Many games get trapped in development hell. History is littered with these “what if” titles. But for a lucky few, they get to break the chain and make a run for freedom, and against all odds see a full release years, even decades later. The latest to join this gang is Dead Island 2 a full nine years in the making having seen more studios, developers and delays than I’ve had hot dinners.
Left in the Past
But Dead Island 2 is finally here and it’s mediocre as hell. Now, credit where credit is due – Nottingham based Dambuster Studios have done a solid job to right this once sinking ship. However, the finished product feels a bit dated at the core.
Dead Island 2 is set about 15 years after the events of Dead Island. The United States government and military are forced to put Los Angeles under a full quarantine. The city is now a restricted zone due to a new and stronger zombie outbreak.
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Los Angeles is in quarantine and six individuals, or “Slayers”, attempt to board the last flight out of the city. But this flight is doomed from the start, as there is an infected on board. This virulent passenger causes the army to shoot it down.
So you find yourself back at square one. Having to get your back side out of LA, as well as finding you have picked up a nasty bite along the way. Now the twist – here your bite makes you faster, stronger and immune to the zombie infection.
Zombie SOS
Dead Island 2‘s main tale sees you help survivors and aid in the creation a vaccine. It’s a real tick-box tale. At best, the writing is passable and, at worst, is utter trash. The cast of survivors are really annoying and add next-to-nothing to the story.
I will send shout out to the developer on the team that clearly hates HATES streamers/influencers. There’s a rake of cheap digs thrown in in a certain area and I found them honestly funny.
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You can choose to play as; hustler Bruno, mechanic Carla, retail worker Dani, firefighter-themed stripper Ryan, athlete Amy, or stuntman Jacob. Each has their own skills and abilities that will affect your play through, as oddly they are sort of the games difficulty setting in a way. Some are better than others, with some actually making the game harder.
Each character also has an upgrade tree that unlocks new abilities, powers and buffs all based around a deck of cards that you unlock and find in the world. While not the deepest or complex, these upgrades add a bit of flavour to things.
A Thin Horde
From there you’re off bashing, slashing, stomping and gunning down ‘hordes’. These are groups of 10 or so zombies at a time. You’ll shoot manys a horde while doing endless fetch quests.
You’ll come across countless doors that need batteries or a fuse to open them. This type of stuff starts to grind quickly. Dead Island 2 features mission structures that went out of fashion around ten years ago.
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Though the game does get combat right for the most part. Combat is Dead Island 2 is mostly being melee-focused. You can wield everything from pipes to swords with all upgradeable to your own taste.
However with the “wild and wacky” weapons being a huge selling point of the fighting, it feels like the game plays it a hell of a safe, as you never get anything too extreme beyond a few legendry bits of kit.
Ammo Inadequacy
Guns on the other hand do their job but never take the lead as ammo is limited. And they’re more for weeding out the pack or saving your bacon in a pinch.
The cast of zombies is a by-the-numbers affair. You’ll slay innumerable standard types, like ones that spit acid and ones that blow up when they get too close to you. There are also some variants based on elements like fire and electricity. There’s even a few with grenades or riot armour to “spice” things up a little.
But they are all just cannon fodder even the hulking brute ones, as you’re often overpowered for all battles other than the boss fights. This sees you 9 times out of 10 facing a spongey zombie that takes a bit too much damage to beat at times.
Eye-Feast
One of the things that the game gets right is the visuals. Dead Island 2 looks brilliant from the different areas in LA to the zombies themselves. The game features an extremely cool and bloody flesh system that lets you dismember zombies in jaw dropping detail.
From chopping of legs and arms, to bashing skulls so eyes hang out, to flat out melting them with acid and seeing their skin rot away in real time. If the game nails one thing it’s letting you dispatch the undead in outstanding bloody and gory detail.
Zombie of Gameplay Past
But this gleeful slaying and slaughter still doesn’t get away from the fact that it’s all built around a dated core. Sure there’s hours of fun to be had killing the undead even more, with mates in co-op, it just all never grabs you in the way you would hope.
Is Dead Island 2 worth the wait?? That’s a very difficult question as it has had a decade of hype behind it. But it does deliver an easy-to-play title that scratches a zombie killing itch and then some. Just don’t expect anything beyond that.
Dead Island 2 is basically the gaming equivalent of popcorn. A sweet treat that is ultimately short lived. Especially as we live in a world with Dying Light 2: Stay Human – which betters this in almost every way.