Game Preview: Dead Island 2

The most blood-thirsty action-packed survival game ever, “Dead Island 2,” will be coming soon this year and is available for PC, PlayStation 4, and Xbox One.

The latest installment in the Dead Island series is being developed by Yager, a Berlin-based studio responsible for Spec Ops: The Line. Previous Dead Island games were created by Techland, who turned out games that looked great in the trailers, but were released riddled with glitches and offering disappointing gameplay.

Thanks to Yager’s creative genius, Dead Island 2 looks to be a whole different beast.

Set in California, the game is full of light, with palm trees wafting in the breeze as you take on a sea of zombies. The game's main storyline is set several months after the events of Dead Island and Escape Dead Island. Combining the classic Dead Island elements of immersive close combat, action and role-playing, Dead Island 2 features crazy, handcrafted weapons and over-the-top characters in taking players from the iconic Golden Gate to the celebrated beachfront boardwalk of southern California’s Venice Beach. In the full game, you’ll be able to play across San Francisco, Venice Beach, Hollywood, Santa Monica, Los Angeles Golf Course and the LA River.

Gameplay

The zombies are much the same. Each class has its own distinct characteristics and attack style. In the preview we came across a variety of zombie enemies. There were the standard Walkers, which are pretty useless on their own but can be lethal in groups. The Runners are the more recently turned zombie horde and therefore still have most of their muscle matter left. They’re a bit faster and stronger than the Walkers.

Around key resource areas there’s also the Suiciders: horrid, puss-filled zombies that explode on close contact.

Finally, there were the big, muscular Thugs.

These rugby player types will require a team takedown unless you get creative with your surroundings. What we particularly liked about the Thugs is that you can see the impact marks of your melee attacks and shots across their chunky bodies, even at this early stage of development. There isn’t the precise dismemberment system found in the original Dead Island in this iteration, but you will see a lot more zombies on screen at once.

To take on these zombies, you’ll need to take control of one of the game’s four central characters. Ryan is the berserker and although is a little slow on his feet, can pack quite a punch thanks to his sheer strength. Then there’s Dani, the speeder. She’s far more nimble and focused on maneuvering enemies rather than going for the jugular straight off. The aim of the demo was to hack and slash your way through as many zombies as possible, but completing a few checkpoints along the way.

The combat is still reassuringly brutal, but seems a lot more refined than previous games. That’s down in part to the crafting mods, which will be a major part of the game, but also because of the new kick ability. When you’re being overrun you can kick out at zombies to give yourself some reloading space, or just enough time to charge up a more powerful blow. For example, if you combine two melee attacks when playing as Ryan, he uses his hammer to punt the zombies into the air for a one hit kill with great comic effect. Another useful tool is kicking a zombie in the legs, then while they’re downed, spin them round and knife them in the back. Dani’s particularly good at this and it comes in very handy during combat.

Also, a nice touch is the change in melee attack when coming at a zombie when running. Instead of swinging back the weapon, both Ryan and Dani perform a kind of jabbing action to pierce zombies with the knife or give them a winding with the axe, letting you take that second, skyrocketing swing.

What’s refreshing about Dead Island 2 is that it’s not trying to be anything it’s not. It isn’t going to be the cinematic zombie game like "The Last of Us: Remastered," or the emotion-laden "Specs Ops: The Line."

Dead Island 2 is zombie whack-a-mole with plenty of blood, gore and guts. Dead Island 2 has the potential to be the defining Dead island title. It’s fun, absolutely stunning and has all the blood and gore zombie killers could want.

Dead Island 2 could be just the next best game we’ve been waiting for.

You can head over to my #GWPStore and Pre-Order #DeadIsland2 before it comes out now!

1st Video Credits: GameNews PlayStation

2nd Video Credits: Connected Digital World

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