Dead island 2 gameplay review The sequel to Dead Island was in the same predicament as the first game: development hell. It took nine years for Dead Island 2 to finally reach the stores after a historically difficult development cycle that saw the project pass between several different creators. Fans of the Dead Island series are accustomed to waiting a long time for new installments, but the question is whether the wait for Dead Island 2 was worthwhile.
A largely new group of people are featured in Dead Island 2, which is set some time after the events of the first Dead Island game and takes place in a zombie-infested Los Angeles. Dead Island 2’s playable characters aren’t particularly significant, and while they each have their own unique backstory, they don’t all have their own character arcs. The interactions that players have with the other Los Angeles survivors as they cooperate to try to escape alive are where the true action takes place.
Although the narrative of Dead Island 2 isn’t all that compelling and the conclusion is incredibly unsatisfying, there are still a lot of enjoyable surprises in the cutscenes. Fans of the first Dead Island will enjoy reuniting with Sam B, and some of the dialogue occasionally cracks them up in a schlocky B-movie kind of way.
As they finish the game’s over 20 main story quests and over 30 side quests, players will learn more about the story of Dead Island 2. The main story can be advanced anyway the player sees fit, or they can choose to ignore it in favor of secondary material. The tasks that players must perform during the main tale contain a surprising amount of variety, while side missions are typically boring because they require the player to retrace steps that have already been taken. Sadly, backtracking is not even close to being Dead Island 2’s biggest issue.
Dead Island 2 contains some significant jank. An attempted zombie execution resulted in our player phasing through a nearby object and becoming imprisoned there in one instance. In another case, an NPC fell through the floor during a cutscene, but the crossbow they were carrying remained in place. This created a humorous situation in which the other actors in the scene appeared to be conversing with the crossbow.
Dead Island 2 Gameplay
The majority of Dead Island 2’s bugs are of the innocuous, silly sort and are readily remedied. Even game-breaking bugs may usually be avoided by reloading a save and losing little to no progress. On the other side, there are problems that halt the game’s flow and are a major inconvenience because players may not know the game is flawed at first. Multiple times throughout Dead Island 2, objectives simply would not complete after their requirements were met. This leads to players believing that there is something they are missing, and a significant amount of time is wasted attempting to figure out how to progress.
eloading a save isn’t the only option to get around Dead Island 2’s technological limitations. If one player gets glitched against a wall, co-op teammates can move on to the next objective and, provided everything is going as planned, cause the other player to teleport to them with a “huddle up,” which generally resolves any issues. Co-op can save your life in Dead Island 2, and it’s also the best way to play the game.
Despite the game’s major technological flaws, Dead Island 2 co-op can be very exciting, to the point where most of its flaws are easily overlooked. Mowing down zombies with a pal and exploring Dead Island 2’s interpretation of Los Angeles never gets old. That being said, there is one peculiar issue with co-op in which the co-op partner can become disconnected from the host. When this happens, the co-op partner may appear to be right by the host, yet on their screen, they’re miles away. Most of the time, this isn’t a significant concern and can be quickly remedied by huddling up at the next target.
The only time this is truly inconvenient is when one of the co-op partners cannot use any of their weapons. When this happened in our game, the co-op partner was in the center of zombie hordes and absolutely vulnerable on their end, yet they were in the safe room on the host’s screen. As an experiment, we attempted to train them through the safe room door. They were running into walls and making strange movements on their screen, but on the host’s screen, they were going for the exit. They were able to access their weaponry again after exiting the safe chamber on the host’s screen. It was just a matter of getting to the next objective to cause the game to sync back up for things to work correctly again.
Players will have to deal with glitches like these on sometimes, but for those searching for mindless co-op zombie slaying, it’s worth the aggravation. Combat in Dead Island 2 begins drab and slow, but it quickly becomes more enjoyable as players expand their arsenal and gain new skill cards. Instead of a standard ability tree, Dead Island 2 skill cards allow players to simply shift between different cards to meet the circumstances or complement their co-op companions.
Players will use their weapons and talents as they prowl through the streets of Los Angeles. Dead Island 2 goes all-out in terms of brutality and gore, with zombies being ripped to shreds. Zombies are dissected and disemboweled in a horrifyingly realistic manner, and if players look closely, they can even see liquids running through the undead’s organs. The game’s gore system shines brightest in more confined settings, as blowing up a swarm of zombies in a corridor leaves the room appearing like the interior of a microwave after someone attempts to reheat chili for too long.
The majority of the zombies seen in Dead Island 2 are standard shamblers and runners, but in typical zombie game form, several unusual types are thrown into the mix. Some Dead Island 2 gamers may find the special zombies a little too tanky at first, but this quickly becomes irrelevant thanks to the Zompedia, which functions similarly to a morbid Pokedex. Killing enough unique zombies exposes information about their weaknesses, allowing players to equip their loadout accordingly to take down the game’s more formidable opponents.
Zombies abound on Dead Island 2, providing players with plenty of undead to slaughter whenever they step outside of the protected zones. But killing zombies is far from the only action available in Dead Island 2. While Dead Island 2 is not a real open world game, each main section is a large zone that players are free to explore, complete with optional loot, side missions, and more.
The loot system in Dead Island 2 is rewarding, and unlike other looter games, it rarely rewards players with subpar items. Instead, we frequently found our inventory and storage entirely full, requiring us to sell or shred high-quality weaponry to create way for new goods. Weapons in Dead Island 2 can be modded to give status effects and upgraded to match the player’s current level if enough money is available, so while players will undoubtedly get better weapons later in the game, they can also stick with an early-game weapon if they so desire.
Dead Island 2 focuses on close-quarters physical combat, with players able to equip themselves with everything from electrified Wolverine claws to corrosive golf clubs that can practically melt the skin off zombie‘s bones. There are guns in Dead Island 2, but they aren’t nearly as effective as melee weapons. Even when improved, guns in Dead Island 2 rarely deal enough damage, and the gun controls are occasionally slow or sluggish. If players pull the trigger too quickly, they may find themselves in a situation in which their character shoots, pauses, aims down the sights, accomplishes nothing, then shoots again, giving the impression that the game is fighting to keep up with their input. Guns can be beneficial in certain scenarios in Dead Island 2, but they are not encouraged.
It’s not without flaws, but Dead Island 2 is a fun co-op game that lets players dropkick zombies, and there’s something to be said for mindless entertainment like that. It has some big jank and will require a few patches to iron out its more serious faults, but those who prefer looter games who are seeking for a fun co-op game to sink their teeth into should give it a look while it’s on sale.