Family Vacations Usually Aren't This Bloody, Or Are They?
Months after release might be more than a little late to publish a review, but at least our timing is spot on considering Dead Island's first major story focused DLC hit virtual stores only two days ago.
Published: December 30, 2011
We here at TPS aren't entirely consistent when it comes to getting our reviews up in a timely manner. There are, however, also advantages to these later-than-desired reviews, as it takes away a large chunk of the pressure knowing that in the case of most major releases, no matter how hastily you rush through a game, you rarely ever are able to make it among the first reviews out there. That's why the staff at TPS have adopted a different philosophy, one that favors quality over timing, even if timing in this case admittedly is off by quite a bit.
We've decided that since we can't win the race against big publications with paid staff, we instead like to squeeze every last drop of content out of the games we review to not only provide you, the reader, with a highly detailed insight into what each product has to offer, but to also dish out the fairest possible verdict in a reality of different tastes and highly subjective opinions. That is why when Dead Island released this past holiday season, and Polish studio Techland once again contacted us personally to make sure we'd get our hands on the game, we took it upon ourselves to give the ambitious title an extensive post-patch review, even if in the end it took us a little longer than we'd have liked.
For those of you who for some reason suffered through a video game coverage blackout these last couple of months, Dead Island is an extremely gory, open world, first-person action game set against the backdrop of a fictional tropical island just off the coast of Papua New Guinea (that's north of Australia – you probably didn't know that). Thanks to a mysterious viral outbreak, all surfing and snorkeling activity has been put on hold for the time being, and everyone on the island (who isn't craving brains yet) has begun his or her personal quest for survival.
As the player, you select one of four pre-established characters, each equipped with their own backstory and set of talents, yet all bound together by the same main quest. What this means, is that no matter whom you choose to play as, the other three characters will follow you around – in theory. Techland designed Dead Island with four-player co-op in mind, however, playing alone the game won't provide you with AI buddies to run around with. This made for some awkward storytelling moments, especially in the beginning, when people all over the island would seemingly not be aware of my female character's gender, or the fact that from my point of view I was merely one person standing in front of them. It took me a while to figure out that the game would always treat us as a party of four, whether playing solo or not, and that I'd only ever actually get to see my virtual colleagues in the game's numerous cutscenes – unless I took the experience online, of course.
Unfortunately for me, Dead Island's online community appeared to have dried up pretty quickly after release. At least that's what it looked like when I tried finding co-op partners online connecting from both Frankfurt, Germany and Vienna, Austria. Perhaps this is an issue that's tied directly to me being situated in Europe (or this corner of Europe), and it's quite possible that North America still has a few players out there willing to team up with you, but at least I never managed to stumble across anyone online. This issue can of course be bypassed by simply teaming up with a buddy (or three), an option you should by all means try to explore if you still want to jump on the bandwagon this late, as Techland's tropical zombie apocalypse is fun solo, but if nothing else a lot less lonely with a handful of friends cooperatively.
We've decided that since we can't win the race against big publications with paid staff, we instead like to squeeze every last drop of content out of the games we review to not only provide you, the reader, with a highly detailed insight into what each product has to offer, but to also dish out the fairest possible verdict in a reality of different tastes and highly subjective opinions. That is why when Dead Island released this past holiday season, and Polish studio Techland once again contacted us personally to make sure we'd get our hands on the game, we took it upon ourselves to give the ambitious title an extensive post-patch review, even if in the end it took us a little longer than we'd have liked.
For those of you who for some reason suffered through a video game coverage blackout these last couple of months, Dead Island is an extremely gory, open world, first-person action game set against the backdrop of a fictional tropical island just off the coast of Papua New Guinea (that's north of Australia – you probably didn't know that). Thanks to a mysterious viral outbreak, all surfing and snorkeling activity has been put on hold for the time being, and everyone on the island (who isn't craving brains yet) has begun his or her personal quest for survival.
As the player, you select one of four pre-established characters, each equipped with their own backstory and set of talents, yet all bound together by the same main quest. What this means, is that no matter whom you choose to play as, the other three characters will follow you around – in theory. Techland designed Dead Island with four-player co-op in mind, however, playing alone the game won't provide you with AI buddies to run around with. This made for some awkward storytelling moments, especially in the beginning, when people all over the island would seemingly not be aware of my female character's gender, or the fact that from my point of view I was merely one person standing in front of them. It took me a while to figure out that the game would always treat us as a party of four, whether playing solo or not, and that I'd only ever actually get to see my virtual colleagues in the game's numerous cutscenes – unless I took the experience online, of course.
Unfortunately for me, Dead Island's online community appeared to have dried up pretty quickly after release. At least that's what it looked like when I tried finding co-op partners online connecting from both Frankfurt, Germany and Vienna, Austria. Perhaps this is an issue that's tied directly to me being situated in Europe (or this corner of Europe), and it's quite possible that North America still has a few players out there willing to team up with you, but at least I never managed to stumble across anyone online. This issue can of course be bypassed by simply teaming up with a buddy (or three), an option you should by all means try to explore if you still want to jump on the bandwagon this late, as Techland's tropical zombie apocalypse is fun solo, but if nothing else a lot less lonely with a handful of friends cooperatively.
