It's a pretty fun game (along with the "sequel" Dead Island: Riptide which is essentially just the exact same thing) but it is pretty repetitive and it can get old. There is a bit of an addictive quality to it though that keeps it from being just an average game to a pretty cool one, and the fact that melee combat with the zombies is actually done really well.
There are some disappointments I have though, some of which were fixed or somewhat fixed in Riptide. First is the fact that all the looting and scavenging isn't very useful beyond the very beginning of the game when you have nothing. Everything either has just money (which soon you end up with way more than you'll ever need unless you die a lot) or a (usually) crappy weapon, or a component used to modify a weapon. That's all fine except that the components could have been used in more ways than just modifying weapons. Not that big of a deal, though. Something that annoys me more, however, is the lack of day to night cycles and random weather (especially sense the game is already capable of producing random weather). Riptide thankfully allows for it to randomly start storming, albeit shockingly abruptly, and the original game has it raining in one area, but the fact that it is always constantly daytime is kind of a letdown. Especially since that would actually make the flashlight useful beyond indoor areas. They seemed to have realized this for Riptide and it seems as though things are often darker what with caves and stuff, and the lower lighting of storms, but that would have helped a lot.
I suppose the biggest critique anyone would have would be the awful story and often laughable voice acting, but I guess in a game that models itself after zombie movies that's kind of the point, and really that's not that different than a lot of great games anyway.
But still, really fun games. Especially in multiplayer. I like that not everyone has to be doing the same quest or stick together.
