbox One and Series X|S consoles. Some even with some enhanced visuals and performance. Unfortunately, not every game from the Xbox 360 library has received this glorious feat of being able to be played on more modern Microsoft consoles."
The Spider-man games will never happen. The xbox 360 Marvel Ultimate Alliance games have a better chance of happening than Spider-man titles but won't happen. The Xbox One Ultimate Alliance games delisted years ago
Yeah... you can totally forget about those entries that got delisted because of licensing issues. Those are not happening.
Almost all of the games people want to play are BC, and that's a hell of a lot better than having none available.
Almost all the games people want to play? Not true. Majority picks screw over the minority who have games collecting dust. Metal is right. Fans make it seem that it's all. 39/997 games from OG Xbox is NOT all. 568/2154 from 360 is NOT all. But you guys play it up like it is.
And from my count, there are 4,000+ PS4 BC games on PS5 that I see. And almost every VR game. Series X has no Kinect games or Kinect 2. But you played that up too. No more dancing.
As for the article, some of the BC games make sense. The others with Spider-Man aren't happening.
I just got it today. It can get very boring when it makes you do sidequests, but I am having fun.
Who do you voodoo. the worst song I've ever heard.