Xbox 360 Review: "Dead Island"

Publisher: Deep Silver

Developer: Techland

Release Date: September 6, 2011 (USA)

Premise:

Dead Island is a 2011 Open-World First-Person Action-Adventure game. You arrive on the island for various reasons, depending on which of the Four (4) Main Characters you choose to play as, and when you wake up the next day the entire island is crawling with zombies.

Gameplay: 

While Dead Island is First-Person Perspective, it is NOT a First-Person-Shooter. The majority of the game involves melee combat using hundreds of different weapons. There is also an extensive loot system and inventory management to monitor as you collect weapons, ammo, items, health kits and others to aid in your survival.

Since weapons degrade and break down, you have to get them repaired or they will be unusable. There is also a leveling system, up to 50 levels, and you gain XP by completing the Main Story as well as all of the many Side Quests in addition to killing zombies. There are multiple kinds of zombies, some regular slow, some really fast ones as well as several unique zombies that you run across from time to time. There is a lot of exploring to do in the game as there are several different areas you visit, including the Resort Beach area, a Prison, a City and more.

Graphics:

Dead Island has some of the best graphics of any Xbox 360 game. The most prevalent and amazing aspects being the textures of the grass and trees. The atmosphere is full of activity, with the wind blowing around dirt and debris, trash littering the island, and the beautiful ocean to gaze upon. The character models are very well done and the zombie's look very disgusting and decaying, just as you'd imagine. The overall ambience of the game is very well done and you really feel like you're in the midst of a zombie apocalypse.

Sound:

There isn't a whole lot of noise going on around you, but it seems the developers were able to put it in all the right spots. The sound effects for the weapons are very nicely done and the zombie sounds are all unique and terrifying to hear. The music in the game is superb. The somber, depressing music that plays near the beginning of the game really grasps you and gives you a great idea of what's to come.

Length:

Dead Island is an Open-World game, and because of it, it's a very long game. On my first playthrough I racked up roughly 57 hours, though that could easily be extended if one wanted to collect all of the collectibles and items in the game. As far as replay-ability goes, it never gets boring just running around killing zombies but doing the story again can be boring since you already know everything, but being able to reuse your leveled-up character with all of your items on your next playthrough really makes things even more fun.

There is a Co-Op feature that lets you play the entire Campaign with multiple people through Xbox Live, which helps to increase the replay-value of the game.

Value:

I would gladly pay full retail price for this game, as the developers obviously went into a lot of trouble to make this game very detailed and long-lasting. If you have the money and love zombies and a good dramatic story full of emotion, pick up Dead Island when you get the chance.