Dead Island

The much anticipated Dead Island arrived through my letter box 2 days before the official release date (Recommend Shopto for pre-orders) last week which has meant a lot of hours lost to the Xbox. From the reviews I read and videos seen beforehand I was expecting big things expecially from the multiplayer aspect and so far I havent been disappointed. You start the game choosing one of four characters with each having a special atribute like using blunt weapons or an expert with guns and then waking up in your hotel room in a holiday resort. Unlike other zombie games such as Dead Rising, the game is first person game which I prefer and the whole menu option has the feel of the Fallout games to it. To start with you have to run through a few short basic missions to get used to the controls and to start the story line but then you can roam the map exploring and finding side quests as you please. Story line is as expected pretty basic for a zombie game......survive and escape with the side quests used to gain money, experience points and XP to level up to increase your survival and combat skills. I can certainly see both Left For Dead and Dead Rising in this game and I do think they have done a good job of getting the best from both. Like Dead Rising you can combine and make weapons with all the random things you can pick up and they do get damaged but I havent had a problem keeping the repair levels high finding a work bench. The game is more serious than Dead Rising so there wont be any dressing up in dresses and lunching big teddy bears at the zombies but you can have a bit of fun driving trucks into crowds of zombies! The parts of the game that reminds me of Left For Dead are some of the stronger zombies are very similar to the Boomer, Charger and Spitter you see in Left For Dead and the 4 player co-op. The multiplayer aspect is fun with all of the players recieving XP for zombies that are killed by the other players but you have to make sure you are at a similar part in the story or similar level to the other players as if you are level 10 in a game with level 20 then the zombies are a lot harder and you wont get any of the XP for completing missions as you would have skipped some of the story. The only niggling part for me is that it is first come first served with regards to the loot you find as it will only let one player take it so it can get a bit annoying killing zombies and one of the other players stealing the money or weapon before you get there!! One suprise is that there are three maps and they are big and varied enough to keep you entertained throughout the game. Overall this is a fun game and certainly recommend it if you like zombie games.

Rating: 4/5