Dead Island

[Velorath]

It's fun but janky.  Multiplayer pretty much seems broken to me so far.  I don't know if the servers just couldn't handle the load, but aside from a 15-20 min stretch of time, none of the people I was trying to play with could get into each others games, or when they did they'd drop a couple minutes later.

Edit:  Probably the most janky thing about it (on the PC, haven't played it on a console) is that pressing y enables no clip mode for some reason, and the \ key locks up your key inputs, both of which I discovered the hard way.  You can imagine what it was like for me, just a few minutes out of the tutorial to hit the y button while trying to figure out the keybinds for the various menus only to be able to start flying around the island.

[Vaiti]

Polished. 

That is disappointing to hear. Here is to hoping a patch is promptly shipped to resolve that. Sounds like someone unintentionally left some debug commands in.

[Velorath]

Apparently word is going around that a developer build of the game accidentally went live instead of the retail version.

[tgr]

That's awesome.

[Hawkbit]

How does it play Kyb/mouse vs. Controller, anyone?  Looking to see if I should push this on my PC or PS3.

[Malakili]

Apparently word is going around that a developer build of the game accidentally went live instead of the retail version.

Ouch.  I mean, its kind of funny, but I wonder how many people don't really know the difference and will just right the game off as a mess without waiting for the patch, never good to have launch issues like this because people are liable to write you off and move on before you can fix it. (See, IMO, Brink etc).

[Velorath]

Apparently word is going around that a developer build of the game accidentally went live instead of the retail version.

Ouch.  I mean, its kind of funny, but I wonder how many people don't really know the difference and will just right the game off as a mess without waiting for the patch, never good to have launch issues like this because people are liable to write you off and move on before you can fix it. (See, IMO, Brink etc).

As far as I know it's just the build on Steam, so I guess they're fortunate in that it doesn't affect the console version, and presumably the boxed PC version (which shouldn't be out in stores until today anyway).

How does it play Kyb/mouse vs. Controller, anyone?  Looking to see if I should push this on my PC or PS3.

Ask again when the real PC version is up, but from what I can tell it should play fine either way.

[Margalis]

Apparently word is going around that a developer build of the game accidentally went live instead of the retail version.

Sounds like a damage-control rumor.

But anyway I'm having a hard time getting a grip on this game, from what I read I don't have a good sense of what it actually plays like. Can anyone describe what you do on a moment-to-moment basis?

By the way anyone ever play Resident Evil online? I loved those games! (Lol - really I did, though they had some major issues)

[K9]

Are the third person animations really this bad?

[jakonovski]

Looks like the first person animations were kept as is for the third. Looks kinda like Mirror's Edge with a third person hack.

[NiX]

Looks like the first person animations were kept as is for the third. Looks kinda like Mirror's Edge with a third person hack.

Does it load different models for co-op then?

[Jherad]

This morning, I noticed steam had downloaded another 76.6mb for Dead Island - since then, it hasn't crashed once on me (I was making about 5-10mins between crashes last night), and no more weird framerate drops. So - I guess that was the patch?

Edit: My checkpoint progress got nuked also.

[Velorath]

Apparently word is going around that a developer build of the game accidentally went live instead of the retail version.

Sounds like a damage-control rumor.

But anyway I'm having a hard time getting a grip on this game, from what I read I don't have a good sense of what it actually plays like. Can anyone describe what you do on a moment-to-moment basis?

By the way anyone ever play Resident Evil online? I loved those games! (Lol - really I did, though they had some major issues)

Essentially it plays like much rougher version of Borderlands.  You have a main quest line, along with a lot of side quests.   Going through the main quest essentially gets you access to more parts of the island, whereas the side quests seem to be mostly for xp.  Weapons degrade pretty fast, but if you get some you like you can take them to a work bench to upgrade them, mod them, and keep them repaired.  You'll be pressing the F button a lot in order to open up every container or piece of luggage you come across, and then press it again to pick up whatever you found.  Guns are pretty rare, at least early on.  I've only seen one gun so far (haven't played much yet though) and it was level 10 and I had only gotten as high as level 3 so far.  So mostly you'll be meleeing zombies with oars and pipes, and then kicking them when they're down until you've "killed" them, otherwise they'll eventually heal and get back up.

[jakonovski]

Looks like the first person animations were kept as is for the third. Looks kinda like Mirror's Edge with a third person hack.

Does it load different models for co-op then?

Good question, I have no idea.

[Azazel]

I think I'll wait till this one reaches the bargain bin, somehow. Plenty of other stuff to play in the meantime.

[Yegolev]

I'm being roped into getting this for 360 multiplayer.

[Hawkbit]

How does console co-op work?  Is there some kind of random drop-in, or is it friends only, or do folks have to be in the same room?

[Ironwood]

Are the third person animations really this bad?

Dear God, that looks awful.

[jakonovski]

Giantbomb has a video up. Kind of surprising but the game doesn't seem half bad: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-dead-island/17-4837/

[Velorath]

Looks like the first person animations were kept as is for the third. Looks kinda like Mirror's Edge with a third person hack.

Does it load different models for co-op then?

Good question, I have no idea.

Animations don't look like that in co-op.  Much like the no clip thing, that 3rd person view wasn't supposed to be part of the game.

[Azazel]

Are the third person animations really this bad?

Dear God, that looks awful.

Wow. That's awful.

[Vaiti]

This little mistake is costing them alot. It's kind of unfortunate. First impressions and all.

I feel bad for the guy who was in charge of getting the correct build out to Steam. He might not be getting fired, but he isn't Mr. Popular at the office at the moment for sure.

[Azazel]

Eurogamer's review is interesting, and really cements my decision to fish this one out of the bargain bin in a year's time.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-09-04-dead-island-review

[Maledict]

Well, those animations are bad but you won't ever see them in game. Its a FPS and it's only due to the dodgy build pushed to Steam that people were able to unlock it into 3rd person mode. Multiplayer animations don't look anything like that.

[jakonovski]

Looks like all the reviewers I know to be good are liking the game: http://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2011/09/07/impressions-15-hours-with-dead-island/

[NiX]

Looks like the first person animations were kept as is for the third. Looks kinda like Mirror's Edge with a third person hack.

Does it load different models for co-op then?

Good question, I have no idea.

Looks like it doesn't,  but from what I can tell the girl with the skirt has the jankiest animations of them all, so that third person video is representing the worst the game has to offer.

Or I'm wrong. Thought every co-op video I've seen shows weird animations.

As for anyone saying "That's bad", did you ever see the Mirror's Edge 3rd person video?

[Ironwood]

No.  But in fairness I wasn't going on a Spectrum Scale.

[koro]

Eurogamer's review is interesting, and really cements my decision to fish this one out of the bargain bin in a year's time.

http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2011-09-04-dead-island-review

It looks folks across the pond don't seem too keen on it in general. Edge savaged it with a 3/10:

http://www.next-gen.biz/reviews/dead-island-review

[climbjtree]

I had today off. I was bored. I couldn't resist... and I bought it.

So far I haven't had anyone join my game for co-op, but I can say based on my experience that this game is pretty fun. Janky animations or no, I don't see how co-op could do anything but make it more fun! (I'm talking to you, NiX.)

[Azazel]

Yeah, I’m sure I’ll pick it p eventually, but I rarely buy new releases/stuff at full price these days, and I’ve already pre-ordered Space Marine CE, 2 copies of Saints Row 3 and 2 of Battlefield 3.

Dead Island looks like something I’ll eventually play and pick up, but I’m in no rush to bump it to the front of the queue or anything. I’m still slowly co-oping my way through Left 4 Dead 2 a campaign or two at a time every couple of weekends...

[Velorath]

Yeah, we get it.  You're waiting for the bargain bin.

[Hawkbit]

It's not too shabby, overall. 

The bad, so far:  PC animations are horrid, even if only seen from shadows.  Weapons degrade entirely too fast.  There's simply too much junk loot. 

The good, so far:  It's fun.  It does a great job of both being slightly scary and having enough action that I feel like fighting instead of running.  Very atmospheric game. 

It was said before, but basically the game has flaws, but they don't outweigh the fun.  Is it a $60 purchase?  It doesn't quite have the $60 level of polish, but it has the $60 level of fun.  Its definitely more than a bargain bin purchase, unless you're simply inundated with games.

[Azazel]

Yeah, we get it.  You're waiting for the bargain bin.

I'm going to wait for the bargain bin. k?

[Tebonas]

So, Azazel. Any idea when you might buy this game? Right now, or are you considering waiting for a bit till the price drops? Just curious! 

[Azazel]

You know, that's an excellent question! I think it's entirely possible that I may wait a small amount of time. As I am simply inundated with games I've bought and have not yet played.