It's hard to say if its an improvement over the first Dead Island game. a part of me thinks it is, but again maybe I'm just sick of the first game and wanted a new experience. the mechanics are largely kept the same as the first game. except you feel more powerful in this one. for example it starts you off with a pretty strong weapon and there appears to be more weapons in general. It's hard to point out the distinct differences between the two games. Just a continuation really.
It follows the same basic formula as the first game too, where the first half is all melee combat and item fetching, and the second half introduces guns a blazing and from there on out its just gun battles. Really both this and the original dead island just feel like the same thing, and this is just a continuation. Dead Island is a decent game if you want to just chat with a friend on mic and play through a campaign without much struggle or frustration. but it doesn't really do anything out standing. Theres a few different enemy types but they are just archetypal strong guys and weak guys. And you eventually come across humans that shoot at you which is a nice change of pace.
The character selection is pretty weak too. None of them are appealing and they lock you into very confined ways of playing. Do you want to use blades or blunt weapons? Why is there even a 'firearms expert' class when you dont even get firearms until 60% of the campaign. My friend choose the firearms class only to be stuck half of the campaign without one. Whats the point of that?
There are skill trees but they are pretty mindless direct upgrades. Not much thought involved. More damage, more survivability. . The graphics and physics engine are decent, the melee combat is satisfying at times breaking limbs and has some real impact. The story is utterly forgettable and generic as hell. The setting is probably the best part. The 'Far Cry' style tropical island with appealing sights and sounds and then the stark contrast of the undead. such a setting can make the graphics really shine.
There are a few boss fights which can peak the adrenaline for a moment so a nice change of pace. You can drive around the big open map with your friend in the passenger, although the driving is shit its still pretty cool crusing around.
Theres some really obnoxious boat sections where the undead can drag you out of the boat if you dont perform a quicktime event in time.
Level design is nothing memorable at all but it isn't bad. Tropical island, sewers, office type indoor shootout buildings.. prison complex.. absolutely nothing standout but it serves the gameplay.
It was pretty satisfying finding all these new melee weapons and upgrading them over time and seeing them enhance and do more damage and cut limbs off faster and such.
So as mentioned the first half of the game you'll be doing melee, and the second half introduces a big arsenal of weapons assult rifles shotguns pistols etc so you'll be utilizing some of that too. Theres a pretty annoying defense section where you have to wait on something on a rooftop and I'm pretty sure it bugged out on us and we had to reset. The game is prone to just bugging out at times and you have to reset the last checkpoint..
overall its a barely above average first person shooter/melee open world CO OP game ... note CO OP as its the sole saving grace. Solo I would say this is barely worth a play, but the co op experience boosts it above average because itsmostly a painless experience to play through an open world campaign with a friend, and not many games allow that.
5/10
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