Man, nothing but negative comments from not a single person who's actually given the standalone a chance. I was skeptical at first but after playing till 5AM last night all I want to do is go home and play some more.
Tidbits-
You can customize your character with helmets, different clothes, sneakers, gloves.
Dean says this is for the most hardcore DayZ players
Patch has already been released addressing several issues
For an Alpha I havent had any problems with unplayable bugs/glitches.
30$ is to be part of the process to build and grow the game (anyone remember how fun it was following Desert Combat mod?!)
You can watch this guy playing for a taste:
http://www.twitch.tv/sacriel