Dead Island 2 continues the spirit of its predecessor, but with some very sharp decisions in its world design.
March 13, 2023, 16:01 – Updated March 13, 2023, 19:18
Dead Island 2 is playing after 6 hours, I think that’s the only thing that this second installment doesn’t get for its own title. We are no longer on the island of paradise, but in the city of Los Angeles, now not LA, but in Hell-A. It doesn’t matter, really, because these only hours have given me plenty of time to see the crazy game in it. It seems that zombies, today, are not as active as they once were, after all the abuse we’ve had in popular culture. None at all. Never doubt how satisfying you can still spend all the undead.
And despite the fact that they are the protagonists, I believe that in this demonstration it is the city that stole the first parts from the dead. I found the level and map design very interesting. The world is not linear, not completely open. More of a system of large interconnected areas that allow us to explore some of the iconic areas of the city of Los Angeles. From neighborhoods full of mansions like Bel-Air to movie studios, all perfectly with that climate and lighting so characteristic of the city.
They do their best not to make the walks too long, but always embrace freedom of movement and let the player explore for the will to get out of the main mission and find traps and secrets. This game rewards you for finding as many parts as you can on your way, hearing about survivors or discovering new things or things. Instead of betting on the number of secondaries, it will work a little more. There has always been work outside the way of the game scene, like the old glory with sniper rifles, which you need to turn on the power to use the descent chair; or the promoter who sees the zombie apocalypse as the best way to monetize his channel.
The city tells a story
It’s funny, because the game goes where it goes: you kill zombies and you don’t think much about the process. But I think Dambuster was subtle enough to notice something of the biting criticism of our age, sometimes decade, of humanity. Because yes, you have a plot model in which our group is looking for a way to evacuate, while our primary acts as a de facto immune, but really a mission that always tells small stories, and its secondary missions. Moving home means a hedonistic lifestyle; We also found some rock stars that needed airing because they were too high. You look at the acid type; or how a zombie apocalypse broke out in the middle of a wedding. There is little in every corner, and the dedication of the studio is remarkable, so that it does not only go through the player developer.
The accumulation of money and resources allows you to modify weapons and turn them into truly unique inventions
But it is, as a matter of course, it is done. All of these are complicated and, although they have a guide, they require you to carefully look in all the corners to find everything they hide, or even areas that you will have to unlock later. I found all kinds of secondary roads full of locked and safe doors that keep a large number of secrets. Consciously exploring or following the signs explained, it is possible to find the keys that open those mysteries, when we will have to find or buy other fusions to open them. And it is always worth it, because on the other side a large number of items and weapons with which you will face a lot of damage are waiting for you.
And it turned out that, like the first Dead Island, the search for resources is the key. I was a bit worried that in the original game you could spend a lot of time going through suitcases, roofs and all other places to find the scenery. It’s true that it happens here too, and sometimes I wish the process was a little faster, but at least it’s compensated by the reward. The accumulation of money and resources allows us to invest in those weapon modifications that make truly unique inventions, capable of maiming while electrocuting or burning zombies.
This Dambuster also followed the development of the formula to the letter, but with careful attention to making a larger scope. He is no longer just throwing a weapon into an explosive container, but creating our own traps. We can take a battery and throw it into a tank full of undead, or fill the road with water up to the electrical outlet. And all this will give us to decimate them and not tire the best weapons, because we are going to find many, many zombies. For sometimes it was great. The closed areas are more balanced, but in these small open worlds, the zombies are there to harass, and they will come from the ground, sewers and wherever they collect the area. Sometimes it gets boring to go through so many paths where you want to go, and maybe this is what leaves me with the most dubious combat system.
Although when you hit a zombie with your weapon and the sequence moves or the moment in slow motion, it looks spectacular, Dead Island is one of those franchises that bets on first-person combat weapons. A system that fuses a lot to give the best impressions. And sometimes you notice a certain slowness in your attacks, or that the ranged attacks don’t match each other and the undead hurt you, even if they don’t connect with you. Small frictions, which, although they are tolerable at present (and when the guns arise, they can be even more so), you will notice especially when you send a large wave of enemies.
Undead do real damage and are unforgiving when they die.
And if you kill a lot in the game, you’ll also die a lot oddly. Sometimes Dead Island 2, until you get the hang of it, can be a steal. Undead do real damage and are relentless when grouped together, with no special enemies that can make things very difficult for you. But in addition to this, Dead Island 2 also opted for a series of levels, and I’m already telling you that it’s not at all appeasing and sometimes it’s hilariously corrupt. If the zombie is two levels higher, it is most likely to kill you in one hit.
Kill zombies: thousands and thousands
As I said before, this hellish recreation of Los Angeles is truly unfolding. The game, although it doesn’t look like one of those big specs in terms of art, looks really good due to the level of detail put into every corner of the board. From the Los Angeles area itself to the individual rooms of the mansions. Zombies take center stage because they can be torn apart in a thousand and one ways. We’re not just talking about them losing limbs and the like, but we’re paying attention to how a blunt weapon breaks his jaw to see how they’re going to hang on to it, for example. Apart from the cruel punishments, of course. Perhaps there are elements such as fire, water, electricity and others that are not so successful, although I like how the game uses them not only for combat, but also to solve some problems.
With everything we have played, there is still a lot to see in this Dead Island 2. I want to see how the guns are developed, they will also be very modifiable. I still see the vehicles as they were in the first enemies or people. I was not able to test the functions that the game claims to have with Alexa, nor with the cooperation of several players, which was one of the great advantages of the original, and here again to have up to four players with the six available protagonists that we have. they bear
I chose Amia, trying to use her agility, and it’s true that it took me a little longer than necessary to get used to her story type, but when you do it right, kill zombies with one. hit and also recover. Because Dead Island 2 bets on a system of abilities based on trading cards instead of a typical tree progression. This has very interesting connotations, because if we do not like the unlocked ability, we do not lose points, but we can exchange another one that is more suitable for the way we play. A very interesting project plan that completely changes the classical development systems.
Strongly undead doesn’t seem to go out of style
For now, Dead Island 2 surprised me and changed my expectations. While I think it would appear to capture it at its core, when I first played it on the Xbox 360 and after so many similar games I thought the zombie scene was pretty well covered, I came away with a vengeance. . Because crushing the undead never seems to go out of style, yes, but also because I see in it really well-designed missions that make me want to continue my hellish vacation in this Los Angeles.
