I was pretty sure I knew what to expect from "Dead Island." Generally a pretty, pre-rendered cutscene like the one that kicked off the firestorm of media interest, usually means that the actual game is A) ugly and B) not very good. I'm happy to report that neither is the case with "Dead Island," a game which takes the very best elements of "Borderlands" and "Oblivion" and mashes them up with extreme, undead carnage. Last week we played through the first 20 minutes of the game, but the great thing about "Dead Island" is the level of freedom you're given. Case in point, here's the first 20 minutes (minus the linear prologue), played very differently. Yes, this is what you should be watching while eating lunch at your desk.
PART 1
Here we see our first zombie battle and take some missions from the survivors. For a brief look at the skill tree, skip ahead to 3:28 in the video.
PART 2
In Part 2 we get a look at some of the loot scrounging in "Dead Island." Weapons you find in the game have level requirements and different statistics (like "Borderlands" or "Diablo"), so finding a blue hunting knife is a very, very good thing. The clip ends with a battle to save a survivor from a burning truck.
PART 3
Part 3 introduces us to the weapon crafting table. Items will break down from use, so you'll have to repair them before they'll do full damage. You can also upgrade items to increase their statistics, but only if they're already fully repaired. Lastly, you can combine certain items, presuming you have the recipe. It's not unlike the combo weapons system in "Dead Rising 2," but there's a bit more freedom here, as you can use different types of weapons in the same recipe. For example, you can put nails in a bat or a long walking stick. The clip ends with the first boss fight in "Dead Island," right around 6:14 in the video.
Check back tomorrow as we'll have 15 minutes of additional footage from "Dead Island," where we're exploring more of this unfortunate vacation spot.