Dead Island

By now, most people have probably heard of "that zombie game that's supposed to be different than any other zombie game out there." That's right, I'm referring to that flop of a promising game, Dead Island. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the game, I'll give you a rundown of what happens. You start off with an opening scene of some character getting wasted. There's some partying going on, you figure out you're on some sort of island (go figure), and the next thing you know you're waking up in a hotel with no memory of what happened. After some expletives (depending on your character) and some fumbling around, you discover your hotel is empty and (much to your aid) people have left some money and the like behind in their suitcases. Eventually after some nonsense, you go outside, people fall from balconies, there's zombies, blah blah blah. You're directed to a safehouse and that's where the "fun" begins.

For anyone else who wants a detailed description of what goes on in the game, well, I honestly wish I could tell you. I guess this is where the problem for me really begins. You start out in one area and quest along, updating your weapons, getting money, and learning things about the island. Obviously, as a part of the mystery, you're not really sure how this thing all started. The only thing you know? You're immune to this virus. The only thing you don't know? Everything else. As you go through the game, you get little clues that give you some sort of idea of what's going on. I don't want to give any spoilers here, so I'll leave the ending out. So, I guess that leaves us with the middle.

Where do I even begin? You're literally running back and forth throughout the island doing pointless quests. It's time consuming, pointless, and frustrating. The only nice thing is if you're an avid collector of "stuff" in games, you can update your weapons with some crazy mods. These things shock zombies, set them on fire, or do a variety of other violent things that no video game would be complete without. On that note though, the weapons wear down super easily and before you know it, you're dropping all that hard earned looted money to fix your "upgraded" weapon.

I was honestly tired of playing this game after a few hours. All of the running back and forth and moving to different, equally annoying parts of the island just got progressively worse and more confusing. At least they finally give you cars you can drive side to side (unless it's just me, I'm pretty sure these things never went in a straight line). The game was just so much to analyze and take in. I can't even begin to tell you how many times I had to stop. It was exhaustive. The quests never ended and although they were an essential part of the storyline moving forward, I never really found them particularly interesting. The game is entirely too much for one release.

I can't sit here and bash on this game without talking about all the stuff it does well. While the quests seemed to go on and on, they did a really good job of tying the important ones to the storyline. Each main quest would then take you to a different part of the island. This was executed (in my opinion) pretty well. The fluidity between the different areas made transitioning easy. The game makers had excellent ideas, but I think they also got tired of it and just threw in a bunch of ideas at the end and just said, "forget it." I'll give Dead Island credit though. It did what no other zombie game wanted to do, which was to give characters depth and jobs. Each character was different and had vital skills that aided you in your quests. The talent tree was a little much, but again, it allowed for character development in terms of actual usefulness in the game.

I just wish there wasn't so much stuff. Maybe the game makers were entirely too excited and decided to put every idea they came up with in the game. Dead Island, as I said before, is tiring. All of that going back and forth left me wishing I was closer to the end. It made me overlook important content that was crucial to the game. And, you know what? It didn't phase me at all. I was ready for this game to be over. It was so highly anticipated and maybe that's why it was just awful for me. It almost felt like they were trying too hard to make it what everyone wanted rather than their original idea. The game has EXCELLENT qualities, but they're lost under all of the stuff. Once you lose a gamer's interest in a game, there's no going back. I have no interest in playing that game again. For what it's worth, I don't hate games because they get a lot of attention. I hate games when they don't deliver intriguing storylines, thoughtful gameplay, and gamer involvement. I felt mindless as I ran through these areas and it only got worse as the game went on. I'm all for using my brain in games, but this was just absurd. Please don't waste my efforts on mindless tasks and mediocre side plots.