Great games don't have to be completely original -- take Beyond Good and Evil, for instance. Michel Ancel's 2003 cult classic blended the best bits of Ocarina of Time and Metal Gear Solid to produce a fantastically playable experience that still has us clamoring for a sequel some eight years later. That said, there's not much new going on in Dead Island, even for a zombie game; instead of doing something fresh with a tired premise, Polish developer Techland decided to borrow from the best parts of Borderlands, Dead Rising 2, and, surprisingly, Far Cry 2. The resulting casserole of mismatched mechanics doesn't always go down easy, but Dead Island still makes for an enjoyable and slightly addictive adventure in killing the same enemies ad nauseam.

Borderlands is one of Gearbox's best games yet, creating an engaging mix of RPG and FPS gameplay in ways that other games have tried and failed. It certainly surprised me when it ended up being as good as it was -- the game's long development cycle had me worried, and the drastic change in art direction seemed like a decision made in the 13th hour. Yet I come back to it time and again to enjoy the consistent stream of quality DLC.

In a short post over on the official Gearbox Software forums, Borderlands designer Jason Reiss informed the readership that not only is more downloadable content coming to the popular shooter RPG, but that a character level cap increase is coming, too.