Dead Island 2 Review – Painting the Town Dead

Useless Island 2 on PS5

I in all probability ought to begin this off by saying I’m a giant fan of the unique Useless Island video games. I additionally way back gave up hope that this sequel would ever truly materialize, contemplating that the event modified fingers a minimum of twice over the past 12 years. For those who’ve been aching for some zombie gore and exploration as a lot as I’ve throughout that point, then Useless Island 2 might need precisely what you want.

Useless Island 2 begins with a handful of Los Angeles (humorously referred to as Hell-A) residents boarding a airplane by completely different means. Some purchased their method on the flight, whereas others sneak on or use trickery. That is the final airplane out of an overrun LA, however one thing unhealthy inevitably occurs, and the airplane crashes. Your chosen survivor/slayer (from a alternative of six) wakes up nonetheless within the wreckage however very damage.

Their path by what stays of the airplane ultimately leads them to the remainder of the survivors, together with famous person Emma Jaunt. Nevertheless, her standing as a star means she rapidly abandons the realm, leaving you to guard the one different individuals alive. When you battle valiantly, you continue to find yourself bitten. True to kind with the unique video games, you uncover you might be truly immune and resolve to make use of that immunity to assist.

In my first playthrough, I went with Ryan, a stripper who pretends to be a firefighter to slide onto the exfil airplane. I don’t know if it’s been the bad string of protagonists with awful dialogue, however I loved all the pieces Ryan needed to say. His snippy wit and indignant retorts had me in a continuing good temper when he’d converse up throughout a quest or in response to an NPC. It’s undoubtedly doable the opposite slayers aren’t as enjoyable, however I a minimum of occurred to make a sensible choice.

In all ways in which matter, Useless Island 2 is in some way simply… extra Useless Island. Regardless of the lengthy stint in improvement hell and the developer switches, the tip consequence continues to be a recreation that delivers on the expertise of the unique. You continue to have an finish aim as you wander by a number of zones doing varied quests for a bunch of individuals as you hack aside zombies with modified weaponry.

Whereas there are only a few duties that might fall into fetch quest territory, the sport does reuse a number of goals over the course of the sport. Greater than a few occasions, you’ll be compelled to scour an space for one single factor that’s annoyingly well-hidden. Whereas the bounds had been at all times clearly set of the place to go looking, the figuring out icon on your goal is simply too small and simply missed. On prime of that, often, you’ll have to kill all the zombies in an space as your entire goal, however in the event you die, it’s important to restart the entire part.

Fight is unbelievable and nowhere close to as stilted as the unique, however nonetheless does boil all the way down to mashing R2 to win. Between the visible injury results and the sport’s nice motion, I by no means felt this get to me, however others may not have the identical expertise. The stamina system has been absolutely reworked, so solely heavy assaults are affected by it. This implies infinite fast assaults and kicks, each issues that drained stamina in a really annoying method within the first recreation. Weapon sturdiness does return, although, and I barely want it hadn’t.

To start with, whenever you’re caught with solely low-durability choices, they break very simply. This implies you might be typically compelled to make use of one thing you possibly didn’t need to or aren’t aware of. On the brilliant aspect of that, weapons really feel properly applicable to their sort and are divided into a number of classes so you may get a deal with on the way it will deal with if it’s one thing new you haven’t used but.

There are the Headhunter weapons that do elevated essential injury (crowbars, sure knives). I used an honest crowbar for a piece of the sport as a result of seeing the contact yellow injury numbers of a crit could be very satisfying. Usually charging up a heavy assault will gradual you down, however Headhunter weapons don’t have that subject, letting you always regain the perfect angle.

After that, you’ve obtained the Bulldozer weapons. These are supposed to knock zombies down and away and are normally two-handed weapons like a sledgehammer or baseball bat. Scoring simply the suitable hit to fling a zombie to the bottom is their promoting level, however heavy assaults usually focus extra on outright injury.

Maiming weapons are for going proper for the limbs however are virtually fully ineffective in head-based assaults. Absolutely anything with a pointy blade counts as a maiming weapon, so it’s the most typical sort you’ll discover. If you’re wanting fast assaults that may simply take out the legs of each zombie in a crowd, these are what to deal with.

The final group is the Frenzy weapons that concentrate on their quick assault energy to hit tougher. Their entire profit is that fast assaults will set off essential hits wherever on a zombie, which can, in flip, buff their assault pace. If you wish to deal with DPS, Frenzy weapons are a sensible choice, however not one thing I discovered myself sticking to as I most well-liked the direct objective of the maiming weapons. It helps that one in all Ryan’s particular distinctive abilities was well being regeneration upon knocking a zombie to the bottom, and nothing does that higher than eradicating a leg.

The unique Useless Island gave each character a particular Fury assault that was distinctive to them, however Useless Island 2 removes a few of that uniqueness. As a substitute, the Fury assault briefly turns you right into a monster, tearing and slashing at enemies to regain well being and do massive injury. Quite a lot of the sport turns into the best way to hold that fury gauge talent topped as much as unleash everytime you’re in a pinch. Although, it takes an honest chunk of the story for this to unlock, which makes it actually doable gamers would possibly really feel the repetitive nature of the sport set in a bit too arduous earlier than issues begin to change up.

Useless Island 2 additionally options weapons way more closely than both earlier recreation. The quantity of ammo you’ll be able to maintain for every sort by no means will increase in any method, making preservation the last word aim. For this, I caught to a Sporting Rifle, like the primary weapon you get within the recreation. This semi-auto rifle that hit arduous was the best to protect ammo whereas getting the utmost profit for every weapon shot, and so simply made essentially the most logical sense in my conservative strategy to creating each bullet depend. Actually, weapons dealt with so properly that I often forgot I wasn’t in an FPS like Again 4 Blood or Left 4 Useless.

One of many worst features of the unique Useless Island was that you would be effortlessly knocked to the bottom if a zombie interrupted an assault. Happily, that characteristic didn’t return. It has as an alternative been traded for a fast time occasion everytime you get grabbed, which isn’t all that powerful to take care of and usually isn’t all that frequent.

All weapons may be outfitted with elemental mods or special perks that may improve sure traits like injury and sturdiness. There are much more heavy-duty ones that may restore well being by attacking or enable you to deal extra injury, particularly to limbs. The good factor about weapons is that they by no means change into ineffective. You possibly can pay a (reasonably costly) sum and match the weapon as much as no matter stage you might be on the time.

Nevertheless, cash is a slight subject. The quantity you get from zombies actually by no means adjustments. Even after the story closed out and I may nonetheless roam Hell-A, they might nonetheless solely reward me with round $30-40. This felt significantly unfair when the restore prices for one in all my greatest weapons was $3700 and the extent match was $20,000.

Fortunately, there are many extra weapons being dropped by enemies or hidden inside the world to promote. You get 16 stock slots, and when these refill, there’s a storage locker that can accumulate all of the weapons you couldn’t choose up routinely whenever you go away a zone, just like Borderlands 3’s Misplaced Loot machine. This additionally applies to thrown weapons you both don’t accumulate or can’t find. In fact, it additionally features a part so that you can retailer gear manually you don’t need to maintain however nonetheless need to hold.

Probably the greatest new options is a sizeable group of throwable weapons (completely different from regular weapons you’ll be able to throw) referred to as Curveballs. These are issues like shuriken or grenades that don’t have a restrict. You have got an infinite inventory, however they work through a cooldown. It at all times feels nice to get the Curveball again at simply the suitable second to demolish a bunch of encroaching undead.

Character development this time round has additionally been modified. The whole lot now works fully by equipping particular talent playing cards reasonably than using a talent tree and factors. This can be a good system as a result of playing cards may be simply swapped, and it allows you to create a selected construct that you simply’re proud of utilizing. Would you want extra bonuses for maiming zombies? What about augmenting sure non-weapon assaults like kicks? All of that is simply doable, and there are many playing cards to earn on level-ups or loot from zombies.

To maintain this from feeling stale, as gamers will probably have largely the identical playing cards up till a sure level, Useless Island 2 introduces the Autophage mechanics. Sure talent playing cards add to Autophage (usually for a stable profit) to fill a three-segment gauge. This makes you stronger and augments your fury talent, however diving too far into this makes you much less human and lowers different stats. You aren’t locked into this at any level, as playing cards can at all times be swapped, but it surely was a pleasant addition if you wish to play up giving into the an infection.

The zombies themselves are fairly unbelievable as properly. Whereas there are actually repeated fashions everywhere, that by no means mattered. It at all times felt good to smash a baseball bat right into a zombie’s face. The gore mechanics on this recreation are loopy, too. You possibly can truly watch a zombie face break attributable to stated baseball bat, and it’s grisly.

The essential zombies are the walker and the shambler, with the latter being the weakest of all of them and simply killed with solely a few good hits. Issues shift dramatically when the particular contaminated come into play, and three of the 5 varieties are launched earlier than you get your first gun. This implies it’s important to study their patterns with melee earlier than getting the possibility to battle them the simple method. The Crusher is a hulking monster, and it takes fairly a bit to make them take a knee in between all their ground-pound assaults. Upon studying the Fury assault, 90% of the time, I used it to kill a Crusher that I didn’t really feel like preventing in a prolonged battle.

The sport additionally introduces Screamers and Slobbers that in all probability do precisely what you suppose. The screamers entice zombies however may be silenced briefly with a curveball or (later) a gun. Slobbers are your introduction to caustic injury after having dealt purely with fireplace and electrical energy as much as that time. The primary boss battle with one was in all probability one of many hardest fights of the entire recreation, however very rewarding.

Zombie spawns are additionally the one factor that irked me within the recreation. Exterior of secure areas, you aren’t actually ever secure. However that is confirmed by means which are type of annoying. You possibly can open doorways within the recreation however can’t shut them. If you would like a particular reprieve from the preventing (which is comprehensible), your solely choices are the secure areas.

Regardless of cleansing out a home, there’s at all times the possibility that zombies may have spawned inside someplace, and they’ll immediately simply discover you. I’d discover zombies in locations they fully shouldn’t be, and that barely bothered me. On the brilliant aspect, there’s completely by no means a scarcity of zombies to battle or kill in artistic methods.

Useless Island 2 ought to function a shining instance for each video games that make it out of improvement hell and sequels with an enormous time hole. Not like in some circumstances, I didn’t simply get a zombie recreation that had the Useless Island title slapped on it, I truly obtained extra of the sport I needed. I’m positive a few of my love for the unique is all the way down to nostalgia, and I may in all probability by no means return to it. However each time I’ve thought again on the primary recreation in my head over the past decade, Useless Island 2 is totally the sport I’ve pictured. If solely extra sequels could possibly be this expertly made.

Reviewer: Cameron Waldrop | Award: Editor’s Alternative | Copy supplied by Writer.

Execs

• Terrific fight mechanics and weapon varieties.
• Nice weapon crafting.
• Superior gore visuals.
• Ability playing cards permit gamers to make their very own builds.
• Entertaining major character dialogue.
• Reworked stamina system from unique recreation.
• Curveball weapons are a recreation changer.
• No scarcity of zombies to slay.

Cons

• Zombie spawns are a bit wonky.
• Cash dropped by zombies doesn’t scale up with development.
• Overused quest goals may be annoying.
• Some gamers would possibly really feel slowed down by among the video games repetitive nature.

Launch Date
April 21, 2023

Developer
Dambuster Studios

Writer
Deep Silver

Consoles
PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Collection X|S, PC