A hot beach, the rhythmic sway of ocean waves, and beauties in bikinis. What else do you need for a great vacation? Certainly, a virus that will turn all the inhabitants and guests into zombies! You always wanted to get into a zombieland on a separate island, right? No? You didn't want to? That can't be, everyone wants to... well, never mind.
Dead, but satisfied!
The Polish developers, who have already become a byword, in this case, the guys from Techland, spent many years to release Dead Island. But they still didn't make it to the release date: the game amusingly glitches, textures fail in places, and the video settings controls are responsible for something weird. Constant patching right after release is a definite downside for the game, though at least they fix them promptly.
Unlike Left 4 Dead and other zombie games, Dead Island has a different game world mechanics: huge locations filled with zombies to the brim, RPG elements in the form of character skill upgrades, the ability to create weapons, and use improvised items for protection against enemies.
There are no complaints about the design of the game world; moreover, everything is done excellently: each location is designed according to its content. The city is full of cars and offices, while the beaches have sunshades, bars, and clubs. Every corner of the game is carefully filled with numerous small elements, without which complete immersion in the game would be impossible. Graphically, the game also looks good (well, of course, after patches).
Kill zombies!
Kill zombies throughout the game — that's the whole plot of Dead Island. Five chapters, built on the principle of the further you go, the shorter and more crumpled the ending, do not do the writers any honor, although most players will probably skip the whole plot entirely. And the reason for this is the exciting gameplay, in which the simulation of a "computer character" is stylized as the real world. Our character gets tired, fights with fists, desperately kicks zombies, and, of course, uses anything that comes to hand as a weapon: knives, oars, wrenches, etc. There is also firearms in the game, although its implementation is very poor, and in shooting moments, the game resembles a standard Polish shooter.
After choosing a character you like at the beginning of the game (we will start in the hotel regardless of our decision), the player will have to literally fight through hordes of various zombies charging ahead with no tactics.
Each game character has their own skill tree that can be upgraded, plus we can unlock some "talents." For example, in "rage" mode, you can significantly increase the damage dealt and your health, which will definitely come in handy when zombies surround you from all sides. The side quests are surprisingly monotonous to the point of impossibility, you won't even encounter scripted zombie attacks here!
At least the dismemberment turned out great: by swinging your favorite weapon with force, we won't just beat zombies — with each hit, the poor things will increasingly resemble a corpse. And how satisfyingly, with blood, their "parts" fly out, accompanied by the groaning and growling of zombies! By the way, the specific damage system works perfectly: you can easily cut off an arm or break a knee, and the enemy will accordingly lose agility and strength or movement speed. There are a huge number of ways to specifically kill in the game: you can burn alive, chop into pieces, knock down and finish off with your hands, and so on. In general, fans of committing various immoral actions will be delighted!
What's next?
Those players who liked Dead Island from the start will surely play it more than once. Of course, the game has certain drawbacks, but fans won't pay attention to them. And the advantages that the game demonstrates at the beginning will attract many new players. As for those who didn't like Dead Island (usually fans of Left 4 Dead), they should probably forget about the creation of the Polish developers altogether.
