Retro Review: Dead Island (Xbox One)

I remember when I saw the original trailer for Dead Island. The emotional cinematic gripped me with its heartbreaking tale of a father and daughter losing an intense battle against ferocious zombies. In an age when video games pushed the boundaries and began to blur the lines between its own medium and cinema, the trailer promised something special.

As both a filmmaker and a gamer, I’m a sucker for narrative-driven titles, especially those that make you feel something. Needless to say, the gut-wrenching trailer for Techland and Deep Silver’s Dead Island instantly sold me.

However, the emotional, story-driven zombie game foreshadowed in the above trailer is not the game we got. Instead, 2011’s Dead Island featured a generic cut-and-paste storyline that took a backseat to the game’s primary focus on mindlessly killing zombies while completing endless fetch quests.

To say I felt disappointed when I first played that game would be a massive understatement. To put things in perspective, I returned my copy only a couple hours into playing. However, my initial distaste had less to do with the quality of the actual game and more to do with the misleading marketing that led me to be excited for the game it was not. Essentially, I felt the same cringe reaction one would feel after eating a spoonful of mayonnaise after being promised whipped cream. (Ironically, 2013’s The Last of Us actually was the game I hoped Dead Island to be, but I digress).

A new storm is on the horizon

Now, after years of development limbo, Dead Island finally gets resurrected this Friday in the form of Dead Island 2. And this time around, I know what I’m getting into. The new game aims to dial up the intensity while leaning more heavily into the first game’s focus on combat.

As we arrive on the dawn of a new blood-splattered adventure, I decided now would be the best time to finally give the original Dead Island the chance it deserved all those years ago. So, after going in with an open mind and full understanding of the game’s action RPG focus, how does it hold up today? Does the game hold up today? Or are my initial criticisms from 2011 still valid?

Let’s find out as we look back on the original Dead Island.

Welcome to a tropical apocalypse

Though the rest of the game feels narratively flat, the opening cinematic to Dead Island is still one of the most iconic openings in modern gaming. Following the sloppy drunk around while Sam B performs the amazing “Who do You Voodoo B****?” is just as entertaining in 2023 as it was in 2011. Seriously, that song has no right to be that good! You also bump into the game’s other three central characters: Logan, Purna and Xian Mei.

Then, the actual game starts.

The first thing you’ll notice is that when you pick your character, you have to pay attention to their individual skills. For example, Sam B works best if you want to use blunt weapons; whereas Purna would be your go-to if you would rather focus on gunplay. Though I don’t think it ultimately matters too much, since you’ll have no issues using whatever weapons you feel like anyway, it is an interesting idea in theory.

So, with that, I chose Sam B because he’s easily the coolest character, and I woke up hungover in my hotel. Upon leaving the room, things look amiss, as low and behold, the zombie apocalypse started last night. Either that, or Sam B’s concert really did just get that out of hand. You’ll find out in a minute.

A little bit of exploring and robbing people’s suitcases, and you’ll discover your first zombie. From there, you’ll fight your way through the hotel, following orders from a mysterious voice on the intercom who can see you through the security cameras.

Following the hotel sequence, the game begins to open up as you can freely explore the beaches of the resort. This marks the first main area, with a city, jungle and prison marking later environments.

Who do you voodoo?

The main narrative plot point (and plot armor) is that the four main characters are all somehow immune to the zombie virus. While this later, sort of, impacts the story with a focus on your characters possibly being keys to a cure, the immunity mainly serves as an excuse as to why you don’t turn into a zombie when you get bit. And trust me, you will get bit many times throughout the game.

Regardless, the story kicks off when Sinamoi performs his lifeguarding duties by saving you from the hotel. You wake up in a hut with a bunch of other survivors, who in all honesty, are not that important at all to the game. From there, your first main task is helping that group move to a better location by making the nearby lifeguard station inhabitable.

Following that, most of the game’s story revolves around you simply trying to survive as you desperately try to find an escape off the island. Eventually, you’ll get in contact through the radio with a soldier bunkered down in a nearby prison who promises to help you. You’ll also run into scientists at a lab who believe you may be able to help create a cure. Am I skipping over a lot of the game’s story? Sort of, but there really isn’t much to say about it. As I stated, the storyline is hardly the focus of the game.

An unrelenting horde

Instead, Dead Island primarily relies on tense enemy encounters to keep the gears moving. There are a variety of zombie types who you’ll have to fend off throughout the game. These range from your standard Walkers and lightning fast Infected to the imposing tank-like Thugs and Bloaters. Once you make it to the city, you’ll also occasionally engage in shootouts with human enemies as a way to mix up your usual combat strategy.

One thing I’ll say about this game is that combat is not a walk in the park. Taking on one or two walkers or infected is simple enough. However, once you make it to the city, the intensity ramps up as you often get stuck running from hordes of endless zombies that can easily corner and kill you.

And don’t get me started on the thugs. Killing these hulking brutes takes a lot of patience, as one hit from them will send you flying to the ground. The strategy to killing these guys by walking up, smacking them, walking back, letting them swing at the air, and then repeating the process is such a chore that the amount of thugs you’ll fight becomes frustratingly boring.

Another pain-in-the-neck enemy type is the giant dude in the straight jacket. You’ll first meet him outside the church in the city, where you find out that not only is he a sponge for attacks, but he also can kill you with two tackles that are nearly impossible to avoid. He seems like a boss at first, but unfortunately is just another common enemy, as he shows up way too much.

Survival takes skill

To survive the relentless attacks, the game provides you with tons of weapons to dismember the undead. However, all of your melee weapons deteriorate over time, so you need to be mindful about repairing them at benches whenever you get the chance. To help compensate, the game also implements a kick feature that is arguably overpowered, as you can just spam it on downed enemies to get a kill without damaging your weapons further.

In terms of healing, the game does provide standard med kits. However, those are few and far between. Instead, regenerating health mainly comes in the form of consuming more energy drinks than a haunt actor on Sweetest Day (if you know, you know).

The game also offers up different skill trees, depending on which character you chose. However, I hardly noticed any significant changes to my strength, as the difficulty of combat ramped up to make these upgrades feel insignificant. Maybe I would have noticed a bigger difference if I didn’t upgrade my skills.

However, what I do find significant is the ability to upgrade and customize your weapons. My favorite custom weapon is the baseball bat with the saw blades attached. This upgraded piece was my go-to melee weapon for the entirety of the game and consistently dismembered zombies from start to finish.

The end of the world, not the end of capitalism

When you think of the zombie apocalypse and the collapse of society, naturally, you would think money has no value. Right? Wrong!

In Dead Island, you need to earn a living. So, whether that means stealing money off corpses and from suitcases or selling items needed to create combo weapons, cash is king. Throughout the game, you’ll encounter many vendors who buy and sell helpful items ranging from new, more powerful weapons to medical kits.

In addition, weapon upgrades, repairs and creations at the bench also cost money for some reason. So, you need to be very selective on what you shell out cash for, as well as which crafting parts you pawn off for some extra dough. While not having enough money to repair your favorite weapon can be frustrating, I appreciate the sense of strategy and selectivity the in-game economy promotes.

Kill zombies. Find item. Return. Repeat.

While the game’s combat and progression system teeters the line between fun and flawed, its mission structure is irredeemable. If there’s one kind of mission I hate in a video game, it’s a fetch quest. I don’t mind some backtracking here and there, but when nearly every mission in the game requires you to find an item and return it to where you just came from, the whole thing feels like a drag.

All the way to the final chapters in the game, you spend way too much time doing the exact same thing. One of the first missions you’ll have in Dead Island is to go get gas and bring it back to the lifeguard station for the truck. Then, at the end of the game, one of the final missions will be… go get gas and bring it back to Mowen’s boat.

If you’re looking for a game where you can mindlessly slaughter zombies while rocking out to some heavy metal music in the background, this is definitely it. However, if you want a game that’ll keep you hooked with interesting level designs and unique scenarios and set pieces, you’ll want to look elsewhere. Honestly, there was a point where I just put the game on mute, threw some music on and stopped paying attention to what the NPCs were ever saying.

Fly high

After completing the seemingly endless fetch quests across the island’s resort, city and jungle, you’ll finally make it to the prison. At this point, the game already overstayed its welcome, but it finally seems like it’s leading up to a conclusion.

However, before you can confront that military lieutenant that suckered you into going to the prison (yeah, spoiler, he’s a bad guy), you have to do a few more missions for the prisoners. And guess what? They’re all fetch quests! Yay!

Finally, the lieutenant betrays you and you head up to the roof for your final showdown. He shoots Jin (a woman you save earlier on in the game and is just kind of there for the rest of it) before injecting himself with the “cure”. Well, it doesn’t cure him but instead mutates him into a Tyrant-esque boss who honestly isn’t that hard to kill, considering the rooftop is loaded with more ammo than you’ll find in the rest of the game.

So, what is the thrilling conclusion to Dead Island? You escape on a helicopter in hopes of returning to your old life, only to find out that the media is trying to cover everything up as the virus is ultimately doomed to become worldwide. It’s a fitting end for sure, but I can hardly say that’s groundbreaking.

Concluding thoughts on Dead Island

Overall, Dead Island, though certainly not the emotional apocalypse tale promised in its first trailer, isn’t an awful game. If you take it for what it is, and not what it could have been, you can have a decently fun time mindlessly killing zombies. Even with unbalanced difficulty in later parts and the repetitive structure of missions, combat is brutal enough to engage players who want a straightforward zombie-slayer.

Fortunately, from what we’ve seen so far, Dead Island 2 looks like a much better game. Leaning more heavily in its strengths (brutal combat) while straying away from the stereotypical storyline is the smartest move for the new title.

Dead Island 2 comes out April 21, 2023 for PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, Xbox One and PC.

Are you excited for the new game? And what are your thoughts on the original title? As always, let us know what you think in the comments!