I don't know if you remember a game called "Island of the Dead" 9 years ago when the zombie-themed game Rotten Street is rotten? I still remember the trailer for this game using rewinding, and the story of family reunion cleverly uses editing techniques to separate. Not only sublimating a cliché story, but also making players around the world pay attention to this game and successfully achieve a publicity effect.
The trailer of the second generation now uses the Venice beach of Los Angeles as the background, and uses a lighthearted soundtrack to unveil the joyful theme of "enjoy the moment". No one expected that this classic zombie game, which had long been sentenced to "into the soil", was miraculously resurrected 9 years later. During this period, "Dead Island 2" has experienced too much, and the production team and the publisher cannot reach a consensus, resulting in the production team changing again and again, and the entire development project has been constantly restarted. The forced work from home during the pandemic also greatly affected the development schedule, and the game's release date was repeatedly postponed.
Whether it is film and television works or games, these projects that have experienced "development hell" usually end up either by cutting off their waists or becoming a black history that fans never mention. The worst-case scenario is not only that, and the Dambuster studio that took over this mess is completely unreassuring. Their only major development is Homeland: Revolution, a game that can only be described as miserable in the media and player ratings.
Without any expectations or optimism, I fully experienced the work of "Island of the Dead 2". I must admit that Dambuster Studio turned my imagination upside down and played a good hand. "Dead Island 2" is not only the coolest zombie-killing experience I have played in recent years, but it is a miracle to be able to go through a series of ups and downs and the current level.
The story of the game takes place in sunny Los Angeles. There's Venice Beach where you can enjoy the unrestrained Southern California vibe, and Beverly Hills, home to many of Hollywood's A-listers. Such a warm and luxurious attraction, but suddenly there is a zombie crisis. Although the military dispatched troops in time to suppress it, it was unable to prevent the outbreak of infection, and the whole of Los Angeles became a cannibalistic hell. And our protagonist sneaks onto the evacuation plane, thinking that he can escape smoothly, but unexpectedly, the passengers on board are infected and the situation is out of control again. After the plane falls, the protagonist discovers that he has an immune constitution, so we find a way to escape Los Angeles among a large group of man-eating monsters.
There are 6 killers to choose from in the opening, each of whom differs in their abilities such as health and stamina, and the skills unlocked in the later stage are also slightly different, which will affect the suitable weapons and genres. In addition, the dialogue with NPCs will have different content due to personality. Here, I chose Irish rocker Dany to play the game. Whether the production team can grasp the characteristics of the game and the needs of players can be learned from the novice teaching. After picking up the first weapon in front of me and hammering it firmly on the zombie's head, I knew the production team had done the game right. The sound of a hammer shattering a skull, the force of a joystick vibrating, and a hole in the zombie's head that has been attacked by a blunt object. At the moment, there is no better adjective than cheerful to capture my emotions.
As you progress through the game, you unlock more weapons and skills, and the battle becomes even more refreshing. We can use the work table in the safe house in the map to modify weapons, which can basically add attribute damage, and can also cause stun and weakening effects. Attribute effects are not only helpful in actual combat, but the visual tension greatly improves the coolness of the game.
The production team developed a physical destruction mechanic specifically for Dead Island 2. Unlike previous games, every attack we make doesn't just jump out of numbers, but deals visible damage. The zombie's head will be dented by the hammer, the jaw will be broken, and the eyes will come out. Attacking the limbs with a blunt object can also see broken bones piercing the skin. Blades have different effects, with knives that can cut off hands and feet, cut off heads, and even split zombies in half.
This set of physical destruction mechanisms is not a pre-written process, but will respond according to each of our attacks, and what part of each attack hits and what kind of damage it causes will be clearly displayed on the zombies. Therefore, broken bones, open skin and flesh, and internal organs flowing all over the ground can be said to be common in games. The same goes for attribute attacks, where flames and electric shocks burn the skin of zombies. I was even more impressed by the expressiveness of corrosion, as if they were drenched in strong acid, and the skin would slowly peel off, leaving only muscle tissue.
The whole set of mechanics shifts the focus of previous games, we not only want to kill zombies, but more importantly, how to kill zombies. In games without physical destruction, we can only choose the most efficient way to kill zombies, usually a clean headshot or a large area clearance with explosives. For example: "Road to Survival" and "Zombie Siege", these two games are also zombie games that sell pleasure, but the coolness of this type of game is based on the number of enemies killed, only killing one is not enjoyable, to a faster pace, a larger scene, kill more zombies to satisfy us.
But the coolness of Dead Island 2 comes from the battles, and I enjoy every battle. When I encounter a zombie that runs fast, I will first break my feet and watch it crawl slowly on the ground; When I encounter a tall saboteur, I cut off my arm so that it can't punch and attack, and then find a way to slowly play it to death. The production team increased the richness of the battles themselves by reducing the frequency of the battles, allowing us to have fun playing with zombies in fancy ways. The real but pompous expression of the physical destruction mechanics makes this game the coolest zombie game I've played in recent years.
Corresponding to this set of mechanics, the game has the function of harvesting zombie parts. Cut off your arms and destroy your head, and you can collect various parts of the zombie. These pieces of meat and internal organs can be used to craft stronger weapons and enhance the coolness of battles. The biggest drawback of combat is the weapon, the sound effect of firing is not thick enough, a bit virtual. Although hitting the enemy has the effect of destroying parts, it still gives me the feeling of playing with the BB gun. The map design was an unexpected highlight. We can go to the famous attractions of Los Angeles and experience the beauty of California while killing zombies. While Beverly Hills and Santa Monica Beach have been featured in many games, Dead Island 2 presents a different beauty of chaos.
Dead Island is a traditional open world, and Gen 2 uses a semi-open world. Each map is a mini-open world where you can take on quests, explore freely, and collect supplies. This ensures that the game's maps aren't big and focused, and the interactive content is focused enough that we don't get tired of rushing. While retaining the fun of open-world exploration and the fast pace of linear gameplay.
There is not much to say about the plot of the game, there should be no one to play "Dead Island 2" for the story, right? The whole story combines the old terriers of almost all zombie movies, and you can guess the final ending from the beginning. In addition to paving the way for the sequel, the foreshadowing in the middle has no effect on the plot, and completely deleting it does not affect the plot of the game. Character development is relatively interesting, especially the strange NPCs in the side quests. Internet celebrities who only want to be famous and are not afraid of death; Leaving behind the lifeguards who all fled; A director fed up with living actors. Their presence does add a bit of fun to runaway Los Angeles. However, the facial expression of the NPC has a feeling of not smiling, which is very stiff.
There are also some problems with the game. The prompts are not designed to be user-friendly, and many rooms have safes or locked chests hidden in them, and if you want to open them, you must kill the owner to get the key. But there was no hint about the location of the key, the map ran back and forth several times, and if you can't find it, you can't find it.
The same problem is true for scavenger hunt missions. This kind of task needs to read the text file to find the next clue, even if there is Chinese help, because the map does not mark the range for our reference, we can only walk slowly and look slowly, and check in Chinese and English to have a chance to find the mission location. Side quests have the same problem. A few missions need to be close to trigger, the map will only show how many missions there are at the moment, there is no indication of the exact location, sometimes it is tiring to find tasks on the map. The final problem is bugs. At present, I have not encountered malicious bugs that particularly destroy the experience after playing, but the problem of characters wearing molds and NPCs floating up and down still has an impact on the look and feel.
To sum up, "Dead Island 2" has a unique combat experience and just the right exploration content, fully providing the motivation and fun of killing every zombie. This game doesn't have too big ambitions, but it can satisfy all players who want to kill zombies for fun. Although there have been no breakthrough reforms in the 12th generation, the long wait has unexpectedly brought freshness. If the 2nd generation is launched as scheduled in 2015, it may just be a mediocre sequel with no breakthrough. But the development hell of changing the production team many times not only makes "Dead Island 2" a masterpiece, but also adds a bit of legend to the story of the game.