Dead Island Previews

Deep Silver’s attempt at merging co-op hack’n’slash, open-world elements and zombies has received a new couple of previews from their latest showing at E3, and we rounded them up for your perusal.

RPGFan seems to like it:

The section we played in our demo was somewhere in the middle of the game, where our four survivors ventured out of a church to hang posters for a missing person. We encountered several types of zombies: musclebound Thugs, charging Rams, and poison-spewing Vessels. We found out that these zombies are of a slightly more intelligent variety, being capable of using weapons and following players around. They can’t climb ladders, though, so higher terrain can be used to a player’s advantage. Running and swinging weapons consume stamina, which replenishes quickly but has to be managed carefully to avoid the players being overwhelmed by enemies. We made our way through the horde and completed our quest, earning money and experience for our efforts. There are also a set of in-game challenges that h function like achievements, so dedicated players have a lot of incentives to fully explore the game world.

Telegraph has some gripes with the controls:

There are some issues that need to be addressed, basic movement is very clunky at present, with characters moving at a slow pace and getting stuck on scenery a little too easily. It appears a minor gripe, but considering the relentless pace and mob mentality of zombie attacks, you will need to be slippery enough to avoid getting bogged down. The way the zombies descend on you with surprise attacks and hunt in packs gives an eerie, almost claustrophobic feel, despite the bright sun and expansive area of Banoi. It would be a shame that, having achieved such a brilliantly incongrous sense of dread, the atmosphere is spoiled by wrestling with a sticky movement system.