Hawk52: Not to bump an old thread, but it's better then starting a new one.
Dead Island is $29.99 in the US on Amazon. But I was wondering what people's impressions are on the PC version as to bugs? I have a general idea of the gameplay, but what about crashes or game breaking bugs? Anyone experienced any of that sort?
The new patch fixed a lot of issues. I'm still on the fence about this game. Techland did a lot of things right, but made also their fare share of mistakes.
pro:
- Best survival "FPH&S" I've played so far. Due to levelling zombies, they stay leathal, no matter your level. As soon as 2 - 3 overwhelm you, you are done. Very good fps melee mechanics. I don't know what Roman was talking about, but lenght and mass of the weapon do make a difference in if and how the blow connects.
- No Quick save, but a very tame respawn (only takes 10 % of your cash, no xp loss and you spawn a few feet from your dying location)
- 4 Unique playing styles due to the characters (well, maybe rather 3, melee, guns, throwing, and the latter is more fun than I thought)
- You get a lot of game for your money, I'm at hour 26 and at 3/4 of the game. And while I did most sidequests, I wasn't completely thorough.
- It's bloody, it's violent, it's visceral. Unbelievable satisfying gory combat. The zombies and the locations just look great. Especially the city and the jungle are very atmospheric.
- The crafting and weapons degration system is very well done. For the first couple of hours, you truly "survive" and use what you can get. Weapons brake fast and must be changed frequently. Later, you have your "Deathstalker Machete" and "Hot Rod Katana" that only need occasional maintenance.
- Exploration gets rewarded. Money and weapons modifiaction are always out there to find.
But there are cons, oh boy, there are:
- First and foremost. The main characters are highly unlikable. They just suck. While the background storys sound very interesting, they are just B-Movie material. I've seen Steven Seagal in more believable characters than those 4 f*ck ups.
- The game is pretty much the most racist game I've ever played. Alone the "Sam B" character just makes you cringe every time he speaks. I'm still waiting for him to ask for some fried chicken and grape soda....
- And this "feat" carrys over to the npcs. Horrid voice acting and general obnoxiusness kept me from doing most of the sidequests. This is one of the first games ever where I click through the dialogue on the first playthrough.
- The Story, well, I think you can see where this is going ...
YMMV:
- No guns for the first ten hours. This game is not a shooter. Only one character is build to use guns as a main weapon and even she needs around 10 hours of character build and game progress to even get to guns.
- It is very serious, well at least it tries to be. In one mission you actually hack away at a 12 year old girl.
- No arcade gameplay like Dead Rising. You won't go through hordes of zombies. It more a careful walk, engaging them one at a time and avoiding bigger groups.
- Levelling system is well done. This is truly imo, but this is the best usage of a levelling system I've seen so far. While the zombie get tougher, so get your weapons. No real progression here. BUT, your character get's skill beyond those +1 damage stuff. WIth time, new tactics emerge, which, with a careful approach, give you the upper hand in most encounters. But I've been playing the "Throwing guy", it might be a different coup of tea with a different character.
- Haven't tryed multiplayer yet
Bottom line:
Pirate the game (as there is no demo,afaik) and then buy it if you like it. I did it because I think Techland did a great job on a lot of things, considering they're still a "smallish" developer. Well, and they are polish, which influenced me maybe a bit into buying the game without trying it first.
I can't find any comparable game. L4D is totally different, so is Dead Rising. It's more like an Oblivion mod, due to the openess and the FPS melee mechanic.
30$ is a good deal,imo.
Edit: I might fix all the spelling sometime, maybe ...
