We’re just a few days away from going on a zombie rampage on the beautiful tropical island of Banoi, just off the coast of Papua New Guinea. Dead Island ships to stores for Xbox 360 on September 6, and we’re already on our way to spilling some blood on the sand, thanks to the good people at Deep Silver. We have to wait a few days to give you a final verdict (expect our full review early next week), but for now, we can provide you with some impressions based on what we’ve played thus far, and thus give you plenty of reasons to pick up the game early next week when it releases on Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC. In the game, you get to choose between four characters, each with their own separate back story and weapon specialty. Sam B, for instance, is a Tank class of sorts, able to melee zombies off better than most. Xian Mei is a sharp weapons expert, meaning that once she has a katana in her hands, she can dish out some major damage. For this particular road test, we decided to try our luck with Mei. The game begins with you waking up with one hell of a hangover.
You can barely recollect what happened the night before (save for some random zombie attacks and a whole lot of drinking), but you soon find yourself in a personal hell, with most of the hotel rooms abandoned and a lot of zombies making their way around the island. You soon find yourself making friends with the survivors, particularly Sinamoi, a lifeguard who originally worked as a lifeguard for the Royal Palms Resort, but now fights to keep everyone alive. Your job is to work your way around the island, completing tasks and staying in one piece as zombies randomly attack. Like Dead Rising before it, Dead Island requires you to use items around the island in order to survive. You don’t always have the convenience of a firearm, but you can use your fists and kicks if you’re desperate, or pick up something along the lines of a boat oar or a metal pipe to bash their heads in. Granted, if you use a weapon too long, it becomes infected and eventually breaks, so it doesn’t hurt to pick up a few extras and keep them in your inventory. What’s more, you’ll need to keep a close eye on your stamina bar. Run too much or attack too quickly, and it starts to leave an effect on your health.
Luckily, there are more than enough energy drinks around the island, so you can always recover after you get a chance to breathe. When you use weapons in the game, you can either have them for a melee capacity, or throw them like projectiles. And, we gotta tell you, nothing beats throwing a boat oar through someone’s head. It’s ridiculous. Other great moments include picking up a gas canister, throwing it at a group of zombies and knocking them down like bowling pins, then using another object, hurling it at the canister and making it explode. You can create fun little kills this way, and boost up your point score and XP while you’re at it, earning new abilities that are unlockable over the course of the game. If you don’t like the weapons they are now, you can find a work bench and, provided you have the right equipment picked up all over the island, modify them to better effect. For instance, we love the Nail’d Mod, which actually has nothing to do with Deep Silver’s previous racing game. Instead, you attack nails to a projectile and make it even more dangerous. Nice.
This feature preview concludes on the next page, please click Page 2 to read the rest of our reasons for picking up Dead Island next week.
