June 13, 2011 by Vinnie Leduc
Despite boasting my favorite video game trailer of the year, there were concerns that the hauntingly scored and beautifully pre-rendered zombie survival game announcement was stylized to offset mediocre gameplay, which is, of course, the most important aspect of any game. During a busy E3, MediaStinger got a chance to get a hands-on preview of Dead Island and address any lingering concerns with our own eyes.
The brief demo available only featured melee combat and no gunplay, but damn was it satisfying. This is probably because Dead Island is basically Left 4 Dead (4-player co-op is supported) with great graphics and a little bit of Dead Rising 2 sprinkled in (you can assemble weapons from salvaged junk). You can throw whatever you find at the undead, but nothing was better than hacking away at a zombie’s head until it’s been clearly lopped off.
Unfortunately, the Dead Island gameplay we experienced held nothing close to the cinematic trailer’s emotional impact, but it did hint at an immersive story in which it’s essential that you interact with and speak to other survivors, some of whom will send you on quests throughout the open-world island paradise resort. Overall, Techland’s game looked good and was fun to play; we’re glad it wasn’t the disappointment that the awesome trailer easily could have set it up to be.
