Dead Island: Is It Fallout or Borderlands?

A lot of similarities can be drawn between Techland’s newly released Dead Island, Bethesda’s Fallout 3, and Gearbox’s Borderlands, and it’s these similarities that are the topic of conversation in this back-and-forth between IGN’s Greg Miller and Stephanie Lee.

Greg Miller: OK, so as the other IGN person who is deep in the game, what did you think of my review?

Stephanie Lee: I agree with your score. It’s a game that really grows on you and, frankly, is my surprise of the year. You mentioned that it was akin to Fallout with zombies. I actually think Dead Island more closely resembles a combination of Borderlands, Left 4 Dead, and Dead Rising. A Fallout-like game would imply consequences and weight to your decisions, but there’s nothing like that in the game. Dead Island does, however, have oodles of quests, so in that regard it is kind of like Fallout.

Greg Miller: Well, there’s not dancing robots, so screw your Borderlands reference. But seriously, it’s the presentation and setup that make it Fallout to me. The looting of bags, the way the camera zooms in when NPCs talk, the tons of sidequests.

Borderlands was so colorful and cheery. Dead Island didn’t remind me of it, but I get the comparison.

Stephanie Lee: Yeah, the graphics are different, but Dead Island has a way of creating that sort of deceptively idyllic atmosphere and then drops a bunch of rabid zombies on your ass, making you fight for your life.

And, as I said, it’s way more Borderlands than Fallout. Borderlands was a game about looting, and Dead Island feels similar. Lots and lots of looting normal items, and, of course, super-awesome weapons. And like Borderlands (and the games that inspired it), the weapons are color-coded based on rarity of the item. And THEN, you have the added depth of weapons durability, upgrading, and crafting a la Dead Rising.