Dead Island thoughts

Been playing the Single player for about an hour now and thought i would let who ever might be on the fence about getting this game some info...

Graphics
at first look you will notice some great graphics the whole island looks very well done.
only thing i notice is when driving it looks a little choppy at time (going to have to HDD see if that helps)

Weapons
you do come across a few knifes and all that but myself i love that you can build your own stuff using scrap you find in world both single and in MP
it works the same way as it did in deadrising but alot better

Zombies
like all zombies games you have the normal grunt zombie looking for brains but every now and again WELLLLLL you just have to wait to find that one out =)

Combat
since you have a stamina bar you really have to balance out running and hacking at your enemy's as you run out really fast and can find yourself in a world of hurt
only down side so far combat is really slow (im sure because im fighting the noob zombies)

ONLY CON SO FAR
its a really really really slow game unlike other games were you can just grind out the main story this game makes you do alot of the side quest b4 you can move the main story along (which is not really a con i guess for the people who dont mind doing every thing) the only down part is it get old doing it by yourself once i try MP this might change...


over all
it is a nice zombie game and for the die hard zombie fast a great buy and i myself love it so far cant wait to play co op with you noobs

if your still on the fence about it i would say rent it and give it a try should make for some fun drive by zombie killing !!!! =)


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any one else getting it today? and would you be down for some MP

Joystiq said it was a decent game...just no very fun. Think i'll stick to L4D.

I was going to pick it up but after finding out it has no local co op I am now not going to purchase it. Was going to buy it for myself and the gf to play together. Oh well.

I got mine from GF today so I'll be around playing sometime tonight.

I got mine from game fly also.

S7 OC wrote:I got mine from game fly also.

I'm ready to try it out tonight. I'm just looking forward to something new.

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:

S7 OC wrote:I got mine from game fly also.

I'm ready to try it out tonight. I'm just looking forward to something new.

~mrmiller

cant wait!!! once the story gets going its WIN

Do you ever get any guns in this game? Also, how does the game save system work? I just finally quit out and hope it loads my last "check-point" close to where I was at.

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:Do you ever get any guns in this game? Also, how does the game save system work? I just finally quit out and hope it loads my last "check-point" close to where I was at.

~mrmiller

-yes u get guns but not till act7 (and good luck find ammo after that one mission )

-there is an auto save after every check point

if you play MP with some one both of your camp will progress ..if you join a game were you are head in the store then some one else you still get to keep all the XP and items you find

Played for a few hours last night and really enjoyed it. But as with Borderlands, I prefer 2-player co-op over 3 and 4. With an open game like this you just miss out on stuff when everybody is running around doing different thing and getting /completing new missions. I think I will stick to 2-players, at least for the first time through. The good thing is that I can create different saved characters so I can use one for my main play through and others for messing around with other people.

I can also see dumping a lot of time into this one. Especially if you like running around and exploring. The map is really pretty impressively big with a lot of places to go and missions to do. I don't see myself getting through this one very quickly, especially when running through it with different people.

Gonna make a few save slots tonight so I can run through with different people and not mess up my main character.

I'd say it was definitely worth a rent but I don't see how you could get through it in a normal rental time. If this seems like the type of game you like, RPG - Open World - Zombie Killing - Co-Op, I would seriously consider it.

I'll post up some CON's here in a bit. (Have to go help a customer)

Sounds pretty interesting. I thought it was going to be a zombie hack n slash game but it sounds more like a "zombie sim" with it being hard to find weapons, having actual stamina, etc. We'll see how the fall releases go and I might pick it up for christmas.

I wanted to pick the character with the firearms proficiency, but it doesn't do any good if you don't have anything to shoot for the majority of the game. Might as well stick with the blade or blunt weapons characters then?

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:I wanted to pick the character with the firearms proficiency, but it doesn't do any good if you don't have anything to shoot for the majority of the game. Might as well stick with the blade or blunt weapons characters then?

~mrmiller

as for sure the first few parts best way to go is a blade

later on it might be easier with a gun idk just dont see alot of ammo laying around so i mostly save it for the harder zombies

S7 Sticky wrote:

S7 mrmiller wrote:I wanted to pick the character with the firearms proficiency, but it doesn't do any good if you don't have anything to shoot for the majority of the game. Might as well stick with the blade or blunt weapons characters then?

~mrmiller

as for sure the first few parts best way to go is a blade

later on it might be easier with a gun idk just dont see alot of ammo laying around so i mostly save it for the harder zombies

The Joystiq article said that it's pretty much only humans that drop ammo, so it's pretty rare and best to save it for vs other humans and the harder zombies. Basically, there isn't much Zombie gunplay.

OK, so as promised here are some of the CON's. This game is far from perfect. My biggest gripe by far is the controls. They are just a little weird and take a little while to get used to. It's kind of like the characters have too much weight to them. Almost like there is a little bit of lag in the controls when you turn, move etc... It is hard to describe but you do eventually get used to it. Unfortunately the controls also cause you to be inaccurate at times but it is nothing too serious.

So far the story isn't the greatest thing ever but it is serviceable and it seems to be getting more interesting as I progress. But the beginning is a little slow to take off. If you pick it up, be sure to give it a few hours at least and you should be hooked.

Also, while I like that weapons wear out and good weapons are hard to find, it is a bit weird at times. Like I can wear out a heavy metal pipe after beating down about 10 Zombies? Really? I guess Zombie heads are harder then they look.

Still that is a minor gripe considering the the weapon damage is part of the fun of the game. Like I found myself way up in the resort last night going about my looting and scavenging when I found myself in a real bad situation. I had pretty much wore out every weapon I was carrying. To make things worse, I was a long way from the nearest repair bench with a lot of zombies between me and my goal. I was either going to have to drop one of my good weapons and pick up something crappy or just do my best to sneak by/run for it. I choose the latter and carefully made my way back to the safe house picking and choosing my encounters very carefully. (<-- this is actually a pro not a con, sorry about that).

Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah, the game is a little buggy/glitchy, Controls are a little weird and the story is a little blah but overall it is quite enjoyable. Beautiful setting, large map, open world and tricky at times. Oh, and the custom made weapons will be awesome, I can already tell. I am definitely looking forward to spending more time on Dead Island.

P.S. Guns are very scarce, I have not seen one yet. The blade, blunt or throwing guy should be better choices in general. I have a blade character and she is good so far, except she is wearing high heel. WTF??? But at least I can cut up some Zombie bitches like butter.

Sounds like this might be a worthwhile game to pick up. I probably ask for it for xmas since I'm trying to finish Gears 2 and then Gears 3 will come out, then Forza 4 comes out, then MW3 comes out... we'll see though.

Played around with some of the characters last night and despite his back story being complete douchbagery, the throwing expert seems to be the best character. He is pretty well balanced and can use pretty much every weapon, including fire arm proficiency, sharp edged, one handed and blunt weapons. not to mention perks for throwing. Those starting out my want to check him out.

I really like the game so far, but it is starting to get a tad bit repetitive. I’m sure things will change up once I get some new weapons and start advancing more through the story.

The only thing I don’t like is the weapon degradation and the amount of gear you can hold. I have put 3 points into the perk of making weapons degrade slower (now 30%), yet they still wear out after about 10-12 zombies. So I either have to carry all these broken weapons, or drop them and hope I find something better later on. Kind of makes it not worth the upgrade or crafting if you are going to have to ditch them sooner than later. Good thing my car bumper doesn’t wear out!

~mrmiller

S7 mrmiller wrote:I really like the game so far, but it is starting to get a tad bit repetitive. I’m sure things will change up once I get some new weapons and start advancing more through the story.

The only thing I don’t like is the weapon degradation and the amount of gear you can hold. I have put 3 points into the perk of making weapons degrade slower (now 30%), yet they still wear out after about 10-12 zombies. So I either have to carry all these broken weapons, or drop them and hope I find something better later on. Kind of makes it not worth the upgrade or crafting if you are going to have to ditch them sooner than later. Good thing my car bumper doesn’t wear out!

~mrmiller

Yeah, at first, you can and should do minor upgrades to what ever weapons you have but as you progress you are better off not upgrading unless you have something pretty special. I lucked out and found an orange colored wrench (the only orange weapon I have found in the game yet) and it is amazing. I can tear through a ton of zombies before it wears out. Durability is a huge factor in how good a weapon is. So is force. It's not just about damage. My wrench will break the arms of the big thugs in one to two hits rendering them almost completely harmless.

Bottom line is keep on trucking and try to find the better colored weapons. Green, blue, purple and orange is what I have seen so far. They seem vastly superior. I also keep the best regular weapons I find too. I tend to use them first, unless I run into the thugs. That way, if I trash them, I just move on to the next one and really only keep my best weapons repaired.

Yea, I don't have the manual and still do not know what the colors mean. I don't even know what all the stats on the weapons mean. I guess damage- the higher the better, but what is the +xx to the end of the number. I can see when it is upgraded for a +xx, but that doesn't seem to always be the case. Is it additional damage on crit hits or something? Is force the amount of knockback, or amount of energy it takes to use it?

~mrmiller

I don't have the manual either so I am just going off of what I have seen/learned from playing. I think the colors go like this:

Orange>Violet>Purple>Blue>Green>White

As far as the rating on the weapon it's self. I think it goes like this (from top to bottom):

Damage
Force
Durability
Maneuverability (they use a different name in game but I can't remember right now.)

You want a weapon with a good high rating on all the stats. Damage is critical but so is force. A higher force number means the weapon hits harder and I think you have a much higher chance of a crippling or critical hit. Durability is pretty self explanatory and the last stat tells you how fast you can swing it as well as how much stamina it will use up. The +xx seems to be a modified bonus. 85+55 would mean that you can do up to 140 with a critical hit. Again, I don't know for sure, this is all guess work from me based on what I have seen of the game so far. I am only lvl 10 so take it for what it's worth.

Geeze, all this talk makes me want to play it.

Yeah, I'm kinda interested too but I've got other games to finish up before the slew of things I've preordered start dropping.

The more I play this game, the more I like it. I just made it to the jungle, and things keep evolving in the game play and story. Starting to find an excess of guns, but the infected really do not give you much time to aim at them and shoot. I got a lot of time in yesterday (football and the picture-in-picture) and ranked up significantly as I finished the city level. I maxed out the center skill tree (or at least 1 point in each skill) and am now moving on the the right hand tree to get that lockpick skill. I want to see what is in those locked chests. I have got a few good items off of enemies, but most are side quest rewards. Doing the side quest is a must, as besides the weapons you can get some rather cool and powerful mods. Really a great game.

~mrmiller

I finally got Sam B to level 50. Entering the Jungle on my second play. I wish I had a couple of skills left, as I made a few poor choices. Maybe the DLC will let you rank up a few more times.


~mrmiller