Dead Island - UGVM Fact Finding Mission

After having completed Borderlands, the "Claptrap Boys" tasked me to research more on Dead Island, what better way to do this then to obviously purchase and play it.

A week later & I have now played this enough to report back on my findings

The game has taken ideas from various titles obviously Borderlands, Fallout
& Left 4 Dead.

You get a lot of quests in the game especially side missions almost any character you meet in the game will give you a fetch and return quest.

The weapon system relies on mainly melee weapons, I have yet to come across any guns. These weapons have a condition meter which over time reduce & if you don't repair the weapon they will break.

You can collect lots of weapons littered around the island from paddles, knives to rusty pipes. Visiting the repair table you can obviously repair but you can also upgrade your weapons or if you have received any blueprints and have collected the required parts needed make yourself a new weapon.

The driving in the game sucks there is only one camera view and that is inside the vehicle driving wheel style :( no 3rd person pan out camera angle so you can easily reverse if needed.

On single player it is an enjoyable experience because you are in control of what quests you take and action.

On multiplayer it can be a bit frantic because any co-op player regardless of level can join your game. So if you are fighting a lvl 3 zombie and are a lvl3 character yourself it will take you a few hits but for a higher
co-op partner it's easy.

There is an option when you either start the game or a new character (needs further testing to confirm) to play the game single player only or co-operative. Within co-operative I think you can select if you want private or a public game.

The one co-op session I had with Orrah & Hakk was frantic because quests were being assigned and completed with no knowledge of the storyline associated. For the game to work on co-op you need to ideally all have a similar level character and all be at the same checkpoint in the game to play together & enjoy the story.

Item collection in the game is a case of pressing X to open a case or cupboard & X again to collect. At the moment I seem to be able to carry everything I find but I am limited to only 12 weapons. Each weapon comes with stats so you can decide to keep the stronger & drop the weak unless you want to keep them for a blueprint project.

The game also includes a skill tree, you are awarded one skill point at level up to unlock a new skill example extra damage to lockpick.

Oh and yes the game has zombies not a lot come charging at you like Left 4 Dead I've only had 3 or 4 come at me any one time.You have a stamina meter which means you can't go charging in swinging and expect to last long on you own, with a co-op team obviously it's easier.

So in summary it is an enjoyable single player experience because you can control the pace of the game & the quests you take & complete.

On a co-op experience you need to find similar minded players to you otherwise you will not enjoy the experience.

Definitely one for the "Claptrap Boys" to purchase when reduced in price