Dead Island Cinema Is "Indicative" Of In-Game Action

While Dead Island might not be "Heavy Rain with zombies," that awesome promotional trailer isn't entirely off base.

After we posted the clarification, Deep Silver Manager of Marketing & PR Aubrey Norris contacted us with some helpful insight: she made it plain that certain aspects of the trailer "are indicative of what the game will be like," and that includes the following list of features:

Melee combat focus (see: Dad and Mom fighting with melee weapons, axe and knife)
Brutal, gory damage system (see: scenes with zombie arm getting cut off, blood gushing out of the zombie's neck)
Varied zombie types (see: two zombie classes are included in the trailer. the vessels (slow, lumbering ones) and the infected (fast, 28 days later type zombies)
Weapons as situationally appropriate common items vs. over the top impractical items (see: fire axe outside hotel room door, knife from inside the suite)
The trailer's hotel location was modeled right off of the in-game environment of the hotel
Emphasis on survival in a more realistic zombie invasion scenario

We knew some of that already - check our preview - but it's good to have these added details, and it's also nice to know that trailer isn't all fiction. As Norris said- "We just wanted to do something a little different than your standard game trailer and convey some of the main game elements in more of an artistic, background story-based manner."

And we're good with that.

Related Game(s): Dead Island

Tags: dead island, dead island gameplay, dead island cinema, techland

4/1/2011 8:58:10 PM Ben Dutka

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Comments (33 posts)

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WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 9:50:49 PM
Reply

Wow she just called you out of the blue huh? cool.

1 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 10:01:31 PM

E-mail.

1 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 10:25:43 PM

What is this "e-mail" you speak of?

1 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 11:02:22 PM

It's this cool thing that lets you send letters and messages and stuff instantly, and without stamps.

Crazy fancy.

6 up, 0 down

Dancemachine55
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 7:47:30 AM

And did you know that your mobile telephone device can send these electronic mails too!?!?

What a wonderful age we live in...

1 up, 0 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 12:12:28 PM

Remember when we had to remember phone numbers?

3 up, 0 down

BikerSaint
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 10:34:19 PM

Remember when our phone numbers started with 2 letters & the hyphen???

1 up, 0 down

PasteNuggs
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 9:51:08 PM
Reply

So basically it's just another game where you mow down zombies. I would rather have a story driven zombie game. Maybe I'm wrong, I hope so.

3 up, 2 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 10:26:43 PM

I think you are wrong, it has RPG elements, a leveling system, and a story you put together via audio logs (a la Bioshock). I'm thinking Fallout meets Bioshock meets Left 4 Dead.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 4/1/2011 10:28:18 PM

4 up, 0 down

kraygen
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 11:42:58 PM

Ugghh, I hate audio log system for telling the story. In every game I've played with this set up, it had very little story until the very end of the game and then it sort of just spelled it out for you.

I'm a much bigger fan of rpg or mgs4 type story telling. I feel like I'm part of the story as opposed to wondering around some place where a story happened before I got there.

0 up, 1 down

Dancemachine55
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 7:50:23 AM

I know what you mean Kraygen.

I'd rather play the game as the events are unfolding and experience it first-hand, not rock up afterwards and piece it together from notes and recordings.

Hopefully, if the demo is anything to go by, Bioshock Infinite will remedy this gameplay device and have the main disastruous events unfold before you.

0 up, 1 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 12:13:16 PM

Dead Space handled the logs pretty well.

1 up, 0 down

kraygen
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 1:40:44 PM

Actually that was one of my biggest complaints with dead space. Granted horror isn't really my genre, but I got really bored.

After a little over 5 hours I knew almost nothing about what was going on, other than the obvious, monsters were killing and tearing crap up.

0 up, 1 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 2:57:43 PM

You might be approaching it wrong, the tactic of putting the gamer or movie watcher in a big clusterf*ck and then dropping hints here and there during tense and creepy scenes is meant to work over your imagination so that psychologically you are jumping to all the terrifying conclusions possible as you slowly unravel what is really going on. It's a pretty standard approach to horror, one which I appreciate a lot more than pure gore.

1 up, 0 down

kraygen
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 4:24:26 PM

If you read my other post you know gore is not what I'm after either. It's just that the audio logs are always far and few and have very little info. Plus it's like being told a story instead of being part of it.

Say if uncharted series used this method, like you weren't look for some lost treasure, you were looking for the guy who found it already and were tracking him by his notes. And your enemies were just local gangs that didn't want you in their territory.

It's just a different perspective of storytelling and I just happen to prefer being part of the story, not listening to the story is all.

0 up, 1 down

WorldEndsWithMe
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 5:48:49 PM

I can respect that, I still think it's a great way to handle a drop-in narrative though. The audio logs in Bioshock were one of the best parts of the game.

Last edited by WorldEndsWithMe on 4/2/2011 5:49:29 PM

1 up, 0 down

Lairfan
Monday, April 04, 2011 @ 8:24:28 PM

Kraygen, in Uncharted you basically are following someone else who's already discovered the treasure (Sir Francis Drake, Marco Polo, and in UC3 Lawrence of Arabia).

As far as the audio logs go, I agree with World. You can't possibly experience every single little story in the back story, otherwise the plot would get way off track. They add those audio logs in as environmental flavor basically to give you a feel of what happened in that area before you got there. That way the main plot can unfold, and you can still have little stories spread all over the game. An ingenious method of creating a cohesive universe, IMO.

0 up, 0 down

Snaaaake
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 10:20:48 PM
Reply

Since this is an open world game.......does that mean you can mow down zombies before you continue the story?

Damn I'm so pumped for this game.

1 up, 0 down

sirbob6
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 11:24:50 PM
Reply

Open world zombie game with story, RPG elements, and epic, realistic violence?

Awesome! I call the axe!

5 up, 0 down

Dancemachine55
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 7:50:48 AM

Shotgun the shotgun!!!

2 up, 0 down

sirbob6
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 2:02:12 PM

I thought there was going to be any guns on the island? If there is I call an AR-15.

Last edited by sirbob6 on 4/2/2011 2:03:25 PM

1 up, 0 down

kraygen
Friday, April 01, 2011 @ 11:45:21 PM
Reply

Parts of this sound very appealing to me and other aspects do not. Never been a big fan of zombie games because they usually have little to no story and what story they do have is, virus/mutation/genetic experiment went wrong now there are zombies, ok survive.

I prefer deep story driven games, thus my love for rpgs, but some of the aspects of this game sound pretty awesome, so I'm torn.

Guess I'll be waiting for the review, but hey I've been more interested in this than any other zombie game I've seen.

1 up, 0 down

___________
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 3:08:55 AM
Reply

how long you want to bet till this gets banned here?
really looking forward to this, the skin damage system looks so freaking cool!
thats one thing ive wanted games to have for years!
R2 did it ok, but you really could not see much just holes.
this really shows the damage your doing to enemies!
oh lord, the OFLC are going to have a field day with this!
hopefully we have a R18 rating by the time this is out, not that it would save it!

0 up, 0 down

Dancemachine55
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 7:54:28 AM

Hey, if God of War III could get away with the Helios head ripping scene, I'm hopeful that Zombie decapitations and limb hacking might be acceptable too.

If not, the Australian Classifcation Board has got some serious consistency issues.

1 up, 0 down

___________
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 9:10:35 AM

you just figured that out now?
i could of told you that years ago!
anyway, the difference between the 2 is GOW3s not highly detailed like dead island is.
dead island shows the layers of skin, muscle, bone, GOW3 does not.
plus MK god banned!
splatterhouse, GOW3, F.E.A.R 2, ninja gaiden 2, are ok for 15 year olds to play but MK9 is not!?
WTF!?
if L4D2 got banned there going to have a field day with this!

0 up, 1 down

Excelsior1
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 4:16:11 AM
Reply

the sixth axis said the gameplay they saw at the gdc did not match up with the emotional impact or vibe of the trailer. it's was more balls to the wall zombie smasher with 4 player coop. while the trailer showcases an emotional family struggle, the gameplay is more fun on the beach with zombies.

sorry, believe them over company e-mail.

1 up, 0 down

___________
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 9:11:26 AM

.....except thats what the email said.....

0 up, 1 down

Excelsior1
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 9:56:27 AM

i was using the words of the sixth axis hands on impression of the gameplay, and time they spent with it at the gdc. there the ones that said fun on the beach with zombies, and balls to the wall zombie masher. that is hardly the message the trailer conveys. they are the ones that said they were a little let down by it. they even elaborate further in their podcast.

i've been burnded by a lot of trailers in my lifetime, and will always trust an in-depth write up of the acual gameplay than a pr of marketing.
that was an awesome trailer, though.

Last edited by Excelsior1 on 4/2/2011 10:19:37 AM

1 up, 0 down

Ben Dutka PSXE [Administrator]
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 10:12:38 AM

I'm no huge fan of zombie games myself, but I do know you can't make final judgments based on a play test of a game that's nowhere near completion.

GDC last year? No clue as to the development stage the game was in at that time.

3 up, 0 down

Excelsior1
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 12:39:01 PM

no it was this year. the article was written on 3/23/11. they claimed to have seen it there at the gdc, and a couple weeks later. it's a british site, as i am sure your aware. it.s under the features section so you can't miss it, it was just an` extremelyl `well written prieview based on their ihandson time of the game. theny loved that trailerr just as many do so went in intrigued, and came out a little disapponted.

Last edited by Excelsior1 on 4/2/2011 12:51:34 PM

1 up, 0 down

Dancemachine55
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 7:57:15 AM
Reply

I reckon that the Hotel room stand-off might be that final emotional level at the end of the game, where you test your skills at whether you survive the final zombie rush, or perish like the rest.

If that does happen, DAMN that would be an awesome finale to the game!!!

2 up, 0 down

Godslim
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 8:34:36 AM
Reply

looks great cant wait for gameplay

1 up, 0 down

Godslim
Saturday, April 02, 2011 @ 12:16:06 PM

and Emphasis on survival in a more realistic zombie invasion scenario= yay!

2 up, 0 down

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Dead Island Cinema Is "Indicative" Of In-Game Action

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