First Impressions: Dead Island

FORMATS: Xbox 360, PS3, PC

Firstly, I LOVE zombie games. The drama, context, gameplay and concept of a survival horror against the horde of the undead fascinates me. So, naturally, when I saw the first trailer for Dead Island I was very excited. A zombie game on an island defined as a holidaying paradise was against what most zombie games are, and the teaser trailer was more than enough to convey the emotions of the footage used.

I bought the special edition of the game on release day and began to play it. This is certainly not what was shown in the teaser trailer. Far from it. Hell, I wouldn’t even go as far as to say that this resort is a family holiday destination as suggested in the teaser. You also do not play as any one of the characters featured in the teaser.

You can play as 1 of 4 characters and I selected the first guy, an ex-football player with a chip on his shoulder, a la The Longest Yard. You begin the game waking up in the characters hotel room (but based upon other peoples playthroughs so far, this is the same intro), and progress through the hallways on the floor of the hotel you are in. It’s a rather nice touch that near enough everything is interactive – although stealing cash from other people’s luggage is not very obvious at the beginning, and nor is anything else.

I went in without reading the instructions and paid for it, as nothing is obviously told to the player to begin with. The controls seem a little oddly placed – as I am playing this on PS3, R1 is to fire weapons, and R2 is to cycle through your arsenal. It’s rather strange not having the fire button on a trigger. This is the whole reason Sony made those buttons that shape to begin with.

Eventually you are guided by “The Voice”, escaping the hotel and being found by a group of people who need your help to get to a nearby lifeguard hut. You do this task and move everyone to there, each member of the group offering something – a doctor, a mechanic, and so on. There’s even a workbench to fix and upgrade your weaponry, at the cost of the cash you find in the luggage bags...although how cash has any worth in a world where zombies are a threat is beyond me.

So, approximately two hours into the game I am asking the question: “Why is the player all by themselves?” – You rescue this small group of people, but not one of them is capable of helping you with the tasks they offer? Having read ‘The Zombie Survival Guide’, a concept based on if a zombie apocalypse did really happen, I understand the idea of having more than one person doing a task; a group is so more formidable then one versus many zombie...And this is where the game lacks within the first 2 hours. It doesn’t feel like survival, it’s laborious. On top of this is the essence of realism to the game. Yes, in real life you have stamina and can only carry so many things, while also unable to carry and climb, but this hinders you in tasks later on - tasks which will indeed require more than one of you.

In summary, this game looked incredibly promising. It had a hard impacting teaser which got the game company making it into a bit of trouble. However the game falls flat when playing it. It’s not fast paced, it lacks that sense of survival and the fact near enough the whole team you rescue are practically too cowardly to leave the safe point to help gather supplies, it cheapens the experience. Couple that with slightly not-so-slick control layout and it seems to make it feel a touch worse. I wouldn’t say skip buying it as it may pick up later on, but be prepared to play like it’s a chore for 2-3 hours.

SCORE: 6.5/10

DUKE NUKEM FOREVER

Hi, everyone. Well, in the last blog post I did say I was going to review this game. However, I came across two videos that explain the same opinion as mine. They are by Machinima.com reporter Rob Smith and a YouTube User by the name of TotalBiscuit AKA The Cynical Brit (and pay attention to his video, as he explains some of the stuff I shall explain shortly):

The Cynical Brit - TotalBiscuit: "WTF is Duke Nukem Forever?" - 5 hours into the game

Machinima.com Review:

Now that those videos are out of the way, below is what I would change about the gameplay (and please note I said gameplay and not graphics nor level design, as these aspect are trivial or based upon how gameplay mechanics would change. A prime example is the level linearity.):

1)      The 2 Weapon System Has To Go

This seemed to be the number one complaint amongst Duke Nukem fans (this and that disturbing Hive scene, it seems). While this system is all very well and good in modern first person shooters like Halo and Call of Duty, a lot of fans felt this didn’t fit in with the Duke Nukem universe and I happen to agree with them. It HAS to be removed.

In its place I would bring back the classic system of 10 guns in the player’s arsenal. Yes, in the current set up of gameplay it would unbalance the game in the player’s favour, but I shall come back to that later.

The term ‘lotsa guns’ is synonymous with Duke Nukem and other FPS games at the time (see Doom), so why remove it for the same old boring, realistic mechanic of 2 guns? A huge arsenal is what made the game fun and satisfying, and it made sense in terms of Duke’s character; another thing I shall be touching upon in the next point.

2)      The Regenerating Ego Health Meter...Why?

I shall quote Duke himself on this one: “Power armour is for pussies”

If this is the case, why is Duke’s Ego meter (which represents his health) much like power armour? After so many hits, you need to hide from the storm of bullets and explosions to recharge your health. The entire mechanic of this doesn’t suit what the meaning of ego really is, let alone who Duke is meant to be.

Duke Nukem is supposed to be the ultimate mish-mash parody of those 80s and 90s action heroes we all love; Schwarzenegger, Stallone, Willis, and so on. They didn’t fear bullets, so why should Duke Nukem?

In its place I would bring back the classic health set up; A default health at 100% that will be whittled down bit by bit as you take more damage. Your health would be replenished via medi-kits and ‘Atomic Health’, as it was in Duke Nukem 3D.

As for the Ego game mechanic, I personally liked this addition to the game – interact with the environment and do Duke-like things to boost his ego. It’s a perfect idea. However, since I have brought back the original health meter, the current Ego Meter is made redundant, and so I would give it another function.  If this is his ego boost, it should do what any ego boost should do. It should act as a power-up; increase speed, increase strength, make him “invincible” for a short amount of time or at the very least act as a shield/armour because a person can run on pride alone if that person has a big enough ego. Does that sound very Duke to you?

3)      Game Balance

As I mentioned earlier in this blog, I explained that I understood bringing back the ‘old school’ mechanics of a crateload of weapons and invinicibility/power ups would unbalance the game as well as the level layout. Of course it would, but obviously any sane developer would re-balance the game and open up the levels/maps to compensate for this. This balance could come in many forms:

-           Reduce the ammo to enemy ratio

If the player has less ammunition, they’d think twice about blowing their load of RPG missles and explosives. The player would be forced to think “which weapon is best for this situation?”

-          Use sensible weapon and ammo availability

Currently the game issues you the correct weapon for the correct situation, but you are forced to drop a weapon in favour of an RPG or Devastator to do the boss battle and then throw it away, instead of thinking for yourself. So in the 10 weapon system the player keeps the Devastator and RPG...but to make it fair on the enemies the ammo for those weapons are rare. This allows the player to explore hidden areas to find the ammo for these explosive weapons

-          Balance enemy health

Now obviously, if the current structure is forcing the player to use rocket launchers for the bosses, and no other weapon affects them, it makes it pointlessly difficult for the player if they don’t have the explosive weaponry. So, you balance the boss and enemy health so that now the player can choose to kill a boss with a handgun, but it’ll take them bloody ages.

4)      So Many Puzzles, So Much Driving, So Much Walking....But Not Enough Shooting

I’m the first to admit I enjoyed the puzzles, and I didn’t mind the driving sections. But that first 30-45 minutes at the start really killed the Duke Nukem vibe. People wanted shooting from the start, and they should’ve got it. The driving sections felt like they lasted decades (and having to fetch the gas tank was a pain, even if it was all part of the gameplay to lead to a shoot-y part). It made it feel like a lot of filler. I’m not saying remove it, but I’m saying trim it a little or at least allow the player to shoot things as they drive and explore.

And that’s your lot for this blog. I hope I made some valid points. Stay tuned for more.

Welcome to 'What The Pixel?!'

Hello, and welcome to 'What The Pixel?!' - In a nutshell this is a blog in which I shall be reviewing games, as well as write about what I would change/improve/redesign in them.

But first some background information. I am a graduate of the University of Wolverhampton in England with a 2nd Class Bachelour of Arts (with Honours) Degree in Computer Games Design, as well as a former employee of Codemasters Software Ltd., where I was a game tester for approximately a year and I am credited for working on games such as DiRT 2, FUEL, Operation Flashpoint and F1 2010.

Now I know what you're all thinking: "A year hardly qualifies you to be a real reviewer or designer" - This is up to personal opinion and debate, but I also have 20 years of gaming experience behind me ranging from Atari 2600 right up to the current generation of consoles (Xbox 360 and Playstation 3), as well as some PC gaming too. With this, I know what makes a "game", and I want to share this with others.

So, that's the first post. Expect many posts to come very soon.

Next post: Duke Nukem Forever - Review & How I Would Have Designed It