Dead Island Preview

The folks at PC Gamer have put together a brief hands-on preview for Techland and Deep Silver’s zombie-themed open world action-RPG Dead Island and, although they note some flaws, they seem pleased with the experience they’ve had with the title so far.

Dead Rising got around its zombies’ shuffling pace by throwing hundreds at you, and Left 4 Dead did away with the shuffling pace altogether. Dead Island is surprising in that there’s only ever a few after you at a time, and they toddle along like pensioners. What makes it challenging is that they’ll keep getting up again until you decapitate or crush their heads.

So that’s what we do. I throw bats at zombie heads. I swing bats at zombie heads. I stab at zombie heads, then I throw my knives at zombie heads. It’s a few minutes before my pockets are empty weapons can be picked up again after being thrown, but I think my teammates are stealing them. I throw so much in part because the melee attacks don’t feel right. They’re clumsy, a little weak, and the weapons you’re swinging have a habit of clipping through your enemy.

These regular zombies are supplemented by the occasional special infected. We encounter The Ram first. He’s seven-foot tall, wrapped in a straitjacket, and knocks players to the ground with a quick charge. This turns out to be fun because of the scarcity of guns. You can’t just pump him full of machinegun fire, but instead all four players crowd around him and thwack him with clubs. If Queen’s Don’t Stop Me Now played, this could be the greatest zombie game ever.