![]() Cards that do make a big impact are frustratingly restricted-for example, you can either have the ability to dodge, or to block, you can't have both active at the same time. The game's first big, climactic moment is to literally lock you in a small room with one, with its friends endlessly crawling out of vents to join it, and the resulting tedious encounter is sadly a strong sign of things to come.Ī layer of RPG-like bonuses, in the form of unlockable cards placed in limited slots, seems to be an attempt to elevate the experience, but it's largely too subtle to really change things up. Special zombies stretch this to the limit with their overly high health pools-taking down a Crusher can take a desperately long time, and usually the game will keep respawning lesser zombies until you defeat it, making any attempts to clear the room futile. You can either have the ability to dodge, or to block, you can't have both active at the same time. ![]() Their stumbling attacks are awkward to judge for the timing of dodge-counters and parries, and the first-person view makes it difficult to manage more than one or two at a time without running around them like a loon. Unfortunately the moment when things do collapse into the basic rhythm of light attacks, heavy attacks, and dodges, is the moment you realise that a gaggle of zombies just isn't a fun set of adversaries for a duel. Trying to get the most out of these boxy encounters is often more stressful than exciting, and when things don't work out, you're too frequently just backed into a corner swinging. It gives you precious little space to experiment, and more often than not forces you to clean out all the zombies in front of you to progress. But Dead Island 2's campaign is all about penning you in-if you're not fighting in cramped rooms and corridors, you're at least within garden fences or on a narrow street. In an open world, where you're free to pick your battles, it could've come together into a Dead Rising-style playground-one where when a plan doesn't work out, you can just leg it. The problem, really, is that overall structure. But way too often, it simply fails to gel-and when the game doesn't really have anything else to hang its hook on, it can be really deflating. When it works, it is fun, at least at first-a kind of controlled chaos that makes you feel smart even though your opponents literally don't have functional brains. ![]() It's a really striking technical achievement-though convincing enough that it's very possible it'll make you genuinely queasy.Īll together it does make for a decently layered combat system, even if none of the individual elements are necessarily that original. Zombies come apart in frighteningly convincing layers of skin, fat, muscle, and bone when slain, they can be chopped in half at any angle through the body and you can even expose their jiggling brains in their skulls with a blow to the head. Certainly not a new idea-it goes right back to the original game-but credit does have to be given for easily the most impressive and gruesome gore system I've ever seen. An agile Runner is much less zippy without legs a hulking Crusher's attacks are more limited with its arms disabled. Add craftable elemental weapons into the mix, and it's pleasingly easy to get things burning, electrified, or dissolving in acid.įurther grimy texture comes with the ability to chop off zombie limbs. The zombies are dumb enough to simply shamble into whatever mess you create, and recharging throwable bait makes it even easier to direct them around. When fires get out of control, you can douse them with water-and then electrify that water to stun anyone who walks into it. Jerry cans of oil are littered liberally around, ready to be used as explosives or fuel for flaming traps, and you can even create a flammable trail for more elaborate schemes. Slow, predictable, and fair game to maim and torture with a clean conscience, zombies are a foe to be played with, and the game leans into that with a combat system full of toys. The vision seems to be that Dead Island 2's focus is the pure fun of its zombie battles. It's pleasingly easy to get things burning, electrified, or dissolving in acid.
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