Dead Island

Dead Island features an open world, divided by relatively large areas, and played from a first-person perspective. Most of the game-play is built around combat (mainly melee weapons) and completing quests. Dead Island is an action role-playing game and uses experience-based gameplay. The player earns XP by completing tasks and killing enemies. Upon leveling up, the player gains health and can invest one skill point into a skill tree and level up one of their skills.

Combat is carried out through either physical attacks or through the use of melee weapons and firearms. Melee weapons are emphasised to the point that firearms are not available for the first half of the game, and consist of blunt and bladed weapons. Melee weapons can also be thrown at targets at any point in the game.

The night after a party, four playable main characters (hereafter referred to as "the survivors"): rapper Sam B., hotel receptionist and spy for the Hong Kong Government Xian Mei, former American football-star Logan Carter, and ex-detective now bodyguard for hire Purna Jackson—are awakened by a voice over the emergency intercom system directing them to evacuate the hotel. They discover that the majority of the population have been overcome by a contagious and infectious virus, turning them into psychopathic, flesh-eating creatures. Briefly overcome by one of the infected, they are rescued by lifeguard John Sinamoi.

The survivors discover that they are apparently immune from infection, and "The Voice" out of contact, the survivors are tasked by Sinamoi to try to find supplies and contact the outside world. As it becomes obvious that the resort lacks enough supplies to survive for long, Sinamoi instead has them travel to the city of Moresby to find help. The survivors take along Jin, the daughter of a bitten mechanic who modifies an armoured car they use to break out of the resort.

A promotional film, created by UK animation studio Axis Productions and directed by Stuart Aitken, featuring the transformation of a young girl into a zombie, played in a nonlinear sequence, was commented upon by Ben Parfitt of MCV. Parfitt praised the trailer itself, but criticised the online reaction to it, writing "It's a video that uses an image of a dead girl and images of her dying to create an emotional bond with a product."

Wired exclaimed, "It may be the best video game trailer I've ever seen; gorgeous, well-edited and emotionally engaging." However Wired urged caution, stating that Techland did not make the trailer and that "everyone is hyped up about a short film, not the game itself."

Dead Island received generally lukewarm to positive reviews from critics. Aggregating review website Metacritic gave the PC version 80/100, indicating "generally favorable reviews", while the Xbox 360 version received a score of 71/100, and the PlayStation 3 version received a score of 71/100, indicating "mixed or average reviews".

IGN gave the game an 8.0/10, criticizing the game presentation, glitches, various bugs for the consoles, and texture loading, but praising the atmosphere and overall feel of the game and stating that the game's pro points are significant enough to outweigh its con points. Official Xbox Magazine (UK) gave the game a score of 7.0/10, stating that while it falls short of its potential, there is more than enough to make up for the in-game issues, while the US version gave it 8.0/10.