Deep Silver and Techland bring us a second entry in the divisive Dead Island series. Filled with zombies, monsters and a (mostly) new island to gad about in, is this a fully fledged sequel or merely a rehashed reprint?
Can an inherently repetitive genre break out of it’s shambling shackles to deliver something new and innovative in an increasingly saturated market?
Basic Survivability.
A vast beach stretches ahead after you finish the prologue, a cursory glance around reveals foliage and hills assumedly swarming with waves of the undead. It’s the open world sandbox style of play which draws you in and won’t let go. A couple of pre-requisite missions serve to introduce the gang. After that, you are essentially given free reign to explore and scavenge at your whim. Of course you’ll want to start looting immediately and inevitably constantly. Thankfully, Dead Island Riptide doesn’t skimp on the drops. Hammers, crowbars and debilitating knifes fall at your feet in abundance. Not that they’re going to be a contender for your fully upgraded Wolverine style claws with an electricity mod on them, but they’ll serve you well in a pinch; the sense of progression is there from the off.
Rare drops are (ironically) not all that rare, using the Borderlands rarity grade from white up to orange, it’s easy to spot a gem amongst the rubble. Not that all weapons are going to be particularly useful for you that is. Each character has a specific affinity for certain weapon types. Mr Morgan loves to get in there in really close quarters with knuckle dusters and Sam B loves his blunts…so to speak…
Along with the car, what can only be described as a motorised canoe with nitrous injection can be found in and around the swamp areas. Often cumbersome whilst navigating the twisting wetlands of Palanai, they can offer amusement and speed whilst still feeling functional.
More Zombies…
Zombies have been given plenty of screen time recently, whether they be splattered across the silver screen or incorporated into games for our slaughtering pleasure. Riptide certainly doesn’t hold back with this trend, hordes of enemies can rush you, filling the screen with flailing limbs and shrieking gargles.
If you’ve played the first one, you’ll know what to expect in terms of variation. The generic shufflers roam a-plenty on their merry lonesome early on but are eventually joined by much more dangerous foes. Of course, differing zombies will require alternative tactics, slow lumbering brutes can easily knock you down, halving your health and diminishing your pride. Flanking tactics, hopefully with a friend, can easily cut these unwieldy antagonists down however. A few new types have joined ranks since the unfortunate incidents of Banoi, ranged grenadiers, ‘so loud it hurts’ screamers and special bosses all rear their misshapen heads.
A Fresh Start.
Coming into Riptide you can either start afresh or import your previous save complete with levels and skill points intact. Starting from scratch bumps you up to level 15 granting you a cheeky 14 skill points to play with at the start. The level cap has been increased to a whopping 70 giving you plenty of leeway to muck up your allocations! Be forewarned however, you cannot respec your points, so don’t be daft with them!
Along with the usual suspects, a new warrior emerges with John Morgan. Another survivor, also immune to turning into a hideous flesh eating monstrosity. Hints on his background can be scavenged in hidden locales throughout the newly infected Palanai.
Taking down some of the threatening adversaries from the first game was easy with deo-bombs, essentially home made grenades. On Riptide however, the explosives, although still doing decent damage to enemies, now have an increased friendly fire radius. Expect to blow yourself up many a time whilst getting used to this! A notion of good communication with teamates wouldn’t go amiss here either!
Although the story, constant fetch quests and wooden voice acting leave a lot to be desired, it’s difficult for it to become a major factor when beating up zombies is such fun!
For Better…
Numerous improvements have been made since the previous entry to help make co-op that little bit more accessible. You can pause the game if every party member is on a menu, potentially saving a xenophobic mishap whilst out in the wild. Left on the d-pad now places a contextual marker on whatever the player is looking at, whether it be informing your partners to pick up a collectible, or to target a specific enemy. Words cannot describe how beneficial and advantageous this seemingly minor addition is! Trying to point out a blueprint sticking out from under a bed in a specific room of a certain house just became a whole lot easier!
Also new is a menu wheel when you hold down select, letting you instantly jump to either your inventory, map, skills etc. I wouldn’t particularly say that the menu is unwieldy, yet it does lag ever so slightly causing some frustration.
Or For Worse.
Unfortunately, some things grate. From the minor grievances such as not being able to sort your materials by any definition, to the larger more prominent issues such as framerate. Certainly not unplayable, the framerate only drops occasionally, just frequent enough that it transpires every so often. Stability was a major issue in the first Dead Island, although not completely absent, it does seem a little shaky. A mere 10 minutes into the prologue and I was forced to shut off my PS3 due to a lock up. Only happening once more approximately 20 hours later was certainly infuriating, yet forgivable.
Another low point would be the recycled ‘secret boss’ locations, although they’re only a small part of the game, there are only a few differing locales, mostly the same cave or wooden hut. However, with the huge maps and all their variety, it can easily be absolved.
Enemies seem rather less treacherous this time around, save for some seemingly random insta-death with the enemies being a crack shot whilst throwing a weapon. Despite having all possible health upgrades, enemies can, at will, decide to destroy you upon their own volition!
Who’s A Pretty Girl?
Not the highest graphical fidelity on offer here but considering it loads the entire map upon a loading screen, it looks great. Zombie models look fantastic, their flailing animations transform depending upon how badly maimed they are. Breaking limbs gives a satisfying crunch; makes previously sturdy attacks alter into an almost comical but equally useless swinging bag of mush.
It’s the overall look of the game taken as a whole that impresses, vivid greens of the trees combine with dilapidated buildings and murky swampland to give a more enjoyable portrayal of an apocalyptic event. I also dare somebody to look up at one of the many spectacular vistas and not marvel. Sunlight beaming through swaying treelines offset by tumbling waterfalls never gets old.
The cut-scenes seem to be of lesser quality than the main game; almost feel rushed. Character development, it could be argued, was dealt with in the previous game. The main antagonist feels difficult to quantify against what feels like the real villains of the show: the zombies themselves. Not only are they a constant presence throughout, it feels like a fruitless endeavour. Zombies respawn in areas already cleared giving the impression that just a few survivors cannot hope to quell this outbreak; to be honest, that’s how it should feel.
Final Stand
So how does Riptide stack up? In short, it’s quite similar to the first one. The longer story would be to state that it not only makes up for a lot of the shortcomings of the original but surpasses it in every way. Sure the plot could do with sprucing up a little and it doesn’t feel like a huge leap in progression in the series. Yet, if like me, you enjoy some semi-mindless romp through an open world with addictive combat, crafting, enlightened looting and RPG mechanics, the problems seem to fade away. Add some friends into the mix and it’s undisputedly the most fun you can have with an electrified shovel…I hope!
Reviewed on PS3, also available on Xbox 360 and PC.
