RipTen Review: Dead Island (Xbox 360)

Fury mode has to be unlocked in your character’s skill tree, and all of the characters have different skill trees. Every time you level up, you’ll get a point to spend. My Asian ninja girl can pick locks and do extra damage with sharp objects. Eventually, she’ll be able to inflict bleeding wounds or have a chance to insta-kill guys. Chuck Liddell gets bonuses when throwing weapons. Black dude is all about blunt objects, and the black Aussie girl is all about firearms. The guns seem kind of weak, though, so I’d probably only use them if I decided to throw a bunch of points into beefing up my firearms skill. The benefit of firearms, however, is that they don’t really degrade — you don’t have to pay to repair them, but you will have to buy bullets.

Anyway, the meat of this game is in the combat, which I must say is pretty awesome. There are tons of weapons to find, all with different qualities to them. You can break zombie arms with a crowbar so they can’t swing them at you any more, or you could just cut them off with a cleaver. Same with heads. It’s incredibly satisfying to pop a zombie skull open and watch as the stump spurts out enough red goop to saturate the ground in a 5-foot radius. It’s even more satisfying to do this after you’ve already cut off the poor bastard’s arms and all he had left to attack you with was his forehead. Yes, they will actually headbutt you if they have no arms.

The weapons can also be modified. Nails in a baseball bat? Check. Or you could wrap that bat with fuel-soaked rags and give it a chance to set enemies on fire. You can make bombs out of deodorant. You can make a crowbar heavier by attaching weights to it. You can use electronic scraps and batteries to make a knife electrocute motherfuckers. There are tons of mods to be found, and just about every weapon can be modded in some way.

This is all done through workbenches, which can also be used to repair items or make them stronger and more durable. Why you pay a workbench cash to do this I’ll never know, but it’s a game so who cares. There are a lot of things like this in Dead Island that don’t quite make sense. In a story of survival, why is it that if I run far enough away from an area, all of the supplies have been restocked when I come back in five minutes? Yeah, it’s unrealistic, but I’m glad things respawn because I need that stuff to pay for my epic weapon repairs.

The zombies also come in different varieties: the standard Walker, bum-rushing Infected, and over-sized Thugs, as well as more… extravagant zombie types as the game progresses. The island is actually a lot bigger than the hotel area that was usually the only place talked about in previews. You’ll end up in the city. You’ll even end up in the sewers. It’s a far cry from the advertised well-lit beaches that only make up the first act in the game.

The best part about all of this is that the entire thing can be played 4-player co-op. I can jump into someone else’s game if they are near me on the map, or I can make myself available for people to join my game. I can choose upon leaving someone’s game whether or not I want their story progress to carry over back into my game. I can go back and get XP from a quest I already completed by doing it again in another player’s world. Dead Island is a fine example of why every game should have co-op.

So yes, I have my gripes. There are occasional graphical issues. There are things that don’t just make sense regarding the narrative of the game. All of the characters are totally unlikable, and I could do without listening to most of the NPCs. But all of that is forgivable because the game keeps me thoroughly entertained. The music is perfect, ranging from an adrenaline-pumping action score to the kind of elevator music I imagine you would hear while descending into hell. The hit detection on zombies visibly deteriorates that body part through skin, muscle, and bone. Throw a Molotov on a Thug and watch as his flesh burns, shrinks, and melts off. Even the Achievements are clever, like unlocking “Can’t touch this” by killing 15 zombies with a hammer and not taking any damage. I’ll let you figure out why that’s funny.

Dead Island is not perfect, but it’s a lot better than most people thought it would be after its development issues. That’s something it might actually have going for it — the makings of a sleeper hit. I’m actually surprised by how much I like it. There are tons of zombie games these days, but I can’t think of one I like more than Dead Island. Better than Resident Evil 5? Yes. Better than Dead Rising 2? Yes. Dead Island went well above my expectations, and being able to play it with my friends is keeping it in my disc tray while Deus Ex waits on the sidelines.

Here’s The Rundown:

+ 4-player co-op
+ Hot zombies rise from the ground ass first
+ Visual detail of body damage
+ Justifies my distaste for the beach
+ Zombie headbutts
+ Flaming baseball bats
+ Atmospheric music
+ Better than Thor (you knew it was coming)
– Gunplay is so-so
– Graphical glitches
– Characters so unlikable I occasionally have to throw myself off a cliff
– Makes me think my girlfriend would be hotter if she were dead

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Dead Island was developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver. It was released September 6, 2011, for the Xbox 360, PS3, and PC. A copy of the game was provided by Deep Silver’s uterus, but I wiped it off before putting it in my 360.

P.S. Don’t tell my girlfriend that I’m going to turn her into a hot bikini zombie. I want it to be a surprise.