Techland's latest take on the zombie apocalypse is finally here, and Dead Island fans have been eagerly waiting to see if the developer's newest open-world offering can improve upon the flaws of its predecessors. We've only just begun to sink our teeth into Dying Light's meaty campaign, so you'll have to wait a few more days for our official review. In the meantime, here's what I've enjoyed so far (and what I haven't), based on my five-or-so hours with the PS4 version.
A Beautiful WastelandTechland ditched the last-gen versions of Dying Light because it felt the old consoles weren't up to snuff, and the decision seems to have paid off. The city of Harran looks great (in that h**l-on-Earth-viral-outbreak kind of way), zombies are appropriately grotesque, and the lighting system sells the dynamic transition from day to night. Trees and buildings in the far-off distance can be an eyesore, but you'll likely be too focused on the snarling corpse snapping in your face to notice.
A Slow StartDon't expect to jump right into the zombie-slaying mayhem when you start up Dying Light. After an action-packed cutscene of you parachuting into the undead-infested city, you're promptly ushered into an extended series of tutorial missions in a zombie-free apartment building. These do a good job of introducing you to the characters, gameplay mechanics, and RPG systems of the game, but you'll be itching to get into the city by the time your first real mission pops up.
Freerunning Through The ApocalypseWhen it came to navigating the lush, tropical locations of Dead Island, survivors were scarcely more agile than their undead enemies. I was skeptical that Techland could pull off Mirror's Edge-style parkour mechanics, and while I'm still not completely sold, the traversal system has worked well so far. You can run, jump, and slide your way around the environment (and your enemies) without having to catch your breath every 10 seconds, and visual clues make it easy to tell what you can climb and where you can safely fall (most of the time anyway). I've had my fair share of flubbed jumps and climbing fails, but you still have a lot more freedom of movement than in most first-person games, which is vital for a world where you spend more time avoiding enemies than you do confronting them.
On A MissionHarran offers players a great big sandbox teeming with deadly brain-munchers. While exploring the city has been compelling, the handful of campaign missions I've completed beyond the opening tutorial have been of the errand-boy variety. Whether I'm arming traps, activating radio towers, or retrieving medicine, all of the missions have entailed little more than going to a location and pressing a button. I'm hoping missions will become more involved as the game progresses, and offer some interesting twists on Dying Light's underlying systems.
Cringe-Inducing CombatDead Island really sold its visceral, melee-focused combat, and Dying Light only offers improvements to returning fans. Deadly blows are now highlighted by slow-motion and X-ray effects, and physics play a larger role in the action dropkicking a shambling corpse into a wall of spikes is as morbidly satisfying as you'd expect it to be. Techland has also introduced several enemy types in the first few hours of play, which require different strategies to take down (though my patented run-away-from-everything-that-moves technique has proven universally successful so far).
Coming Up Next: Find out about weapon durability, the story, and things that go bump in the night...
Source: http://www.gameinformer.com/b/features/archive/2015/01/27/the-ups-and-downs-of-dying-light-hands-on-impressions.aspx
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