5 Disappointing Things About Kotaku’s First Hours on Dead Island

Like other publications, Kotaku recently had the chance to play a preview build of Dead Island, and comes back with a list of five things that disappointed them, although the writer notes that he enjoyed his time with the title. Here’s a sampling:

The Level Five Pipe

Sam B is listed on the character selection screen as an expert in blunt weapons. He is the master of all things blunt. He speaks bluntly. He might even smoke blunts, as rappers have been known to do. He effortlessly wields oars, odd bits of wood, hammers, and sticks modified into nail maces via the game’s weapon crafting system.

But then I came across this pipe. The level five pipe.

Now I understand role-playing games need to put limits on the power of weapons that characters can wield at any given time, and with experience points and levels, Dead Island certainly qualifies as an action role-playing game.

But this is a pipe. I was swinging around one much like earlier, until it was broken beyond my ability to repair it. What about this new pipe made me incapable of hitting a zombie with it? Is it magical? Did I need to develop my pipe affinity? I am a master of blunt weapons, dammit. It’s not like you’re going to tell throwing expert Logan that he’s too low level to forcefully drop something.

I understand the need to impose artificial constraints in game design, but this is a little silly. Damn pipe.