Dead Island

Dead Island is a poster boy for a giant problem in the world of video games: pre-rendered trailers. Pre-rendered trailers, or previews for video games that only show cinematics and not actual gameplay footage, tell the consumer absolutely nothing about what a game actually is while still making the game look fantastic. Dead Island's trailer was magnificent and set the Internet buzzing like a bee hive. All that this trailer tells you about the actual game is that there are zombies in it. If you watched that trailer, could you tell me that this game is a survival horror/RPG game in which you play one of four characters immune to a zombie virus? No, you could tell me that its cool how it was all in reverse and such. That's it. This isn't an isolated incident. Could you tell me that Alice: Madness Returns is a platformer from this trailer? Or how about how the battle system works in this one for Final Fantasy XIII-2. Yes, it will probably involve chocobos and moogles at some point, but beyond that it's a mystery. If you see a really great pre-rendered trailer for a game and feel a sudden itching in your pocket, you either have a strange STD or you should wait to see a gameplay trailer before you buy that game...or both I suppose.


Now, beyond this trailer business, Dead Island is a remarkably unremarkable game. It's not terrible, it's just repetitive and boring. As I said before, the game is about whichever character the player chooses doing zombie survival-themed fetch-quests. I chose the black guy because, as I've stated many times, video games don't know how to handle minorities and the subtleties of character yet. I derive endless pleasure from hearing a man say, "Copacetic," when they are handed a mission, especially when the man in question has a voice that sounds like it was picked out of a stereotype line-up. Other than the fact that he is black and some back-story my character read to me during the selection process like it was an interview, I know nothing about my character and learn even less. In fact, I've forgotten everything that was read to me except that he was from New Orleans (also, he conspicuously loses his Nawlens accent the second he stops telling me his life story at the beginning, so that apparently didn't matter anyway.) There is no characterization beyond what weapon each character specializes in. If you're hoping that the lack of characterization in the player character is made up for in an ensemble of kooky NPC's, you're sorely mistaken. I don't remember any of the characters except for Sinamoi, and that's only because I was trying to figure out where the hell that name came from the whole time I played it. I have to assume it's some kind of islander name, but I'm out of luck so far.


However, what the game lacks in story and characters, it also lacks in gameplay. This is an action/RPG, and in that spirit every character has some specializations into which the player can dump the skill points they accrue through a leveling system. I know this idea is Earth-shattering, but please try not to soil yourselves. My character, who's name is Sam B. I just remembered, specializes in blunt weapons and heals over time. Huzzah! To move up the skill tiers, the character must fully invest in at least one of the skills in the tier below it (below it in terms of power at least, as it is technically above the next tier in the menu.) It's all really simple stuff. The combat is just about as simple, with most characters swinging and stabbing their way through hordes of enemies. The enemies level with the players, but I never really had any trouble with them. There are special zombies, such as the infinitely annoying thugs which can knock the player down with a single hit. The player can also throw items at the zombies, use environmental weapons such as propane tanks and upgrade their weapons with a somewhat fun mod system. However, the weapons degrade and must be repaired which, along with charging weapons, is one of my least favorite game mechanics in the video game industry. I know weapons break in real life and its a good way to stop the players from becoming the 
Übermensch, but I want to feel powerful when I'm using a flaming baseball bat. Call me crazy, but it's just a dream of mine.

One thing I will give the game is its weird little details. For instance, when you look downwards in the game, you can actually see your character's legs. That's rare, indeed. Also, when starting a car, the character actually turns the key and puts the car into gear. The legs are just a nice aesthetic choice but the car starting, whether or not there is really danger, adds a taste of panic to a moment that would be completely over-looked in any other game. I've never had a zombie break into a car and kill me in that game, but every time I was running away from them towards a vehicle, it was on my mind. However, this glimmer of interest is squashed by other attempts at realism, like a stamina bar that forces the player to stop attacking if it goes down to zero. In fact, there were a few times I was swinging a crow bar Gordan Freeman-style and my famous rapper character decided to just quit swinging. My stamina was fine, but he decided that the zombie might just let him go if he stopped swinging. I don't know if it was a glitch or if this was supposed to simulate a zombie blocking somehow, but it was extremely annoying.

When it comes down to it, this game is nothing more than a great trailer. Playing co-op with a friend or loved one makes the game much more fun (though the lack of polish is even more noticeable), but as a single-player experience it's lacking. The concept of zombies, at least in the classic Romero style, have been looked at from ever angle. There is nothing more to say about them. Furthermore, the gameplay doesn't seem to go beyond simply trying to make the game realistic, as if that would add enough tension to completely ignore story, characters or meaning of any kind. I am very aware that this game takes part on a rich party island and that it is most likely a commentary on the super rich and capitalism in general. Fantastic. I always love to hear about how capitalism is evil from people who sell their product on false advertising.