By KEVIN HOOVER
If you’re considering plunking down the cash for DEAD ISLAND 2, the most obvious question is, “Was it worth the wait?” That’s warranted, due to the fact the game languished in developmental hell for nearly a decade and was bounced around between developers like a freshly decapitated zombie head before finally landing on PC, Xbox and PlayStation consoles. The short answer is “yes” with a caveat of “maybe,” and that all depends on how individual players feel about a game that nails the fundamentals of what a good first-person RPG should be, but at a time when other more recent titles have already moved the goalposts.
Instantly noticeable to vets of the series, the lush, green hell of predecessors Dead Island (2011) and Dead Island: Riptide (2013) has been traded for the concrete jungle of Los Angeles, whimsically referred to as “Hell-A.” A campy tone pervades every nook and cranny of the game, marking a noted departure from the serious nature of the series’ earlier entries. That’s not a bad thing because aside from a few minor quibbles about dialog redundancy, pulp expressionism is one of DEAD ISLAND 2’s most endearing qualities. Over-the-top NPCs and bizarro boss battles lead to some genuinely absurd moments that feel elevated in comparison to the mundanity of slicing and dicing through an unceasing onslaught of the undead.
Players select from one of six playable “Slayers,” each designed with an inherent set of buffs, such as progressive healing tied to consecutive kills or defense boosts after successful dodging of incoming attacks. A multi-tiered card system, whose spoils become available through story progression, provides some modicum of customization for individual play styles. Cards offer new attacks like dropkicks and ground-and-pounds, XP boosts and several additional benefits that shake up the approximately 20-hour campaign but never in a way that leaves any one single player feeling overpowered.
The game’s approach to weapons is fun, with an eclectic assortment of blades, blunt objects and brass knuckles to appease anyone’s inner sadist. Firearms round out the mix but are wholly unsatisfying, as guns feel like carbon copies of one another and lack any remarkable distinctions that would that entice favoring one over another. As enjoyable as it is to watch putrefied flesh tear from walking corpses, the real enjoyment comes by way of an onboard crafting system. Weapons can be imbued with elemental effects such as fire and electricity, making up-close combat all the more visceral. Additionally, enhancements offer improvements like increased attack speed – but often at the expense of durability. Break a tool and it’s off to one of the many workbenches scattered around town to repair it or manufacture all new inventory with crafting materials collected during your journey. The game strikes a fair balance with these objects. Items are not so plentiful that you’ll be roaming around as an indestructible tank, but neither are they so scarce that you’ll have to be cautious of exhausting a favorite for fear that you’ll never be able to use it again.
DEAD ISLAND 2 hides a lot of content in its faux-open world façade. There’s plenty to see and slaughter between various types of walkers, including garden-variety shamblers good for farming XP to hulking brutes that will pulverize you into mincemeat. Make no mistake, however, as wide open as the streets of L.A. may feel initially, the game will guide you exactly where it wants you to go and when it wants you to go there. Side quests do offer a reprieve from the main campaign, and there is an online component (unplayable at the time of this review), but many of the locales re-use the same graphical assets, meaning that houses, neighborhoods, and other environs will start to resemble one another after a while, which could lead to becoming numb to the otherwise masterful recreation of a major metropolis gone to shit at the height of a plague.
DEAD ISLAND 2 functions at the most basic of levels of being an entertaining first-person romp through another zombie-torn setting. The stellar Dying Light series (originated by DEAD ISLAND’s creator Techland) set a high bar with last year’s Dying Light 2, and by comparison, what’s here feels light years behind. However, taste is subjective. For gamers who prefer a boots-on-the-ground approach (as opposed to the Mirror’s Edge-inspired parkour elements of Dying Light 2) then DEAD ISLAND 2 makes a strong case for its existence. Also, this isn’t a terribly complicated game; The crafting system is inventive yet rudimentary. Linearity keeps the prevailing story on track and advances to a conclusion, even when venturing out through the side quests. While slipping into boredom is a possibility, the truth is that you’re only going to be bored if you allow yourself to be. There are plenty of kill scenes and set pieces to enjoy, and the game is generous with its checkpoints, encouraging players to try out different weapon combinations and strategies to see all there is to see.
From the moment it appeared on stage at E3 in 2014 to having been hot-potatoed between developers to finally receiving a proper release in a form that differs vastly from earlier builds, the fact that DEAD ISLAND 2 was released at all is a miracle in its own right. It may not be the most advanced of the zombie slaughter fests on the market, but more doesn’t always mean better, and there’s a gory good time to be had within.
