Video Game: Gameplay tips for "Dead Island"

This game is pretty big and allows you to wander all over the place in a seemingly-endless search for quests, loot, and zombies to murder.  There is a main storyline to be had here, and it is certainly easy enough to just follow it all the way to its ending.  If you're finding yourself stuck on something, however, perhaps this guide can help.

If all else fails, there's no shame in flipping through some online guides:

Dead Island Wiki
IGN Guide
PS3 Trophy Guide

Yes, come closer and fall upon my electric blade!

Fighting the Undead

Having played just Xian's character, I became more adept at using blades to kill the undead.  Chances are that if you're playing another character, your fighting style will be different than what I'm describing below (I know one character specializes more in guns, another in throwing weapons, and the last one does melee weapons; all have their advantages and disadvantages so you'd have to experiment and adjust accordingly.  Still I'll try and make this tips applicable for all play styles).

• Walkers:  These will be your standard, run-of-the-mill zombie, which will very slowly creep up on you.  They tend to stagger into you when they get close, so you never want to underestimate them.  Sometimes they might get in your face and threaten to bite your neck; just follow the on-screen prompt to punch them in the face and get it off of you.  For the most part though, you can easily dispatch these shambling ghouls by either side-stepping them and giving them a good whack, stab, punch, or gunshot in the head.  You can also kick them pretty easily, throwing them to the ground so you can wail or stomp on them until they're dead.
• Thugs:  Seem menacing and annoying at first, with their massive stature and a painful attack that sends you flying backwards to the ground.  They're not all that bad though; you just need to keep your distance.  Their movements are slow, so you can always back-step or maneuver around them.  Once the thug starts shouting at the air, that's the perfect time to step closer and give it hell.  Any other time, and he'll whack you.  You can also throw stuff and shoot at it from a distance, but his health is pretty high.  If you have an electric weapon, it works best, because the electric shocks will make him spazz out, and leave him totally vulnerable to a barrage of attacks (well, heck, electric weapons work wonders on all enemy types...even the final boss).
• Infected:  the infamous 28 Days Later style of zombie...meaning that they aren't slow.  These are fast and crazy mofos who will sprint up into your face and lay the smackdown on you.  I hate these guys...the best thing I've found is to kick them when they approach.  A good kick in the chest or head will knock them down, leaving them open for a head-stomp or downward attack.  Of course, it gets annoying when there's multiple Infected gaining up on you; I usually kick one down, side-step, and hack away at the others.  Note that if you kill one of these with a grenade (and only a grenade), you get a trophy.
• Suicider:  easy, kill it before it kills you.  Preferably right away, because these suckers can creep up on you unexpectedly, then BAM, you're dead.  You basically need to set them off before they set themselves off, so you can either take them out from a distance (thrown weapon or a gun will make them explode; it might take a couple of hits though), or you can run up to it or right past and and flee like a madman (chances are good that you can run away from it before it explodes).  It's especially rewarding when you shoot it when it's in the middle of a bunch of other zombies, because it'll take out the others around it.  Note that if you kill it with an explosive, you get a trophy.
• Ram:  another monster I hate; it's basically a giant zombie wrapped up in a striaght jacket, which will run into you and literally ram you to death.  The most blatant tactic with this guy is to dodge his sprinting attack, so he'll run himself into a wall and temporarily stun himself.  Then you can flank him with all you got; his weakest spot is his backside.  However, he will flail around and take away a bunch of your health, so you got to be careful.  Note that if you use a special tackling skill (I believe is only available for Sam B), you get a trophy.
• Floater:  it's basically a big fat blob that pukes at you.  Aside from using ranged attacks, you can get up close and personal by circling around him and closing in while avoiding all the puke.  The thing is pretty slow and lumbering, so it does go down easily enough.
• Butcher:  this zombie has stabby-pointy-limbs for arms, so it's pretty fast, crazy, and dangerous.  As fast and ferocious as they are, I never really developed any specific plan for these guys, other than stabbing and kicking them like hell.  As always, electric weapons can help stun them.  Note that if you finish it off with an axe, you get a trophy.  Also note that these butchers only appear in Act III, and are therefore only found throughout the jungle (thankfully).
• Final boss:  this dude seems to combine all the aspects of the above creatures into one seemingly-horrifying combination.  Key word is "seemingly," because he's surprisingly easy.  He moves fast and screams at random, but with constant footwork and constant hacking and slashing, I made short work of him (especially with an electric weapon, which stuns him).
• Now, if all else fails, you can always rely on your environment (there are explosives and flamible things all over the place, and there are always objects to pick up and throw). Bombs, grenades, and molotovs are always effective at killing (or at least weakening) all kinds of zombies, especially in large groups.
• Naturally, you'll want to keep your weapons in perfect working order, so visit a workbench often (loot everything so you always have cash to spend on repairs and upgrades).  If you're using guns and throwing weapons, you won't have to worry so much about repairs, but you will need ammo all the time.  Use mods to make good weapons better.
• The best weapon in the game is...the automobile! It's always a blast to drive around and watch the experience points fly across the screen as zombies get crushed under the sheet weight of your car! I spent many a fine hour driving back and forth, running into the undead repeatedly.
• If all else fails, take solace in the knowledge that you never really die in this game; you just respawn somewhere close by so you can try again (but you will lose a certain percentage of your money as a penalty).

General Tips

• Unless you're sticking with guns and throwing weapons, visit the workbench often to repair your weapons.
• Loot everything you can.  Even stupid items can be helpful, either for quests or for making custom items.  Taking the time to explore all locations and rooms will ensure that you'll find plenty of cash, items, and collectables that will help you later on.  In fact, don't just loot a place and move on; leave and loot the same places later on, because loot containers will be reset after a while.
• When it comes to hoarding crafting items, I usually keep a large amount of items, but I'll sell off things if I have too much.  So I kept 20 of most things (20 rags, 20 phones, 20 batteries etc) so I could use them when I needed to, but sold off all extras and earned some more cash that way.
• Remember that certain items should be hoarded or held on to for continuous quests.  Brand champagnes are the best, because you can trade them with the one chick at the resort for diamonds (which, in turn, can net you lots of cash, or can help you build the special developer's mods if you find them).  Alcohol can be turned in for molotovs with the one dude at the lifeguard tower (five bottles per molotov).  Canned food, water, oleander, painkillers, and other stuff can be turned in for quick experience and rewards.  Note that there are a few glitches that can be exploited so you can buy loads of oleander from a merchant and trade it all in for all the experience points you want (I haven't done it though; see the PS3 trophy guide at the top of this post).
• Always make sure you have the best weapon you can get equipped.  I personally kept a few blades and a few guns handy at all times, and they were usually blue, purple, or orange items with mods.  If I find a weapon that does more damage, I'll upgrade it, mod it, and then use it and sell the old weapon.
• Remember that many zombies can be easily eluded by climbing onto cars, or other high places.
• When you reach the end of the game, you'll want to do a New Game +, so you can keep all the cool weapons and inventory that you've collected throughout your first playthrough.  Chapter selection does not allow you to keep your stuff.
• Throughout all your playthroughs, there are plenty of secrets to look out for.  There are some skulls that you can find, which will help unlock the special developer's mods.  They're expensive, but cool as heck.  Use one of the guides at the top of the page to find them (because I only ever bothered to find one, and couldn't tell you much more about them).

Trophy Hunting

Most trophy progress can be tracked by pushing the start button in the game, selecting "extras," and then finding the "trophies" selection.

• It will take at least a couple of playthroughs to get the platinum.  Firstly, because you will need to replay Act I four times for all four of the characters, but mostly because you'll need to get to level 50.
• Plenty of trophies will come naturally in the gameplay, as long as you use your resources often.  Be sure to use modified weapons to kill 250 zombies.  Use guns on 250 more. Use edged melee weapons on another 250.  Use blunt weapons on 250 more.  Kill 50 bad guys.  Walk 20 km and drive 10 km while doing it.  Customize 25 weapons when you can.  Run over 50 zombies with a car.  Punch 25 zombies until they're dead.  Use 100 medkits.  Complete 75 quests.  These are all pretty easy, just time-consuming.
• Most online trophies are easy, and just require you to stick around with some other players for all of their quests.  It's very helpful to hang around with any PS friends you may have.
• For the "10 Heads Are Better Than 1" trophy, you'll need to kill 10 zombies in a row with nothing but headshots, and it does require some slick combination of skill and luck.  I personally unlocked this in the prison levels, where I could happen across one zombie at a time and just shot them in the head until the trophy unlocked.  I saw it's recommended to gather up 10 zombies in the city and shoot them all in the head, but I find it difficult to shoot into a hoard, where some other zombie's body can get in the way.  If you can, I'd recommend finding a place where you can get them one at a time (such as the prison, the police station, or the resort).
• For the "Light My Fire" trophy, you'll want to aggro ten (exactly ten) zombies and throw a molotov at them.  I hear that the best place to do this is in the city; exit the church, leave out the right gate, head straight and then turn right toward a bridge with an ambulance on it.  Running down that street, there are indeed ten or so zombies.  I never could get them all on fire, but maybe you'll have better luck.
• For the "Can't Touch This Trophy," you'll need a hammer (in the game, not in real life).  It would probably help if it's a green, blue, purple, or orange hammer with a good mod attached to it.  Now go forth and slay 15 zombies in a row without taking damage.  This worked best for me in the resort area, where the zombies are slow and easy to dodge.  It's still a bit of a pain, but it's very easy to sneak up on the zombies laying on the ground and whacking them before they get up.  Just keep at it until the trophy unlocks.
• For the "Catch!" trophy, you need to chuck a grenade at one of those fast-running Infected.  You can only use a grenade, not a molotov or deobomb or anything else.  If you can't find grenades, you can buy them off of certain merchants (there's one in the jungle map).  Once you got a grenade, use it on an Infected wherever you see one, then BAM!
• For the "Swing Them Sticks" trophy, you simply need to go into your options menu, and change the fighting style from digital to analog.  Now, using analog controls is weird, so you'll have to experiment with it for a bit.  Once you get the hang of killing walkers with it, kill 150 more and the trophy is yours.  Then you can go back to the digital control scheme.
• For the "There and Back Again" trophy, you'll need to make sure that you've visited 57 locations before heading off to the prison.  If you don't have that many locations listed, you will need to explore around to find the missing locales.  The latest patch should ensure that all locations will unlock for you, but keep in mind that there is a glitch with the city gas station that may cause you to miss out on one location.  Otherwise, make sure you visit every green dot on the maps.  As for the prison levels, just do every quest, and the locations will all unlock one after another, and you will get the trophy before reaching the game's end.
• When levelling up, you'll get a trophy for reaching level 10, level 25, and level 50.  Reaching level 50 is a real pain, because you will need to play through the whole game twice to get that much experience.