Dawn Of The Geek 04: That Dead Island Trailer

You have probably seen the Dead Island trailer if you are not reading this from under a rock or the Planet Zaed. My first impressions were, “Wow, this is captivating. This is art.” Not, “This is outrageous, that little girl is dead”. OK, it is a little risky showing a dead kid in your opening shot, but in the context of the video, it is justified. And most of all, it’s attention grabbing. Not much fuss or bad press has been shown over this since it’s release last week, but it is inevitable that someone had to kick up a bit of a stink, justified or not. Their opinion and obviously very entitled to it. This is certainly kicking up some hype for the game. But there is no real relevance to that family in the trailer and the game as we know it. There is no controversy to be had here, this is not a game about killing kids, zombie or otherwise.

In regards to the game itself, can this be anything more than Left 4 Dead, on an island? I don’t know, but I do feel like they have slightly peaked themselves with that, giving the fact that no gameplay footage is present, can they live up to the hype. Sure, screenshots are available to see and it does look every bit as nice as the trailer, but where do they fit in, or is it just marketing?

Guardian UK – Dead Island: will it be the most controversial trailer ever made? — No, no it won’t. This will be out of the news next week and a new game will be getting the same treatment.

The dead kid technique has been used in films and games for quite a while now, this is no new thing. It scares the bloody pants off me more than a gigantic monster with half a face. What we see as the picture of innocence is turned on its head. A child, just standing there in a shadow glaring at you expressionless.

In Dead Rising 2, the main character Chuck Greene has a daughter, Katy, she has been bitten and is on the verge of becoming a Zombie and it is your side-task throughout the game to get a chemical called ‘Zombrex’. This has to be found every 24 hours to stop her turning into a the very same thing that Chuck is fighting against. There was no controversy there. Also, the F.E.A.R game series has a spooky little girl as their poster child for their title. Alma, an 8 year old girl in a red dress. She looks like a younger version of the lady in Ringu, adding to the creepiness. Alma’s appears in the game at random intervals and make you want to turn the lights on. She freaks me the hell out and it was very well done! No controversy there.

Do you think the Dead Island trailer is a work of art or are the critics blowing hot air? The trailer is below for those who have not seen it.