If you were stranded on an island, what would be the one item that you wished you had while trying to survive against an army of undead cannibals? A missile launcher? A lifeboat? An internet connection to unWiredTV? For me, my only wish would be to play Techland's Dead Island, a first-person survival game with heavy RPG elements. Luckily, I was given the chance to play the game on a different island: E3.

The demo slams the gamer right in the middle of the undead epidemic, where our character is about to be killed for being mistaken as an infected victim. The remaining survivors come to their senses the moment she regains consciousness, but soon after players are given a quest to save a survivor battling zombies outside. After a brave rescue, we are given another quest to rendezvous with a survivor that may have a way off the island.

Even with flesh-eating zombies attacking everything in sight, the visuals in Dead Island are impressive enough to make me want to take a vacation there. The game has some of the best graphics of any console game, rivaling visual juggernauts such as Crysis and Far Cry. The level of detail in the characters and environments are impressive enough to help give players a great sense of scope and freedom, in the same way as Fallout 3's visuals made players feel small in a dangerous chemical wasteland.

While the controls were pretty standard for a first-person RPG, there was too much sensitivity put into the character's movements. Tapping the analogue stick to the left, sent your character flying to his blind spot. While this may at first seem ideal for an environment where a zombie could easily sneak up on the player, the over sensitive turns made it harder to hit the ferocious undead enemies. I would turn to swing at a nearby zombie, only to find myself hitting the survivor. Hopefully this is an adjustable element of the controls.

Anyone thinking that killing this lovely island's savage undead residents will be a walk in the park will be pleasantly surprised. It's not that the game is hard, but rather that each encounter with the undead happens unsuspectingly, and most of the time you do not have the proper equipment to kill them. This isn't Dead Rising, where you can make a duel-bladed chainsaw weapon to plow through zombies. For the demonstration, all I was given was a boat paddle, and every encounter with an undead creature felt like it could be my last. The survival tone that makes fans fear their every next step is in full force.

The RPG elements of the game are done respectfully, with the level of craft you would find in a Bethesda game. Survivors gave out quest that included finding local items that they need for survival, locating the remaining survivors, and searching for alternative ways to escape the island. Each quest, along with each kill, gave out experience points that could be spent on upgrading your character's skill. For my particular character, she had the option of upgrading her healing, damage dealing, or temporary enhancement abilities. The addition of experience points will make every zombie kill that much more meaningful.

After my five minutes with the game were over, I craved playing more, similar in the same way as a zombie craves living flesh. Our hunger for more will have to wait for September 6, when Dead Island is expected to hit store shelves.