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Posted July 4, 2011 by Derek Vicente in Gaming
 
 

Dead Island Preview: (Zombie) Hell Over Paradise

Dead Island was first announced way back in 2007 and nobody knew what it could potentially bring to an already overcrowded shelf filled with zombies. Zombies are among this generation’s most favored antagonists; they were generally viewed as shotgun shell fodder, but they have exponentially evolved into faster, more resilient, and imposing freaks that can stave off a gunshot wound or two. Dead Island hopes to carry on this “mutated tradition” by introducing more powerful and cooperative zombies set in a majestic island populated by vacationists and socialites.

Dead Island stays away from the apocalyptic carnage that zombies can bring. Although the preview of the game sports very uninviting images of blood, fire, and death, Dead Island is a more different title since the tropical surrounding and lush scenery offset the destruction and carnage brought by these zombies.

Set in the fictional island of Banoi, Dead Island re-introduces the gameplay mechanics of survival by picking up objects to disembowel zombies or conserve ammunition to take out larger groups of enemies during the course of the game. Interestingly, Dead Island borrowed the concepts of titular zombie survival games, Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead. Although it is unknown to how many zombies can adjacently pop up at one scene (in Dead Rising 2, almost 1,000 zombies have overwhelmed players in their quest in finding that elusive Zombrex), it is clear, however, that the island of Banoi will never run out of mindless, flesh-eating freaks for players to shoot, decapitate, or engulf in flames with.

Similar with Left 4 Dead, Dead Island is also home to a handful of special types of zombies capable of inflicting pain in unique. For instance, giant, hulking zombies, just like the Tank in Left 4 Dead, are resistant to gunshots while fast-movers have the agility to rip the player to shreds. More so, Techland, the developer for Dead Island, proudly incorporated RPG elements into game. Players will be able to build their characters through the use of a Skill tree, which houses a variety of abilities necessary for surviving Banoi’s zombies onslaught.

Dead Island is set for a PS3, Xbox 360, and PC release by September 9, 2011.


Derek Vicente

 
Derek has been with Flipgeeks for almost three years. His first video game was Sonic the Hedgehog for the Sega Saturn and after blowing their television set after playing too much Rambo, he has set on a journey to play some of the best (and worst) role-playing games ever spawned. He recently completed Wild Arms 2 without any cheat codes.