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The Life and Mind of DamnBlackHeart
This is to help me stay actively writing. So expect to see rants, tips on writing, thoughts on subjects, me complaining of boredom, reviews, anime, movies, video games, conventions, tv shows and whatever life throws at me.
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I’ve notice a few things about the game, Dead Island. It’s riddled with bugs, glitches, and other misfortunes but it does have the potential to be awesome if it was worked on more. They should have pushed the release date for another couple of months or a year or two more, because I’m a patience person. To me, that just means they would have had plenty of time to fix/work out the problems in the game. So that once it is release it would have been flawless, running perfectly and smoothly for everyone.
Character Backstory/Development
The first problem I encounter was the story for the game and the character’s background story. The idea is great but it’s the little details that mess it up. For example, we learn that Purna is a former officer and now is a VIP bodyguard. That makes her a firearms expert and one would think she would have a handgun on her already (with ammo too). Or at least some sort of weapon like a knife or a baton, pepper spray, or a taser.
But she doesn’t.
Not even Xian Mei has some sort a bladed weapon on her (like a small knife or a knife hidden in a necklace or something) and she’s undercover for the Hong Kong Police. So yeah, I thought she’ll have something on her already too. Or if the weapon wasn’t on them…I thought it’ll be at least in their hotel room.
Anyway, the thing is that the game doesn’t go into any depth with the story and the characters seem one dimensional. Plus, there’s some inconsistency with Purna’s biography as it says in the Dead Island manual and official website that she killed the child molester, however her in-game bio states she only injured him and wishes to finish the job once she leaves Banoi.
It would be nice if there was more to the character development. To see each character have a personalize hotel room in the Prologue. Such as maybe see some scatter clothes with one of the characters? It’d shows us that certain character is messy and doesn’t care about being neat or whatnot. Maybe see some books/magazines/newspaper stack up near the bed? Shows us that character likes to read whatever those books are about. Or maybe one of the characters is a neat freak and has everything clean and organized? Such as clothes on the bed and shoes all lined up. Maybe they have some frame pictures of people they love and know besides their bed stand? They could make a comment about those personal items which would give us more insight to them.
Either way, it may not be much but it helps us know about character. It would also be nice if we learned what they were doing after that party/how they ended up back in their hotel. They should have added flashbacks/cut scenes about things for them. Such as something reminds them of their life before the virus or whatever.
Anyway, my guess is that they eventually got drunk and pass out in their hotel room. Or maybe they became exhausted, headed to their room and were asleep before they hit their bed. But what I would like to know is what were they doing before they got to that point. Such as Xian Mei…she was at the women’s bathroom in the hotel, helping an injured woman who was lying on the floor. I’m pretty sure that woman was possibly infected with the virus. (Note: I also saw that Mei’s skirt was torn up in the cut scene/prologue…I figure it would be like that after the outbreak and not before. Again it’s little details like that, that matter)
And how did all the heroes encounter each other? We have cut scenes with them sticking together and knowing stuff about each other but nothing explains or hints at how they got to know each other and team up. It would also be nice if we saw how they interact with each other. It would make us get to know them better and actually care what happens to them and be more into playing the game to figure that all out.
Plus, what happens to the other survivors? Do they not care to help them get transportation to leave the island before they took off themselves?
Weapons
Another issue that people had was that ammo and guns are rare, if not non-existent until you progress to Act II. I can understand why it’ll be difficult to find ammo/guns in Act I…being that it’s a beach/resort area. But at the same time I thought there would be something at the Hotel (like the lobby/security desk), or the Tiki bars…maybe even in the Lifeguard house. Even a flare gun could have been a temporary weapon and only found at certain locations…if they had it.
I feel like they should have added more blunt weapons. Some can be pratical and others could be for fun. For example, nearly anything can be use as a weapon…like a chair. I’m surprise that in the game a character can’t pick it up and smack it over or onto a zombie. Or even break it and use it to bash them. Or find golf clubs…after all it’s an island and there should be a few business guys with a set of those. Or a guitar to bash a few heads in. Maybe a sling-shot…it could have been in a empty room where a kid could have left it.
Hm, I’m trying to think some more up. A cane? A curtain rod? A candle holder? A metal chain? It could be used to wrap around someone arms/hands to help beat up a zombie. Hockey stick? A rake? I thought there would be a couple more things like that found near the bungalows on the beach. Oh, even some fire extinguishers can be use to deal with zombies. Maybe not not use it to bash them but could be turned on to stun them. And then a person can quickly use another object to finish them.
The way I see it, there’s a lot of zombie killing done and it would be nice to have a lot of weapons to choose from and mess around. It will help to keep the game from being a bit repetitive. Also was there a bow and arrow in it? Or a crossbow? If not, I wish there was because it seems like a cool and useful weapon. If you watch The Walking Dead you would agree as well. lol
Also about the weapons in the game. It would be more enjoyable if they last a little longer (like a paddle should last longer then a boomstick because it’s slightly stronger, a iron pipe should last more then a baseball bat because it’s metal, etc.) and actually make some damage. It’s annoying having a AK-47 and using so many ammo on a regular zombies (well they should go down easily with two or three shots and the other zombies shouldn’t take 50+ though…) and not doing much to them. It’s more annoying when you are aiming at their heads/neck and it doesn’t do much hard. Logically it should have a large affect…
Bugs/Gitches
There’s a couple of them and I’m not in the mood to list them all. So I’ll only mention the few that are annoying and amusing.
Spawning. It’s annoying to spawn right in the middle of a large hoard of zombies when you didn’t die in the middle of them. Or spawning in a different area completely and you have to run all the way back to get to your last spot.
Zombies disappearing and reappearing behind you or under you. It depends on people when they play this game in how this glitch appears for them. For example, you may be fighting a Floater that’s in the water and you’re on a bridge. You are attacking it and it falls and then disappears. You’re looking around and it reappears behind you, on the other side of the bridge and in the water, getting up.
Sometimes when you are running into a building and you close the door to rest up, the zombies chasing you can still get a few hits on you (right threw the door like they suddenly became Kitty from X-Men). Their arms just phrase right threw the door, hurting you.
Not a bug or glitch but it’s really annoying that the enemies’ level matches your own. So if you gain a level…the zombies also gain a level and so on. So going back to places where you’d just fought 4th level zombies, you will now find 20th or 30th level zombies, depending on your own level.
I can absolutely understand enemies getting more difficult to kill as the story goes on, but I can’t for the life of me figure out why everything else has to progress with you. So we end up with an RPG where progression and improvement amounts to just barely keeping your head above the water.
Overall
This game is clearly designed for a multi-player experience. In the cut-scenes it shows four heroes, when talking to NPCs they refer you as a group. Once it reaches Act II it becomes so much difficult to do things alone but with an actual team it’s slightly easier to deal with.
It lacks a solid story and character development/backstory. This game is style as a role playing game and those kinds of games make sure to plan it all out so that players feel apart of the game. They should feel as though they are one of the survivors trying to escape the zombie island as well. Or at least a part of the main survivors’ groups.
Despite its flaws and many bugs, it’s still a fun game if all you care about is bashing, hacking, slashing, or blowing up zombies. And it’s a lot of fun to play with a group of friends. Half the time you’ll laugh at the random glitches that happen (like a zombie frozen in mid-air) with friends.
 DamnBlackHeart · Tue Nov 29, 2011 @ 07:58pm · 0 Comments |
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