Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2 was a pleasant surprise. Most games that go through development hell never come out or get lots of negative feedback when released. Dead island 2 went the second way. I strongly disagree with the people who hate on this game. While its cringy brainless and a bit generic and short I love it. I love the tropical, exotic and steampunk feel. It's a dark comedy massacre, I'm talking chainsaws, sledgehammer flamethrower, goofy but visceral horror. The in depth F. L. E. S. H blood and gore system is satisfyingly unique and disgusting. I love the copious amounts of playful, horrific chaos. It provided me with hours of fun (Not to mention the co-op) Its just open and fun. I'm also a big fun of the zombie genre. Simple, different and good.

Video games that are stuck in development hell for years usually end one of two ways - we either never actually see the game ever be released, or it's finally released to a cacophony of poor reviews. Thankfully, Dead Island 2 has managed to avoid these pitfalls. A mere 9 years after being announced, it's finally arrived. And it's an absolute blast.

Austrian developers Deep Silver have a mixed bag when it comes to the quality of their titles. They have given us excellent games like the Metro and Saints Row series, however they've also given us the appalling shambles that is Ride To Hell - Retribution. And, of course, there is their most controversial series - Dead Island.

The original Dead Island is perhaps best known for its genius marketing campaign, and although the game just wasn't able to live up to the hype, it was nevertheless a fun, gore filled, zombie slaying romp. A follow up, Dead Island Riptide, arrived a couple of years later, although it was hard to differentiate between the two games, such was their similarities.

And now, finally, Dead Island 2 has arrived. Developed by Deep Silver's own team at Dambuster Studios (the first two titles were developed by Techland), Dead Island 2 encompasses everything that was good about the first two games, and makes it all a whole lot better. Switching the action from Banoi to Los Angeles, Dead Island 2 allows you to plough through various areas of the city of angels, committing your own brand of zombie butchering mayhem. Dead Island 2 is beautiful to look at, taking in the scenery of areas like Bel Air & Beverly Hills as you stain the streets red with zombie claret. Just like in the previous games, you can choose from an array of characters, then get down to the serious business of crafting a wide array of melee weapons and firearms to take down the undead horde. A wide array of different zombie types keeps things interesting as you utilise different ways to take them down, whether it be an electrocuted sword, acid soaked crowbar, or a rifle that fires incendiary rounds. There's also tons of environmental hazards you can utilise to turn the tide in your favour, whilst the choice to either play alone or online with other players remains a choice, just as it was in the previous games. Finally, a mixture of main missions, side missions, and the newly introduced lost & found quests (where you track down either missing people or missing weapons), keeps you busy while you maurade around the ten different areas of LA.

Without going into too much detail and running the risk of spoilers, I'll finish with this - Dead Island 2 will likely be 2023's most pleasant surprise. A game we feared may never arrive has arrived. And it's a ton of fun, a gorgeous looking game packed with things to do. If you liked the first two Dead Island games then you'll love this. Mindless, zombie slaughtering mayhem has never been so enjoyable. Bravo Deep Silver & Dambuster Studios - bravo!

9/10.

I just miss the days when you chose your male or female character the npc's would refer to you as he or she, the they them thing is annoying and feels rude to me but apart from that it's a good game so far.

The scenery is gorgeous and looks deliberate, like not photorealistic, the combat relies on your characters stats and your timing more then fancy moves say like God Of War.

Health is abundant so there's no excuse for running out and my fave character so far is Dani, she's funny and says similar things as I'd say in the same situation haha.

Story is straightforward, survive! Simple.

Music, hmm atmospheric and poppin' so far. No complaints.

One aspect I like best is that it's not open world, their choice to stay liner is very welcome in this current environment of wayyyy too big worlds that in the real world no one has that much time to explore. For me personally worlds getting bigger puts me off games, too much to do and long quests means I don't have the time to do even one quest, then I lose interest because it goes on for soooooo long.

My thanks to Deep Silver.

I love single player story games, but the issue usually is that they just dont have the best gameplay... BUT THIS GAME HAS THE BEST MELEE COMBAT AND PHYSICS EVER! I know i might sound like im insane but the gore in this game is second to none, all weapons feel satisfying and the characters are really fun. My favorite character is jacob, hes so witty and seems so unbothered by whats around him. I also love SAM B, hes just a purebred badass. And the open world! Omg i love how much it feels like im in L. A and the different small worlds feel unique enough to be their own place

I would have given the game a 10 but the only reason im not is that you cant skip cutscenes because so much stuff happens in them.

I've never played the first Dead Island, and I generally don't lean towards FPS melee games. However, after seeing some mixed reviews and catching it on sale, I decided to give Dead Island 2 a shot. I can honestly say it wasn't a bad experience.

The game kicks off a bit slow, but not in a boring way. At the beginning, the weapons feel pretty weak, which made the combat less thrilling than I hoped. Still, I'm glad I pushed through the first couple of hours because it started to get much better. As I progressed in the main campaign, I unlocked more moves and got my hands on better weapons. Upgrading them really made a difference, and I found spears to be particularly effective.

One aspect I really enjoyed was the variety of enemies. The fact that their zombie forms reflect their previous jobs added an interesting twist. For example, seeing firemen zombies that can't burn or police zombies trying to shoot at you was pretty cool. The splatter effects when you hit them are fantastic, really giving a sense that your actions mean something. Later on, you do come across guns, which shakes things up a bit. While some guns didn't feel super powerful, they were still decent enough to mix in with the melee combat.

The game has a semi-open world layout, letting you explore and take on side missions, which is great for leveling up and gathering materials for upgrades. You've got to be cautious, though, since some zombies are pretty high level, making it smart to avoid certain areas until you're stronger. The story is there, balancing serious moments with some tongue-in-cheek humor, kind of like how it's done in Far Cry games. I didn't really connect with any of the characters, but that didn't ruin my enjoyment of the game.

Surprisingly, the boss battles were a highlight for me. It's always refreshing to see some originality in zombie games. The sound effects are spot on too, adding to the whole creepy atmosphere. Graphically, the game looks quite good, runs smoothly, and has impressive visuals.

On the downside, as I mentioned earlier, I didn't find myself overly engaged. I often could only play for about 90 minutes before I felt ready to take a break. So, this is a game best enjoyed in moderation. Overall, for someone like me who's not a huge fan of the genre, Dead Island 2 turned out to be a fun way to pass the time. It's not going to be at the top of my list, but I can see how fans of the first game would appreciate it.