Personally I was a little nervous about the game, the hype had set it on a pretty tall pedestal which meant the game had to be truly awesome at the very least or fall flat on its face. What do I think? It's awesome alright! From the get go it sucks you in and where first person might not normally work for me, this time it did and the depth perception is spot on (a very rare thing in games if you ask me). You can arm yourself with things form a paddle to a fire axe to a katana to a magnum or AK47. There are weapons (and other items) scattered around the island (which is split into a good few large maps) that you can make use of, but if you have a gun, use it wisely as ammo can be pretty scarce unless you happen upon some living bad guys to gun down and claim their ammo form their newly dead remains (and they come in groups so watch out). Plus, almost every weapon can be upgraded to have some pretty nifty features (like something that makes opponents vomit when their poisoned, or stun them with electricity). Weapons also never break forever, but they will become next to useless as they take damage, requiring repair.
One very nice feature is that as you gain in level and get tougher (there's a skill system I won't go into but it's cool) so do your enemies and weapons you find also level up and become stronger.
Enemies are plentiful and varied, from the lowly Walker (ting regular zombie that shambles but can build up a little momentum to move at a slow jog) and Infected (think 28 Days infected) to the down right vicious Butchers (fear them!) as well as the aforementioned human antagonists.
The game is free roaming, but to access maps beyond the resort you will need to complete chapters 1 through 4, then you get access to the City, as you get further in the game you gain access to the jungle and other areas (I won't spoil it for people), with somewhere in the region of 100+ side missions and many that keep going, like 1 guy needs cans of food, you bring him a couple, but he'll need more to survive. one of my favourite features is that you can make ammo if you find the recipes! That's right make your own ammo. Hmm... perhaps I should mention the creating feature.
Okay, Item creation. This encompasses weapon upgrades, weapons start at level1 when you find them and you can spend money to level them up to 4th level, each time they go up in level they do more damage, their knock back is increased, they use less stamina, etc. As well as upgrading, you can modify them to inflict electrical or flame damage, among other things. if you get Gabriel's Hammer (and you should as it's pretty easy to find) I recommend adding the Shark mod, it's lethal, heheh. Of course, all of these things (including making your own explosives) need components you scavenge from likes (like circular saws, nails, rags, batteries, deodorant (not joking, it's a ingredient in a item you make) and so on and so forth. Some items are harder to find than others (like diamonds needed for some hidden mods are VERY difficult to get your hands on in any quantity), so always keep a few on you (about 3 to 5 of each) just in case they are needed. Things like magnets are plentiful (I presently have about 250 of them in one game that I need to sell) and are useful for raising your cash level.
Also, did I mention that the game is stunningly beautiful to look at on screen? Well it is. Sometimes you just spot something, stop and look saying "whoa", plus blood is effected by gravity, so keep a eye out for that
The only bad things I can think of for the game are the store and difficulty scaling. With the former you can only buy/sell 1 copy of a item at a time, very annoying then you have some 50 or so things to get rid of or need, which slows down the game for you and can get a little tiresome. Secondly with the scaling, some parts are fine single player, but other areas (like chapter 14 for instance) have groups or 2 or 3 people struggling to some degree. Whilst the game should not be a walkover, those flying solo should not be persecuted for wanting to do things their own way.
To sum it all up, it's a cracking game and great fun 99% of the time, plus who doesn't like bashing zombie heads, or slicing their limbs off? or how about driving off a road and managing to park their vehicle in a tree whilst trying to run down a Butcher? (I seriously did this! haha) I know I love it. But, there are some small faults.
Rating: 9.5 brains out of 10.
PS - speaking of brains, when you hear a voice in the game saying "brains" run, just run, do not look back, do not bother with safe zones, get to the closest vehicle and drive (or head to another map) coz Jason's about...
