All the DLC (barring the Ryder White’s Campaign and Bloodbath Arena DLC in the first game) consists of simply a few extra weapons and clothing options. There isn’t much in terms of new content for returning players.
Dead island 2 reviews mods#
Every weapon in the game degrades after use, so you have to frequently maintain them by going to workshops where you can also make weapon mods based on objects you find in the environment. There’s also a small assortment of guns, from pistols to shotguns, but the gunplay still feels very clunky in comparison. It’s a feeling that never got old, even if the overall game did at points. It’s always satisfying when a particularly effective hit breaks a bone or dismembers a zombie. The core of Dead Island’s gameplay, and arguably the highlight, is the melee combat. The island is filled with a large variety of weapons including paddles, knives, axes, hammers, bats, and more all of which you can use while facing off against the hordes of undead. If I had a nickel for every time I noticed Sam B’s chain go through his chest or witnessed a dismembered zombie part randomly float in midair, I’d probably have enough money to buy something off a fast-food value menu. Hit-boxes are inconsistent, sound effects will just cut abruptly, and there are visual glitches galore. It also doesn’t help that there are still dozens of technical problems. That being said, the characters still have a strange, dead-eyed glare in cutscenes, giving them that creepy mannequin look and feature mostly awful voice acting. In addition, characters don’t look as blocky as they did in their original versions. The lush environments are varied and fairly impressive, from the exotic resort of the first game to the flooded shantytowns featured in Riptide. None of it is ever particularly engaging, and all the characters are just vague tropes and stereotypes you’ve seen done better a million times in better games.īoth games received some much-needed visual upgrades for this collection. The plot elements are just loosely stitched together between bouts of zombie killing. You’re on an island during a zombie outbreak and you meet up with survivors and try to escape said island. The plots of both games are nearly identical: You play as one of four (or in Riptide’s case, five) characters whose backstories are completely arbitrary to the story (barring weapon preference). But does it have enough to make it a vacation worth revisiting?ĭead Island: Definitive Collection features the two main games in the franchise: Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide.
Regardless, the game sold well enough to start a franchise, and fast-forward a few years later, Techland and Deep Silver have decided to follow the trend of re-mastering last-gen games to current consoles. The final product was decidedly not that. Like everyone else, I was initially sold on Dead Island through its now-infamous trailer giving off the vibe that it would be a more emotional take on the zombie game.