Hmm. I wonder if you were playing the dev build.

http://www.shacknews.com/article/70045/dead-island-dev-build-accidentally-released-on-steam

Skip it? =[

I’ll give you that even the non-dev version is still very buggy. Sometimes it’s not a bug and the issue is poor QA or what might have been rushed development. I’ve had a few instances where quests have disappeared and I had to quit the game and re-launch to see the mission.

In my opinion, whether or not a PC gamer can overlook all these things comes down to whether or not they’re casual gamers (and likely to not notice or care about glitches) or a hardcore zombie-genre fan. I’m somewhat of both so I was willing to overlook a lot of these issues and continue playing the game and working around the glitches.

As far as the scrolling around the map goes, I was able to scroll around the entire map via holding down a right click and moving the mouse around.

The most frustrating thing about this game is that it could have been a 5. Some people might say any game “could” be a five, but Dead Island is what the zombie genre needed. The RPG elements in a survivor-horror setting, combined with a fairly good story (for a zombie game), could have combined to make this title awesome.

Either way, it’s still one of my favorite titles this year. Granted, I have yet to play Deus Ex and some of the AAA titles being released.

Sometimes it’s not a bug and the issue is poor QA or what might have been rushed development.

Are not the latter two synonymous with the former, i.e. bugs?

This is one of those games I have really been looking forward two..me and my friend got so much mileage out of Left4Dead. Hopefully they’ll salvage the mess and we’ll eventually get to enjoy it. Co-op FTW!

I view bugs as being something that is the result of broken code or broken game mechanics. So poor QA could lead to unreported/experienced bugs. Rushed development can also lead to bugs. Poor QA and rushed development can also lead to poor game mechanics which have nothing to do with broken code or something functioning incorrectly. Clipping issues are a great example of a “bug”, as are disappearing quests. Dead Island has plenty of bugs, but it also has a lot of poor game mechanics e.g. alcohol bottles taking residence in an empty weapon slots whereas energy drinks or other food items cannot be collected. I guess the energy drinks and food items being prohibited from storage makes finding them more important when injured, otherwise you’d have tons of food and getting hurt would never matter.

I think most of the game’s issues are a result of Techland’s focus being divided between too many games – or 2, namely Call of Juarez and Dead Island. If they would have worked on Dead Island exclusively maybe the game would have blown us away from the start.

The best description of Dead Island that I’ve heard is “the worst game you’ll love”. It’s definitely one of the least polished PC game’s that is fighting for my attention right now.

Good point on the alcohol vs. health items, I saw it as just another bug until you put it in context. Yeah, you’re right – I’ve been at least as annoyed by inexplicable design choices as I have by bugs over the years. Bethesda fans are the most rabid modders on the planet not just because they like the games for what they are, but for what they could be. I literally cannot play certain games without a couple mods that make you think, “how was this not in there from the start??” My usual answer was release deadlines, but nowadays I think its due more to most PC games being console ports. We have these incredible multi-core SLI monsters, and most of what we get to play is written so it won’t overload a PS3. Ugh.

(Ok I have GOT to figure out what stupid hotkey keeps making everything go italic or deleting my post when I’m 90% done with it – gaaaaa!)

Lets not have a super PC vs stone age consoles debate again, it’s pointless as both have their pluses and minuses, and besides I like both.

This game is just bad, it’s not the bugs, it’s not the glitches it’s the unhappy amalgam of two games into one, Dead Rising mixed with Left 4 Dead, doesn’t sound like a bad idea does it, except they didn’t mix the good bits of both games they seem to have mixed the bad bits. I have to be honest, I ran out of patience with it as soon as my first weapon broke after only a couple of hits and it just went downhill after that with missions that seem to have been put there just to waste your time, a weapon creation system that just lacks the finesse of Dead Rising (and the comedy value) and a tacked on multiplayer that seems to want to create a class based system like team Fortress but then really doesn’t allow those classes to matter.

It’s a shame.

Kahless, going to have to disagree with you on your Dead Island vs. Dead Rising vs. Left 4 Dead complaints. As background information, I have about 500 hours in Left 4 Dead 1/2 so I obviously really enjoyed the L4D series.

In my opinion, Dead Island takes what Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead do (and do well) and combine it with a scenario that is weightier and more emotionally involved.

Weapons breaking – sure, a broom stick would damage WAY faster than a weighted crowbar, but weapons breaking keep the game focused on efficient combat tactics against the undead. In both Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead, the threat from groups of common zombies is almost negligible. In Dead Island, the combination of weakening weapons and stamina make combat rely more on tactics and a fight or flight decision. If weapons had no degradation or significantly less degradation, weapon management would have been less of a game mechanic. I felt that constantly repairing my weapons and trying to upgrade them prevented me from just going balls out in every fight and helped immerse me in the idea that I was walking a fine line between survivor, scavenger and savior of my fellow survivors.

Dead Island is far superior to Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead if you are looking for a survivor horror zombie game with RPG elements. Dead Rising and Left 4 Dead almost mock the seriousness and severity of a “zombie apocalypse” especially as described in books like World War Z and movies like 28 Days Later.

Left 4 Dead has better co-op, but I have never felt like I was trying to survive in Left 4 Dead, and there was never a moment in L4D where I felt apprehension at facing a group of 5-6 zombies.

Weapon creation in Dead Island might not be on par with the system in Dead Rising, but why on earth would you want there to be comedic value to that system in Dead Island? Sure, there are some funnier sides to D.I. but overall, the mood is somber.

I thought the quests, while tedious at times, also helped solidify the “i’m a scavenging survivor” mentality.

If you compare Dead Island to the strengths of any zombie game, it will probably fail. But if you focus on what it does better, then I think the game deserves more respect than some of the more recent zombie games. I’m not saying there aren’t parts of the game that left me disappointed in the apparent lack of attention to detail, but I’m just glad that a developer finally took this scenario seriously and tried to combine the better elements of zombie games into one game. Before Dead Island, you either had zombie games that were basically comedies, or you had survivor horror games that mostly felt like a playable Chainsaw Massacre. We’ve been lacking a zombie game that approached the genre seriously and tried to recreate the feeling of being a true survivor.

Kahless probably wasn’t looking for a “survival sim” or an exercise in frustration, and I’d wager most gamers aren’t either. Everything he said reminds of me failed games I’d given up on over the years, and this sounds like another one of those. Games should be fun, and having your weapon break constantly (esp. when its unrealistically often) does NOT for a fun game make. It makes me think of System Shock 2 where you fight zombies with shotguns, who have unlimited ammo and respawn almost every time you leave an area and return. Yet when you kill them, they have ONE shotgun shell on them..and that’s the only source of ammo for the weapon. I’m all for realism but that’s rarely what you get in so-called “survival” games..its usually a big joke at the player’s expense.

Eh, the weapons do degrade fairly quickly, but there are repair stations at every major “safe zone”. By the time you’re done with a quest you can repair in a few seconds. It’s only a problem if you forget to repair or don’t make repairs part of your “safe zone” routine. Once I got in the habit of repairing regularly it became as unnoticeable as collecting health before I ventured out.

But I can appreciate that it could be annoying to some. It’s probably one of those cases where it’s more a factor of how much patience you have in relation to what experience you’re looking for in the game. If your primary motivation for playing a zombie game is killing zombies, then Dead Island would be a frustrating failure. But like you said, if you’re looking for more of a “survival sim”, then Dead Island might leave you wanting to invest in it more.

Matthew, the reason I wanted a “comedy value” with the weapons was that being an avid zombie movie fan for many many years one thing I can say for certain is zombies are supposed to be funny and dispatching them is also supposed to be funny (this from a guy who even laughed a few times at The Walking Dead series), the seriousness of zombie movies belongs in the social commentary aspect particularly well stated in the epic Dawn of the Dead (the original rather than the flash bang remake) in which zombies carry out their “normal” activities such as shopping implying by doing so that we’re all zombies really.

I don’t have a problem with “survival sims” but I did get fed up with just how quickly a bit of pipe broke or how a firearms specialist character had to spend the first hour or so of gameplay upgrading her melee combat skills because only melee weapons were available and while you can run away from many of the zombies some of the missions come with a “clear the area” objective forcing you to fight.

Left 4 Dead may have got many things wrong but it did encourage co-operation, you have to rescue your mates from smokers and work together to take down tanks and help your mates get up when they’re knocked down but that element just seemed to be missing from Dead Island.

Short version I just didn’t enjoy the experience, it’s not that I expected anything beyond hat was offered exactly it’s just that I didn’t find the offerings to my liking, it’s difficult to put into words as it’s a gameplay issue, the always intangible factor that every game wants to deliver and every gamer wants to experience.

28 Days Later wasn’t really funny =]

But I know what you mean, sometimes gameplay just doesn’t do it for you for whatever reason.

Have you seen http://www.projectzomboid.com?

I bought into it. It’s pretty neat so far (can be difficult). The game is in development so the version you get can be pretty buggy, but I have high hopes for the result – if the developers stick with it.

Angus:

I was playing version 1.2 through most of the review playthrough. I started to play when the dev build was still there, but it was replaced quickly.

Matthew:

I usually give buggy games the benefit of the doubt if I’m having fun playing them, and I was leaning towards 3 stars and “Play It” until I got hit with a game-crashing bug that kept me from moving forward; you wouldn’t want to have been in my living room when that happened. There are lots of other problems like this one in Dead Island. At least two other reviewers have reported being unable to escape a house that has only one exit because the front door won’t open, or other such situations. There’s a point when the glass shifts from half-full to half-empty, and that’s what happened with me. Deep Silver support is trying to help me with my particular bug problem; I’ll post another comment if it’s finally fixed. But until most if not all of the nasty problems in this game are fixed, it’s tough to recommend it.

Yeah, most of the anecdotal evidence I’ve heard is from console gaming, so I’m sure the PC version has its unique flaws.

I agree with your decision though. If I end up experiencing a problem like that it will result in a major negative impact on my experience. RIght now I’m about 10 hours in with a lot of side quests done. I just ventured into the nearby town to look for drugs in the pharmacy. About what point did you experience the “locked in room” bug?

Last night I finished Dead Island (PC). I played it solo all the way through. Here are some random thoughts:

1. Playing this game solo is as close to insanity as you will probably ever experience. The last prison level is VERY hard and unless you spend tons of hours building up your weapons you should not venture that level (Act) alone. I was just stubborn enough to get through it, but it was quite the task.

2. I never had quests disappear. I did have my quest trails vanish on occasion, but re-selecting the quest solved that, so that was not an issue for me.

3. On a couple of occasions my keyboard froze in mid-game, but pressing # ~ fixed that instantly.

4. This is an ambitious game, it’s long, the environments are huge and there are many side quests (which are important to build your weapons and character’s XP). My favorites were the random quests you encounter while traveling through the world. I was surprised by one in the slums, when a random guy starts yelling for help, and if you go to help him a group of thugs start beating you with bats. If you are able to kill your attackers, you find out that he was forced to do that because his daughter had been kidnapped and that turns into another side quest. Clever.

5. Indeed the game had visual glitches. For example, enemies can attack you through closed doors if you stand right in front of them, but you can also attack them! I was happy with this glitch because I used it to my advantage by kicking enemies through the doors and sustaining minimum damage. Important note: enemies regenerate in the game, so if you have to travel through the same area multiple times it’s probably best to avoid them. Running saves the day.

6. The game does not have a manual save system, but it will save your progress when you quit or at specific points in the game.

7. To re-stack items in your inventory slots all you have to do is drop them and pick them up again. I did not have to do this more than a couple of times in the entire game.

8. This game has a very addictive component to it. There’s never a good place to stop, as there’s always something else to do. It’s been a long time since I played a game and said to myself “okay just this one last quest” and hours later was still playing.

9. That the developer did not include cut scenes for solo players is one of the worst decisions they made, it completely ruins the believability of what you’ve experienced in the game. That was lazy and unforgivable.

10. I never had alcohol auto-equip, it sounds like Michael Smith’s character had a drinking problem.

What’s wrong with this game? Well it’s not that it’s bad, it’s that you can clearly see how great it could have been if they would have spent just another few months polishing it. Based on my experience I would’ve not rated this game a “SKIP IT” but most likely a “PLAY IT” with a list of cautionary notes.

@Angel – In defense of us experiencing glitches, I think a lot of them depend on a random order of actions or scenarios that only some gamers will encounter. That’s where the extra couple of months would have come in handy. It’s almost like Techland didn’t have a large enough group for alpha/beta testing so all of these obscure bugs only showed their ugly heads when the game was finally played by a large group of gamers.

#10 – I think the alcohol equipping might only happen when one of your weapons in the weapons wheel degrades past the point of usefullness. If you don’t have another weapon in your inventory to replace it, then grabbing a bottle of alcohol automatically equips it as your weapon. Not sure if that’s the right scenario, but it’s close. After 10 hours of gameplay, it’s happened to me 3 times. Now that I am constantly repairing my weapons and making sure I have backups, it doesn’t seem to be occurring.

Angel brings up a great point regarding the game’s need for a few months of polish. Why drop this now – at the beginning of the crowded holiday shopping season – when they could have worked on it for a few more months, dropped it in early February when most of us are hunkered in our homes during short days and long, dark nights?

At that point, the holiday hangover is over and people are looking for the next big thing to play. That being said, Feb is usually a dead month and the next big things usually don’t see the light of day until March. Techland would get a nice little window to themselves and the gamers would benefit from a more polished product.

It’s been said so many times but the industry needs to realize they have a full calendar year to play with. Gamers, like the undead, aren’t crazy about daylight.

Matthew:

I didn’t personally experience being locked in a room with no exit; one of the IGN podcasters mentioned it during one their shows last week. But I suspect it’s in the town in Act II; there are several transition points leading to abandoned houses, so it’s probably one of those. As for the auto-equipping of alcohol, my radial menu was full of other weapon options almost all the time once I found enough weapons, so it could have auto-selected another legit weapon instead of the whiskey bottle. Making the bottle a usable weapon seems like a mistake to me unless you’ve already converted it to a molotov. Otherwise, the only choice you have is to throw it at a zombie (which would be a waste of good booze) or drink it, which makes you momentarily incoherent, and my Sam B did indeed have a drinking problem.

I’m in Act 3 and have played together with a friend the whole way. We love the game and have been blessedly free of any serious bugs at all.

Based on my own experiences it would have been an easy 4/5, it’s sad to see such a great game missing out due to bugs…

For me i have been playing PC version since its release on steam and like many of my friends, i have never encountered a bug. This game is the first to give us the freedom to walk around and kill to our satisfaction, use rpg elements and have good graphic.

For me so far it is my game of the year and i would give it a 9/10

We’ve since played through the game without any breaking bugs. I really enjoyed it, now that I’ve seen it all it needs a rest though. Replayability isn’t huge since it’s fairly linear, but I got a solid 54 hours from it, which is good value for money in my books!

In Dead Island on Steam. Half way in the game I started haveing scrolling problems.
Where ever i have a list to choos from it starts scrolling real fast to the bottem of
the list? Did I do somthing stupid or is it a bug? Can that be fixet?

Thanks ! Forest not Gump

Forest:

I’ve been playing the game again after a long time away, and I’ve never had the problem you describe. Is it possible that it’s a mouse problem and not the game? If you have another mouse available, swap out the mice and see if you still have the problem. It’s possible that the game doesn’t like your mouse for some reason. If the mouse is wired, try unplugging it, then plug it back in. Good luck!

If he is playing with keyboard and mouse, but also has a gamepad plugged in, that could be it, too. I’ve lost count of the number of PC games I’ve played that go insane if a gamepad is plugged in, no matter how many times you recalibrate it.

Case in point, Saints Row 2. If you plug in a gamepad, and it isn’t an official “XBox gamepad for Windows”, the menus do exactly what’s happening to Forest: They start scrolling as if I was holding it in the down position. They *claim* they fixed this in the patch, but even after the patch, I have never gotten Saints Row 2 to work properly with any gamepad that is not from Microsoft.

My scrolling problem I had with Dead Island was the battry in the no wire tracktor
ball ! Some one said it sounded like a mouse problem and that got me on the right
track. Kinda funny all my other stuff was working ok.

Thank’s guys Forest Not Gump !

i need online player my id is 192.168.100.107 and my e-mail is majidshahani142@yahoo.com please e-mail me if you want to play