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Dead Island 2 Preview - PAX Prime 2014

We get another look at the new entry in the zombie franchise

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Zombies, right? When Dead Island 2 was announced this year at E3, it was clear that Deep Silver was counting on players to still be invested in the whole slicing and dicing of the undead thing. You can read more about our initial impressions in the Dead Island 2 E3 Preview, when we got to see the game back in June. The most notable changes being a shift in development to Yager Games, best known for Spec Ops: The Line, and moving the game world to California. Yeah, that’s right. Dead Island 2 isn’t actually on an island anymore.

Zombie California isn’t a bad move for the series. As I started my hands-on time with the game, I was thrown into an arena of sorts with invisible walls and no clear objectives. The game’s initial atmosphere was a quiet (a little too quiet) suburban neighborhood drenched in the orange light of the setting sun. Arriving exclusively on next-gen consoles, Dead Island 2 is really looking to make use of high quality lighting effects, showing off the pacific state in all of its glory. Ahead of me was a gas station which seemed like as good a place to investigate as any. These locales could serve Dead Island 2 nicely, the natural layout of California providing variety and familiarity in the right amount of doses.

Dead Island 2

Populating this picturesque scene are the wandering undead, standing between me and the gas station, clearly an obstacle I’d have to work around. There are other people playing with me, but no one seems to be talking to each other. If there are roles to facilitate or teamwork required, it’s not evident. We all seemed to be trying to get the hang of the game.

Messing around with the controls quickly grabbed the attention of the zombies, and that calm peaceful feeling was quickly vanquished. Swiftly, we adapt to the game’s controls as zombies start swarming toward us. The game gifted me a sledgehammer to start with and I didn’t plan to squander the weapon. The large and cumbersome hammer isn’t perfect for slicing and dicing, and my strikes have to be well-timed and precise. Some of the zombies are slow and harmless, but others will run and chase. The most dangerous is the bomber, with green acidic growths, which explodes when the zombie is killed.

After a quick search, the gas station didn’t seem to have anything useful in it. In fact, the only thing it seemed to have in abundance was zombies. I backed out and found a hardware store, which had the potential to be more useful. There was a tank zombie waiting for me inside and after a couple blows from him, I realized I wouldn’t be able to take him toe to toe. I ran around the hardware store and switched out my sledgehammer for an axe, which gave me a little more speed, trading off for less damage.

Dead Island 2

The hardware store was instantly more helpful than the gas station, filled with pieces of electrical equipment, which I used to upgrade my shotgun. Using my newly crafted weapon, I blasted a few zombies to try it out, immobilizing them with an electric shock. Using this upgrade, me and one of my teammates worked together to bring down the tank zombie in the hardware store.

No sooner had we left the scene of battle than our objective changed from pointless wandering to defending a barrier to the town which was under attack. Following indicators on the screen, me and my teammates headed to the appropriate location where the game was preparing to throw wave after wave of undead at us.

There are moments of Dead Island 2 which are sheer chaos. Dozens of zombies came spilling in from all angles. Overwhelming me, they were able to grab hold and in return I snap their neck by hitting a button prompt. I could also use a melee attack to kick them away, but there were so many, it was hard not to get surrounded. It became a matter of keeping on the move and firing away with my shotgun. When my bullets would run out, I pulled out my trusty sledgehammer and tried to sneak in some quick hits while keeping my distance. Big, fat zombies joined the fight, slow but hard to bring down. They lumbered around, inviting me to come in close and take my chances.

Dead Island 2

Luckily, it's about this time I discovered a rage mode my character could go into. I pressed the left bumper to trigger the special attack and for a few minutes I was dealing massive damage while taking very little. It only lasted for a few seconds, but I could build the meter back up by hacking away at more zombies, taking out the slower and weaker guys, in order to build up my special attack to use against the bigger ones.

The game moved fast and fluid. It didn’t offer the verticality of Dying Light, but what it lacked in traversal it made up for by the sheer volume of enemies it was throwing at me. Bigger, louder, and bloodier; Dead Island 2 is very much embracing the things which fans seem to enjoy about the series' first entry. After we finished clearing the waves of undead, our time with the demo was over.

There’s still not much clarity on the story of Dead Island 2, but the gameplay seems to embrace a fast and violent style which has become expected of zombie games. With an emphasis on the weapons you’re brandishing and the ways you can take down your undead foes, Dead Island 2 isn’t all that different from what we’ve seen other zombies games offer. I very much enjoyed what I played, but am interested in seeing if Dead Island can find a way to set itself apart from the bevy of zombie titles available. There’s plenty of time to see more as Dead Island 2 has yet to announce a specific release date, though it is expected to launch in 2015.

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Screenshots

Dead Island 2
3 images added Sep 7, 2014 19:15
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