In the early days of the series, it was a challenge to talk about Saints Row without it being compared to Grand Theft Auto. They were both open sandbox worlds with a criminal undertone. But, the most recent iterations have separated the two with Grand Theft Auto being more realistic with its gritty drama while Saints Row took the over the top and ridiculous path that has become the signature appeal of the series. While in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas you were able to attack someone using a sex toy, Saints Row The Third blew that toy up to the massive proportions of a floppy baseball bat to bludgeon foes to death with.

This past weekend, it was announced by Volition and Deep Silver (who purchased the studio from the THQ auction) that Saints Row IV is indeed coming and it will actually be out before Grand Theft Auto V. With Grand Theft Auto V being delayed until September (being the last major game release before the next generation of consoles presumably), Volition and Deep Silver have slid in a few weeks early and announced their game would be coming out on August 23rd.

The first impression the world got of Dead Island left it with some lofty expectations to uphold.  In one of the most emotionally stirring game trailers of the past decade, no one knew really what to expect from the Techland developed zombie title. At that point, no one even had any idea what kind of game Dead Island would even be.

What Dead Island brings is a combination of many genres both in theme and gameplay style. Debating whether the title is a first person shooter with RPG elements or an RPG with first person combat becomes a moot point as the lines are so blurred in the intoxicating gameplay of Dead Island.

Gameplay:

As just mentioned, Dead Island is a combination of both FPS combat with tons of RPG style gameplay seamlessly mixed together. Add that to an open world environment and the Fallout comparisons begin building up quickly. To say that Dead Island is Fallout 3 with zombies though would be an oversimplification of what Dead Island brings to the table.

First, let’s talk combat. Dead Island is played entirely from a first person perspective. Players begin with nothing more than their fists but soon begin picking up common items found on an island paradise such as paddles, kitchen knives, coat racks and machetes (with all that jungle, it doesn’t seem odd that these are found throughout the game world). Through the use of these items, players must bash their way through zombie attacks.

Back in 2007, developer Techland and publisher Deep Silver announced a new game called Dead Island. Since that time, except for a few tidbits including that the game will involve zombies and be available for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and Windows platforms, we’ve heard pretty much nothing.

That is, until now. And what did we get after all this waiting? Well, we got a pretty amazing trailer for a game that if it delivers on the promise of the game, could turn out to be the best zombie game of all time.

Yes, the trailer is that good. Now before you get too excited I need to tell you this trailer really isn’t exactly a trailer, at least as they are usually presented.

It is however, still pretty amazing and well worth the time to watch. In fact, I’ve seen a lot of trailers in my time and this is probably in  he top three of all time for any kind of entertainment: movies, games, TV, whatever.

Okay, enough talk. Check out the trailer after the jump. Dead Island is expected to be released later this year.