I played about 4 hours of Dead Island yesterday. This is one good game, let me tell you.
First, it has guns but not many which is awesome because this game somehow manages to create a feeling of dread and threat I haven´t seen in a while. All while the sun shines down on you and the ocean sparkles in the distance. I actually stopped and listend to the survivors cowering in the wooden shacks on the beach, trying to be as quiet a possible, going insane or just losing it crying for their mommy. Those pixelated beings are terrorized and I believe it.
The combat is actually really fun cause it tries to be a little more realistic since you simply won´t HAVE firearms in a place like that (or anyplace outside the US or the middle east for that matter
). As a European I can really relate to that, when we think "improvised defense" we think in terms of tools and kitchen appliances
Anyway, combat is fun, the weapons are varied from planks over diving knifes and hammers to deodorant-bombs, they´re moddable, upgradable and they break quickly which adds to the survival aspect of the game since this really is a survival-horror game. You also tactically cripple the Zombies, break or cutt off their lims to slow them down and kick the shit out of them. It´s especially fun to kick them into the pools watching them struggle to get back out
The skilltrees look a little bland at first glance but they´re pretty usefull as far as I can tell. Each character has a different focus (and they all have different skill trees mostly), one even functions as a sort of Paladin (for lack of a better word), improving teammates and things like that. Oh and that character also always carries a gun (but she can only use it in Rage-Mode).
Even the quests in this game seem good as they all make sense so far. Fetch medical supplies for the girl bleeding out on the floor, help repair the generators for the lighthouse, look for survivors of a plane crash, things like that.
As far as I can tell from my brief experience with the game, this is a definite must-buy for any Zombie fan