Dead Island Review
Dead Island is an action-horror video game that was released for Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 on September 6, 2011 (NA), September 9, 2011 (PAL), and October 20, 2011 (JP). The game revolves around surviving on the island of Banoi where the entire island is infested with zombies with some survivors. The game is played in a first person perspective where you can play one of the four main characters: rapper Sam B, Chinese hotel receptionist and spy Xian Mei, former soccer star Logan Carter or former police officer Puma. . Most of the game revolves around combat and completing missions where you will gain experience where you will level up and gain health and stamina and a skill point to put in a skill tree.
Combat in the game is done through the use of melee weapons and firearms, where melee is emphasized and used primarily. Generally, in a zombie apocalypse, you don’t want to alert a horde where they would come in a swarm and generally tear you apart. It will be easier to face one zombie and move on to another. The first quarter of the game is just melee and then firearms are introduced, but melee is usually the best weapon option to use in the game. Weapons can be found in predetermined locations with stats generally based on the player’s level. With each weapon, it can be upgraded four times to increase stats. With combat, there is a stamina bar, which means that each physical action requires a large amount of stamina, which means that you are limited to what you can do within a specified time before having to regain your stamina.
In the game, each zombie has different abilities. The infected are both those who run and carry and those who walk. There are also the specialized zombies that are the thug (those with enhanced strength), the suicide bomber (those that exploded to harm surrounding enemies), the ram (a large zombie in a straitjacket that charges at the player), the butcher (which has sharpened bones like knives) and the float (which spews vomit similar to flammable acids).
Unlike other zombie games like Left for Dead series, this game has the feature of an RPG where you can level up and develop your character. Blood and gore in the game is a plus for any zombie game. The driving in the game is a bit sketchy at the moment, but it is an interesting feature to drive and go through a horde of zombies freely with blood splatters everywhere. Overall, I found the game to be quite satisfying, but a little scary at some point, but that’s to be expected in a zombie horror game. This game can be found on Steam or on their website at http://deadisland.deepsilver.com/.
Rating: 8.5 / 10