So it's gonna be story-less and bland. Right, I'm definitely going to spend money on this game.

What makes you think it'll be story-less? And what makes you think it'll be bland? The gameplay looks fun and interesting, and there's nothing that's suggested that it'll be story-less. All the previews and stuff shown to reviewers, they've all liked it and it's been said that it's got a great balance of narrative and madness.

And as for blandness, one of the things being praised the most is the incredible atmosphere - the game apparently has a great environment, the decay looks realistic, the places are beautifully ramshackle, etcetera etcetera.

PREVIEWS:
http://kotaku.com/5809970/dead-island-s ... and-solemn
http://www.shacknews.com/article/68470/ ... -preview-1
http://www.joystiq.com/2011/03/03/dead-island-preview/

From what I've seen so far you're just a raper meathead running around with weapons that were probably conceived and designed by an eleven year old. Most of the praise is either "hey, the buildings look cool in the background while I bash a zombie with an electrical sword made out of a car battery and some wishful thoughts" or "killing zombies with objects is fun".

While I do enjoy the zombie killing thing it has been done several times before. Most of them probably better than this new counterpart. My major gripe is that the initial trailer made the game look so much more than that. You had characters with whom you could related, a sense of desperation and just enough drama.


Had they made the game with said characters, playing style and the layering system I'd be trowing money at them, but they opted on the AAA game of sure deals.

I desperately hope you mean 'rapper'.

It doesn't really seem like it's going to be random killing-stuff. I mean, it looks like an open world that'll be great for exploration, with story-driven structure as you try and help out other survivors and stuff.

The weapon crafting seems to be pretty deep. Yeah, they could use less C4 knives and electrified machetes, but hey, it's a lot less ridiculous than many other zombie games. At least these are actually conceivable. And so far, most of the weapons seem well-grounded in reality. Like spiky baseball bats or kitchen knives.

See, the electrified machete isn't really an example of all the weapons in the game, it's way more ridiculous than pretty much everything else shown.

The combat, to me, looks a hell of a lot better than Dead Rising, which was really boring for me. L4D2 was okay, I guess, but they got melee combat wrong in that I could dash through an entire horde of zombies unharmed, slaughtering them all with a frying pan. In this, it's a lot more deliberate and each encounter seems a bit more drawn-out.

As for characters, Sam B is the rapper, he's a one-hit wonder down on his luck, not some meathead gangbanger. Then you have two local girls, can't remember the fourth character, I think it's a tourist or something. None of them are just killing-spree douchebags out there for the kicks.

This game looks way deeper than most AAA games out there, I don't know what you mean. It's regrettable that they took out the layering system, but seeing as nobody really appreciated it anyway, I guess it's understandable as to why they took it out.

I don't even care about the layering system, it was just one of the few gimmicks that differentiated it from every other zombie game out there.

Don't get me wrong, it may very well be a fun game that people enjoy and even deserve the praise that it's been given so far. But I somehow feel - how should I put it - cheated. They had a nearly perfect environment, ambient, setting and feeling on the trailer and that got my hopes way up there near jesus. And then they showed the RAPPER beating the crap out of zombies with a shovel.

All I'm trying to say is that it might be a good game, but not nearly as good as it could have been.

Yeah, the biggest mistake that they made was having that trailer in the first place. Actually, not showing either one of those trailers would have been a better move. If they only showed the Memento-esque, heartfelt trailer with the little girl, then people wouldn't complain about the game being about some random ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥ with tacky rap music beating the heads of zombies in. If they only showed the rapper trailer, people would expect a Dead Rising kinda game, but first-person, and be pleasantly surprised that it had a nice bit of story in addition to that.

Instead, they showed both, making the game out to be something it is, but that it isn't. I mean, it's got a good amount of story and a good amount of zombie killing, but neither is predominant - they mix. But those trailers show either as the main bits of the game, and they contradict each other. Hell, I wish they just never showed that stupid Sam B trailer.

Why did they get shot of the layer system?
At least it'll still be open-world.

Hold on, I'll check and see if I can find the article that mentioned it.

EDIT: Can't find an article, but found a quote and now that I remember, that's what they said. I think it was from a Q&A from a couple months back.

"We did not remove the layered damage system, not at all. We did, however, scale it back a bit since in focus testing most people couldn't visually tell the difference between for example, a hit that penetrated 3 layers of skin vs. 5. So there is still a very robust layered damage system, it is just slightly altered from its original conception."

Ah right, moving back to a simpler system is alright.

I just hope that when they mean 'simpler', they don't mean 'dismemberment on death ala Fallout 3.' Hopefully it'll be somewhere between where it was at before, and Dead Space-ish stuff.

Watching a 10 minute video of it, it seems that on limb-removal, people die.
I want to be crawled after and forced into neckshots.

It still sounds like a pretty damn good layering system if players can't tell the difference between 5 layers and 3 whats the point of making 5 when no one will even notice it as long as the zombies look like I'm actually beating a zombie to pieces or I burning them to see the realistic burnt flesh and bone underneath I will still love it's zombie damage system btw who thinks a zombie campaign would be neat it would be different instead of player vs player special zombies you could be a normal zombie goin through the process of complete zombification I think that will blow other zombie games out of the water but they should focus on the human campaign

That's something I hope they change - the blood effects seem a bit over the top, probably just for the reason you've given (to cover up the ugly hitting-of-zed). It looks bad, frankly. Luckily, it isn't due for a while so I'm sure it won't stay like that. It just looks like it could be much more well-done. Those blood decals splattered around on the ground look great, though.

To Kill Time
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VJaXrlfxF2E

EDIT: When she hits that guy with the electric machete, it's a lot less cartoony, bones-visible zappity and more OH ♥♥♥♥ GOD IT HURTS GRAHGHGHGHHGHGHGH SEIZURE!
I'm hoping they move the HUD more away from the center of the screen, it looks a bit intrusive.

EDIT2: Go to fifteen minutes in, his arm gets lopped off but he's still standing - that's a good sign. I'm thinking the reason the others were dying when they lost bits of them was just because they were really weak. After all, she bludgeoned some of them to death in just a few hits, whereas the zombies in the town seem a tad more resilient.

Sorry for run on sentences I will add more periods in my other replys and I was typing fast.
On Topic: I hope they add a good collision detector so it actually looks like your stabbing and bashing a zombie to pieces. I hate it when games melee attacks just go through the enemy character and I rhink L4D2/1 done the phase through enemy melee attack. The feeling of seeing the weapon hit the zombie and look real makes you feel like your in the game more.

For a game that relies on atmosphere the electro swords and constant achievement progress pop-ups seem kind of belligerent but otherwise the game seems ok. I've been hoping for a decent zombie-sim.