Dead Island 2 Review - Survive the Apocalypse in this Zombie-Filled Open-World

Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 is an action role-playing survival horror video game in development by Dambuster Studios and published by Deep Silver. It is the third main entry in the Dead Island series, following the storyline laid out by its predecessors Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide.

I was ready to play this one, get my zombie killing on and I found that I was getting my butt handed to me more because of my aggressive playstyle. This is another game where an isolated area is overrun by zombies in an apocalypse open-world style. 

You start with getting to choose between an array of 6 different characters, each with their own stats and perks. As you level and explore the maps, you’ll get cards that are a bonus. Some are extra attacks while others are passive effects. It looks like there are some cards that are only for certain characters. So there isn’t a skill tree, but cards that add to your character.

As you navigate through houses and open areas, you collect scrap and resources to not only spend them in a trader shop but also to repair weapons, upgrade weapons, and make a few consumables like med kits.

I have found that each green weapon has an attribute slot and a mod slot that can improve the weapons, I’m not sure about any higher tiers as I haven’t gotten there yet. You can also scrap weapons you aren’t going to use, or sell them to the trader (only some of them)

I only have melee weapons right now, which kind of sucks. I do have ninja star consumables and meat to throw. Both of them have a cooldown which I found interesting. You have limited space so you can only switch between 8 weapons while you have another 8 in your book bag. You can store things in a storage area by the work benches.

There are a lot of weapon and environment interactions. Hitting a car could sound its alarm, and noises can draw in zombies to you like breaking glass, loud weapons, and explosions, speaking of explosions water can move around electric currents, oil can spread fire, water can put out fire, and some tanks can explode. Watch out for traps.

The map is… Well, I don’t like the map. It looks like someone took a postcard and boom there it is. I mean I get that someone just grabbed a scrap and quickly made a map with where is blocked off. But it doesn’t really show all the blockages, and it is, I don’t know just weird. Things like side quests and areas where you might need certain items like fuses will pop up on the map too. So that’s kind of nice if you can actually navigate it properly.

The keyboard controls are kind of weird. I ended up changing the mapping to some of the buttons on my mouse to make it easier. I mean I usually turn the one button to crouch/sneak anyways. While  I did another button like the dodge button. I have small hands my fingers don’t reach down to the ctrl and alt buttons very easily. I mean it took forever for me to find a mouse that wasn’t too big or too small for my hands. I really don’t like to play things with controllers anymore, it’s just weird and confusing since I’ve been using the keyboard for so long.

Story (spoilers) 

So far the story is interesting, so spoiler alert you stow away on a plane, it crashes, and then you get invited to a place by a celebrity and get freaking out assistant? With her. You try to save a couple in trouble and end up getting bit, you wake up after passing out and go to the actor lady's house and they freak out because of your bite you pass out after being shot at and wake up handcuffed to a treadmill. Your bite mark is healed and after saving the house from a wave of zombies you learn from another survivor who is immune that you are also immune and your main goal is to help everyone get out of there, while the other survivor wants to stay put. And that’s like the first hour of the story. 

Thoughts

I really enjoyed this game, besides the map and keyboard controls. Of course, I fixed those controls so no big deal. The game looks great, I just wish I already had a gun. Looking forward to trying the multiplayer, from what I have heard the biggest problem with that is you have to be at the same place and level in the story to play together. The game doesn't level scale. So it seems like you might have to have separate characters or only play with your friends. 

Video Review here






 

Popular posts from this blog

Taora: Beginning - Casual Gaming Review

Pet Shop Simulator - Casual Game Review

Gah! - Casual Gaming Review