Dead Island

by Deep Silver

• First-person melee combat
• 4-player coop
• Weapon customization
• Set on an open world tropical island
• RPG elements for character development

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B004PAGJOC
• Product Dimensions: 7.6 x 5.4 x 0.6 inches ; 2.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: September 6, 2011
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (379 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #810 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #21 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Games > Adventure

Product Description

From the Manufacturer

The island of Banoi is a lush, tropical paradise in the South Pacific where its flagship Royal Palms Resort serves as the ultimate getaway for vacationers with money to burn. However, all good things must soon come to an end - and the picturesque resort falls into madness, carnage and chaos after a mysterious and contagious zombie outbreak claims its once peaceful atmosphere. Cut off from the rest of the world, only four individuals who strangely find themselves immune to zombification have the power to protect the remaining survivors from the horrors of the island, to discover what's really going on and find a way to escape before their own fatal ends.

Gameplay Highlights

• In keeping with an atmosphere of desperation and survival by any means, Dead Island focuses on serious, first-person action gameplay with a close-quarter, immersive melee focus.
• Dead Island's seamless 4 player co-op multiplayer seeks to provide the most immersive multiplayer experience to date. Players can drop in and out of each other's games at any time with no loss of progress as well as the ability to continue on alone or with others.
• With thousands of weapons in-game to collect, from simple wooden bats to fire-axes to heavy rifles, Dead Island is a collector's dream. This in combination with Dead Island's weapon customization system will enable the player to craft the ultimate weapon to ensure their survival.
• The ability to enhance and develop your character using RPG-like elements including an XP/leveling system and un-lockable skill trees put the power in your hands to create and play a unique protagonist.
• Dead Island's damage system gives an unprecedented visual detail of the effects of each attack on enemies pushing the boundaries of visualized gore.
• With an open-world setting, Banoi is filled to the brim with things to do and objectives to tackle, allowing a fresh way to advance both the characters and story at the same time and providing for endless replay value.

Product Description

The player is drawn into the world of Dead Island on the brink of a mysterious epidemic that suddenly, and without warning, breaks out on the fictional island of Banoi. As a guest of the Royal Palms Resort, the player's stay was supposed to be a dream holiday; a luxurious getaway to the beautiful beaches of a tropical paradise. But faced with the reality of a zombie apocalypse, there is only one thing left to do: Survive. This is Dead Island a paradise to die for. The Island of Banoi: If you've been dreaming about paradise, we know a place where you can make those dreams come true. The Island of Banoi. Just off the coast of Papua New Guinea, located South of the Equator and just north of Australia. Until very recently much of the island was wild and primitive and totally untouched by the modern world. Even though the capital, Moresby, was founded by Australian settlers in 1895, many places deep in the interior still have never been seen by western eyes. Banoi's lush tropical beauty offers many natural wonders: from verdant rain forests to mountain highlands to virginal white sand beaches. Take a diving tour and experience the wonder of coral reefs teaming with life. Hike the mountain highlands or explore Banoi's extensive network of mysterious caves. Along the way you will encounter all manner of rare birds, butterflies, fish, reptiles, and mammals, including the great apes of the Banoi highlands. It's a sportsman's paradise with world-class rock climbing, fishing, hunting, sailing, and kayaking. Or if that sounds too taxing, find yourself a private beach, splash in the waves and soak up the sun. Meet the friendly people of Banoi. They are proud of their rich cultural heritage. The indigenous art is world renowned and unbelievably varied, reflecting the many local tribes with their own myths, legends and language. Come see what Heaven on Earth looks like. Come to beautiful Banoi. The pearl in the necklace of the Oceania Archipelago.

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

99 of 105 people found the following review helpful

5.0 out of 5 stars I'm Impressed October 18, 2011

By Dale P. Daywalt Jr.

Fun: 5.0 out of 5 stars   

After reading a lot of reviews and comments on Dead Island, it sounded like a bit of a let down. A few draw backs mentioned were the crappy graphics with textures and rendering times lagging, glitches, and weak story/plot. So I rented this game from gamefly because it at least looked like a worthy rental and the game play looked fun.

That being said, I was shocked. I was surprised at how immersive the game was according to zombie apocalyptic terms and fighting them. I mean, I feel bad for the makers of this game because of how much crap they're getting for it. I'm impressed by how realistic they made every weapon feel and the movement and physics of them. They actually make you feel every step you take, every swing you make, and accurately show where the weapon actually lands on the zombie. When you swing a weapon, you don't just swing it forward and keep on hacking away at zombies. You swing it forward, and with your arm coming down, you follow up with another swing from the other side of your body, and sometimes depending on if the zombie is close or far, you will recoil with different moves. This along with stamina make this realistic to me. I mean, for a zombie game, I've never played with such realism.

In my opinion, the graphics are great. The island is huge. It's not oblivion/skyrim huge, but you have the full sense of free roam and have a ton of quests and objectives filled with zombie killing to keep you occupied.

If I can warn people who are on the fence about this game, at least get into act 2. Although I loved the game from the start, I can completely understand why many people described the game as 'slow to start' but eventually it kicks in. At first, you simply get the thrill of killing zombies in unique realistic motions with an assortment of weapons to find. Then it starts getting serious where weapon upgrades, skill upgrades, and actually close attention to your combat is required. The harder it gets, the funner it gets. It never gets old slicing a zombies head off that is running at you full speed. Some of them, if given one chance, they can beat you to death and you can't recoil to stop them. That first swing counts. So everything you do is satisfying. Whether you fight one or two zombies... or ten... you'll feel the adrenaline of killing zombies. I've never played a game like this and honestly, I feel that it deserves more attention and play than gamers are giving it.

But hey this is just my opinion. I recommend people at least rent it, and play through to at least the middle of act II. You really start to realize how big the island is, and how much fun the gameplay can be. Though I was having a blast just beating a zombie to a pulp with a paddle haha. Seriously, this game has some really amazing and impressive mechanics that the makers should be given props for. I can honestly say that this is the best zombie game I've played to date. Just give it a chance and have fun!

233 of 269 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars Trouble in Paradise September 13, 2011

By Annihilatrix1138 VINE™ VOICE

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

DEAD ISLAND is not the game I thought it would be. Not even close. I think after the infamous teaser trailer, I pretty much got it in my head that the game would end up being a really "meaningful" zombie experience. All the themes of a really good zombie flick spread out over the canvas of an open world video game. Desperation, survival, and banding together to keep the horde at bay. A game with a great story, a lot of opportunities to explore, memorable characters. I don't know, I was really hoping for the moon.

But the opening moments of the game have you waking up from a bad night of partying and running around a zombified island resort at the behest of "The Voice," all the while collecting teddy bears, champagne, etc. All of this done for a group of quest-givers who seem to believe self-sufficiency is taboo. All the while, people are referring to you as if you were more than one person, as though the developers were outright opposed to making a game that allows for a seamless singleplayer experience. No, DEAD ISLAND is all over the place in terms of what it does well, what it is, and what it's trying to be.

Despite all of that, it does indeed do some things very well, but I'm gonna go over the bad stuff first.

Disappointingly, there's not much of a story here. In the beginning, what appears to be a struggle to escape the infected island of Banoi quickly tailspins into a convoluted mess of sidequests involving everything, from the aforementioned teddy bears to delivering supplies to arranging luggage into a giant "HELP" sign on the beachhead. There's a lot going on in this game and not a lot of it's connected to the whole escape-the-island plan. I'll be darned if your character won't be the most unfocused survivor on the island.

That's not to say that the sidequests aren't fun or interesting from time to time, but in an RPG (especially a zombie RPG) you can't help but find yourself wondering, "What would I do in this situation?" Would I make a run out to an abandoned gas station to bring back food for my fellow survivors? Probably. Would I fight off a zombie horde to reclaim a teddy bear? Probably/definitely not. It's a funny quest, and there's certainly room in this game for good humor, but there are many, many quests that seem so out of the realm of possibility that I had to stop myself a few times and question, "Why am I doing this?" Why do these quest-givers seem so indifferent about sending me out into Zombieland so many times for odd little reasons?

But then again, DEAD ISLAND is not trying to be FALLOUT or OBLIVION; unfortunately, it's trying to be BORDERLANDS. That is to say, the entire game is built around its co-op mode, to the point that all four selectable characters will pop up in all of the cutscenes regardless of who you choose to play. NPCs will constantly refer to you as though you're in a group and you may be constantly hit with notices that pop up when you're playing in the same area as someone else online. Now, I love BORDERLANDS, but it's tough to play games that generally feel less-than-whole if you don't have a buddy to play with right then and there. I would have greatly preferred the game to have a strong singleplayer element with co-op as an option.

You might also notice that if you do choose to play a solo game, DEAD ISLAND will not show you any mercy just because you don't have backup. I can't believe I'm saying this, but there were too many zombies in this game. Running around the different parts of Banoi quickly becomes a chore when different quests have you crisscrossing through veritable walls of the undead. This wouldn't be so much of a problem if the zombies didn't respawn as soon as you leave the area, but as it stands, you might just fight the same group of undead several times as you sprint from quest to guest-giver and back again.

Having zombies absolutely everywhere makes exploration seem unappealing, which is very, very disappointing, since developer Techland made sure there was no shortage of places to seek out and loot. But in my case, the thought of tackling additional walls of zombies on top of what I was already dealing with in the main storyline was very off-putting. (My stats say I killed over 1000 of one type of zombie during my first, semi-rushed playthrough.) I thought that maybe once I got up there in levels, going back and poking around all the places I missed wouldn't be such a bad idea, but that was quickly shot down. I'm not sure why this is becoming a trend among most RPGs these days, but I don't find it very fun when the enemies' level scales to your own. So going back to places where you'd just fought 4th level zombies, you will now find 20th or 30th level zombies, depending on your own level.

I can absolutely understand enemies getting more difficult to kill as the story goes on, but I can't for the life of me figure out why everything else has to progress with you. So we end up with an RPG where progression and improvement amounts to just barely keeping your head above the water.

So where does that leave us? Well, taking into account the many graphical glitches and the odd quest bug you're likely to run into, I would put the game at around 3.5 stars as an objective rating. Definitely do some research and see if this co-op-centric game is what you were expecting. But personally, despite all of that, I did have a really good time, because DEAD ISLAND is a very big step in the right direction in terms of the zombie game of my dreams.

Banoi, for all its social imperfections, is an absolutely gorgeous place. Walking outside for the first time edged very close to that OBLIVION or FALLOUT moment, when the whole world (island) is in front of you, and there are so many possibilities. Everything is just so competently designed. The beach resort feels like a place you'd want to visit, the town feels lived-in, and the inland jungle is easy to get lost in (literally and figuratively). It's all very top-notch, so much so that I was hoping for a lull in the attacks so I could do some decent exploring, but that kinda gets derailed by the "Infected" class of zombie, which spawns in packs only a few yards away from you, no matter where you are.

And even though the quests can run the gamut, there were many that were well thought-out and written, and some that completely capitalized on the post-apocalyptic setting. (Who wouldn't want to ride around in a reinforced armored car or run around abandoned shops?)

DEAD ISLAND was a rollercoaster ride of post-apocalyptic wish-fulfillment, amazing visuals, and wasted potential. What could've been the OBLIVION of zombie RPGs ended up being the BORDERLANDS of zombie RPGs, where the story and gameplay all show signs of being compromised in order to make co-op the absolute focus. But even with that working against it, this game is still one of the best zombie titles out there. It's not quite the zombie game I've always wanted, but it's certainly gotten closer than anything else on the market.

87 of 107 people found the following review helpful

4.0 out of 5 stars Braaaaaaiiiins! September 6, 2011

By DMK

Fun: 4.0 out of 5 stars   

Dead Island is essentially a zombie themed role playing game that's much more expansive than it's most mentioned compatriot, the Left 4 Dead series. Aside from the zombie link and four player on-line experience (no local co-op, unfortunately), they're very different games.

Dead Island gives you the ability to upgrade your characters through various paths of expertise that will enhance your chosen way of experiencing the game. This, of course, gives way for good replay value.

The arsenal is vast and you're able to create your own zombie slaying tools. With your weapons, you can literally tear the zombies limb from limb, which puts the gore factor over the top. It should be noted that your weapons will degrade over time, which will constantly put you on edge as you fight off the zombie hordes.

The quests are numerous and vary enough that it doesn't get tedious. In fact, they're pretty interesting.

Graphically, there's nothing that brings a new paradigm to gaming, but I don't take anything off of my view of the game for that.

Where I take issue is twofold. The controls are pretty clunky and are difficult to get used to. Given all of the examples out there of what works, there's just no excuse for poor button mapping.

The other issue is with the story. Do I need a good story for a zombie game? Well, no, but if you're going to give me a role playing game the story ought to be engaging and well thought out. I should feel as close to the person(s) trying escape this zombie hell as possible, but Dead Island just doesn't do that very well.

In the end, Dead Island is a solid zombie based RPG that's worth of your collection so long as you can get over some small issues. If anything, they've got a good basis for a solid series if enough people give them the support they deserve.

Thanks for reading!