Fun fights against zombies alone can’t bring Dead Island 2 to the highest ratings.
Pack your sunglasses, grab a towel and make sure you have a sufficiently high sun protection factor: From April 21, 2023 you can go to sunny Los Angeles in Dead Island 2 to enjoy the good weather there and get the cultural insider tips of the city to look at Oh yes, and to fight hundreds of runaway zombies.
Is fighting the undead pack fun? We found this out for you in our lively test:
So much for our opinion but what do the international critics say about Dead Island 2? We can also provide you with an answer to this question. Here you can find out which aspects of the game are particularly praised and which are criticized.
You meet in the middle
What is striking about Dead Island 2 is the wide range of ratings. One publication awards an excellent 90 points, other outlets penalize the game with a meager rating of 60 or less. That’s what’s causing one at the moment Meta score of 74. At OpenCritic the zombie fun comes to the same value.
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Dead Island 2: The first 14 minutes of the zombie game in gameplay video
That’s what the international tests say
Let’s take a closer look at which aspects are particularly praised or criticized. Probably the greatest strength of Dead Island 2 quickly becomes apparent, as it is still positively highlighted even in the most critical tests: The fights against zombies are just fun!
Brendan Lowry from Windows Central apart from the splatter battles, praises the look of the game world and the rich arsenal of weapons and awards a whopping 90 rating. In the conclusion it says:
Dead Island 2 is everything a Dead Island fan could wish for. With intriguing combat mechanics, excellent character and gear progression, hilarious satire, and fantastic presentation, this long-awaited sequel proved it was worth the wait.
At Video games you show yourself a little more reserved and end up with a rating of 80 points. The fights are also praised here, but Dead Island 2 has to give up feathers in terms of the story and the monotonous gameplay over the long term:
Dead Island 2 doesn’t revolutionize the saga or the survival game, but it does get the gist. Dambuster Studios offers zombie survival fans a gory and sunny journey into the heart of a red-painted city of angels. Mutilating zombies has never been so brutal and the satisfaction felt so visceral. Far from perfect, this FPS suffers from a certain repetition that generosity seeks to offset.
For Eike Kramer from 4Players.de Dead Island 2 places itself in the middle, resulting in a rating of 75. He also praises the entertaining action, but criticizes the lack of added value apart from the splatter spectacle:
The relaxed tone, the partly good technology and a whole LA River full of pixel blood make the zombie shredding a really entertaining brain-out slasher, which, however, hardly brings any added value beyond the splatter orgy that can also be played with four players. (…) Dead Island 2 is solid, gory, uncompromising splatter entertainment without much pretense. Not more but also not less.
Dead Island 2 is significantly worse PC gamers away. There it is only enough for 55 points in the end, which according to Lewis Parker has a variety of reasons:
Dead Island 2 is dragged down by boring design choices, repetitive combat, and a painfully weak story, with the only saving grace being great performance on PC.
It looks even more negative Tarran Stockton from GGRecon from where a rating of 50 already makes it clear that you can’t get much out of Dead Island 2. But here, too, at least the combat system is praised:
Dead Island 2 (…) ends only marginally better than the original game without ever reaching its full potential. Improved combat is the game’s big saving grace, but it’s not enough to make up for the flat progression mechanics, inconsistent atmosphere, and unfocused story.
Achieving more together: According to our zombie expert Vali, Dead Island 2 is definitely the most fun in co-op. In our FAQ we explain how you play with your friends and whether the title supports crossplay.
Now, of course, we also want to know from you: Are you in the mood for Dead Island 2? Are you completely satisfied with redesigning zombies’ decayed visages in the most creative way possible? Or would you have hoped for more from the title, especially in terms of plot? Let us know your thoughts on the topic in the comments!
