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 really materialize, contemplating that the event modified fingers no less than twice during the last 12 years. Should you’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 known as Hell-A) residents boarding a airplane by means of completely different means. Some purchased their means on the flight, whereas others sneak on or use trickery. That is the final airplane out of an overrun LA, however one thing dangerous 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 means of what stays of the airplane ultimately leads them to the remainder of the survivors, together with famous person Emma Jaunt. Nonetheless, her standing as a star means she rapidly abandons the realm, leaving you to guard the one different individuals alive. Whilst you combat valiantly, you continue to find yourself bitten. True to type with the unique video games, you uncover you might be really 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 every part Ryan needed to say. His snippy wit and indignant retorts had me in a relentless good temper when he’d converse up throughout a quest or in response to an NPC. It’s undoubtedly potential the opposite slayers aren’t as enjoyable, however I no less than occurred to make a good selection.

In all ways in which matter, Useless Island 2 is someway simply… extra Useless Island. Regardless of the lengthy stint in growth hell and the developer switches, the top outcome remains to be a recreation that delivers on the expertise of the unique. You continue to have an finish aim as you wander by means of 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 instances, you’ll be pressured to scour an space for one single factor that’s annoyingly well-hidden. Whereas the bounds have 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 ignored. On high of that, often, you’ll have to kill all the zombies in an space as your complete goal, however in the event you die, you must restart the entire part.

Fight is unimaginable 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 harm results and the sport’s nice motion, I by no means felt this get to me, however others won’t 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 means within the first recreation. Weapon sturdiness does return, although, and I barely want it hadn’t.

At first, once you’re caught with solely low-durability choices, they break very simply. This implies you might be typically pressured to make use of one thing you perhaps didn’t wish to or aren’t conversant in. On the brilliant facet of that, weapons really feel properly acceptable to their kind and are divided into a number of classes so you will 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 important harm (crowbars, sure knives). I used a good crowbar for a bit of the sport as a result of seeing the contact yellow harm numbers of a crit could be very satisfying. Usually charging up a heavy assault will sluggish you down, however Headhunter weapons don’t have that situation, letting you consistently regain one of the best 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 proper hit to fling a zombie to the bottom is their promoting level, however heavy assaults usually focus extra on outright harm.

Maiming weapons are for going proper for the limbs however are virtually totally ineffective in head-based assaults. Absolutely anything with a pointy blade counts as a maiming weapon, so it’s the commonest kind you’ll discover. In case you are wanting fast assaults that may simply take out the legs of each zombie in a crowd, these are what to concentrate on.

The final group is the Frenzy weapons that concentrate on their quick assault energy to hit tougher. Their complete profit is that fast assaults will set off important hits anyplace on a zombie, which can, in flip, buff their assault pace. If you wish to concentrate on DPS, Frenzy weapons are a good selection, 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 among 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 huge harm. Numerous the sport turns into methods to hold that fury gauge ability topped as much as unleash everytime you’re in a pinch. Although, it takes a good chunk of the story for this to unlock, which makes it actually potential gamers may really feel the repetitive nature of the sport set in somewhat too arduous earlier than issues begin to change up.

Useless Island 2 additionally options weapons much more closely than both earlier recreation. The quantity of ammo you’ll be able to maintain for every kind by no means will increase in any means, making preservation the final 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 nicely that I often forgot I wasn’t in an FPS like Again 4 Blood or Left 4 Useless.

One of many worst elements of the unique Useless Island was that you would be effortlessly knocked to the bottom if a zombie interrupted an assault. Fortuitously, that function 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 cope with and usually isn’t all that frequent.

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

Nonetheless, cash is a slight situation. 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 notably unfair when the restore prices for one among my finest 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 may gather all of the weapons you couldn’t decide up robotically once you go away a zone, much like Borderlands 3’s Misplaced Loot machine. This additionally applies to thrown weapons you both don’t gather or can’t find. After all, it additionally features a part so that you can retailer gear manually you don’t wish to maintain however nonetheless wish to hold.

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

Character development this time round has additionally been modified. Every little thing now works totally by equipping particular ability playing cards relatively than using a ability tree and factors. It is a good system as a result of playing cards may be simply swapped, and it allows you to create a particular construct that you just’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 potential, and there are many playing cards to earn on level-ups or loot from zombies.

To maintain this from feeling stale, as gamers will doubtless have principally the identical playing cards up till a sure level, Useless Island 2 introduces the Autophage mechanics. Sure ability playing cards add to Autophage (usually for a stable profit) to fill a three-segment gauge. This makes you stronger and augments your fury ability, 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, however it was a pleasant addition if you wish to play up giving into the an infection.

The zombies themselves are fairly unimaginable as nicely. Whereas there are actually repeated fashions all over, 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 really watch a zombie face break on account of mentioned 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 sorts are launched earlier than you get your first gun. This implies you must study their patterns with melee earlier than getting the prospect to combat them the simple means. 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 combating in a prolonged battle.

The sport additionally introduces Screamers and Slobbers that in all probability do precisely what you assume. The screamers entice zombies however may be silenced briefly with a curveball or (later) a gun. Slobbers are your introduction to caustic harm after having dealt purely with hearth and electrical energy as much as that time. The primary boss combat 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. Outdoors of secure areas, you aren’t actually ever secure. However that is confirmed by means of means which can be form of annoying. You possibly can open doorways within the recreation however can’t shut them. If you need a particular reprieve from the combating (which is comprehensible), your solely choices are the secure areas.

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

Useless Island 2 ought to function a shining instance for each video games that make it out of growth hell and sequels with an enormous time hole. In contrast to in some circumstances, I didn’t simply get a zombie recreation that had the Useless Island title slapped on it, I really obtained extra of the sport I wished. 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 at any time when I’ve thought again on the primary recreation in my head during the last decade, Useless Island 2 is completely the sport I’ve pictured. If solely extra sequels could possibly be this expertly made.

Reviewer: Cameron Waldrop | Award: Editor’s Selection | Copy offered by Writer.

Execs

• Terrific fight mechanics and weapon sorts.
• Nice weapon crafting.
• Superior gore visuals.
• Ability playing cards enable 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 somewhat wonky.
• Cash dropped by zombies doesn’t scale up with development.
• Overused quest goals may be annoying.
• Some gamers may really feel slowed down by a number of 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