A Fantastic Disaster
Dead island is by no means a good looking game. It gets the job done with good skin modeling on the enemies with body parts falling apart in semi-realistic ways, if you wail on a guys arm with a baseball bat it's gonna break the arm unless it kills him first. And the exterior environment does give the feeling that not only is this place big, but it is a resort with a town for the workers and such. Though to be picky the human characters are what the problem. They keep the same sheen the zombies do though with their blood and dirty look it's much easier to ignore though the still living still look quite bad at least in cut-scenes but you can skip through them. And many of the indoor areas aren't very good. Though they look fine but having to look at it for so long you can see how bland they are.
The combat in the game is very engaging and very difficult even as time goes by. From degrading weaponry or lack of ammunition for firearms, to persistent varied enemies and numbers make you feel like this is a zombie apocalypse rather then a shooting gallery. There are a couple of different play styles, from simply button pressing to a more complex analog to allow for precise and deliberate attacks.
This game is set up very much like an MMORPG There is a main quest that has a "story" which is rather thin but still there. You have to survive and help others because you are the protagonist. But most of the side missions at their base are fetch quests, or escorts with the occasional elimination. Which would get repetitive much sooner if it wasn't for the enemies.
Dead island does many things right and many things wrong like a blizzard that snows in your house so you can get a day off. But with it's unique premise and large atmosphere it is not hard to see why this is a worth wild purchase of zombie enthusiasts and Rpg-lovers alike.