Dead Island's first DLC, Bloodbath Arena, to make a splash later this month

by Jessica Conditt on Sep 10th 2011 6:28AM

Dead Island has stumbled into its first week, releasing an unplayable version on Steam, needing a massive day-one patch, leaving a sexist slur in a line of code and, of course, there's our own review. But all hope is not lost -- DLC is on the way. The Bloodbath Arena DLC pack will add four new maps with unrelenting waves of zombies to the game, due for release later this month.

Bloodbath Arena was first announced as a free pre-order bonus, and will sell for $10 on all other copies. All XP and cash earned in the DLC maps will carry over to the main campaign, because it looks like Dead Island players will need all the help they can get.

Via: Eurogamer

Tags: dead-island, Deep-silver, DLC, microsoft, pc, playstation, ps3, xbox

Reader Comments (72)

To be honest, after one playthrough of this game, I think I am done. I have had my fill of kick zombie to ground, bash it's head in.

@KillaPat

I haven't! ^_^

@ShadowXIII
Now don't get me wrong. I am not saying I didn't enjoy it. Aside from having to jump through hoops to play with my friends, I had a swell time bashing zombies heads in. But after 20 hours, it gets a bit repetitive. Would be fun again if they had a mod that turns off durability and multiplies the amount of zombies by about 10.

@KillaPat this game would have been great if they used to COJ BIB gameplay/graphics to bad the game plays like COJ TC gameplay/graphics

@dblue Why would any self-respecting gamer use Call of Juarez as a comparison to anything?

@Fadakar do you know how made this game?

@KillaPat

I'm playing it through with every single characters. Stellar game. Playing on 360. =)

yay, hopefully my preorder bonus will work soon!

I have yet to play this game but it looks nice from all the lets play videos iv seen, I'm going to buy the PS3 version when its on the cheap.

@Viiral

It isn't bad; I'm not very far in and on the PC version (meaning I had to tweak ALL THE THINGS to get it running smoothly), but I've had fun so far. If you aren't absolutely sold by the Let's Plays, I would say look for a sale/exploit coupons/store credit, just to lessen the stakes of your gamble. Or rent it to check it out, but I hear it may be a bit too long to finish on a rental.

Keep in mind, though, that it's easy to fill up your inventory with low-end weapons. Just chill about it, try not to obsess over min-maxing your inventory, and you'll be fine.

If you haven't, check out GiantBomb's quick-look: http://www.giantbomb.com/quick-look-dead-island/17-4837/

Umm...

How about patches...patches to fix the game would be a good idea.

How is this game? I keep hearing there's a lot of melee action, opposed to shooting. :\

@(Unverified)

Pretty much, yeah. I rented it and didn't see a single gun in the first four hours or so of gameplay, and due to various reasons I lost interest in the game at that point and turned it off. For a game that's so melee-heavy, the melee combat isn't very good.

I redboxed this yesterday and have played about 3 hours of it...... So far its actually kind of boring. It looks great, just boring. It's also pretty obvious the game was rushed. Graphical irregularities, cut scenes referring to my female character as "him" or "he". Haven't tried any co op yet though so ill hold off my final opinion til then

The combat is fine. Go into options and put it on analog... If you continue to complain it is you with the issues...

Despite all the problems I have a lot of fun in this game in coop so I am looking forward to this.

I don't understand all the unnecessary hate on this game...Is it perfect? No. Is it fun? Oh, f*** yeah!!! There are few things in this life more satisfying than running over or dismembering zombies in the 1st person...When "Z-Day" inevitably happens, we'll see who's "wasted their time" haha!

@(Unverified)

See, I'm banking on fast zombies, so I run over and dismember in Left 4 Dead instead.

@(Unverified)
I don't know all the various scientific theories about the spread of the zombie virus but I don't think it would be a good idea to splatter their blood all over yourself.

@(Unverified) Is the single player of this game any fun because I live in the country and my internet connection isn't good enough for multiplayer and so I'd like to know before I actually buy it.

@MystcLazrDragon oh yeah I can download patches I just takes a while but I can't play with others.

@Colin

If...when Z-Day does happen, the zombies definitely won't be fast. With bones/joints that haven't moved for days, weeks, months, or even years, you think dead people are all going to be Hussain Bolt?

The game clearly isn't finished, but they made damn sure to be working on the DLC! I wonder how far from being in a fit state to release that is? Game at 70%, DLC at 50%? Maybe the DLC is the 30% of the unfinished main game?

i love this game but man, the trophy glitches and the saved game bullshit is really ruining my experience. it says the game is saved, so why am i now 3 chapters behind when i turn it back on. wtf

@8bitartist

Ya the game saves are pretty weird. Today, I only had 20 minutes to play, so I popped Dead Island in. I ended up being one and a half story missions behind, as well as missing 3-5 side missions. I eventually quit, and around 3 hours later I started it back up...and was exactly where I was supposed to be, with all of my missions intact. It was kinda weird.

what pisses me off is that the game was unfairly rated 0 or extremely low scores on Metacritic because of the game's day 1 problems. That's not a real review of the game. That's just complaining.

I understand that the problems piss people off but giving a game no score, or a very low score is not reviewing the game fairly. You can't listen to people like that. That's why I'm glad that more professional critics gave the game a great rating which is what it deserves. The game is excellent, I'm 4 hours in, having done most of the sidequests along the way.

Unlike one of the posters above, I actually have a shotgun, assault rifle and handgun. I even took my sweet time so don't get discouraged when you don't find a gun.

@chrisredfield31 I don't feel like it's too much to ask for companies to release a finished product.

@Scnew I think the problem is that games evolve after release now, and the current review process is outdated.

Sure a low score might be warranted when it's release, but if the issues get patched up, why is the score not revisited?
You think when the industry changes how games work post release, the review industry would follow suit.

As it states, a score for a game 3 months after it's release could be completely unjustified.
A good example would be FFXIV, sure it sucked major on release, but after all the changes, are the scores still deserving to be that low.

This is why game reviews determine the INITIAL purchase for me, and buying it down the road is up to forum use to me, users who play the game.
Unfortunately, I'm probably a minority on that.

The review industry needs to change and get with the times and do review revisits.

@chrisredfield31 - While I don't think the unpatched game deserves anywhere near a zero or a one, it is fair for people to take those problems into account when rating the game.

If I'm reviewing a game, I'm reviewing what is on the disc that I have, not what the game is going to be after a bunch of patches. Keep in mind that not everybody is connected to the internet, especially on consoles so not everybody has access to acquire the patches & all they will ever know is what is on the disc.

@hami83

A review is based on the point at which the studio/publisher determines the game to be fit for retail. They don't give you a window of free gameplay before charging you once the game is patched up and finished, so why would they expect a period of grace on reviews?

It's not that I don't understand what you're saying, I'm a big fan of the Witcher games, but I'm well aware that they were broken piles of garbage code on release. I waited until the Enhanced edition before I played the first one, and I gave the second one about six weeks and three patches before I got the sequel. And it was still pretty broken at times. They deserved the shoddy scores they got at launch, and they deserve to be played in their final, patched versions. That's a harsh reality of this industry.

@Scnew that doesn't change the fact that those reviews aren't actually reviews of the game. They're more like listing it's technical problems and scoring the game based on it's technical merits or lack thereof.

In those reviews me and my friend went through, none of them highlight any of the finer points of the game, which makes it pretty irrelevant for a review. Why would you take any of those reviews seriously?

@hami83 I don't think that a game's technical issues should be the inclusive on the game's final score. It's not representative of the game at all. What does that have to do with, for example, the open world, quests, weapons, mods, skill tree, combat?

Listing the technical issues should be FYI. Something that the prospective buyer might be interested about. Their decisions should be made themselves on whether or not they want to live with the problems to experience the game. That is how I always read the review.

In the first few years of 360/PS3, many reviewers actually gave lower scores out to the PS3 version for technical issues and they changed all that so that it better reflects the game, and not technical issues the reviewer might have a problem with (but users might not care about). Unfortunately there's a lot of amateurs out there that are getting their reviews posted on Metacritic and are being factored into the main score.

@chrisredfield31 - Technical issues should absolutely be addressed in a review & should be part of the final score.

"What does that have to do with, for example, the open world, quests, weapons, mods, skill tree, combat?"

If some of those things are broken because of technical issues, why wouldn't they knock down a review score? I've heard of people having issues with Dead Island where they've lost their game save half way through. That shouldn't knock the game down a bit?

If I'm buying a partially broken product, I expect the review score to reflect it, especially when you consider that a lot of people look only at the number and nothing else.

Like I said above, not everyone has access to the internet so the game needs to be reviewed as it comes on the disc. When reviewing a game, especially at launch, you can't assume that the developer is going to patch something.

(For the record, I'm talking in general terms about the things I said above. I don't think that Dead Island is broken in any way, in fact, I think it's a phenomenal game & haven't really encountered any significant glitches, thought I'll admit it's rough around the edges)

@Mcmax3000 Apparently IGN and Gamespot agree with me because they only review the game for the game, not technical issues. If they were to review a game and reducing it's score because of tech issues then Oblivion and Fallout 3 should be 6's, at best, 7. Dead Island got an 8/10 on IGN, it also got an 8/10 on the PS3 and 360 version. What does that tell you?

Even when looking back at when tech scores WERE included in the final score, the difference in point isn't even significant. Elder Scrolls Oblivion on 360 got 9.3 while PS3 was 9.2.

What I'm talking about, is that the reviewers on Metacritic GREATLY REDUCED the score of the game due to technical issues. Issues of which only effected the PC version. Is that fair? No. Should tech issues be included in a game score? No. DI is an excellent example of why you don't. The actual game is great. It's very fun to play in co-op or single player mode. There's tons of hours of fun to be had.

@Mcmax3000 The only case where including tech issues into the score was even valid, was Bayonetta. THAT game, the developers clearly didn't give a crap about the PS3 version and it showed. It played and performed like crap compared to what it should have been.

@chrisredfield31

I'm loving DI, it is so much fun i barely notice any problems it may or may not have.

What system are you playing it on?

I put over 20 hours on the 360 version with a dozen friends as well, none of them complaining about any tech issues.

@chrisredfield31 - It also depends on the technical issues. If they're minimal issues, like I believe Dead Island has, no, they shouldn't have any great effect on the score & for the most part, when it comes to Dead Island, I wouldn't say they have (I don't pay any attention to user scores. The majority of users are idiots) as I've mostly seen positive reviews for the game.

If they are big issues, like the save game issue that I mentioned earlier, the score should reflect it (keeping with the Fallout example, from what I've heard, glaring technical issues are a big reason for the almost full point drop in the scores between Fallout 3 & Fallout: New Vegas).

@chrisredfield31 - I think the funniest thing about this disagreement is that it started over Dead Island, which we seem to be in agreement about 100% as I've been having an absolute blast with the game since I got it on Wednesday morning.

@Mcmax3000 I'd say Dead Island's technical glitches are far from minimal. I haven't had it happen yet, but it seems to be routinely corrupting save files. It also has problems saving any progress at all. There is a glitch that purges your inventory (supposedly addressed in the day-1 patch that was sent back by MS). The random spawning after dead is pretty bad (eg, spawning you somewhere in Act II while you're still in Act I). There's some show-stopping multiplayer bugs in there also.

Some of the game's technical issues are trivial (inventory not stacking items correctly, goofy map), but there are some pretty bad game-breakers in there.

DLC already?

@RasenganFury

My thoughts exactly. Wish they would put some of those resources into fixing the save game glitch and the 1.01 patch deleting stats before asking us to pay for DLC.

@RasenganFury any different from any other company?

@RasenganFury

It was a pre-order incentive, no one's forcing you to buy it.

lol @ thinking they can charge that much

gotta love those patch updates that erase all your progress towards trophies.

email their support and this is what I get back

"Dear Customer,

thank you for your inquiry.
The reason of this malfunction has not been detected yet. Our developers are
working at full stretch on a solution."

in other words, we don't know what the hell we are doing

The lack of guns didn't really discourage me. It would be more fun if there were more guns to and ammo in the game. I just wish I could look backwards when I'm trying to back my car up. Or have a storage chest back at the Lifeguard tower. And I wish weapons didn't degrade.... SO FAST. And yes, it feels rushed all around. Despite being announced something like 5 years ago. I think Joystiq's rating of 3/5 is right on. It's fun, but it's also rather frustrating. I'm glad I only rented it.

@RO There are plenty of guns and ammo in the game. Get to the city. You can look backwards when you are backing your car up. I was doing it yesterday. I agree on the durability drain but the higher quality weapons + talents make them last longer. There is storage in the game. Her name is Jin. Teleport to her.

@RO

As well, every item you sell to one of the trader people can be bought back for THE EXACT SAME PRICE, so technically you aren't losing anything by selling stuff to them, and then buying it back whenever you want to.

@chrisredfield31 you can look backwards in a car? how? lol I got wedged between two cars the other night and got pounded by zombies because I couldn't look backwards to see how to get out!

Dead Island is very fun, in coop. I bought this for coop. The launch was a huge problem and a massive failure, but after two days, the game is fixed and playable. Exploring the island is loads of fun. The quest are just like any other RPG out there, run here, do this, collect this, yada yada. It's more of the experience of bashing zombies brains in with your friends.

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Dead Island

Dead Island's first DLC, Bloodbath Arena, to make a splash later this month

Reader Comments (72)

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 6:40AM KillaPat said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:05PM ShadowXIII said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 6:03PM KillaPat said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 6:58PM dblue said

Posted: Sep 11th 2011 12:04AM Fadakar said

Posted: Sep 11th 2011 10:50AM dblue said

Posted: Sep 11th 2011 3:33PM KungFuChaosNinja said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 6:55AM MercShame said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 6:57AM Viiral said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 11:56AM TheBrainninja said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 7:10AM Slomoshun said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 7:26AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 8:19AM freaparn said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 7:47AM joer22784 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:49PM Benstamania said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 9:16AM ZoneoftheEnders said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 9:23AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 1:20PM Colin said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:09PM mcnichoj said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 5:22PM MystcLazrDragon said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 5:25PM MystcLazrDragon said

Posted: Sep 11th 2011 3:32AM asslber said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 9:52AM Dick Socrates said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 10:05AM 8bitartist said

Posted: Sep 11th 2011 2:03AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 10:38AM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 10:52AM Scnew said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 11:08AM hami83 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 11:12AM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 12:04PM freaparn said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 1:58PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:07PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 4:49PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 7:59PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 8:02PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 8:46PM CollapseTheControl said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 9:37PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 9:39PM Mcmax3000 said

Posted: Sep 12th 2011 9:57AM The Moof said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 10:42AM RasenganFury said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 12:20PM AltairArcanum said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:31PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:57PM Dubiousity said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 10:43AM Exu said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 10:44AM (Unverified) said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 11:20AM RO said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 2:34PM chrisredfield31 said

Posted: Sep 11th 2011 2:08AM King Johngie the Fourth said

Posted: Sep 13th 2011 11:19AM whyte rabit said

Posted: Sep 10th 2011 11:24AM undead77 said

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