The Good vs Bad when it comes down to Dead Island.
For starters, we have the good things about Dead Island. Dead Island is a beautiful game that brings not only eye candy from the world around you, but all the blood, guts, and dismemberment that zombie games should have featured all these years. There is a lot to explore and the maps for this game are huge. Yes, MAPS. Though the area you start off in is pretty big and full of things to do, there are other areas just as big which include a beat up urban city and a creepy jungle. Not only that but there are quite a few indoor maps that expand the outdoor one and quite a few visits to the sewers. Some of the areas even have weather patterns, such as the city I mentioned that has on and off rain and occasional clouds so thick that it feels like it's night time.
In addition to these great maps is the Fast Travel, which is actually fast for the fact that when you are fast traveling within the same area, there are no loading screens. You appear at your destination in just a couple seconds, sometimes not even.
While on the topic of loading though, the game doesn't have that much of it unless going to another map, which doesn't happen too often anyways so you will be able to play for quite some time before having to sit at a loading screen again.
The characters in the game, both main and NPC are quite interesting as well. They all seem to have different personalities and the voice acting is great. It hardly sounds like the NPC cast was done by just a few people and the personalities from them vary from fearless to worrisome, or even just a straight up jerk, which gives the game a more original and interesting feel when interacting with others.
Enemies in the game have variety to them as well. There are many different kinds of zombies in the game, from those that walk, to those that run, and even 'special infected' that make you change up your strategies in certain situations. Along with the zombies are Human enemies, who I should kinda mention aren't psychopaths. They are either in gangs or working for a higher power and mostly carry ranged weapons.
In addition to the variety this game has to offer, there are many different kinds of quests available throughout the game. Unlike most games that have about 90% of them as Kill Quests, this game has quests that vary from protecting survivors, guiding them, and finding food or other materials, so you won't get bored too quickly. Sometimes you could just be walking or driving around and hear a cry for help that isn't listed on your map as an official side quest, though you will still be rewarded XP.
The level cap is 50, which is actually pretty high for the fact that after my first playthrough, which was about 24 hours long, I only managed to reach level 31. This is mostly because I didn't do side quests, but seeing as how there are extra XP points given for certain skills you buy on the skill tree, which is a pretty nice addition by the way, I was able to get more XP than I would without the skills. Once you beat the game, those skills don't go to waste and neither does your XP, thanks to the games New Game Plus mode, which is always a great thing to see in a game like this.
For the last of the good things about Dead Island that are necessary to share, the co-op is more than good, it's amazing. The ability to drop in and drop out whenever you'd like as long as the game is open is great; and what's better is, the game has a system that allows you to find people near your standing in the story. While in a co-op game, you aren't forced to stay near your mates either. You can be as far away from eachother as you wish unless doing a Main Story mission, and once someone in your group is ready to do that, just tap left on the D-Pad from wherever you are and you will teleport to them to progress.
Though Dead Island is a fun game and pretty hard to put down, the game has a couple things about it that are a bit hard not to notice and this may just be me being picky, but these are some of the bad things I've noticed. If you can make it into a book from what you've played without making extreme changes, it's got a good story. Dead Island could be a book, but the story seems to be shut out by all of the other things that can be done in the game. Even the Main Story missions stray from the story of the game some times, and I often forget the game has one.
Driving, though very helpful when it comes to getting around faster seems rushed, mostly because; there is no way to change the view from first person and no way to look behind you when backing up. Though I understand why pick-up trucks were chosen for this game as the only drivable vehicles. They are good for missions that involve delivering items while still being able to hold at least 4 people. Sometimes 5 for some story missions. Speaking of missions, some parts in the game are really difficult to do alone. I found myself at an impossible scenario towards the end of the game, and after many retries nothing seemed to work until I hopped online and got help. This is a good thing, though I was kinda trying to play alone so I could go at my own pace. Low and behold, as soon as I joined a party for help, everything was rushed and dialogue was skipped.
The game also suffers from Rendering issues from time to time, which don't last very long but can get annoying.
The last few things wrong with this game are small things that just seem to bug me. The inability to see another characters flashlight, having a crate of apples or snacks but only being able to take a couple, energy drinks and snacks EVERYWHERE like people don't drink or eat anything else, and having to pay for crafting, repairing, or upgrading weapons.
With all of that being said, it's about time for the verdict. The good things about the game are: it's graphically stunning, has large maps, a ton of replay value, new game plus, weather patterns, hardly any loading, great voice acting, characters with different personalities, enemy variety, quest variety, a sweet skill tree, fair level cap, and one of the best co-op experiences I've ever had. Though this gets brought down a couple notches for its forgetful story, the driving, rendering issues, and a few things I personally just couldn't stand.
This gives the game gets an 8.5 out of 10 from me. Dead Island is great and definitely worth the wait, but it needs work. It's still worth the buy as well. I was going to wait and do the review after the patch coming out very soon, but after reading what the patch did, I realized that I haven't noticed more than half of those problems anyways. But thanks for reading this review. If you liked what you saw, be sure to follow me on either my Youtube Page (TrueFreakinGamers) or Twitter (thatSTERLINkid) and share your thoughts on whether you agree or disagree!