What is the number one rule in zombie fiction? Headshots kill zombies. So it's a little weird that Dead Island completely ignored this, making zombies nearly immune to them. Even more baffling is that the human characters that you encounter are immediately dropped by a well-placed headshot, an unusual decision that didn't quite work out all that well. Certain tropes are immutable, and shooting a zombie in the skull is one of them. As villains, zombies illicit one of the greatest sense of fear imaginable, as the idea of being torn apart is truly frightening. So the empowerment you get from smoking one with a head shot can't be understated, as it just makes the player feel in control in a situation where they have none. It may seem like a trivial thing, but that rush of power is so important in games like this. Without that feeling of small victories, you lose a lot of impact in the overall structure.
