Dead Island

Man, this game is rough! The graphics are rough and some of the controls are rough- especially when facing up against a larger enemy and trying to get in close enough to hit them but far enough back to dodge their inevitable attacks...
But the rough graphics actually make this better because they enhance the carnage of the action (ie dismembering zombies) without instantly shifting into ultra-graphic gore levels!
There are the inevitable tedious side quests/ escort missions, but overall, DI is quite the adventure- a range of unique locations, nail-biting action and survival tactics are required!
It's very bloody, but for adults, this is an immersive, challenging game.

zombie campaign on a beach resort with a forgettable plot, but entertaining co op campaign. you run around salvaging random items as melee weapons, with a light rpg upgrade system. the rpg mechanics are slightly satisfying as its fun to reinforce random tools into powerful items that can slice off limbs. the co op story is entertaining and painless because its short. the gameplay could be more in depth, and eventually you get guns and it turns into a generic FPS.
5/10

Dead Island is an open-world RPG with many similarities to games like Skyrim. You travel the island which is full of zombies and not many survivors. You start in the beautiful sunny resort, then making your way through the dark, ravaged City and finally the jungle environment.

Following the main quest sees you helping a group of survivors and trying to get in touch with a mysterious fellow who sends out communications over the radio. Survivors dish out the usual fetch, kill, and escort quests, rewarding you with bonus exp and extra weapons or cash.

The combat is the hack and slash Elder Scrolls affair but weapons wear out very quickly, so you must salvage whatever you can find. At the start of the game, you are constantly switching and dropping weapons, using rowing paddles, broomsticks, pipes etc to bludgeon away at your enemies. Later on, you tend to have a set of weapons which you switch between and repair them later at the workbenches which are found at regular intervals. Picking up all the random items can help upgrade your weapons as long as you acquire the blueprint which are usually part of the side quests. Attaching barbed wire to a baseball bat increases the damage, or adding wire and a battery can add an electric shock to your hits. There are 3 types of weapons, blunt, sharp and fire-arms which the choice of characters specialise in.

When you level up you can spend a point in the skill tree, giving you more stamina, weapon proficiency and extra skills like lock-picking the locked chests. The combat with the knifes is particularly satisfying and brutal because you can lop off heads and limbs. You cannot block but can jump back or to the side to avoid attacks, and can also use careful timing to minimise damage to yourself, giving zombies a kick or a swipe with your weapon as they lunge at you.

There are many times in the game where a whole hoard of zombies surround you and you will quickly run out of stamina. If you run out, you cannot attack and being hit will send you flying to the ground. Bizarrely, when on the ground, the zombies back off and let you get back up.

You would think a game based on survival would be punishing in difficulty, but there are frequent auto saves and the penalty for dying is a small loss of percentage of cash. Items seem to respawn, giving you plenty of access to health items, weapons, weapon upgrade items, and cash. The lenient system limits the tension, but to be honest Dead Island isn't very scary.

There are occasional moments where you have to use a flash-light to help see in dark areas, but the majority of the game is played in the light. There are a few tough areas to the game, particularly when you get to the city and the zombies suddenly become a lot stronger, and the game introduces human 'punks' who carry guns. Once you kill one human and acquire the gun, it becomes more of a level playing field. The guns don't seem to be too effective against zombies and apart from the sections involving humans, gun ammo is very scarce.

When the game came out, it was heavily criticised for its bugs, but the patches seem to have fixed the issues because I didn't experience any problems. Therefore the game now deserves a higher score than the initial reviews.

There's a beautiful midpoint where your arsenal is just powerful and varied enough to give credence to the idea of trekking through this open world island hacking through zombies in service of some menial objective, but that meandering takes up so much of the game that any semblance of reward is muted. Has some fun goofy zombie moments but offers very little else.

Pros
+Combat feels good and zombies don't feel like they are made of tissue paper. A group of zombies is a real threat rather than a shooting gallery.
+RPG elements add depth and something to strive for. Skill trees add customizablility and leveling gives incentive to help survivors.
+Gameplay is addictive and with the quests being strung together well, I often found myself saying "one last quest" only to end up playing for another hour.
+Though extremely melee focused, there are guns, and they feel right. The few shootout sections with looters holds up as well as any full-on FPS.
+The environments are switched up every once and a while to keep things interesting and the game is a lot longer than you would expect a zombie game to be.

Cons
-Voice acting isn't great and, more annoyingly, cutscenes show all 4 survivors together conversing as if they'd been together the whole time even if you are playing single player only. Also, NPCs will often repeat the exact same dialogue over and over, sometimes within seconds of just having said it. So if you are searching through containers next to an NPC, prepare to hear them say the same sentence 10 times.
-The bloom effects are fairly overdone and kind of distracting.
-Opening tons of containers for random junk that you probably can't use gets mundane. It always asks if you are sure you want the item or money even though there is no reason not to take them. Items that actually do take up space, like alcohol and weapons, when picked up, often replace whatever you are currently holding, whether you want it to or not.
-Escort missions aren't common, but the AI is pretty bad. Often continuing to walk forward while you are dealing with zombies or being attacked themselves.

In Summary
Though a 4 player co-op zombie game may sound like Left 4 Dead and crafting electric machetes may seem straight from Dead Rising 2, Dead Island plays and feels nothing at all like either of those games. It isn't a copycat or "me too" game cashing in on the zombie game craze. It is specifically designed to be a zombie game, and one with its own different mechanics and atmosphere than any other zombie game you've ever played.