With Dead Island Riptide looking set to be unleashed at Gamescom, and the Game of The Year edition recently released, I think it’s time someone who respects anything with zombies in it, to take a retrospective look at just why Dead Island is a darn good game.

Popping up late last year (2011) Dead Island was a game, pushed forward so far on the hype train Halo and Half-Life were still picking up passengers 3 stops behind them on the “Lost Interest Line”.

But, for someone who has an obscure fetish for anything zombie related (Except bath salt abuse) Dead Island was an absolute godsend.

First, let me take you through, everything it did wrong, from my perspective, someone who is critical about everything aspect in a game, and won’t sleep easy till a game is released, worthy of a mark between 90 and 100.

Hiding behind a pillow:

Now, obviously, in an 18+ game relying heavily on zombies, it’s kind of essential to have some scary element in there. Some games do this well (Dead Space for example) and others… kind of lack in that department (Left 4 Dead) and of course, Dead Island.

It had its moments, don’t get me wrong, but… where were the hordes? Where was the scripted events that weren’t just 2 infected running at you during an escort mission? Where was the Ram charging through some glass whilst you’re creeping through a building?

There were times where I had thought a zambambi had been disposed of, only for it to jump back and latch onto me, there were a few moments in Moresby and the Jungle in particular where a Suicider or a Butcher were very well placed. (Infamously behind a door in the City Hall) But… overall there weren’t any memorable moments… based on the horror factor.

The thing with Dead Island is, it relies more on the strength of enemies over their respective numbers, and it works, on a degree of generating paced gameplay, but when, the major zombie games before it relied more on swarms of zambinos, it put Dead Island in an awkward position where you were always … expecting more when you heard the infected scream… and it turned out to one lowly woman running at you, which could easily be ended with one swing.

There was also… numerous occasions that I was going through the police station, or the hotel for instance, expecting zombies to eventually crash through the door they were banging on, or for a floor to give way and get swamped, or for the lights to go out… but… no. It was just nicely lit hallways with one or two walkers.

And, this brings me onto the next point; the flashlight.

It’s a tool that is at the forefront of keeping people on edge in games today. …but in Dead Island, it was just a mere button press that added nothing. Whilst it wasn’t directly the flashlights fault, it goes back to not ever needing it, because there were no parts of the game that were too dark to see.

Early on in my Dead Island life, the first time I discovered the bathrooms outside the hotel, with the blood smeared outside, and going into an underground cavity with roars coming from inside, I thought “Ooh heck, better see how long the torch lasts” …And, then I found out, the torch lasts enough to go from one end of the resort to the other, and the bathrooms were just a con.

The bathrooms could have been the ideal scaremory Dead Island needed. …oh what’s a scaremory, a cool word I just made up to describe something which was scary, and stuck in your memory. An example; Left 4 Dead relied on the sounds of the special infected, in particular the Witch and Tank, the noises they emitted stay with you, location wise take Black Lake Lodge from Condemned 2. Just saying that name gives me the heeble jeeble buddies.

And with Dead Island I just wanted to be all like “Oh hey, want to try the bathrooms without our torches on?” But, it sounds more like a flirty suggestion more than a thrilling endorsement.

So, with the general lack of “Oh Jaysuz” moments, and the flashlight used more to signal where you want your partner to stand, how else has Dead Island fared to someone who adores the genre more than any other.

Skull Icons:

Just staying with the horror aspect here, showing me exactly where zombies are spawning from on the minimap… kind of defeats the objective of making them spawn to a 67 degree angle of where you’re facing. It should be ‘Hear them screech, get your back to a wall and defend’ not… ‘Oh, there’s two down there’

‘Raskol’ gang members, and other enemy non-zombies:

I hear this is one of the more complained about aspects of Dead Island, and I’m inclined to agree. I like the idea of 3 or 4 humans armed with depleted pistols barricading themselves around Moresby, but… when you find out, killing them then gives more than full ammo, and the fact they then start to feature heavily in the game later on… it just breaks up the pace of the game, in a bad way.

I was expecting pockets of survivors holed up, shooting at zombies, and I could dart in and save the day, only for them to then charge at me with blunt objects (like they did on the one mission near the Quarantine zone out the building) not just… them … ducking behind some bins… then pow-pow I take all their stuff.

And by the end, it just dragged on, whole sections and missions became a first person shooter without even an ounce of zumbabombies in sight.

Glitches/bugs:

Well…. Yeah… You know… what else did you expect in this generation of gaming?

The cut scenes in particular… oh lordy, when we’re on the bridge, and … just…everything starts clipping like mad, boy oh boy was that a sight of technical triumph

These are the main problems I felt with Dead Island. (Yes I know, I didn’t complain about the story, it was no Graham McNeil, but it was still better than the majority of other first person games), and some smaller things maybe didn’t quite work, like the title screen cuts a little too quickly for my enjoyment from the opening cutscene, or the black wall underpass before you set fire to it… but none of these were game breaking.

Now, because I don’t go a day without posting somewhere publicly just how everyone should own Dead Island in some form, it’s about time I got onto why I firmly believe it’s one of the best game this generation, which is some achievement, as there are hardly any games out there these days that come close to an ounce of fun games just one generation back and more delivered.

Stuff so good it makes you want to give the butcher a hug:

Co-op:

Let’s start with the obvious one. I won’t go into details, because as everyone knows, playing a game with someone else, automatically makes it that much better.

But more so than that, what I still loved, was the fact even in single player, the game was still an ungodly amount of fun (Yes there were drawbacks with people still recognising me as four people) but the basic gameplay was still there, and for a game which has clearly been made to push 4 player co-op forward (something I respect Deep Silver for immensely, as a hater of normal online competitive multiplayer) I can only marvel at the fact going it solo still gives plenty of satisfaction.

Characters:

Throughout games where you need to explore and chat to people to get quests, and this that and the other, it can genuinely get a bit tiresome… but with Dead Island, (with the exception maybe of Xian Mei and Purma… … Yeah I know) I genuinely enjoyed every character that I bumped into, or got to play as. I felt they all had a story, from Charon, to Cahaya Dian, Afran to Arthur. I felt a connection. And as far they go, as a lead character. Sam B… is unbeatable. It’s a sterotype that plays so perfectly into the hands of gamers.  I would always play as Coach in L4D and I would always play as Sam B in Dead Island… so what?

…However, I do wish I knew that “Julian” survived the trek to the lifeguard centre and is all happy and alive somewhere.

Shooty Gunplay:

Whilst I didn’t like the inclusion of whole scenarios just going from A-B shooting other guys with guns… … the fact that the gunplay itself was so well done, astounded me. In a game where melee weapons are “Da ting” it was so refreshing to have such buttery tight controls, and animations when holding a ranged weapon.

Non-shooty gunplay:

I will start here by saying; the analogue fighting controls… are ingenious. Every game should employ these controls from now on, nay, every game, ever, should be patched, to include this fighting technique. Considering the gunplay felt so good, having melee combat (even without analogue controls) also feel…. So incredibly brilliant was just pure excellence. Ok, there were times the animations didn’t show properly or you’d hold a weapon in such  a way your arms needed to be connected to a different part of your torso… but on the whole, having that  precision and control over mutilating your enemies. Priceless.

Setting/Location:

I hear people complain about how they just wanted to run round beaches and hit zombies… well… you can… you are in sewers, for like, an hour overall… If you were only playing the game for trophies or whatever. I on the other hand enjoyed, every. Single. Location. I still think the indoors locations needed more scripted events, and the outdoor locations needed more hordes of enemies (and perhaps the whole jumping on cars thing needs to be fixed, as it’s just too much of a get out of jail free card) But, the resort was a beautifully aesthetically crafted start location. The difference in areas, yet, the similarities between them so you knew where you still were in conjunction with the rest of Banoi. The bungalows out on the piers, the complex swimming pools near the hotel, the garages… and even the bathrooms, despite not living up to their potential.

It all felt mesmerising. And the sewers, I loved the sewers. An absolute maze of piping and hidden secrets, filled with Floaters and nooks where Infected were waiting. The city was brilliantly crafted centering around the quarantine zone (although I do wish it was more like the Ryder White campaign, where if you’re in the quarantine zone, you do truly feel like you are in trouble) The jungle was awesome. From the campfires, to the big ol’ rickety bridge. And the prison of course. This too I felt could have utilised the fear Prison itself brings with a zombie apocalypse and missed out a bit. But I still enjoyed traversing those corridors immensely. And every instance in between the main locations, I felt were justified, and fun.

Graphics/Visual Appeal:

Yadda yadda, it wasn’t Uncharted graphically. But pfft, to that. The game was absolutely gorgeous. Yes, some textures were just plain horrid, and in plenty of places around Banoi there was horrible clipping issues, or just plain holes in the scenery into the dreaded void of Video Game limbo, but on the whole, just looking out over the lighthouse, or sneaking through an abandoned house, it was stunning.

But more than the general graphics on a techy display, what impressed me more, was the absolute eyegasm of cutting a zombies appendage off, and seeing the blood and gore soak the earth around it. Developers, I applaud you here, and forever for your commitment to the cause of not conforming to politically correct ways of displaying your raw talent in making blood look so fantastic.

The hours I have wasted decapitating zombeanos just to see the gush of red taint the earth around it is incredible.

Sound:

I have already touched on the sounds of a few of the zombies, but overall… the sound quality of the game, and in particular the zombies (and Sam B) is astonishing.

Standing out head and shoulders above all is the Suicider. It’s still not on par with other games I have mentioned plenty of times before now, but the moans it emit are stuff of nightmares. I also will take this moment (as I don’t want to give it its own + point) but “Who Do You Voodoo” is magical. No expense spared on the intro there, just… immaculate. I might listen to Eminem once a year, so I’m not too up on the whole… “scene” but Who Do You Voodoo has gripped my circle of friends, and I one day hope it becomes Christmas number one.

Physics:

Possibly, the number one thing about Dead Island… the flerpyderpy physics at hand. Ragdolls are sitting high atop my list of greatest things to happen to video games, ever, just above Peter Molyneux pre-2003 and zombies. So, having zombies, with some of the best ragdoll effects I have ever seen… is just an absolute joy.

It’s not something I’d ever openly discuss in the street about how much I enjoy hitting a Thug off the top of the steps at the resort with a Magic Wand Gabriels Sledgehammer to have him go absolutely off his rocker across the skyline, but by jove is it something I adore, and cherish. Chucking boxes and tanks and zombies feet to have them trip over, hit their head on a pot and have their arms get dismembered as they fall and hit a fence, for the blood to then spill, is… just… so well done. Having the slow motion effect take hold just as you perform a critical kick on a zombie off a cliff edge and hear all its limbs snapping and gushing as it falls.

This brings me straight onto why, despite the many flaws, Dead Island, is arguably the greatest video game to be produced in the 7^th generation, maybe being slightly beaten by Metal Gear Solid 4… but as two entirely different entities of gaming perfection, Dead Island will always be able to hold it’s own for one simple reason.

Fun:

It just is. It is near impossible to play this game, for any amount of time, and not enjoy yourself. It heralds the old age of gaming where you could just put the disc/cartridge in, fire it up, and enjoy yourself straight away.

It’s hard to come by these days, and after beholding the trailer (which by the, still deserves an Oscar, or something, some kind recognition for being utterly amazeballs) to then first throwing a wooden paddle at a zombie, it’s been an absolute giggle fest ever since.

Just, almost every decision made in this game, is one that pushed the ability to have unadulterated enjoyment with one disc. Small things like letting other players still move whilst you read a quest, control over your arms, being able to see your feet, ducking your head underwater, the menu screen, head stomping, being able to drive, and run… … almost anywhere. Everything adds up, with the general gameplay of… just kill zombies… how and where you want, make Dead Island a treat that should be experienced by all. (if of course you are old enough, tsk tsk)

PS: DLC

As I recently got the Game Of The Decade edition, I thought it would be a time to just chip in, as even more incentive to own this game;

Bloodbath Arena:

Yes. Oh God yes.

Especially the Medium and Hard difficulties. These two modes, really showcase… just HOW scary and thrilling Dead Island can be under the right circumstances. The medium difficulty gives a reason for the flashlight, and the hard difficulty arena really plays into the hands of a roleplaying approach, creeping through the grass, rifle peeping through the overgrowth spotting walkers. These two arenas alone make for some absolute memorable moments.

Ryder White:

It took me awhile to get into this, but on the whole, ramping the difficulty up (until the end where you have a-hold of unlimited ammunition) and creating some better scripted events, this short story seemed like one for the fans who wanted that little something extra, and I appreciated it greatly.

Ripper mod:

It’s freaking brutal, what more do you want from me?

In conclusion:

All in all, Dead Island, and everything that comes with it, is an achievement in that it’s a game I can thankfully hold close to my gamepad shaped heart along with the likes of Populous The Beginning, Silent Bomber, Timesplitters, Age Of Empires, Bonanza Bros and so on, for defining a generation. Years to come, it’s a game I know I will be coming back to, I am still yet to collect all the ID cards or Herald extracts, looking on the Wiki, there are still events I am yet to experience, despite playing through this game in its entirety 7 times over its 3 gaming mediums.

With Riptide around the corner, I can only hope it doesn’t turn out to be a Dead Rising catastrophe and lack in all forms. Sequels have a terrible tendency to banish what made the original so brilliant. Its unique appeal in a market flooded with bad sequels and lack of originality and fresh ideas.

I have played countless zombie killing games throughout my time, and probably will play many more in the years to follow. But as of this moment, Dead Island, as the beacon of hope for generations of video games and consoles to breed, is the symbol of near perfection. A simple formula made perfect with the desire to not be anything more than what it is. Just a game, where you knock zombies heads off, and have fun in the process.