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Dead Island (PC) Review

3.5
Good
By Jeffrey L. Wilson

The Bottom Line

Dead Island serves up some choice zombie-thrashing thrills in a gorgeous environment, but a weak story, tedious fetch quests, pacing issues, and some multiplayer issues keep it from greatness.

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Pros

  • Gorgeous environments.
  • Hard-hitting combat.
  • Excellent sound.

Cons

  • Multiplayer combat isn't as smooth as single player.
  • Sparse story.
  • Too many fetch quests.

When Techland's Dead Island ($49.99, retail) trailer hit the Web earlier this year, it featured one of the most moving video game sequences ever produced: a small child and her family being slaughtered by zombies against the backdrop of a soft, haunting Giles Lamb musical score. Dead Island's now available for PC (the format I reviewed), PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360, and, although it doesn't match the heights of the trailer, the open-world action-RPG offers a very solid single-player zombie-slaying good time, and one of the best PC games you can play. The online multiplayer experience could use some work, however.

The Zombie Backdrop
Dead Island is set in the fictional island of Banoi. The four main characters awake in the scenic Palms Resort hotel to find the island rotten with zombies, but the heroes themselves are mysteriously immune to whatever is transforming people into the walking dead. Your mission is twofold: find and assist other survivors, and make your way off the island. In other words, it's standard zombie game fare in terms of plot, but some side quests reveal the somber effects of a zombie rising that could have been heart wrenching, had the story been crafted with more care—but I won't spoil that here.

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Killer Visuals and Sound
The graphics, however, are far from standard. Techland created an absolutely gorgeous island paradise, and the lush world separates the game from a sea of rival titles set in wrecked environments—at times I found myself, between zombie battles, marveling at the backdrops. It's this juxtaposition of the serene and the hideous that makes Dead Island such a visually impressive game. That's not to say that the entire game is slaughter in paradise—there are urban environments (equally impressive visually) where you battle the undead—but it's nice to not have the usual spring-loaded-cat-in-a-dark-hallway scare. Dead Island renders plants, buildings, and even human skin tone with lavish detail. One area where the artwork falls short (as many games do) is in the eyes of the living, which are as dead as their undead counterparts.

As you make your way through Banoi, you hear moaning zombies before you see them, which creates a sense of dread, as you're never quite sure where they are. The sparse background music gives  the game a very realistic and at times isolated vibe, as the main noises are the lumbering dead and the occasional environment-related sound effect, such as screeching sea gulls and whistling wind. The quiet is interspersed with eerie keyboard work that helps raise tension at particular moments.

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The Zombie Slaughter
You have a number of weapons at your disposal for mowing down zombies. The game starts with simple weapons that you find scattered around the island—a pipe, a broomstick, and other blunt objects—but you eventually get more powerful weapons. Combat is melee, so you typically have to get up close and personal with enemies. Dealing with a zombie mob is challenging; rush in with a gung-ho mentality, and you'll be slaughtered. Once you're engaged in combat, you'll enjoy the fighting action. Fierce blows, such as decapitation and limb-severing, can be accomplished with precise, well-timed attacks, and there's a satisfying amount of gore. There's a good mix of zombies, too. You encounter the slow-footed, easy-to-kill shufflers and also tanks that require great effort to put down.

Dead Island features weapon decay, which adds tension as your weapon may become useless in the middle of a fight. Weapon decay causes your melee weapons to break down over time as you use them (each one has a "health meter" that depletes with use). Unlike Dead Rising's weapons, each Dead Island weapon has its own individual durability level—a broomstick isn't going to last as long as a pipe, for example. When my broomstick became useless while beating a poolside zombie, I high-tailed it to safety and hunted for a better weapon.

Crafting is a major gameplay element as it lets you upgrade weapons (with the cash you've collected) or combine them to form new weapons—electrified chainsaw, anyone? But you can't simply spam attacks; a stamina meter determines how often you can attack and run. Deplete this with some overzealous button-pushing and you'll be highly vulnerable to attacks and have to wait for it to fill up again to swing or sprint.  You also have Fury—a supermove, of sorts—that's tied into your Rage meter.  A full Rage meter (which is filled as you dish out and receive damage) puts you into a bullet-time berserker rage while taking no damage from the dead—a great way to dispatch monsters when you're outnumbered.

Each character has three abilities (Fury, Combat, Survival). Each ability has three levels, and you must fully upgrade one ability in each division in order to unlock the next set. Here you can build your character's (or your character's weapons') strength. You can tackle zombies solo, or with up to four other players in multiplayer mode.

The one major downside to the gameplay is the high number of fetch quests, which become wearing after a while. Also, there are some pacing issues. There's plenty of time spent looting bodies and digging through luggage and drawers to find money to purchase weapons, which breaks the games flow.

Mixed Multiplayer
Unfortunately, the online multiplayer is a mixed bag. Co-op, at times, was a silky smooth experience; at other times it was laced with slow-down. I suspect that Techland will patch as the company's already made significant repairs after the bug-filled, day-one PC launch which say a developer's build accidentally uploaded to Steam instead of the final build.

Should You Buy Dead Island?
If you fancy zombie-bashing action that has a sharp focus on combat more so than story, you'll find Dead Island a worthy purchase. Dead Island could use multiplayer refinement and fewer fetch quests, but it does what it does well—let gamers mow down legions of shuffling uglies in an exciting and engaging fashion against eye-candy-filled backdrops.

More PC Games Reviews:

Dead Island (PC)
3.5
Pros
  • Gorgeous environments.
  • Hard-hitting combat.
  • Excellent sound.
Cons
  • Multiplayer combat isn't as smooth as single player.
  • Sparse story.
  • Too many fetch quests.
The Bottom Line

Dead Island serves up some choice zombie-thrashing thrills in a gorgeous environment, but a weak story, tedious fetch quests, pacing issues, and some multiplayer issues keep it from greatness.

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About Jeffrey L. Wilson

Managing Editor, Apps and Gaming

Since 2004, I've penned gadget- and video game-related nerd-copy for a variety of publications, including the late, great 1UP; Laptop; Parenting; Sync; Wise Bread; and WWE. I now apply that knowledge and skillset as the Managing Editor of PCMag's Apps & Gaming team.

Read Jeffrey L.'s full bio

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