Dead Island 2 review: Decomposed delight

Dead Island is back after twelve years. Does it have what it takes to stand up to modern zombie games? Read to find out

Dead Island 2
Rating: 4/5
Developer: Dambuster Studios
Publisher: Deep Silver
Platform: PC, XBO, PS4
Price: Rs 3,999

It’s another week with a whole new zombie game, and this time it’s a sequel to Dead Island. A game that has seen multiple studios and a lot of time between the first and the second game. However, it is finally here now, and this is what we think of it. To refresh your memory, the original Dead Island (2011) had you playing as one of four characters who are immune to the zombie outbreak, and they have to fight their way out of the place to survive the game. The game was fun in its own way, and it is a bit antiquated if you try to play it now.

With Dead Island 2, the developers decided to go with a completely different story; actually, they didn’t. It is, in many ways, the same game you played all those years ago. In Dead Island 2, you get to play one of six possible players. All of whom happen to be immune to the zombie outbreak and happen to be on the same aircraft that’s trying to escape the zombie apocalypse in Los Angeles. Your plane crashes because someone on the plane turned. You can select one of these immune players to play as the plane is going down.

Each player is different, and they have additional attributes that may better suit your style of gameplay/ combat. I played the game as Jakob, who is an English stuntman. You can also choose Dani, Ryan, Carla, Amy or Bruno. Once you do that, the game gives you a brief introduction on how to play it and then sends you in to survive. Within a few minutes, you meet other survivors who leave you to fight zombies while they escape. You get bit in the scuffle and then go to seek help from one of the survivors, who happens to be a celebrity that living in Bel-Air. They take you in, and you don’t turn into a zombie, so it works out for them. Later you find out from one of the survivors of the previous game, Sam, that you are immune just like him. Since you are immune, you decide to drudge through LA to find help and save your new crash buddies from eventually becoming zombie food.

The story moves ahead in a pretty predictable fashion with an ending you can see a mile away. The journey, however, is not all that bad. The game has a lot of witty writing and tongue-in-cheek humour that reminds me of GTA games. The characters you meet along the way are just brilliantly thought out and a funny parody of people you would expect to meet in real life. The quests handed out by these characters are also fun and silly in the best way possible. It should also be mentioned that the story is the same regardless of who you choose.

As for combat, you can pick up a lot of weapons along the way. These can be modified to be stronger and have extra effects that make killing zombies easier. Occasionally, you will encounter a crafting station where you can build said weapons and repair broken ones. Yeah, weapons break if you use them too much fortunately, there is a bar that tells you the state of your weapon. Weapons also don’t auto-switch, for some reason, you have to select your next weapon from the weapons menu or bare-knuckle fight your way through, you tend to get used to it after a while. It can get challenging to remember initially, especially when a bunch of zombies are around trying to munch on you. The gameplay is not the newest and is very similar to how the original game plays. It’s not a bad thing, but it makes the game feel a bit old.

However, the absolute best part of the game is the gore. The gore is beyond amazing as you bash your way through a zombie, and encounter layers of flesh, bone, guts and brains. You whack a head with a hammer, and half the skull falls out. There is blood everywhere. You can also use the environment to kill zombies; a combination you will see more often than not is electricity with water. If you see electricity buzzing, you are going to see a conveniently placed jerry can of water or a hose close by. I admit I liked seeing the zombies get electrocuted and went out of my way to kill them this way.

The game follows a very linear path which is not a bad thing, expect around 30 hours of gameplay. It is a bit short, given the never-ending gameplays we are so used to, but it is a fun ride from start to end. I actually enjoyed playing the game and at the end, that’s the most important part. So if you are into zombies and don’t want to play something serious like Resident Evil 4, Dead Island 2 is a nice GTA-esque take on zombies that is worth a try.

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