Dead Island: Definitive Collection

The only good part about this compilation is the video, which has seen significant improvements over the buggy, wishywashy originals. It’s still not amazing, but there is a much higher level of detail in the environment and textures, as well as better lighting. Draw-in is a minor issue, and the hitboxes are a major issue (enemies being hit when I should have missed, being missed when I should have hit, and so on). 'Retro Revenge' is uninspired pixel fare from yore with no modern flourishes.

'Dead Island' sounds well enough with zombies that are actually creepy as opposed to the tame depiction in a lot of games and movies. Growling is loud, even when they are far away, making me constantly swing around in paranoia and lash out at thin air to preemptively strike any biters, although they could be fifty yards away. The games are light on music and dialogue, but the voice cast put in some decent performances that help with immersion (somewhat).

Deep Silver was happy to jump on the definitive edition bandwagon, but there are games far more deserving for this treatment. Real strides have been made in the video department. Otherwise, there’s not much else from the 'Dead Island: Definitive Collection' to recommend here - two ho-hum games that are aging quickly despite their youth, and a new retro title that adds very little to the equation.