I bought Dead Island a month ago after reading about it in some of my RSS feeds. I was a bit hesitant at first since I hadn't done a great deal of research on it first but, the game turned out to be a surprise and I've found it to be incredibly fun!
Dead island is a mix between a first person shooter (FPS) and an role playing game (RPG). One thing that sets it apart from other FPS games is that you almost exclusively using melee weapons (weapons that you hold in your hand and do not shoot). While there are guns in the game, they aren't very effective against the zombies. The guns can be used to set off explosives such as propane tanks though. The hand-to-hand combat really makes for a distinct game like no other out there.
The RPG elements allow the player to upgrade and customize their melee weapons making super weapons. Also, the player is allowed to upgrade their abilities to their choosing allowing for distinct gameplay each time you start the game over with a new character.
I've owned the game for little under a month but according to Steam I have 65 hours of gameplay into it. I'd this clearly states that the game is a classic in my library. I give it a 10/10.