To celebrate the completion of Dead Island, developer Techland has launched a new trailer focusing on the game’s co-operative elements.
Let’s get one thing out of the way: Zombies have been done to (un)death. I can find a dozen similarities between this trailer and Left 4 Dead, Dead Rising, or even Romero’s flicks dating back a half-century. When it comes to shambling hordes, there’s just no new angles to explore.
That said, I get a really gleeful, visceral sense of fun from what Techland has done here. According to the blog entry that announced Dead Island’s new gold status and the existence of this trailer, the game’s co-operative multiplayer elements are an integral part of the experience. To wit:
Only teamwork can get the four different protagonists of Dead Island through the seemingly insurmountable odds and dangers that await them on the zombie infested tropical island of Banoi. Their different skillsets complement each other and give them the ability to oppose the hordes of zombies that await them around every corner of the former holiday paradise.
Dead Island offers a seamless co-op experience for up to four players with easy drop-in/drop-out mechanics throughout the whole game.
Playing coy, the entry then teases players with the hint of unrevealed multiplayer options. “When playing with friends its all about fighting together and watching each others’ back or…” it reads.
Annoyingly ominous ellipses aside, I’m excited by this. Not necessarily because I have a borderline pathological love for zombies (I do), or because I think my friends might enjoy decapitating corpses (they would), but because the guy in that trailer looks like an alternate universe Wyclef Jean where the Fugees were seafaring pirates instead of a beloved hip hop group.
Barring any acts of reggae-tinged piracy, Dead Island will be appearing on the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC platforms on September 6.
Source: Dead Island Blog
