Dead Island ramble.
Nearly 37 hours 2692 zombie kills later I've finished Dead Island (well, the first play through. I can totally see myself going back to play as a different character or give co-op mode a whirl).
I'll kick off with the negatives before I start gushing. First of all, the difficulty curve is frakked. I like the idea of co-op being drop-in, drop out whenever you feel like it (as opposed to a dedicated co-op mode) but that means the difficulty has to be the same for single player and co-op. I'm guessing that's fine for co-op but if you're in single player, prepare to die a whole lot. I died 182 times in this game. Okay, it doesn't matter that much, you just get a GTA-style respawn and you lose some cash but it does get frustrating (especially if you've been saving up for a sweet weapon mod). It gets especially frustrating if you respawn in the middle of the exact same mob of zombies that killed you in the first place.
Which brings me on to my next point; what is up with the respawn points? Is it just me or were they completely random? Sometimes it would drop me off a few meters away so I could get my bearings before getting with the zombie-skewering, sometimes it would spawn me very many meters away so I had no idea where I was in relation to where I died and like I said, sometimes it would respawn me in the exact same spot so I could die all over again. The worst example I can think of was during the quarantine zone in Moresby. I stuck to the rooftops to keep the Infected concentration down but I wound up dying anyway. During the respawn countdown I was just thinking, "Please don't respawn me on the ground, please don't respawn me on the ground..." Yep. I respawned on the ground, got immediately jumped by about half-a-dozen infected, died in two seconds flat. I respawned again in the same spot but this time, I hit the sprint button and made a sphincter-clenching dash for the nearest ladder.
Some of the fetch-quests are mind-numbingly stupid. "Please, run across this zombie-infested city to bring me a gun so that I might shoot my wife's rapist!"
Okay, first of all? This rapist guy is probably already dead, or among the walking dead, what part of zombie apocalypse don't you understand? Secondly, why are you sending me across town to get something I already have? Bitch please, I have a gun right here, just use that one. Gah.
Okay, on to the positives.
First up, I think many of the criticisms leveled at it are a little unfair, or at least, I didn't think these when I played, maybe it's a Your Milage May Vary sort of thing. For instance, I never found the combat repetitive or boring. I've been playing nearly forty hours now and I'm still not bored of timing it just right to lob off an Infected's head before it can get its mitts on me. I still cackle with glee when I hack off a Thug's limbs one-by-one so it can't hit me. It's just too much fun. It's gory as hell (this may be the goriest game I've ever played) but I don't think I'd be satisfied if I hacked off a zombie's arm and blood didn't spurt everywhere like a fountain. Also, there's so many different weapons to try out, you can mix it up to keep it fresh. Also, the zombies level up with you so it's always a challenge. Even 3 or 4 bog-standard Walkers can cause you grief if you don't pay attention or don't choose and time your attacks wisely. Oh and running zombies down with a car? Never gets old.
I've heard complaints about the lack of variety of zombies. I heard one gamer say it's like Left 4 Dead only with one type of zombie. Well that's just bollocks. You've got:
Walkers: Classic, Romero-style shamblers. Pretty much cannon fodder but if they surround you, you could be in trouble.
Thugs: Big, hulking shamblers, they do a lot of damage, two hits and you're dead. However, once you get the hang of cutting off their limbs, these are a lot of fun to menace. Seriously, you can get the arms off, then go for the legs, Black Knight style.
Infected: 28 Days Later-style, ragey, fast fuckers. I hate these things. One or two I can cope with, if you time it just right you can decapitate them before they reach you but any more than that, you get swarmed, they interrupt your attacks and your health is gone before you know what's happened. They're just too fast.
Floaters: They look totally disgusting and they seem scarier than they actually are. Their vomit attack (yes, they have a vomit attack, lovely) doesn't cause that much damage and once you attack they go down fairly easily.
Rams: Enormous, strait-jacketed, Hannibal Lector-masked crazies who charge you and bowl you over. These are theoretically easy to kill; you just dodge when they charge, let them run into a wall, hack away at them, repeat until they die. However, because the L2 button on the Dualshock controller is crazy-sensitive, I'd often end up kicking when I should have been dodging, you just need to brush that button for the kick command to go through. One fun thing to try is if you're facing off against Walkers and a Ram, position yourself so the Walker is between yourself and the Ram, then the Ram will kill the Walker for you when he charges.
Butchers: They look hideous and I suppose their sharpened, bone-stump arms are meant to be scary but eh, I didn't find them any more difficult than a standard Infected. Plus, I only ever seemed to go up against them one-on-one so they don't really live up to the hype.
Suiciders: Very easy to kill if you have a gun but damn, they're creepy and kinda sad since you can clearly hear them saying "Help me," if you get close enough (just don't get too close, lest they explode). Oh and never ram these guys with your car. Bad things happen.
Thirdly, I've heard bellyaching that it isn't scary enough. I sort of disagree. The gore isn't scary, it's more satisfying than anything else but there were definitely bits I found very unsettling. Moresby (the city level) in particular. It was so gloomy and depressing to start with, so add in killer zombies and you have a crapsack environment to end all crapsack environments. I didn't find the resort that scary because I've never found brightly lit environments unsettling (the hotel on the other hand was not fun. Too dark. Too many corners). I found the jungle and prison stages a relief after Moreseby. I really didn't like Moresby. Too dark, too gloomy, too many corners and alleyways where you could be jumped unawares. In fact, I'll just come out and say that I found the Moresby quarantine zone pants-wettingly scary. I was also incredibly creeped-out by the City Hall level after you return from the sewers. To see this formerly "safe" zone turn into a gore-strewn hell-hole was pretty gut-wrenching for me (especially as it's kind of your fault). After that I had visions of returning to the lifeguard tower to find bits of Sinamoi splashed all over the concrete (I'm glad that didn't happen, I sort of loved Sinamoi. He got shit done). Also, Suiciders; Heeeeellp...mEEeeeeEeeee...
Finally, to people who complained that it wasn't as emotionally affecting as that trailer...come on. You should know by now that a cinematic trailer isn't indicative of gameplay. If you thought this was exactly what you'd be getting, you deserve all the disappointment you get. Anyway, if you want to take a moment to mourn that family in game, take a left when you leave your hotel room right at the start of the game, you can find the parent's corpses in their room. By and large, I'll concede the acting was very OTT and hammy but there was the odd moment I found sad (I'm thinking of the hotel security guard who dies right after you get him morphine). I probably would have found certain scenes more affecting if the character models hadn't strolled right out of Uncanny Valley (I found Jin particularly bad in this respect). I did feel sorry for Jin though, even though she was Too Dumb To Live. On a side note, I was mildly disappointed that the trailer music didn't make it into the final game. I think it would have fitted very well over the end cinematic, bittersweet ending and all that.
The escort missions weren't nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe. Yes, the characters would sometimes sprint ahead regardless of what you wanted to do but at least if they saw zombies up ahead, they'd usually have the good sense to hang back and let you deal with them. No, I didn't mind these missions at all, I'm not really sure what all the carping is about.
And the pop culture references...oh the pop culture references, they made me giggle in between the adrenaline surges. A doorway, with "DO NOT OPEN. DEAD INSIDE," written on it? I SEE YOU, WALKING DEAD. The names of the trophies/achievements too:
For traveling on foot: CARDIO.
For severing limbs: 'TIS ONLY A FLESH WOUND.
FOr killing many, many zombies: YA RLY (and yes, the symbol for this achievement was a surprised looking owl).
For finding collectible items: MY COLLECTIBLES. LET ME SHOW YOU THEM.
For exploration: THERE AND BACK AGAIN.
For completing the city level: NO RACOONS HERE (I see you, Resident Evil!)
There's more. I'm sure Dr. West is a Lovecraft reference and I'm positive I saw "Zombie Kill of the Week" pop up somewhere but that could have been my fevered, sleep deprived brain filling that in.
So yes, it's flawed but the massive fun you have playing it outweigh those flaws comfortably. Overall, I'd have to say I freaking love this game, to the point where I'll probably need some kind of Dead Island intervention soon ("We're only saying this because we love you but we think you've slaughtered enough walking dead, you have to get back to real life now...no, it's not Kuru, it's just a game").
so congratulations, if you read to the end of this wall of text. You're clearly as obsessed with zombies as I am. I'll see you at the intervention.
I'll kick off with the negatives before I start gushing. First of all, the difficulty curve is frakked. I like the idea of co-op being drop-in, drop out whenever you feel like it (as opposed to a dedicated co-op mode) but that means the difficulty has to be the same for single player and co-op. I'm guessing that's fine for co-op but if you're in single player, prepare to die a whole lot. I died 182 times in this game. Okay, it doesn't matter that much, you just get a GTA-style respawn and you lose some cash but it does get frustrating (especially if you've been saving up for a sweet weapon mod). It gets especially frustrating if you respawn in the middle of the exact same mob of zombies that killed you in the first place.
Which brings me on to my next point; what is up with the respawn points? Is it just me or were they completely random? Sometimes it would drop me off a few meters away so I could get my bearings before getting with the zombie-skewering, sometimes it would spawn me very many meters away so I had no idea where I was in relation to where I died and like I said, sometimes it would respawn me in the exact same spot so I could die all over again. The worst example I can think of was during the quarantine zone in Moresby. I stuck to the rooftops to keep the Infected concentration down but I wound up dying anyway. During the respawn countdown I was just thinking, "Please don't respawn me on the ground, please don't respawn me on the ground..." Yep. I respawned on the ground, got immediately jumped by about half-a-dozen infected, died in two seconds flat. I respawned again in the same spot but this time, I hit the sprint button and made a sphincter-clenching dash for the nearest ladder.
Some of the fetch-quests are mind-numbingly stupid. "Please, run across this zombie-infested city to bring me a gun so that I might shoot my wife's rapist!"
Okay, first of all? This rapist guy is probably already dead, or among the walking dead, what part of zombie apocalypse don't you understand? Secondly, why are you sending me across town to get something I already have? Bitch please, I have a gun right here, just use that one. Gah.
Okay, on to the positives.
First up, I think many of the criticisms leveled at it are a little unfair, or at least, I didn't think these when I played, maybe it's a Your Milage May Vary sort of thing. For instance, I never found the combat repetitive or boring. I've been playing nearly forty hours now and I'm still not bored of timing it just right to lob off an Infected's head before it can get its mitts on me. I still cackle with glee when I hack off a Thug's limbs one-by-one so it can't hit me. It's just too much fun. It's gory as hell (this may be the goriest game I've ever played) but I don't think I'd be satisfied if I hacked off a zombie's arm and blood didn't spurt everywhere like a fountain. Also, there's so many different weapons to try out, you can mix it up to keep it fresh. Also, the zombies level up with you so it's always a challenge. Even 3 or 4 bog-standard Walkers can cause you grief if you don't pay attention or don't choose and time your attacks wisely. Oh and running zombies down with a car? Never gets old.
I've heard complaints about the lack of variety of zombies. I heard one gamer say it's like Left 4 Dead only with one type of zombie. Well that's just bollocks. You've got:
Walkers: Classic, Romero-style shamblers. Pretty much cannon fodder but if they surround you, you could be in trouble.
Thugs: Big, hulking shamblers, they do a lot of damage, two hits and you're dead. However, once you get the hang of cutting off their limbs, these are a lot of fun to menace. Seriously, you can get the arms off, then go for the legs, Black Knight style.
Infected: 28 Days Later-style, ragey, fast fuckers. I hate these things. One or two I can cope with, if you time it just right you can decapitate them before they reach you but any more than that, you get swarmed, they interrupt your attacks and your health is gone before you know what's happened. They're just too fast.
Floaters: They look totally disgusting and they seem scarier than they actually are. Their vomit attack (yes, they have a vomit attack, lovely) doesn't cause that much damage and once you attack they go down fairly easily.
Rams: Enormous, strait-jacketed, Hannibal Lector-masked crazies who charge you and bowl you over. These are theoretically easy to kill; you just dodge when they charge, let them run into a wall, hack away at them, repeat until they die. However, because the L2 button on the Dualshock controller is crazy-sensitive, I'd often end up kicking when I should have been dodging, you just need to brush that button for the kick command to go through. One fun thing to try is if you're facing off against Walkers and a Ram, position yourself so the Walker is between yourself and the Ram, then the Ram will kill the Walker for you when he charges.
Butchers: They look hideous and I suppose their sharpened, bone-stump arms are meant to be scary but eh, I didn't find them any more difficult than a standard Infected. Plus, I only ever seemed to go up against them one-on-one so they don't really live up to the hype.
Suiciders: Very easy to kill if you have a gun but damn, they're creepy and kinda sad since you can clearly hear them saying "Help me," if you get close enough (just don't get too close, lest they explode). Oh and never ram these guys with your car. Bad things happen.
Thirdly, I've heard bellyaching that it isn't scary enough. I sort of disagree. The gore isn't scary, it's more satisfying than anything else but there were definitely bits I found very unsettling. Moresby (the city level) in particular. It was so gloomy and depressing to start with, so add in killer zombies and you have a crapsack environment to end all crapsack environments. I didn't find the resort that scary because I've never found brightly lit environments unsettling (the hotel on the other hand was not fun. Too dark. Too many corners). I found the jungle and prison stages a relief after Moreseby. I really didn't like Moresby. Too dark, too gloomy, too many corners and alleyways where you could be jumped unawares. In fact, I'll just come out and say that I found the Moresby quarantine zone pants-wettingly scary. I was also incredibly creeped-out by the City Hall level after you return from the sewers. To see this formerly "safe" zone turn into a gore-strewn hell-hole was pretty gut-wrenching for me (especially as it's kind of your fault). After that I had visions of returning to the lifeguard tower to find bits of Sinamoi splashed all over the concrete (I'm glad that didn't happen, I sort of loved Sinamoi. He got shit done). Also, Suiciders; Heeeeellp...mEEeeeeEeeee...
Finally, to people who complained that it wasn't as emotionally affecting as that trailer...come on. You should know by now that a cinematic trailer isn't indicative of gameplay. If you thought this was exactly what you'd be getting, you deserve all the disappointment you get. Anyway, if you want to take a moment to mourn that family in game, take a left when you leave your hotel room right at the start of the game, you can find the parent's corpses in their room. By and large, I'll concede the acting was very OTT and hammy but there was the odd moment I found sad (I'm thinking of the hotel security guard who dies right after you get him morphine). I probably would have found certain scenes more affecting if the character models hadn't strolled right out of Uncanny Valley (I found Jin particularly bad in this respect). I did feel sorry for Jin though, even though she was Too Dumb To Live. On a side note, I was mildly disappointed that the trailer music didn't make it into the final game. I think it would have fitted very well over the end cinematic, bittersweet ending and all that.
The escort missions weren't nearly as bad as I'd been led to believe. Yes, the characters would sometimes sprint ahead regardless of what you wanted to do but at least if they saw zombies up ahead, they'd usually have the good sense to hang back and let you deal with them. No, I didn't mind these missions at all, I'm not really sure what all the carping is about.
And the pop culture references...oh the pop culture references, they made me giggle in between the adrenaline surges. A doorway, with "DO NOT OPEN. DEAD INSIDE," written on it? I SEE YOU, WALKING DEAD. The names of the trophies/achievements too:
For traveling on foot: CARDIO.
For severing limbs: 'TIS ONLY A FLESH WOUND.
FOr killing many, many zombies: YA RLY (and yes, the symbol for this achievement was a surprised looking owl).
For finding collectible items: MY COLLECTIBLES. LET ME SHOW YOU THEM.
For exploration: THERE AND BACK AGAIN.
For completing the city level: NO RACOONS HERE (I see you, Resident Evil!)
There's more. I'm sure Dr. West is a Lovecraft reference and I'm positive I saw "Zombie Kill of the Week" pop up somewhere but that could have been my fevered, sleep deprived brain filling that in.
So yes, it's flawed but the massive fun you have playing it outweigh those flaws comfortably. Overall, I'd have to say I freaking love this game, to the point where I'll probably need some kind of Dead Island intervention soon ("We're only saying this because we love you but we think you've slaughtered enough walking dead, you have to get back to real life now...no, it's not Kuru, it's just a game").
so congratulations, if you read to the end of this wall of text. You're clearly as obsessed with zombies as I am. I'll see you at the intervention.