(...)What I did expect from Dead Island, at the very least, was a viscerally diverting few hours of chopping up and running from zombies. And it did give me that, to some extent. What I did not expect from Dead Island — and what it doggedly, depressingly, and finally infuriatingly provides — is an experience woefully bound up in a concept that only recently leapt the transom of academic gamer discourse and is now being pondered in corporate boardrooms around the world. I speak of Gamification.(...)
(...)Someone at Techland, I suspect, played Borderlands, loved the hit-point cascades pouring off the enemies, loved the endless customization of weapons, loved the facile thrill of leveling up, and decided, "I think our riveting open-world zombie game needs all of this." If this is indeed what happened, I would like the party responsible to know that he made a terrible, terrible mistake. (...)
More @ http://www.grantland.com/story/_/id/696 ... -game-star(...)Here is what Dead Island should have been about: running from things that want to kill you and killing them by finding weapons hidden away in an interesting series of environments. It should have been scary and primitive and animal and savage. It should have involved weapons that visibly degrade in your hand rather than weapons tricked out with pointless little subscreen health meters. It should not have involved an in-game economy with duct tape you can sell for $3 and buy for $150.(...)
Next up: Gaming IRL!! Brush teeth! Get XP!! LEVEL UP!!!!11oneone!
