Imagine Borderlands set on the Just Cause 2 island with the Left 4 Dead style of zombies, featuring a quest system similar to Fallout 3 and the weapons system of Dead Rising 2. Blend all of that together, and you get Dead Island; or, as Deep Silver likes to refer to it, a "first-person zombie slasher action RPG."

The first thing that needs to be stated about Dead Island is that it is just visually gorgeous. The Chrome Engine shows off the huge tropical island paradise called Banoi Island in such vivid detail, and every inch of the island -- from little villages to a large city -- can be explored. While the game isn't linear, there are some sections that need to be opened up within the main storyline in order to get to other parts of the island.

As for the story, you play as one of four playable characters who recently checked into the Royal Palms Resort hotel. While on this vacation, the player wakes up after a night of heavy partying to discover that some kind of zombie outbreak has been unleashed on the island. From here, I was shown the first mission, which serves as a sort of tutorial to the player.



Your character has found himself holed up in a beach hut surrounded by zombies with other survivors fearing for their lives. One of the survivors begs you to go assist a lone person fending off the horde outside. The player then picks up a pipe and goes out to bash in some heads.

Aside from the fact that the main four characters are immune to the zombie infection for some reason, they're all just normal people. So swinging the pipe will come off sloppy and wild at the start of the game. As you progress, though, your character will learn how to handle weapons better. Part of that comes from the skill tree system where you'll be able to learn new skills and upgrade abilities, such as learning the dash attack. The skill tree system wasn't shown off during this preview, but we'll have more info on how it works soon.

While there are guns, the main focus of Dead Island's combat mechanics are the melee weapons. You'll be getting your hands on pipes, machetes, shovels, bats -- even a freaking tree branch can be used as a weapon. The weapons do degrade over time and will eventually bust, so you'll have to find another weapon, or you can get it repaired at various locations on the island. Additionally, you can't simply go around swinging constantly at enemies. After a few swings, your character will be out of stamina and must catch their breath before attacking again.



Of all the features Deep Silver showed off, they seemed the most excited about how we'll be able to kill zombies. The main thing they want people to take away from Dead Island is all the gory ways you'll be able to kill the walking dead. You can chop a zombie's legs and arms off and just watch him as he flops around trying to gnaw at your ankles.

As for the zombies themselves, you'll have the standard slow zombies and the annoying running class. On top of that, there will be the special class zombies which will remind you a lot of the special infected from Left 4 Dead.

Similar to the zombies, the four playable characters each have a different play style, too. The cool thing with all of this is that friends will be easily able to jump in or out for four-player (online only) co-op fun times. Don't worry, you'll have the option of being whatever character you want so it's totally possible, for example, for four assassin characters to work together in co-op.



While there's still a lot of work going on with Dead Island, we can expect the experience to similar to Fallout thanks to all of the sidequests you can take on. Techland really wants players to get absorbed into the story and if the trailer is any indication, we're in for a treat.

What I got to see was a really early alpha build of Dead Island. While it was pretty and the way you can chop zombies up was cool, I still need to see a lot more. More importantly, I want to get real hands on with the game and see first-hand how satisfying it'll be slicing up zombies. The entire concept sounds great and it's really refreshing to see a different type of zombie game out there. I know many of you are sick of the zombie genre, but I think there's room for one more when it comes to Dead Island.

Don’t Get Caught Up In Dead Island Trailer Hype
By Jason Schreier

A great trailer can get you pumped for a game, but let’s practice some cautious optimism.

The trailer for Dead Island, which is scheduled to launch for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC at some point in 2011, is a riveting tease of the long-delayed zombie shooter. It may be the best videogame trailer I’ve ever seen; gorgeous, well-edited and emotionally engaging. The music is somber and the visuals are utterly harrowing. It even makes the oversaturated zombie genre seem appealing again.

Only thing is, this isn’t really a trailer. It’s not a series of clips from the game. It’s a short film that takes place in the world of Dead Island.

“This trailer is meant to be illustrative of a scenario that might befall a typical vacationing family on the island,” a spokesperson for publisher Deep Silver told Wired.com. Though the trailer is said to capture the game’s solemn tone and setting, it is not the same thing.

It’s gotten a lot of buzz for developer Techland, best known for the Western-themed Call of Juarez series. It’s been hyped by major pop culture magazines and was a trending topic on Twitter.

It’s absolutely true that Dead Island could turn out to be a fantastic game, and some first-look previews are suggesting likewise. But everyone is hyped up about a short film, not the game itself.

First and foremost, Techland didn’t make the Dead Island trailer — according to Develop, Scottish studio Axis Animation was in charge of production. Presumably the two teams worked together on this teaser, but we don’t know from whence the ideas sprung.

The game might feel nothing like what we’ve seen here. The developer’s last game got, at best, mixed reviews.

I’m reminded of 2007, back when Square Enix finally released a trailer for the long-delayed, highly anticipated Final Fantasy XIII. The trailer was flashy and gorgeous, hyping up even the most casual of RPG fans. Then, after several years filled with delays, the game was a resounding disappointment. The trailer gave a false impression of the game, making it seem like a project that was well along in development when in fact it was still flailing to find a direction.

If in fact Dead Island’s experience and emotional impact are anything close to this trailer, it could be a great game. But perhaps we should wait until we actually see the game itself before we start drawing those links.

Imagine Borderlands set on the Just Cause 2 island with the Left 4 Dead style of zombies, featuring a quest system similar to Fallout 3 and the weapons system of Dead Rising 2. Blend all of that together, and you get Dead Island; or, as Deep Silver likes to refer to it, a "first-person zombie slasher action RPG."