Dead Island Review

Dead Island is one of the most fun games me and my friends have played in a long time. It is extremely addictive and is even more fun when played with up to 3 of your friends. The game itself will be even more fun if you are a fan of collecting loot and constantly upgrading your character, like in Diablo and Borderlands. The character and weapon customization options are slightly more involved than those games but it should give you a rough idea of what to expect (i.e. class based leveling, weapon customization and repair, etc.). The graphics are fairly nice (I wouldn't say great) and the game engine itself does a good job keeping up with the action though I did occasionally experience some slowdown. The sound effects are excellent and were actually my favorite part of the game, though some of the human voice actors did sound as though they phoned in their lines.

Despite all of the positive things I have said above, the game is not without its issues. The story itself is extremely thin - though having an involving story isn't really high on my expectations for this type of game. Also, the numerous side quests were nothing more than busy work most of the time. There are a few game-ending bugs and glitches which the developer has said they are currently working to patch. Also, the game has no local multiplayer support, so if you don't have Xbox Live you may as well not pick up this game as it is not very fun in single player.

Though its not what I would call a "must-buy" it is definitely a "must-play" if you are a fan of Dead Rising, Borderlands, and Left 4 Dead. I'm guessing that this game will have a lot of DLC in the coming months (new maps, etc.) so it might actually be better to wait until some sort of Game of the Year edition gets released so you can get everything at once for half the cost.