Dead Island was originally set to be released in 2008 but was finally available to the public in September 2011. Did this immense delay mean the game was well polished, graphically advanced and a pleasure to play I hear you ask? Yes and no.

The game first caught the attention of the majority of the gaming community with the promo film. What seems to be a dead girl lying on the ground with a flaming body flailing around behind her, engages you instantly. I found it to be one of those very rare trailers that you actually stop and watch. The music, the nonlinear editing and the emotional attachment you feel from the very beginning of the trailer makes it one of the best I have ever seen (Link: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lZqrG1bdGtg&ob=av3n) This was enough for me to pre-order Dead Island; and I’m sure for a lot of the other gamers who were impressed by the promo, it was enough for them too.

There are four characters you can choose to play as: Xian Mei – an employee of the ‘Royal Palms Resort’ originally from China. Sam B- a ‘one hit wonder’ rap star from New Orleans who is visiting the resort for a gig; Logan Carter- a fallen star of the NFL who fractured his knee after a street race accident, and Purna- a former officer of the Sydney Police Department and now a bodyguard for rich businessmen.

There are many survivors hiding out on the island including a lifeguard called Sinamoi who guides you through the main story arch from the beginning. Also, do you trust a voice on a radio that claims he can get you off the island at a price? As storyline’s go, it’s not the most innovative, but the game is about survival and exploration. There are lots of side quests to keep yourself busy that give you time to gain some valuable experience and take in your surroundings.

Dead Island has four parts to the map: the resort, the city, the jungle, and the prison. The game is free roam, as a character you are completely free to explore every aspect of the maps and play the game how you want. Despite the maps being large, there are still areas you are unable to explore because of a convenient boulder and palm tree blocking your path, but there are not too many to get you frustrated and it certainly doesn’t detract from the overall enjoyment.

Mostly all of the weapons are melee; you only come across guns a lot later in the game, and even then ammo is very rare in places. The combat is pretty standard format: if a zombie gets too close they will pounce on you and you have to follow the button prompts to push them off. If you are too late, the zombie will take a bite out of you and drastically lower your health. Because this game is more about survival than anything else, there is a stamina bar. Once in combat you have to keep an eye on the small bar at the bottom of the screen; if it runs low you will not be able to hit effectively or run away fast enough (consequently meaning you die). The stamina bar is regenerated once out of combat. It also runs down while sprinting and if it starts to run low while you run, your character will begin to pant and the screen will become blurry at the edges. These are all relatively small details, but really add to the idea that you are fighting for your life.

By completing quests and exploring the maps, you can find mods. These mods give you a list of items you need to make a certain weapon; one basic mod is the Nail’d mod. All you need for that is some nails, duct tape and a weapon to stick the nails to- like a baseball bat. The more you advance and the more items you find, the more weapons you can make at the crafting tables; like a machete that has an electric current running through it or a sticky bomb.

Like any RPG you gain XP with every kill and advance levels. Every level you gain, the more points you have to spend on the skill tree.

One gripe I have are the facial expressions (or lack of.) There are some heart wrenching scenes in the game for some survivors and even tiny moments you come across during a mission that try and make the situation more human and placed in reality. But, these scenes just don’t have the impact they should because of the lousy models. The main characters all look cross-eyed and they don’t frown or smile. There really is no variation of facial expression and this is a major flaw. I wanted to hurl my controller at the screen and shout at them: “at least look a bit concerned: you just killed your entire family with an axe and are now sitting in a pool of their spilled blood!”

There is also an online aspect to the game: a drop in, drop out co-op. If someone is nearby who is at the same point on the map and is at the same skill level or has progressed slightly more, a prompt appears on the screen to show you. You can choose to join their game or not. It’s actually really fun, but does not make up for the lack of a split screen co-op mode. There is a max of four players that can join one game. However, there is no controlling what characters you want to play with, so you might end up with two Purnas and one Sam B (or similar) in one game, which just looks odd. You can trade with other players to get more unique weapons that are only available to certain characters. You can choose to complete different quests to progress faster or help each other out just working on one. The good things is that you don’t need to stay close to your team mate, there is no snapping back if you stray too far from each other – you can literally walk to the other side of the map to one another which gives you a lot of freedom.

All in all, this is a great game that can be replayed more than once. Even when you complete it you have the option of starting from the beginning with your character and gaining more levels and completing any quests you missed.

After completing the game, I did just that: sat and watched the credits for a while, had a cup of tea then started it all over again. The environments are beautiful and really allow you to explore and feel part of the game. The only part that lets the game down for me is the lifelessness of the characters. The voice acting is superb; I just wish they had the graphics to back it up. Perhaps because this game has been in the pipeline for 3 years I was expecting much more impressive character development.

DLC was expected to be released called ‘Bloodbath Arena’ but this has been pushed back until further notice.

Deep Silver has also recently registered the name Dead World and rumours are rife about a possible sequel- no official details as yet though. I await any news of the sequel with both apprehension and excitement.  In other news, Lionsgate have purchased the film rights… zombies are definitely fashionable.


Lauren

If you have not yet heard of Amnesia, either you are not a fan of video games or you have been living under a rock. Amnesia videos are all over Youtube; people filming their reactions or doing walkthroughs. I have fought with myself whether to talk about this game, as I have not yet completed it, but seeing as it could take months for me to pluck up the courage to continue, I thought I better share it so you could experience it (if you haven’t already.) Amnesia was released in August last year so I’m a little late, but I think it is important to remind people that Amnesia exists.

Amnesia: The Dark Descent is the story of Daniel. You wake up in a strange and crumbling castle with no memory. Throughout the game, you come across notes and diary entries and slowly, you begin to piece together the information you have forgotten. You realise what has happened to you and what you must do. Alexander of Brenneburg is obviously your enemy and a mystical orb you found in Africa is the key.

One of the letters you find at the start states quite simply: “A shadow is following you” then swiftly adds, “Don’t be afraid.” So, that’s meant to help is it?

Amnesia is a survival horror. The difference to most horror games, however, is the fact you cannot fight the monsters you come in contact with- you must run. This makes it much worse. Games like Dead Space at least give you guns, which makes you feel better because you have something to defend yourself with. Amnesia gives you nothing except a lamp that you use to penetrate the darkness. If you come across a monster, you must either hide and pray it doesn’t find you, or run and hope it doesn’t chase you. The further you get into the game, the harder it is to do both of those things, so you have to be extremely careful. I mentioned you get given a lantern, and you do need it. The game is very, very dark (if you play by the proper gamma settings that they recommend.) You are given oil to fuel the lamp and tinderboxes to light candles along the way. You quickly learn to use the lantern sparingly and collect as many tinderboxes as you can. If your lantern runs out you must progress blind with the moans of begging women and crying babies around you. In other words, you’re doomed. Another aspect that makes this game so frightening (other than the atmosphere, music etc.) is the lack of human contact. Daniel seems to be the only living human being in the castle with only the terrifying ‘Gatherers’ for company. The monsters aren’t nice looking either- hunched over things with jaws that look like they’re dislocated.

The darkness is also your enemy; if you stand in it too long, you slowly become more freaked out and lose more of your sanity. If you lose too much of your sanity you can’t run, the monsters find it easier to spot you and you can randomly fall over- which are all disastrous if a monster is near. It’s best to stay in the light as much as possible but be wary; you’ll be like a glowing beacon. Also, if you stare at monsters too long while hiding, you’ll drain your sanity and all of the above can happen. So really, it is a balancing act between staying sane and staying safe. It may sound simple, but when there are screaming men and growling Gatherers echoing through the corridor, it’s very hard to focus on multiple things

I would stress that everyone plays Amnesia: The Dark Descent the way the game developers intended- lights off at night with headphones on. But then again, I first played it in the bright sunshine and it still managed to scare the bejesus out of me! I can only manage to play a maximum of thirty minutes at a time otherwise I’m worried I will have a heart attack.

There is not much more I can say about Amnesia without spoiling the storyline or talking about the multiple times you jump out of your skin! But, if you’ve found any of this article interesting, or intriguing, I politely ask you to download the demo from Steam or the Frictional Games website. Give it a go. Despite being scared out of your wits, you will enjoy it, if only as a means of escapism. Also, it is important to support the indie game developers, and I think Frictional Games deserve it with this offering. The graphics are high quality, and the storyline is intriguing. Support them.

A DLC is available called ‘Justine’ that lasts at least half an hour. You play as a woman this time, waking up in a small cell with a gramophone issuing instructions. Short and sweet.


Lauren

EA’s newest expansion pack for Sims 3 is ‘Generations’, which was released in the UK on the 3rd June. It is a welcome expansion pack amidst all the ‘stuff packs’ EA are churning out lately. ‘Late Night’- the last expansion pack before ‘Generations’- was released as far back as October last year!

There have been many complaints on The Sims Facebook page and EA forums about ‘Generations’ automatically updating people’s games and causing crashes and a load of bugs. Personally, I have not experienced this. It could be the case that EA released a batch of glitch filled games and you were unlucky if you happened to purchase one. However, this is not an excuse for EA. They should not have to apologise about game play issues a mere day after release; the game should be perfect the day it goes on sale. For a company like EA, this is unacceptable. Despite these problems, ‘Generations’ is what you expect from an expansion.

It adds a lot of new objects for your toddler and children Sims. They can now have tree houses, sand pits and seesaws. You can also dress them up as princesses and dinosaurs and hold tea parties for your toys. Children can sleep in bunk beds in a bedroom decorated with castles, dragons, rainbows and unicorns. Princes can hold a mighty feast in their wooden palace tree house, and throw water down onto the heads of any unwelcome guests that try to climb up.

Another interesting aspect for the young ’uns is the imaginary friend. Your newborn baby is given a special toy from birth and can interact with them when they reach the age of a toddler. Depending on how often you play with the toy it might grow up with you when you become a child. If you continue playing with it and building a relationship, the toy will eventually become an imaginary friend, visible only to that Sim. With the new chemistry table added in ‘Generations’, Sims can learn to make a potion to turn their imaginary friend real- but you need to have a high logic skill to be successful. ‘Generations’ adds in a lot more interactions between friends; you can give gifts, watch the stars with your lover or woo hoo in the shower.

Teenagers can pull pranks, have teen parties when their parents are away and go to prom. If you want them out of the house, they can be sent off to boarding school and return as a young adult in graduation robes. It would have been nice to be able to control them while at boarding school- like in The Sims 2: University- but I’m sure EA will release that as another expansion pack some time in the future.

There is also the addition of the video camera. With this new object, you can film any moments you like in game and your Sims can watch it back on their TV. Finally, there is the new wedding cake and wedding arch so your Sims can have a formal wedding. In The Sims 2, these came with the base game but for some reason EA thought it would be better to release them separately. In addition, there is the option to have a bachelor and bachelorette party before the wedding. Scantily clad strippers dressed as firemen might even turn up (probably the reason for the 12 rating!)

It is worth a purchase if you enjoy telling stories with your Sims and if you like playing with younger Sims. However, if you prefer adults, there isn’t much more additional content for them. There is a walking stick for when they grow older and they can have a midlife crisis, but it can be totally ignored. If you like adults, ‘Generations’ is one to miss.

Fans of The Sims are still clamouring for ‘Seasons’ and ‘Pets’ for The Sims 3. The next expansion is indeed ‘Pets’ coming out in the autumn. In ‘Pets’, all types of animals can become part of your household, including horses. I would suggest your save up your coins for ‘Pets’ and steer clear of ‘Generations’ if you’re not a family orientated The Sims player.