Taking place on the tropical island of Banoi, a fictional isle situated in the Papua New Guinean region of the Pacific, just north of Australia, the game opens with a pre-rendered cut-scene taken from the perspective of a guest at the Royal Palms Resort, on the eve of the outbreak of the end of the world. The fact remains that I was coming into this with zero expectations, no daydreams to satisfy and no opinions beyond those of what I think it is that makes a good open world RPG and how best to stop the undead horde. I don’t doubt that the game had failed to develop a following and I can recall, during the earlier part of the year when the trailers for it made a return to the web, just how much of a buzz was generated from its overdue resurgence.

I had never heard of the game in 2006 (having taken permanent residence in Cyrodiil that year) nor can recall ever having seen the game featured on a list of ‘Top 100 games is looking forward to’. I must confess from the off that I was walking into this one blinder than most. Welcome to Banoi, the Island of the Dead, and don’t call me Shirley. It may well have missed the giddy heights of our fascination in zombies and the open world RPG, with some incredibly notable titles managing to excel in those areas during the past five years, but surely Techland have been able to reap the benefit of experience for their product, identify what works and what doesn’t, and then craft the most desirable of titles in recent history.

Dead Island has been in full development since 2006 and has had ample time to get in shape for the pre-Christmas rush of 2011. It’s rarely crossed my mind in the past few years that a game hasn’t ever offered up as much to me as it could, been worthy of its budget or failed to deliver on its premise. Spoilt for choice, spoilt for features and spoilt for entertainment.

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