| Dead Island | |
|---|---|
European cover art |
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| Developer(s) | Techland |
| Publisher(s) | Deep Silver |
| Distributor(s) | Valve Corporation, Square Enix (for North America),[1] Spike (for Japan) |
| Composer(s) | Pawel Blaszczak[2] |
| Engine | Chrome Engine 5[3] |
| Version | 1.3.0 (Windows) |
| Platform(s) | Microsoft Windows Xbox 360 PlayStation 3 |
| Release date(s) | NA September 6, 2011 PAL September 9, 2011 JP October 20, 2011 [4] |
| Genre(s) | First person horror action-adventure, role-playing, open world |
| Mode(s) | Single-player, multiplayer |
| Rating(s) | |
| Media/distribution | Optical disc, download, cloud computing |
Dead Island is a first-person horror action-adventure video game developed by Techland and published by Deep Silver[5] for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3. It is centered on the challenge of survival on a zombie-infested open world island with a major emphasis on melee combat. It was originally announced at E3 2006,[6] but was pushed back to 2011. It was released on September 6, 2011 in North America and September 9, 2011 for PAL regions (excluding Germany).[7]
Contents |
Dead Island features open world roaming, played from a first-person perspective. The focus is on melee combat, incorporating customizable weaponry, vehicular customization/combat, and RPG elements.
The game features an experience system as well as a skill tree system. There is also a stamina bar, meaning that after a set amount of physical action, such as running, jumping, or swinging a weapon, the character will need to stop to regain his or her stamina before continuing to attack. The game features "special class" zombies, which are more powerful than the standard zombie.[8] Players need to use flashlights in dark areas and during night-time sections, adding suspense.[9] The island has a weather system.[10]
Specific enemies in the game are: "Walker," the most common zombie—very slow, they normally either lie on the ground waiting, or stand around in groups; "Infected," basically fast-moving "Walkers" who will run at the character from far away and begin attacking; "Suicider," a large enemy with boils upon its body, heavily disfiguring it; "Butcher," a humanoid-shaped zombie with long hair, and missing both hands, attacking with the bones of its forearms; "Thug," which knocks players over, stunning them; "Ram," a large man wrapped in a straitjacket with a mask covering his mouth; and, finally, "Floater," another large disfigured enemy covered in slime, with large red eyes, who will vomit towards the players.[11]
Dead Island takes place on the fictional island of Banoi, located off the coast of Papua New Guinea, the home of a large tropical resort hotel. The night after a high-profile party, the four main characters—rapper Sam B., hotel desk clerk Xian Mei, former football star Logan, and bodyguard Purna—are awakened by a voice over the emergency intercom system directing them to evacuate the hotel. They discover that much of the population of the island have been taken by a contagious infection that has turned them into zombie-like creatures. Briefly overcome by the infected, they are rescued by lifeguard Jonathan Sinamoi, who believes them to be immune to the infection. After aiding Sinamoi and several other guests he rescued to reach a secure lifeguard station and call for help, Sinamoi requests they travel to the nearby city of Moresby to obtain food and supplies while they await rescue. The four travel to a nearby auto garage where they meet Earl, the owner, who has recently been bitten by the infected. He maintains his humanity long enough to create an armored vehicle that will allow them to safely reach the city, and requests that they take his adopted daughter, Jin, along to prevent him from attacking her once he turns.
Upon arriving in Moresby, they discover a horde of infected attempting to break into a barricaded church where another group of survivors is hiding. After the four kill the infected, the church survivors inform them that while much of the city has been overrun, a violent street gang has secured the police headquarters. The church group's leader, Sister Helen, requests that the four help restore the church's water supply by entering the sewers and reactivating the neighborhood's pump system. After doing so, the group travels through the sewer tunnels to reach city hall, where several of the island's top politicians have holed up, but they refuse to assist the other survivors in any way. The main characters attempt to regroup to decide their next plan, and when they return to city hall, they find it has been overrun with infected, which were able to enter the building through the tunnels after the four drained the reservoir by activating the church's water pump. They return to the church and learn that Jin attempted to help the gang at the police station but was kidnapped, and they are focused to mount her rescue.
After acquiring supplies, the main characters return to the hotel, where the voice contacts them again. The voice identifies himself as Colonel Ryder White, a Banoi Island Defense Force (BIDF) commander, currently trapped in a prison located on Banoi, accessible only through the jungle. He states that due to the characters' immunity, he may be able to obtain an anti-virus to cure his wife of the infection. The group assists a small survivor encampment in the jungle and meet Mowen. Mowen does not know how to get to the prison, but instead takes the players to the location of a secure bio-research facility on the island; the researchers there have been examining a native cannibalistic tribe where they believe the infection may have started from. They affirm that the characters' blood type helps to make them immune to the infection, but at the same time, realize that an anti-virus cannot be created. Under direction by the scientists, the group rescues a native woman, Yerema, who was about to be sacrificed by the tribe. She willingly returns with the group to the laboratory to allow herself to be examined.
After completing tasks for Mowen and returning Jin to her home to put down her infected father, the characters return to the laboratory and find that the infected test subjects had been accidentally released and the scientists wiped out. They rescue Yerema and recover the sample of vaccine that had been created. With Yerema's help, the group, Mowen, and Jin travel to the prison to meet with White. They find that a number of prisoners have survived the infection, and are given their aid in arming themselves to get to White. When they reach an elevator to travel to White, the elevator is suddenly filled with knockout gas. The characters are awoken by Kevin, a technology-savvy prisoner, who reveals that White has stolen the vaccine and is attempting to flee, while readying to detonate an nuclear explosive to wipe out the island. The group race to the roof and confront White, who refuses to hand over the vaccine. Jin releases White's wife from a restraining harness, forcing White to defend himself. His wife bites him, infecting him, and shoots both her and Jin before taking the vaccine. However, the vaccine's formula is flawed, and White becomes an inhuman monster, and the group is forced to kill him. The group escapes Banoi in White's helicopter along with Yerema and Kevin, and as they return to the mainland, ponder the fate of the world.
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A Promo film featuring the transformation of a young girl into a zombie, played in a nonlinear sequence,[13] was commented upon by Ben Parfitt of MCV. Parfitt praised the trailer itself, but criticized the online reaction to it, writing "It's a video that uses an image of a dead girl and images of her dying to create an emotional bond with a product."[14][15] Wired exclaimed, "It may be the best video game trailer I’ve ever seen; gorgeous, well-edited and emotionally engaging." However Wired urged caution, stating that Techland did not make the trailer and that "everyone is hyped up about a short film, not the game itself."[16]
Dead Island was originally stated to be released in 2008, developed by Techland and produced by Adrian Ciszewski, but was delayed.[17] An official teaser trailer, titled "Part 1: Tragedy Hits Paradise", was released on May 17, 2009 featuring various gameplay aspects. [18] A follow-up trailer, titled "Part 2: Dead Island Begins", was released on June 6, 2011[19] along with the announcement of the game's release being set for September 6, 2011 for the US, and September 9, 2011 for the worldwide release. The game's zombies were rendered to have fully modelled layers of meat and muscle, meaning they have a multi-layered damage system with real-time injuries.[20] On August 9, 2011, Deep Silver announced that Dead Island's development had finished and that production had begun.[21]
"Gender Wars", an unlockable skill for the playable character Purna which increases her combat damage against male opponents, was referred to during development as "Feminist Whore". Although changed throughout the game before release, the original name could still be found in debug code on the PC version. Publisher Deep Silver described the line in question as a "private joke" made by one of the developers, and regretted its appearance in the final product.[22]
In November 2011 the game was banned in Germany, due to the amount of violence.[23]
In Australia, a collector's edition was available to pre-order exclusively from EB Games. The collector's edition came with a Turtle Beach X12 headset, Ripper weapon DLC and Bloodbath Arena DLC.[24]
The collector's edition in Canada has the Ripper and Bloodbath DLC.
On July 20, Dead Island became available for pre-purchase on Steam as a single copy of the game for full price, or a four pack with one copy free. Both the single copy and the four pack include the Ripper and Bloodbath DLC.
In PlayStation Home (North American version), the PlayStation 3's social gaming network, users can pre-order Dead Island from a special kiosk in the Central Plaza (Home's central meeting point redesigned for this promotion and includes a "Zombie Survival" minigame) and receive an "Exploding Zombie Outfit" (features a remote option for users to explode) for their Home avatar.[25]
Deep Silver funded a four-part series of comedic short films written and starring hosts of Talkradar from the video game journalistic website GamesRadar, entitled Dead Island: Secret Origins. The film depicts fictionalized versions of the hosts who travel to Dead Island and become zombies out of choice.
There was also a novelization with the same name, released by Bantam Books on the same date to acompany the game. The novelization differs slightly from the game, with more mature themes and an alternate ending that were presumably unsuitable for the game.
On March 21, 2011, gaming licenser ESRB announced that the original version of the Dead Island logo was not suitable for release in North America, and Deep Silver was told to change it. Instead of the hanging corpse in the original logo, it was changed to a zombie standing by the tree. This logo change appears on the boxart of the North American release (the logo in-game, however, remains unchanged), with the logo remaining unchanged in other territories.[26]
In Australia, the game was released a day early, instead of its intended release date, September 9 by EB Games.[27]
| Reception | |
|---|---|
| Aggregate scores | |
| Aggregator | Score |
| Metacritic | (PC) 80/100[28] (PS3) 71/100[29] (X360) 71/100[30] |
| Review scores | |
| Publication | Score |
| Edge | 3/10[31] |
| GamePro | 4/5[32] |
| GameSpot | 7/10[33] |
| GameTrailers | 8.5/10[34] |
| IGN | 8/10[35] |
| Official Xbox Magazine | 8/10 (US)[36] 7/10 (UK)[37] |
Dead Island has received mixed to positive critical reception since its release, according to Metacritic. Metacritic scores were 80/100, 71/100 and 71/100 for the Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 versions respectively. The Italian PlayStation Magazine has given the game a rating of 8.0. praising its outdoor environments, realistic combat, and co-op mode but criticizing the indoor graphics and lack of split-screen multiplayer. IGN gave the game an 8.0, criticizing the game presentation, glitches, various bugs for the consoles, and texture loading, but praising the atmosphere and overall feel of the game and stating that the game's pro-points are significant enough to outweigh its cons.[35] Game Informer gave Dead Island an 8.5, saying, "Just shy of the open-world zombie apocalypse you've always wanted."Official Xbox Magazine (UK) gave the game a score of 7.0, stating that while it falls short of its potential, there is more than enough to make up for the in-game issues, while the US version gave it 8.0. CVG awarded the game a more negative score of 6.5, stating "This budget zombie thriller ain't too pretty but could manage to capture a cult following."[38] However, Edge magazine gave Dead Island a 3/10 score referencing a very large number of gameplay and technical issues.[31] Screwattack gave the game a 6, mostly for technical flaws.
The PC version of the game has initially received many negative reviews from magazines and websites due to an accidental release of the development version of the game on Steam. This included features such as no-clipping and the ability to toggle third-person perspective.[39] Rock Paper Shotgun also noted that the code revealed references to Xbox 360 version.[40] The developers, Deep Silver, released a first-day patch seeking to address as many as 37 issues. A patch for the console versions has been released and fixed many issues, including corrupted savegames.[41] MMOMFG stated "This is one zombie experience worth playing all the way through. Just be sure to sharpen those blades and aim for the head."[42]
On November 3, 2011, Techland registered the name 'Dead World'. This may or may not point to plans for a sequel to the game, possibly taking place in larger portions of the world.[43]
On September 27, 2011, Lionsgate has announced that they have acquired rights to develop a film based on the game's release trailer, as its portrayal of a family desperately fighting for their lives provided artistic inspiration, and will be produced by Sean Daniel (Rat Race, Tombstone, The Mummy franchise).[44]
