Dead Island 2

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.

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 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.

Pushing things too hard can prevent us from achieving good results. Dead Island 2 is a good example. It spent nearly 10 years in very troubled development and when it came out we were left with a boring game that was way behind its time and offered nothing new or special. The Dead Island series was already buried after Dying Light because it couldn't release new games. When they tried to dig it up and revive it after so many years, the name meant nothing to anyone. A lot of zombie related content has been produced in these 10 years and it's not as popular as it used to be. In short, maybe Dead Island 2 is an average game that you can play in your spare time, but never more. I hope they don't plan to make a third game. Just like its name, it would be better for everyone if this series really is "dead".

I loved the first 2 Dead Island games (Part 1 and Riptide) I had a lot fun with them and I'd be lying if I said I wasn't doing the same with Dead Island 2.

But there are some really glaring issues with it.

First off, the graphics, for a game that's taken over a decade to make and it being released on the next gen consoles, the graphics in this game are pretty weak. There's some things that look good such as water effects but then there's other things that look straight out of a PS3 game, fire and weather effects, character models all look dated and they do take a while to get used to as it makes this feel like more of an indy game than a full price AAA game.

This also suffers from the lazy trope of having the same zombie models and items just being re used over and over and over again to the point where You're being hit with deja vue every few minutes. There's not enough variety and in one battle I was having, I was attacked by a stream of zombies coming through some gates that I had to fend off and I had to kill the exact same one 5 times, same face, same clothes, it felt thankless and it gets boring.

Secondly, and this is a big one for me, the spawning rate of the enemies in this game is ridiculous. You don't get to properly explore anything because you can spend half an hour clearing out an area, only for you to literally walk a few yards away and they re spawn, sometimes right in front of you. I've cleared areas in this and while trying to pick up some dropped items, a bunch of pixels has formed in front of me that has then turned into an attacking zombie and I'm left doing the exact same thing I've just done over again, it get's old and tired really fast and you never get to explore the areas you're in.

You can clear out an area and while trying to have a look around, a zombie will appear right behind you and start attacking you despite there being nothing around you for miles just a few seconds ago, almost like it's just fallen out of the sky. It kills the feeling of dread and wonder and the excitement of exploration.

At the start of the game you have to select one of 6 characters, all with unique skill sets and looks but the problem with this, is that it alienates certain people who are playing the game.

The best 2 characters for skill sets, meaning the 2 strongest overall players, are a wisecracking hipster black guy and a 'strong female kick ass Latina' character, which is great if you happen to identify with those traits, but myself, as a white male, the only 2 characters that cover that are absolutely useless, by far the weakest and worst of the characters there. It's like they've done it on purpose to push 'The message' that Hollywood and game studios are ramming down everyone's throats at present.

By all means, represent different types of people in games but don't do that by insulting and demeaning others. Seriously, all the tough, battle hardened and resourceful characters in the game are people of colour or women, all the while men in this are pathetic and weak, just why do that?

I don't understand why they couldn't have different characters and different types of skill sets and let EVERYONE who plays the game choose a skill set AND a character to go with it instead of pre determining these. Basically, if you want to play as a white male, you're punished for doing so with weaker skills and attributes, it's crazy.

The game play itself is pretty solid, weapons are plentiful and you can mod them to your liking and fighting and shooting feels fairly satisfying although for some unknown reason the game devs thought it would be a good idea to bring back one of, if not the worst gameplay mechanic ever created, one that almost everyone hates, quick time events. The amount of times I have been in battle and had the game thrust me into the same attack animation that I have to bash the square button until it fills a circle and then press R2 to get out of is crazy. NO ONE LIKES THIS, it's why most games stopped using it years ago.

The sound and music are not much to write home about, some of the music is so grating that I had to go into the options and turn it off as it was doing my head in.

Some of the characters in the game are just awful and some of the tasks and missions they give you are dire. One of them, an annoying social media influencer (yawn) wants you to fend off waves of zombies on a roof top and kill them in certain ways so she can film it for her social media account IN A POST APOLACYPTIC ZOMBIE INFESTED WORLD WHERE ALMOST EVERYONE IS DEAD. She's whiny, full of 'Oh my god, this is sooooo awesome yall' and 'Word up' type comments and it's been done to death a million times before. There's several stages to this and while she's waffling on and barely explaining what she wants you to do with the next wave, you're still being attacked and having to fight for your life and therefore miss what it is she's telling you to do. Then you're left with a mission objective that literally says 'Mop up for some epic movie B roll' HOW are you meant to understand what this wants you to do, I literally had to pause the game an look it up on Google.

Most of the voice work is fairly generic, not terrible but nothing really stands out.

Also, while parts of this game are open world, it's very small open world and most of what you do is linear and the whole thing feels like a scaled down version of the first game.

Overall, while the gameplay is solid for the most part and combat is enjoyable, there is some fun to be had here, I won't lie, but it has so many glaring issues for this to be a truly standout game and it just feels so bang average and for a game that's taken so long to develop, it's a massive missed opportunity.