My Dead Island 2 review...
Salvaged from Developmental Hell-A
Dead Island 2 during its developmental hell almost became lost to everyone except for publisher Deep Silver. The 2014 trailer was a nice blend of zombie horror, body horror to Cronenbergian levels, and dark comedy. Then, in 2022, we got a new trailer to the catchy track, “Hollywood Swinging” by Kool and the Gang. Dead Island 2 was going to come out. My only question was will this game suffer from the lack of self-awareness and dated tastelessness that Duke Nukem Forever suffered from? Put it short, no. But Dead Island 2 does have its own shortcomings and frustrations along with its share of strengths.
Dead Island has you play as one of six survivors. For my current turn, I played as Amy, who turns out is considered the worst of the roster (lucky effin’ me!). I picked her because I loved Logan and his throwing weapons ability in the previous games, Dead Island and Dead Island Riptide. I didn’t realize until a decent length into the game that there are no weapons that make sense to throw outside of the curveballs (this game’s version of grenades and IED – more details later). There were no double blades, and the fury system is not at all like that of Dead Island where you have default weapons that reflect the characters’ skills. In fury mode in Dead Island, Logan threw infinite double blades until the timer ran out. Fury in Dead Island 2 doesn’t function like that. You mainly use your hands to claw enemies and can equip abilities like a scream, slam your fists into the ground, or spit acid (the Xenomorph kind, not the Timothy Leary kind).
Even worse, there was no boomerang perk, the best of Logan’s skill tree perks. You throw a weapon at enemies and they would return to you. This would happen more frequently the more you invested in that skill tree. Alas, there are no skill trees in Dead Island 2. They use a card system. Whether all characters get the same cards, I won’t know until I try one of the other slayers.
The game is not so much one giant open world for Hell-A as it is 10 large HUBs. Bel-Air, Venice Beach, Beverly Hills, a film studio, your generic sewers, a fancy hotel, a shopping mall, etc. Which is fine, since it helps the game run better as opposed to the plentiful of slow down that was a hindrance in the previous games. No vehicles this time either, but the use of HUBs makes that absence not so bad.
The story to Dead Island 2 is okay. You find out that you are immune to the zombie virus that has been plaguing the area for a number of weeks. You have to get to a doctor who wants to use your blood to create a cure to the zombie plague. But, if you’ve ever seen any zombie media, you know there are ulterior motives. But, in the off chance this is your first experience with zombie media…let me offer an “oopsie, sorry”.
The main story is a decent 24 missions with plenty of side quests and some called “lost and found” that require some investigation and exploration, which were a lovely touch. A great use of the environment and a nice break from the hack and slash and fetch quests that make up a lot of the missions. Overall, the side quests were a lot of fun…except for one side character.
Amanda Styles is the bane of my enjoyment of this game. Any subsequent playthroughs, I will completely ignore her. She is a caricature of the social media influencer. Don’t get me wrong, I appreciate a game that takes a jab at the superficial, condescending personalities that made contemporary social media a proverbial cesspool. She represents the social media joke going on for too long.
The GOAT pen in Bel-Air was the perfect means of satire with its environmental storytelling. You have the green screens, the room full of monitors. The best bit was the whiteboard with a scripted apology, complete with notes of when to cry or pause. Immediately, I thought of everyone’s favorite waste of oxygen and childbirth strain, Logan Paul, and his staged apology for his trip to a Japanese suicide forest.
Her missions were the most infuriating and highlighted the absence of a gameplay mechanic that Dying Light mastered six years ago. One of her mission objectives is to YEET zombies off a pier. Here, you must lure zombies to be near the edge of a pier and dropkick them off the pier. At the same time, you are constantly surrounded by zombies.
A downside to the use of the dropkick is if the zombie is killed by the dropkick before it’s launched off the pier, it doesn’t qualify towards the kill count. Here is where the game could’ve used the Dying Light mechanic of a grapple. This is a reversal that allows you to throw a zombie to your side. I’ve used this mechanic plenty of times in Dying Light to throw zombies off rooftops, and it never gets old.
Amanda shows up post-story mode with a mission that is just a horde mode, and illustrates another annoying element to Dead Island 2. When you die, you restart from a checkpoint, but without your resources (ammo, health packs, weapon duration) being reset to where they were at the checkpoint. So, now I need to hunt around and replenish my money, ammo, and materials to repair my weapons.
So, avoid Amanda Styles at all costs!
Another new thing is cooldown for what are known as curveballs. Curveballs consist of throwable weapons (i.e. ninja stars, Molotov cocktails, various explosives). Instead of crafting like one did for deo-bombs, molotovs, and meat bait, you throw one and it’s on a cooldown before you can use it again. I was the type of player who would craft dozens of deo-bombs and exploding meat to even the odds against decent sized zombie hordes. Not having that required me to change my play style, for the better though.
The multiplayer leaves much to be desired. If you’re on a PS5, then no problem for you. Us, previous gen folks, are SOL. We can’t host games. We can only join in on PS5 hosted games. Only cross-generational, not cross-platforming. Still scratching my head on that one.
Sound and music wise, it’s fine. Sad to not hear Phil LaMarr reprise the role of Sam B. The music doesn’t stand other than the ironic use of “Sad Wedding” by Marvin Gaye and Tammi Terell. The ambient droning that fills the moments between battles is a fine mood setter.
I’m not going to speak much for the graphics. If I can make out what’s happening, that’s all I need. I grew up on a regular Nintendo Entertainment System, so graphics are the least of my interests or worries. But the game does have some awesome gore, like Youtube Demonitization gore. The elemental weapons put the burnt flesh, guts, blood, and bodily deterioration in your face. If you’re a horror fan and not squeamish by a little claret, you’ll love it.
While fast traveling, the game will give you the option of either day or night. The only reason why I could see anyone opting for night is for tension and suspense. Certainly not for stealth because this game barely has stealth mechanics. I always go with daytime because then I can see my enemies while being able to appreciate the rich colorful and visually vibrant environments.
There were a few notable easter eggs, some already discussed in several YouTube videos. The obvious one being the tribute to filmmaker George A Romero (Night of the Living Dead, Dawn of the Dead, Creepshow) with the Romero rewards. One that I see not mentioned a lot was the brand of the pianos through out Bel-Air and Beverly Hills: Hisaishi and Ennio. This is a reference to the iconic film score composers Joe Hisaishi (films of Hayao Miyazaki) and Ennio Morricone (the films of Sergio Leone). A nice touch for fans of the previous Dead Island games is Sam B talking about his fellow slayers.
The game’s asking price for the basic edition of 70 dollars USD may turn off a lot of people. This is not the extensive experience that the previous Dead Islands were. The previous games clocked in around 40-45 hours with a 99 level cap. This is roughly 30 hours, including all side quests, with a level cap of 30.
I’ve paced myself with this game, and that helped me feel like I got my money’s worth. But, if you’re going to wait for a sale, I can’t blame you. You do what’s best for your wallet. Dead Island 2 will be a game like Darkest Dungeon, Dead Island, and Fallout 4 where I will drop thousands of hours into it while listening to podcasts and YouTube videos.
-Mackenzie Lambert