Dead Island, WHO DO YOU VOO DOO, BITCH?!?!

Or as I like to say it... "HOO-HOO-CAH-CHOO-CHOO, BITCH!!"
(I seriously let the intro of the game play a bit just to get to this part... thought the song was catchy)

Anyhoo, I enjoyed the gameplay. It was fun swinging venom hammers and occasionally seeing zombies vomit. I actually started playing this game sometime around 2011, a few months after it came out. It's my boyfriend's game and he still paid full price for it meaning we bought it relatively close to the release date. At the time I didn't have an Xbox of my own so I played on his. I was a noob when I started playing and was overwhelmed with the zombies and probably didn't get no higher than level 7 in the game. I didn't really give the game a chance. I ended up making a judgement on it and said "'Twas Meh." My boyfriend didn't play it either because he was into Skyrim or MW3, whichever. I was usually the one watching him play.

Basically Dead Island was left untouched for several months... I got my own Xbox 360 sometime this January and still didn't give the game much thought. I was into Skyrim for several months, moved on to Dead Space, and Borderlands. Few other games in between and still did not really try to play Dead Island. It wasn't till the beginning of July that I was able to get into it. I was going through an Xbox hiatus and Dead Island welcomed be back! I decided "Heck, why not?!" One thing I regret though is buying it so early when I didn't even play it to begin with, my boyfriend and I could have saved a couple of bucks. Oh well, life continues.

In all, like I said earlier, I liked this game. It was entertaining and I was having fun. I liked the combat aspect and upgrading my weapons. Some of the mods were entertaining as well, there was probably a lot that I missed as well. One thing I didn't like is the idea of collecting parts for my weapons... Sometimes things weren't available. I'm sure I didn't even get a chance to make some weapons because of the lack of items available. Yeah there's a few sales guys but they don't have everything on them. I guess that is when playing online comes into play. For this game I didn't like the online gaming experience. I found that all the people I played with were wondering off and doing their own thing not even helping out with quests... Found it annoying and ended up playing solo. If I play again I will probably do it online just to get some achievements. I'm a nerd and try to get them all... Gotta catch em' all, gotta catch em' all! haha. Also the scenery of the game was beautiful. I wouldn't mind vacationing there, shoot I wouldn't even mind zombies... BRING em' On!  Other than the scenery though it didn't quite catch my eyes. The trailer looked so cool and awesome I thought It would be amazing, I was let down. I was even more let down that the trailer scene shown wasn't even in the game (maybe it was a sidequest I missed, but I doubt it). That was an intense, horrific, sad cut scene, HOW CAN IT NOT BE ADDED?! That scene made me want to play the game.

Throughout the game you're trying to contact this guy on the radio who can supposedly help you get off the island. In order to do so you do quests on the island for survivors. There is at least six places where there are a group of survivors. I thought at the end of the game there would be a way to save them, get them on a plane and vroom.... But no, you beat the last boss (don't really thing there was bosses, actually... haha) and you're done. You take off on a plane with a villain as your pilot. As far as you know the island of Banoi will be destroyed to kill the virus regardless of the survivors. I didn't really like the ending.

Fun game to play, good story line for the most part, lame ending. My grade? 7.5/10

Will I play it again? Maybe.

Dead Space, A Disguised Love Story

This year, I just got back into gaming since my last video game console, the Gamecube. I'm no longer sporting the Nintendo brand, but now playing on the Xbox 360 (Add my Gamertag, iamthebella, yo.) Let's just say I am now a gamer chick who loves Dead Space, Skyrim, Resident Evli, Borderlands, and other games. The most recent game that I finished was Dead Space and Dead Space 2. Let me just say it is one of the most creepiest games out there. With the design of the dark Atmosphere in the Ishimura and Titan Station and the violent music you are kept sitting on the edge of your seat for the whole game. It is a truly haunting game and it is highly recommended.

But that is not the sole purpose of this post. I'm not just telling you about the awesome storyline it follows or how Issac Clarke is trying to destroy The Marker that began all the trouble in the first place. I wanted to talk about how Dead Space is a modern day love story.

[SPOILER ALERT]

In Dead Space, Issac Clarke  had undergone tragic events aboard the Ishimura, one of those losing the love of his life Nicole Brennan. All of Issac's efforts in Dead Space was to find Nicole and make sure she was safe, but he ultimately found out she had committed suicide. In Dead Space 2, haunted by the guilt of not being able to save Nicole, he hallucinates about her and discovers that in order to save himself and Ellie (another survivor) he must put the past behind him and let go of his guilt about Nicole and destroy the Marker. In DS2 Issac puts Nicole behind him as she is the last boss of the game, and is later rescued by Ellie. Earlier in the storyline, Ellie and Issac were helping each other survive the Necromorph outbreak. The two found a gunship and while Ellie was investigating, Issac launched the ship saving Ellie and continuing the mission alone. He saved Ellie because he cared for her and didn't want to see her getting hurt. He saved her because he couldn't save Nicole. I don't know about you, but this is LOVE. He saved her life. Anyways, back to the final boss, as you beat the boss, Issac is about to let himself die but Ellie returns...

After Isaac destroys the Marker, he receives a transmission from Ellie, asking if this was his big plan, destroy the Marker then let himself die. Isaac replies (yet again) with "I'm full of bad ideas." Ellie responds, saying she won't leave him behind no matter what. Ellie then commences to crash the gunship through the Sprawl's roof and she manages to escape with Isaac before the station explodes, destroying both the Marker and the Necromorphs (Dead Space Wiki).

It is apparent that the two care for each other enough to save each other. After being haunted by Nicole for so long, Issac moves on and meets a new love interest. I get the love story vibe.I really enjoy these characters and I'm looking forward to Dead Space 3. Speaking of Dead Space 3 I saw the trailer and Both Ellie and Issac are in it. They are separated and it seems to appear like Issac is looking for her. In part of the trailer, the co-op character tells him that Ellie is not apart of the mission and they're only there to destroy the Marker. Clearly Issac cares enough about Ellie to find her and save her. It's love guys!

Final thoughts, Dead Space is a love story in disguise. I don't think many people have caught on to the emotional context Issac faces in the game. His love for Nicole and getting past his guilt. Meeting Ellie and making things right by saving her. I understand why one can't imagine this... You're probably just playing the game to beat it and you are scared out of your wits to even think about the characters and context of the storyline (haha). It also might just be because I'm a female gamer, and think about these things. I'm just curious to see if anyone else thought this and agrees.

Let me know what you think.

-Bella