E3 2014 Impressions: Dead Island 2

Dead Island 2

While At E3 I Got To See Dead Island 2 In A More Intimate Setting Than Just The Trailer. Here’s My Take On It

Ah Dead Island 2, now here is a title I can completely get behind and that was based just on the trailer that announced that the game was coming. Who doesn’t like a little zombie killing action in a non-depressing yet not-over-the-top comedic way? More or less the balance between The Walking Dead and Dead Rising in terms of tone and mood. Yes, the previous titles were not all that well received but I blame that on other critics not know what is truly good for them to unwind and eviscerate.

So outside of the uncut trailer for Dead Island 2 there was a bit in the way of extra information on the show floor at E3. It looks like the incident on Banoi has now spread to the whole world. Unlike all those other zombie games/movies/films, humans are not as dumb to let the world fall due to a little zombie bug. Here they quarantined off the worst sections to keep the infection from spreading and in turn wiping humans off the face of the Earth. But then why are their “survivors” here in California?

As it would seem, there are others who are immune to the zombie bug like in previous Dead Island games and some of them just have fun killing the damned things. That was a bit of the description given but given the four character classes I am sure that is not the case for all of them. Well one maybe. The classes are Berserker, Speeder, Archer, and Bishop. There was also mention of a fifth class that will be a PS4 exclusive but that is all there. None the less if you look at the names of the classes you can see that it isn’t going to be all death and destruction for fun and profit. Only a little profit…and death…and destruction.

Also in Dead Island 2 is a battle van of sorts driven by a crazy, non-immune drifter and his cat Nick Furry. If I am not mistake it sounds like this will be the way to quickly get around the not-really-an-island location as well as other missions and events. As with all of this stuff there wasn’t much said or shown outside of concepts and a very early demo from last year.

There is one new feature that I know I am excited for just as much as the zombie slaying and that is the loss of workbenches. You will be able to craft anywhere in Dead Island 2. Now you’ll never be without your crazy weapons and gear as long as you have scavenged for the right parts. That always bugged me in the previous titles especially when the item required nothing more than pushing a rag into a bottle.

Outside of those tidbits and the new trailer that about wraps what is known thus far from the floor of E3. I am more excited than ever to get to jump into the world of Dead Island 2. It looks like the developer and publisher have learned well what we all want and placed it in the game thus far. Now to crave more information like a zombie craves brains…itchy…scratchy…brains…