“Dead Island 2” is a sequel to the original game that came out back in 2011. The game’s development cycle was a rocky road to say the least, with several developers dropping out (such as Yager and Sumo Digital) before Dambuster Studios finally got it released. Back at Gamescom in 2014, the very first teaser trailer for “Dead Island 2” was shown and ever since then there has been a lot of behind-the-scenes turmoil. Techland, the developers of the original “Dead Island,” went off to do the “Dyling Light” series, yes that’s 2 whole games in-between the releases of these “Dead Island” games. So, after almost a decade, was this final product worth the wait? Well, I suppose that depends on what you’re wanting from it.
This title takes place in the hillsides of Los Angeles, near Hollywood, appropriately renamed to Hell-A, and is set ten years after the first game. After surviving a plane crash, you wind up in California, where it is under strict quarantine due to a zombie outbreak. You can choose one of six different characters, all with their unique stats, and once you select one, you are unable to change them out later. One of the noticeable aspects I noticed early on in the game is that it doesn’t take place on an island like the first game, which is a bit strange, given its title.
However, it’s a nice setting to be in, and the graphics often look good, but there are still some rough edges with the overall quality of the game. This is meant to be a AAA, priced at seventy dollars, but it plays like an already aged game, this would have been perfectly fine if it had been released many years ago when it originally was meant to, but I digress.
The gameplay still has you dealing with durability in your melee weapons, so they won’t last forever. Some weapons are more useful than others, and they vary in size and weight. It’s fun to bludgeon zombies with a giant sledgehammer, but also great to slice them up quickly with a katana. You can reuse them if you repair them at designated workbenches. You can also get creative and customize your melee weapons by adding an elemental factor, such as electricity, to do some extra damage. The game often encourages you to get creative with your environment to get some more creative kills. You also have some throwable explosive items you can use.
The Slayer cards add an interesting RPG element to the game, where you need to acquire these cards to give your character specific abilities, such as dodging or being able to reload your gun faster. Some cards are character-specific, which may incentivize you to replay the game with the other characters after beating the game. Fighting zombies can feel like a mixed bag, often feeling fun and other times feeling unbalanced. Bombarded with a horde of zombies, the game can quickly become unbalanced, and the player can die almost instantly. Slashing away at zombies that take much longer to die than they should can also get frustrating. These issues can sometimes make the game feel like it’s not fully polished.
There are 24 story missions, and it can take up to 11 or 12 hours to complete the story. While “Dead Island 2” doesn’t reinvent the wheel in the zombie game genre, it’s still a decent time. It’s a shame that there were so many delays because it makes one wonder how much of the original vision of the game stayed intact. The game was in development for almost a decade, but unfortunately, the final product doesn’t fully feel like it was worth the wait.
7/10
For more information on Dead Island 2, visit: https://www.DeadIsland.com.
Related: Nick Navarro Reviews
Gaming since I was given an original Nintendo as a kid. I love great storytelling and unique ingenuity. When both collide in a single game, I'm a happy gamer. Twitter/IG @NickNavarro87
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