Visually, the game takes some getting used to. The outdoor environment is absolutely drowned in brightness. I see what they were going for here, and it's a pretty cool visual direction. But it's something I honestly haven't seen before and it took a bit for it to sink in.
In terms of atmosphere, I think they did a great job with it. The bright cheery look of the island, with the gorgeous blue water make a sharp contrast to the grim events actually taking place. The creepy ambiance really made me feel a profound uneasiness, playing with headphones on really helped too.
I was wandering around with my friend, soaking in the environment and ambiance. And every now and then I'd hear a sudden and load snarling of a zombie, pretty much every time it immediately made me jerk my head around to find that son of a ***** zombie before it found me. yikes!
Now for the actual gameplay. I only played a bit more than an hour, but the basis of it is really fun. Zombies can actually pose a huge threat in small handfuls and it's pretty difficult to focus your aim to their faces. As such, zombies can take a lot of effort to kill. And when there's a bunch of them, you're in for trouble.
Weapon durability is there, meaning you can't hack a crowd of zombies to the floor without paying for it (Literally, or by breaking your weapon for good.) Different types of weapons handle very differently. From oars have very long range, but break easily. Heavy crowbars are very slow, require a lot of stamina, and are very strong. Small hammers swing quickly, but have very short range, etc.
I haven't progressed far enough to see how the RPG elements play out, but the elements are there and from what I've seen, are really diverse. Initially, every character plays pretty much the same. But later on, your strengths will begin to shine.
Why do I like the game? The coop. I'm a huge coop junkie and this game really appeals to me. I'd recommend it to anyone who loves a good coop games with their friends, although it's not something I would play by myself. (Not Dead Island's fault, I'm this way with lots of other coop games as well.)