Ok, so I hear you asking how was Dead Island? Well I can honestly say after 15 hours gameplay I’m still not sure what Dead Island is, let alone how it is.
The game begins with an introduction where you get to choose to play as one of four characters. Each has their own story, although I wouldn’t worry too much as this is never referenced during the game, and every cut scene seems to include all 4 characters anyway (stumbling block 1). After this rather lengthy intro, you’re thrust into the action and all hope of an exciting game is restored, albeit briefly.
The game is set in Papua New Guinea, although I’d suggest you wouldn’t realise that from the woeful voice acting (My Aussie friend was offended by the poor show). The painfully awkward Australian style accents that aren’t quite Aussie, not quite Kiwi, but almost definitely spoken by Americans. Subtitles ON, mute button ON – brought relief during some of the fetching quests, rather than listen to the verbal atrocities spewing from some of the characters resulting in substandard delivery.
"The endless quests become an extremely addictive element"
So what kind of game is Dead Island I hear you shouting at your computer as I waffle on about substandard voice over? Well your guess is as good as mine. Imagine somebody couldn’t be bothered to do all the work themselves, so instead took a bit from every recent zombie game, and many combat games. There’s a little of Dead Rising, some Left for Dead, and Borderlands in there which is clearly evident, and even scenes that could’ve been cut > paste from the likes of Bioshock. The Boss found it incredibly difficult to amble along through the game, which is the style it seems the developer has dictated. In the same breath, there are good elements too. The endless quests become an extremely addictive element, and although The Boss isn’t the biggest RPG fan, it’s nice to see they’ve struck a good balance here; this goes without saying when I’m 20 hours into a game I thought I’d be putting to bed after 5.
Dead Island’s handling is pretty intuitive, and you find yourself mastering a plethora of weapons within a relatively short time. There’s the additional fun of ‘making your own’, however this is somewhat let down by the fact you have to obtain blueprints for the ‘make your own’ weapons, which in my mind means you’re not actually making your own weapons at all? It’s also at this point I have to raise another gripe about the weapons system; all the weapons become exhausted extremely quickly, regardless of how much you upgrade them. When was the last time you hit somebody over the head with a baseball bat, but it caused no damage? It becomes incredibly tedious having to constantly swap weapons in and out of your itinerary after a couple of blood curdling skull smashes.
"co-op provides a fresh look at the game"
While it’s possible to play this game solo, co-op provides a fresh look at the game. When you start, it’s quite easy for anyone to drop in and out of a game, from friends to strangers if you want them to. It’s a clever little engine as it can even work out when you’re near another person who’s at a similar point in the game and will let you know that you are, so you have the option of combining forces. The solidarity of this game is certainly rejuvenated when there’s a few of you playing co-op, and it certainly makes things a lot easier as well. One point I was quite surprised at however was the lack of local co-op mode using split screen. Unless you’ve got friends with this game, or you’re willing to make some, you’ll have to go solo or controller swap.
The game, as you may have been able to tell isn’t without its faults. Certainly I’ve listed a few above, but in terms of bugs, this game is rife. While none of the bugs should put you off giving this game a go, they’ll certainly niggle you. A prime example of this was being stood on the drivers’ side of the truck, by the steering wheel, but managing firstly to get in the back and secondly the passenger side from that position. Other glitches such as being able to drive on water to a certain extent provide comical, but somewhat unrealistic and unwanted additions. This coupled with glitchy animation, and poor continuity can become a bit of a drag.
The Boss says ‘there’s nothing new about Dead Island. You won’t be shocked by anything, and almost everything is unoriginal. I spent most of the game saying “oh I remember something like this in……..”. I’ve spent the majority of this review slating the game and now I’m going to blow it out of the water. It’s actually not a bad game at all and will provide you with hours of fun with friends or alone. You’ve got to be prepared to put the work in, but you’ll get the results back. It’s like this game is a rabid 3 legged dog on the outside, but it gives you just a glint of those puppy dog eyes and you’re sucked in.
The best way that The Boss can describe Dead Island, is it’s like Tomato Ketchup:- There’s loads of ingredients that make up this game, and some of them on their own aren’t too appetising, but combine all 57 of them together and you’ll end up with a tasty result.
