Dead Island

[GTHobbes]

Never heard of this game before, but I hope it turns out as cool as the trailer.

[MizzouRah]

HOLY CHIT BATMAN!!!

Game looks real... wow... can't wait to see more!

[Rodster]

The game looks really good but I suck at Zombie games and get frustrated by them.

[Danimal]

The game looks really good but I suck at Zombie games and get frustrated by them.

You might want to work on that then, with the coming Zombie apocalypse and all.

[Rodster]

The game looks really good but I suck at Zombie games and get frustrated by them.

You might want to work on that then, with the coming Zombie apocalypse and all.

What Zombie apocalypse?!

[vader29]

What Zombie apocalypse?!

http://www.zombiesarecoming.com/

[LAking]

Well, that was disturbing...

I too am a bit burned out on the whole zombie craze. I still have to play Dead Rising 2 but I think i'm done with the undead after that.

[Rodster]

Well, that was disturbing...

I too am a bit burned out on the whole zombie craze. I still have to play Dead Rising 2 but I think i'm done with the undead after that.

LOL I know what you mean. It was almost like a cross between DR2 and Silent Hill. I think i'll pass on this one.

[GTHobbes]

I'm not a huge zombie guy either but if they can get the actual game looking this good, I'm positive I'll want to give it a try. That's a big if, but I've always been a sucker for a game with revolutionary graphics.

[RobVarak]

That is a positively brilliant piece of work.

[greggsand]

That is a positively brilliant piece of work.

Exactly. It's great on a video game level, movie trailer level, zombie level, etc... slam dunk.

[NoJoke]

While I am not a fan of zombie games, if nothing else, that sort of trailer rebuts Ebert's claim that games can't be art. Perhaps, trailers only can be... or at least as much as movies. As a dad, whose two little girls are out of town for the week with mom on vacation, while dad is stuck at home for a trial (thankfully as attorney, not defendant), that struck a chord (a little wine helps, too!). Looking forward to the game.

Joe

[Murph]

And on a related subject, The Walking Dead is one of the best new shows on TV. I can't wait for season 2!

[Murph]

What Zombie apocalypse?!

http://www.zombiesarecoming.com/

http://www.cracked.com/article_18683_7- ... ickly.html

[MizzouRah]

I can't wait to get this game:

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/e3-20 ... and/714858

Gameplay

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/to-ki ... and/714103

http://www.gametrailers.com/video/part- ... and/713980

[Rodster]

First review is out and it's a mixed bag.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011- ... and-review

6/10

"Remember the Dead Island teaser trailer? Good. Now forget it, because Dead Island the game is nothing like the trailer. It is, in fact, almost the complete opposite. Much like the moaning corpses that you're destined to spend a lot of time hacking to pieces, Dead Island is a shambling, lurching thing, falling to bits in important areas and frankly a bit whiffy up close. It's also strangely compelling, provided you're a forgiving sort who doesn't flinch at wonky coding and weird design decisions.

Now that we've established that Dead Island is a ramshackle B-movie rather than a streamlined blockbuster, let's clear up another misconception. This is not just a horror action game with occasional RPG bits glued on. It's a full-on openworld horror role-playing game, complete with crafting, side quests and skill trees. In fact, I'll put money on the fact that the conversation at developer Techland's Warsaw HQ started with the question, "What would happen if Fallout 3 and Left 4 Dead went on a holiday to the Far Cry island?" That, in a blood-stained disembowelled nutshell, is Dead Island."

Conclusion :

I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy the experience though. Dead Island is a deeply flawed game, but it's also clearly a low-budget game and one that has interesting ideas, often under-served by the bargain-basement code. Finding the diamonds in the rough demands a lot of patience, and enough investment in the base joys of zombie slaughter to tolerate the laundry list of flaws.

I suspect this will be one of those games that will be justifiably mocked by the majority for its many flaws but embraced by a forgiving minority, and passionately defended for its underdog status. Neither response will be entirely wrong. Much like gnawing on human flesh, Dead Island's clumsy horror-action role-player is the definition of an acquired taste.

[MizzouRah]

Well then.. with so many games on my radar, I'm going to wait on this one to become a bargain.

[ScoopBrady]

http://ps3.ign.com/articles/119/1192319p1.html

IGN liked it a little more. Both reviews mention Fallout 3 mixed with zombies. That's enough for me. Kotaku also had a list of 5 things that disappoint them about their first hour of Dead Island. At the end of the article they say that despite the flaws they can't wait to play more.

[TCrouch]

I grabbed this today. I can't pass up any RPG (I had no idea it was actually an RPG until a couple of days ago). I thought it was another shooter, but with quests and skill trees....I'm a sucker

[Danimal]

I grabbed this today. I can't pass up any RPG (I had no idea it was actually an RPG until a couple of days ago). I thought it was another shooter, but with quests and skill trees....I'm a sucker

Grabbed it for what? I was thinking of getting it for the Pc to play co-op with people.

[TCrouch]

360.

[ScoopBrady]

I got it yesterday too. I only had a chance to play the prologue but I definitely enjoyed it. This one is getting pretty mixed reviews. My initial reaction sides with the favorable ones. I can't wait to dig in more.

[TCrouch]

The more I play this, the more I'm completely sucked in. I never played Dead Rising that much, or L4D constantly. Dead Island seems to take bits and pieces of every zombie game ever made and turned it into an RPG that I'm completely digging. At first it seemed a bit chaotic with regards to combat and I've never been a fan of the "weapons constantly breaking" aspect of zombie games. But this one works pretty well, considering it's such an open world and you can generally find your way to a workbench to repair weapons pretty easily.

After I got used to the feel of the controls, I really started loving this game. Using the LB for a quick face kick to open combat really works well, as it staggers most enemies. Moving in with weapon attacks after that will yield the best results, so I started getting into a groove of kick-close-attack, kick-close-attack. I also realized that blunt weapons can break limbs, whereas bladed weapons cut stuff off. Makes sense, but against nastier zombies like the Thugs who can take a ridiculous amount of damage, running in and swinging a baseball bat at a kneecap to break his leg and force him to fall over, then jumping in and whacking away at his head was the main strategy for me to avoid getting knocked on my ass every 5 seconds.

You can even do pretty well with bare fists 1 on 1, so you're never really screwed (at least early on). I still felt the sense of dread running around everywhere, but you're one quick tap of the LB away from staggering any enemy who may surprise you, then coming up with a strategy anyway. Since I'm not constantly fighting the timer like in Dead Rising, and it's not all gaggles of zombies and endless supplies of bullets like in L4D, it really feels like something I haven't experienced before. Going to a gas station to fill up a gas canister to bring back to burn piles of bodies makes sense. Getting some transformers turned back on to get a building operational makes sense. Tracking down loved ones fits with the loose story.

All in all, it's incredibly immersive IMO. You're not just running around annihilating everything in your way. You feel like a major piece of a survival effort--trying to save people you can, accomplish attainable goals, and moving to the next objective. Really loving this game.

PS--funniest moment I've seen is strolling into some bungalo and hear porn-style music coming from the bedroom. Stroll into the bedroom and it's got some silly pink light action going on, and 2 video cameras pointed at the bed. On the bed, tied up in some weird S&M scene...is a zombie. Bashed a half-clothed porn star zombie's skull in. It doesn't get any better than that.

[Slumberland]

The important question is, slow zombies or fast zombies? The frenetic pace of L4D always turned me off.

[TCrouch]

Both. Most zombies (walkers) are pretty slow. They can kind of shamble at you, but you can easily just run around them. Plus it's an open world game, not corridors like I experienced in L4D. I've snuck around huge groups of them snacking on bodies. Plus I've climbed up on cars and just kicked the crap out of them (the walkers can't climb, which is hilarious).

But you'll run into "Infected" that scream at you from a mile away and come hauling ass right at you. Those are like the L4D zombies. Overall, the feel is much slower-paced. The vast majority are the walkers, though.