Left 4 Dead has great atmosphere and tension but ultimately it is an FPS all about managing ammo and an arsenal of guns. Dead Island is more focused on the hand-to-hand combat, stat building and weapon crafting, which I think is more appropriate for a zombie game... plus the zombies in Dead Island are mostly slow and stupid, the way zombies should be in the classic Romero style. For sure Dead Island is dumb, lacking the overall polish of L4D, but it's all the more fun for it, the same way that the B-movies of Romero have a special place in the hearts of horror fans in a way that something more sophisticated like 28 Days Later never could.
