New Nightmare?...Or L4D continuing...

Dead Island

 

 

 

Even if you’re getting tired of zombie games, Dead Island might make you fear to face the living dead once again.

 

Is your mouth hanging open in awed silence? I hope so, because since video games and DLC based on facing hordes of zombies have spread like the G-virus in recent years, it has become more difficult for a new zombie game to truly stand out.
What I found so exciting about this Dead Island trailer was that the fear, the stark terror, was captured so perfectly in the faces of all three family members. On top of that, the disorientating effect of watching the horrific action unfold mostly in reverse just made the whole experience all the more chilling.
Details on the gameplay for Dead Island are still thin on the ground. Developer Techland claim that the game will be a “first-person zombie-slasher/action-RPG.” Wow, thats’s a lengthy genre title.
So, zombie-slasher/action, there’s plenty of those around. But adding in an RPG element in a zombie game? That’s a new angle! As an RPG fan, the possibility of levelling up while killing zombies sounds an exciting prospect… provided of course that there’s a nice safe room where I can turtle up and carefully consider what to spend my skill points on.

Techland says that the hallmarks of an RPG levelling system will be in place; there will be stats that increase, new abilities to learn and various talent trees to specialize in.
Another departure from the traditional zombie game is that there will be very few firearms to get your hands on. Techland have said that they want to portray a stark and terrifying reality, meaning that the game’s weapons will be very heavily melee orientated. Instead of mowing down massed ranks of shuffling corpses with shotguns and berettas, the player will be hastily grabbing whatever improvised weapon they can lay their hands on; an axe, a piece of lead piping and so on.
This is a risky strategy but it could pay off big time. Many gamers are becoming slightly jaded with the image of a super survivors polishing off hordes of zombies that fall apart like bags of wet, goo-filled paper at the slightest touch.
While the likes of recent zombies games such as Dead Rising 2 and Left 4 Dead 2 have provided gamers with adrenaline-fuelled slaughter fests, the potential of Dead Island lies in its chance to actually make us fear the shambling hordes again.

Just picture it, you have no gun, you clutch only a splintered bat and stumble backwards as the ravenous walking dead shuffle towards you. You fearfully swipe with your makeshift weapon, only to see your target stagger back a pace, before coming at you again. Frantic, you turn to run.
Wouldn’t that get your heart racing?
Many recent zombie-slasher titles, fun though they may be, don’t inject enough raw fear into the player. It would be terrifying, not to mention refreshing, to be forced to flee more often, desperately looking for an escape route. Feeling more vulnerable, fearing the zombies as lethal threats rather than just mere obstacles between you and the next boss, that would make for a great zombie gaming experience.
Plus, the feeling of intense relief once you finally find that carefully stashed shotgun would be indescribable!
A 2011 release has been touted for Dead Island but there’s probably still plenty of announcements to come before a release date. Rest assured, we will definitely be following the progress of this game.