Dead Island was first introduced to us by way of a very cool cinematic trailer which kinda got the whole gaming world talking. After a good hour or so of hands-on time with the single-player campaign, I’m literally dying to play more.

To put rumours to rest, yes, it’s true that the game play of Dead Island is nothing like what you see in the (now very famous) trailer. But let’s remember people, it’s a trailer which is designed for one purpose – to gain your attention. And from what I gather, it managed to do that very well and got people excited for the game. Dead Island is definitely worth getting excited for, because it will offer you opportunities to kick copious amounts of ass as well as nurse some pretty decent battle wounds of your own!

"Yum yum… ME LIKE YOUR BRAAAAIINNNNSSS"

The first part of the single-player campaign (Dead Island will also feature four player coop) begins after the island has already been thoroughly infected. You get the option to choose from four different characters, two female and two male (apologies but I can’t remember the names of all of the characters). What’s important to note here is that each character has specific strengths, not unlike characters you might choose to play in an RPG or MMO. Some characters (such as the one I chose to play, Xian Mei), are less sturdy but a lot more agile and particularly good with knives and sharp weapons. I believe one of the other characters, Sam, is trained well in the use of blunt weapons (you can listen to Siobhan Keogh and myself discussing the different character types on the latest podcast here).

Xian Mei was a great choice for me because as it turns out, I lucked out later on in the campaign by finding one of the better weapons for her; the meat cleaver, but more on that later. The premise is that you’re one of a few survivors on the island who has managed to escape infection. The remainder of your journey across Dead Island is filled with many gloriously gory encounters with infected people on the island who, as a result of the infection, have become crazed and zombie-like in nature.

"It's half-price time and the meat market and YOU'RE the MEAT"

If you’re familiar with role-playing games, you’ll understand the basic foundation of Dead Island which at its core is driven by a questing system that finds you exploring various parts of the island. As well as questing, your character will eventually level up by killing infected and completing quests. During your journey across the island, you’ll be able to loot any bodies you see and make use of the money you find to both upgrade and repair your weapons. This is particularly cool because as you acquire weapons, eventually, they’ll degrade if you keep using them. Depending on where your questing takes you, you’ll discover areas that, once cleared out, will remain relatively free of infected. These buildings will serve as a “base” where you can replenish supplies and upgrade and repair weapons. You’ll also be able to find quest NPCs (non player characters) to interact with.

One aspect of game play that is refreshing in Dead Island is that the infected are quick, brutal and extremely hard to kill. I’m willing to bet that even if you’re relatively adept at playing survival-horror games, you’ll find facing more than a couple of the infected a challenge. As you continue to discover more of the island, you won’t be able to avoid infested areas of infected, which is, of course, exciting in itself.

"Hammertime!"

The combat system is heavily reliant on hand-to-hand and melee combat. That means you’re up close and personal with infected most of the time. I found the aiming mechanic in DI a little difficult to come to grips with, but eventually, you’ll get the hang of how to time your attacks so that the infected don’t start ripping chunks out of you. You can kick, wrestle and punch the infected without a weapon but don’t expect to survive long doing this. Having an arsenal of weapons is definitely the way to go.

The gore factor in Dead Island is extremely high so it’s not a game for the weak of stomach. You’ll be hacking and slashing your way through infected most of the time with limb dismemberment and decapitation a-plenty! I’m very interested to know how Dead Island will fare in terms of content ratings.

"Not exactly Paradise Island, is it?"

If you’re a fan of survival-horror, you should definitely add Dead Island to your list of games to check out. Dead Island releases in New Zealand on September 9th.