![]() DI2 adds the ability to block or dodge attacks. ![]() Like the original Dead Island, you do much of your fighting in Dead Island 2 with melee weapons, which range from bits of debris to military hardware. The higher your level, the more cards you can equip at once. Each card provides a specific passive bonus or active skill, such as unlocking a powerful drop kick that can send normal zombies flying. Instead of a traditional talent tree, characters in DI2 have access to a suite of skill cards, which you can earn by leveling or finding in the environment. I played the most as Carla, a motocross biker and mechanic who's made to soak up damage and only gets stronger as her health drops Amy, conversely, is a glass cannon who's designed to pick off single targets. You're having the time of your life, and if you can do some good along the way, so much the better.Įach character has their own pre-set stats, such as better damage resistance or increased movement speed, which don't change over the course of play. In Dead Island 2, you aren't some desperate chump searching for an escape route. Most of the playable "Slayers" are sports fanatics and/or adrenaline junkies – a roller derby girl, a Paralympic athlete, a stuntman – so they treat their newfound immunity like it's their superhero origin story. That ends up setting the tone for a lot of DI2. On the assumption that your antibodies might help create a cure and/or get you a ticket out of town, you set out into the newly-christened "Hell-A" to find someone to help. After one of the other evacuees turns out to be infected, the subsequent plane crash leaves you and a handful of other survivors trapped in southern California.īright side: you get bitten at the crash site, then discover that you're apparently immune to the virus. You play as one of six characters who get onto the last flight out of L.A., either legitimately or by sneaking into the cargo hold. ![]() The American military is called in to evacuate civilians, but a major earthquake hits at exactly the right time to screw up the rescue effort. It's got some of that weird, off-kilter Rockstar flavor.ĭI2 is set a few months after the outbreaks in Dead Island, when the same zombie virus abruptly pops up in Los Angeles. The game's Creative Director, James Worrall, was a writer on several Grand Theft Auto games, and finding that out made a lot about DI2 make more sense to me. This isn't meant as a criticism, but DI2 is a very different overall experience from the original Dead Island. By turns, it's a horror game, a bloody beat-'em-up, and a pitch-black satire of stereotypical California life, with occasional moments of pathos or insanity. You're set loose in post-outbreak southern California to, in no particular order, dropkick zombies, find a way out, and have a good time. You might've been having fun smacking zombies around with an electrified shovel, but the characters were engaged in a tense fight for survival, and acted like it.ĭead Island 2, by comparison, is a hyper-violent theme park. While that trailer doesn't give you a good idea of what to expect from the actual game, much of Dead Island's impact did come from the contrast between its idyllic island setting and the brutality of its gameplay. The original Dead Island games under Techland famously leaned into their tragic elements, right from the first game's famous debut trailer. After getting several hours in, it's not what I expected. ![]() I got into a closed preview for Dead Island 2, where I was given several days to play as much as possible. The project continued under Sumo Digital until 2019, when Deep Silver tapped its internal studio Dambuster ( Homefront: The Revolution, Chorus) to take Dead Island 2, at long last, across the finish line. After original developer Techland parted ways with publisher Deep Silver over creative differences, Deep Silver tapped Yager ( Spec Ops: The Line) for a sequel before canceling that version in 2015. ![]()
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