Dead Island Review

The original Dead Island trailer – as amazing as it is – ultimately did much more harm than good for my perception of the game. After watching it, I had high hopes that it would have more emotional weight to it than your run-of-the-mill zombie slaughter-fest. Then the preview coverage ultimately revealed that the contents of the trailer had virtually nothing to do with the actual game. Feeling burned by the misleading ad, I refused to buy or play this until it hit the bottom of the clearance bin. Maybe the trailer did little to reflect the final product, but that’s not to say the final product is bad. In fact, I’m actually really impressed with how the game came together.

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My Disdain Towards Video Game Trailers

In 2011, no video game trailer made more waves or garnered as much attention as the Dead Island announcement trailer. As far as video game trailers go, this haunting and beautiful piece is one of the best video game trailers ever made. Thanks to this trailer, the game built up a tremendous amount of pre-release buzz and ultimately sold really well.

Say what you will about the quality of the trailer, but the Dead Island announcement trailer captures a lot of what I hate about video game marketing and advertising. I’ll take this a step even further and say that due to the business practices behind the creation of most video game trailers and commercials, I actively avoid watching them.

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Dead Island Trailer

 

I normally don’t write about game trailers. The majority of the time, they’re simply CG sizzle reels that don’t show you any gameplay. As a knowledgeable (and sometimes jaded) gamer, I know better than to put a lot of weight into a video game trailer with no gameplay.

The Dead Island trailer, which doesn’t feature any gameplay, may very well just be another mediocre zombie game along the lines of Left 4 Dead. However, I can’t deny the fact that the trailer pulled at my heart strings in a way no video game trailer has done before. Click through to see it for yourself.

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