Customer Ratings: 
List Price: $39.99
Sale Price: $27.98
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I will split this review (more of a response, really) into "Why/Why you shouldn't" buy the game and game/story sections so that I can save spoilers until the end and allow for a more objective, non-story related review of the game for those that care to avoid the plot details.
Why you might buy this game at full price:
1) You reeeally loved the first game, flaws included, and want more of the same.
2) You love online multiplayer and exploring open world environments
3) Boss battles (13 "Dead Zones") were a nice touch
Why you should wait for a massive price cut or avoid altogether:
1) If you were severely disappointed by the first one and told yourself you'd only buy a sequel if they made
improvements bc the ones made (fire weapons actually give light in this game) are minimal and not a enough to
warrant a purchase.
2) Glitches abound
3) The story defeats itself on many levels (it's also boring and confusing)
4) Solo gaming is nearly impossible due having to fight 7-9 zombies at a time
5) There is zero improvement on the combat mechanics (I can barely see my aiming cursor)
6) Zombies respawn even after rooms and spaces have been cleared
7) You were hoping for more "survival horror" elements; they were nearly completely removed from this game
8) The game is 30 hrs tops even w/ all side quests completed
Game Response:
It plays a lot like the first game. In fact it feels like a cut/paste job. Combat is as clunky as it was in the first game and solo gaming is near impossible for an enjoyable experience. I hate that I can barely see my aiming curser. The first game would typically send zombies at you in waves of 2-4 at a time, and the cry of the infected was saved for really bad areas; in the first game when you heard screams, it was only every few hundred meters or so enough to give you time to fall into a sense security only to have the shattered when you heard the screams again. However, in this game the infected are nearly everywhere. It made think of the Third Head of Cerberus side mission in the first game where you would make it half way to the destination (just over the quarantine wall) then just get SPAMMED with Infected; it's kind of like that everywhere in this game. I imagine if you're in a group this isn't an issue, but going solo against waves upon waves of Infected at any given time gets VERY frustrating bc the wave usually wins.
Further, the survival/horror elements are minimized. My favorite parts of the first game are the prison and the hotel missions bc you never know what's hiding there in the dark, behind closet doors, and desks, and bent-in prison bars. The second game starts out with that style, and I really enjoyed that a lot. The rest of the game, however, is geared towards team-centered action and open world exploring, which benefits sales (in theory) because I'm certain developers want you to tell your friends to buy the game so you can have help taking out hordes and hordes of zombies because (as stated above) they're impossible to beat alone as they are soooo massive in number.
The glitches are annoying, but this allows for really cheap yet really fun cheats. So it has good and bad results. For instance, a bad glitch is that Xian's "special" jump attack goes through the zombie wo making any actual contact. I've been killed so many times bc it throws off timing and doesn't land when it should. Also, Infected can sometimes faze through walls. When I throw a blunt weapon, sometimes it just disappears from the game entirely. However, good glitches allow for duplication of weapons in a number of ways, but I can't really credit developers for that bc that makes the game fun in a totally unintended way, can't really give credit for that.
They don't have any NPC help when securing an area or doing missions. There are 4 other BA fighters on your squad, and they just stand around all game unless a tower defense mission is in play and even then, they are in constant need of your help. I'm sure there's more, but this response is getting too long.
Story Review (Game Ending SPOILED!!!) here:
The story is basically the inversion of the first game. Instead of leaving an in-land urban setting to go to the jungle, you're leaving the jungle to a more in-land city setting. Then there's all this conspiracy about the mutation and who's behind what and blah, blah, blah. It became bad fantasy and sci-fi because they focused on the politics that give setting for the story more than the story itself. Within all that is the new danger of your character turning into the King of Monsters and possibly being the greatest threat to mankind's survival instead of its savior. This is basically what the game gives you as the story, and you're supposed to find the rest of the story in the surrounding world--this is a staple of open world storytelling; in order to avoid linearity, you have to let the world tell the story. This, of course, gives way to side missions with characters that seem to emote (almost too much at times) when asking for help; they're supposed to anchor and engross you in the world. And this can work, other games have done it; however, both games mostly fail at achieving any real gravity towards the characters and the world that they trying to save/fight for.
However, here's the ending spoiler, the game ends with the party for fighters and some of the people you saved on boat named "Sylvia," looking towards the future. Then it flashes to the future and there boat docks on a new island with zombie arm jutting out from the lower room. This is to suggest there is a possibility that your character does, in fact, mutate monster and kill the other survivors. I really hope this is not the case because of this reason: it completely kills the entire purpose of the game.
If those who are immune are doomed to mutate into that which kills the human race, why would that person fight monsters to help survivors. The more they fight they more chance they have of becoming a monster; further, if they don't fight, people are doomed to die anyway. All roads lead to a lightless, hopeless end of the human race, so why play in the first place?
Again, this is speculation because the ending is really open ended. Perhaps the survivors run into another boat, and they get picked up, leaving a boat that some Drowners happened upon. But, if they've made it so everyone dies in the end no matter what, there really is no point to playing this game.
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I've played this game for about 6 hours now, and I must agree with many of the reviewers online that the game is very "fetch quest" heavy. I don't mind it too much since the idea is that you're immune to the infection and willing to go out in the wild to help people who can not help themselves. With that said, the "help me get these items" make sense. So far, I like the game. I enjoy running around exploring the island without having to stay on a set path. The graphics has been polished from the original dead island. I like the concept, graphics, and the free roaming. The graphics were nice. I felt like I was really in the jungle, and the layout of the island was like a maze, and it really give off the feeling of lost and frustration. Even though I like the game, there's a list of things that annoyed me and it shouldn't have been in the game considering this is their second game. There has been plenty of time in between the first and second to iron out the issues since they reused a lot of the design elements from the first.
What I don't like about dead island are the lip-syncing of the characters when they talk, no kids in the game, the weird zombie reactions and AI, and NINJA ZOMBIES!
1. The lip sync issue doesn't affect gameplay, it's just annoying to watch.
2. I didn't like that they didn't include kids and kid zombies in either of the Dead Island game. I'm not for killing kids, but it would make the story more believable and so much more emotional and intense. During the first game, are you telling me not one family brought their kids with them on vacation? So far in the second one, there were numberous quests that talk about kids and their safety. Where are they? If they included kids and have quests where you need to make decisions to isolate infected kids, or to kill them, it would add so much to the game and the player experience. So it's pretty much a straight up hack and slash game with some RPG elements mixed in. So with that said, the story and the characters are forgettable.
3. The weird zombie reactions/AI affect the game somewhere. There was a point in the game where there were 5 zombies in front of me, 4 eating on the ground and one standing there. The one standing there was facing me, and was the closest. But the ones eating got up and ran at me! I killed the 4, and walked up to the one stand and it teleported like 10 feet to grab me (grab animation). This really affect how you do your planning since you don't know which zombie you will attract and which one you won't.
4. But what bothered me most of all, are ninja zombies. At times zombies will spawn in your path as you're walking or in a room you know you secured. This happened to me three times last night. I don't want to give away the game so I'll be vague on where it happen.
I was carrying a quest item to the boat, and while walking, I saw a bag, and went to to get it. There was nothing around, and it was in a tunnel so I know there was nothing in front of me (becase if there was, then I would have killed before groing through bag), and nothing behind me as I just came from there, and know it was clear. The moment I opened the bag, I got hit from behind! And turned to see a zombie there swinging at me. I didn't die, but it took a huge chunk of power.
I went into an empty room to grab some fruit and alcohol bottle, went to the back of the room to explore, then turned around and saw two zombies standing there. They couldn't have followed me because they weren't aggressive, they were standing still. They spawned when I was there and my back turned. They didn't react to me until I threw a knife at one of them.
This one freaked me out a bit. I was sprinting down a hill towards the beach to pick up supplies. Then all of a sudden a zombie spawns right in front of me. I saw an empty path, then it popped into view and ran at me!
These ninja zombies appear out of nowhere and it can ruin a game for you if you're low on health and ran into an "empty room" for shelter. Overall, the game is an OK game. It continues exactly where the first one left off, so if you played the first one, this will "complete" the story I guess. Only thing I would ask for is for a patch that will do something along the lines of "if player is within x distance, do not respawn zombie". With this condition statement, it should prevent ninja zombies.
Overall, it's a good/fun game. But a little annoying.
-EDIT (downgraded fun factor) --
I've played about 18 hours now, and it's more of the same as it was during the 6 hours I've played. I did, however, noticed that during hub defense sequences, your "allies" doesn't really help fortify anything. They would stand there and wait until the game initiates the attack. So the player need to run around and put up the barricades, lay down mines, put propane canisters in place, and mount machine guns. I'm playing as Xian (asian woman) and seeing those big guys standing around twirling their weapons as I carry the gatling guns to their mounts was laughable. I figured they didn't program the NPC to help since they think people would be playing multiplayer. But why not have a cutscene where the NPC mount the guns then let player choose to initiate the attack? At least with that you feel like it's a team effort and not you doing everything. This goes for team building quests as well. The main characters would sit at home base and ask the player to bring them things. Why can't these guys just follow the player and help? And if a live person joins the game, drop one CPU character. That way once I find 7 sticks of deordant, I can give you on the spot and not go back to town to give to you. I find that the game is not fully thought through and it riding on the popularity of the first game and the zombie craze.
Buy Dead Island Riptide Special Edition Now
I really enjoy this game, but not so much the settings. I was expecting more of a beautiful Far Cry 3 type of atmosphere when I pre-ordered this game. I'm 20 plus hours in, and most of the game has been in the jungle, in dark tunnels and in the swamp.
The wheel of weapons: You'll be able to equip yourself with a few different weapons, and fix them and upgrade them when needed at a designated workbench.
UpgradingThis is an RPG and is all about having fun by challenging opponents that you know you can beat, and run away from enemies (with consequences though) when you know you're going to lose. If you lose, you lose cash, and are respawned at the exact location where you died, and the damage still says intact from your previous life.
Respawns for me: The respawn points for the most part put me in an advantageous position from where I died. Only one time, did I respawn not knowing where I was (after dying in the abandoned movie theater). I restarted the game, and I was put back in the theater.
Glitches, but helpful glitches: Sometimes, you can go back to where you came from and the loot is all there for the taking, so you can take more, repair and upgrade your weapons. Helpful cheats can be helpful.
Let me be clear though, this is not a bad 2 star or 1 star game. The game is fun, but the graphics (screen tear, characters not moving their mouths at the correct time during cut scenes) are not up to par with the top titles.
I've never played the first one, but am having a good time with Riptide. I just feel the swamp is not a place I really want to be. Far Cry 3 took me away to a dreamy land I actually dreamt of. This is sort of like a second rate Far Cry 3 with more depressing settings, or a Dead Rising 2 without the cool mall. In this game, it felt more like the after-effects of a hurricane, and your mission was searching for supplies. Getting one supply though usually took completing many tasks which never seemed to be enough. Nobody cared about helping you which really added to the tension. This game seemed different from the advertisement on Amazon's page with the man and woman setting fire to the trailer with the romantic music playing in the background. Personally, I wanted that game. It's my fault for not reading into the title "Riptide" which meant a giant tide came in and ripped the island apart. That being said, this RPG is fun, and a solid purchase, but I have a feeling I would have liked the first one more.
In conclusion, although I haven't finished the game, I feel like being in the city of Henderson makes me feel like I've accomplished something. It's a beautiful town filled with zombies. Escaping the jungle was a big accomplishment. This game is fun, and I expect this series to be a classic one day. Finally, I predict that if a PS4 budget version is developed, this will be one of the PS4's best selling launch titles.
Update: Just finished the game. I used the Fast Travel method to return to the jungle. Once in the jungle, I had a difficult time finding the Fast Travel method by the tunnels. It really doesn't stand out, so I went back in those miserable tunnels looking for the transition point. I FINALLY got out, and was frustrated. The bulletin board that has the Fast Travel method on it isn't very obvious to find. Anyway, I Fast Traveled back to my missions and finished the game. There was a lot of ammo and firepower, so it was a fun change from the slashing and throwing sickles and knives. Still find it to be a four star game.
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PROS
Zombies
Co-op
Different weapons to try, create, and play with
Realistic weapon management (damage/repair)
Great sounddtrack (creepy and adventurous)
Great variety in zombie design, functionality, noises
Beautiful and realistic exterior environments
CONS
Stereotype characters
A gazillion connectivity issues. I have pimp internet seriously upgraded, to the mid-grade business class cable modem. My friend is on highest available speed cable modem. A different friend is, alas, on DSL. But even with the third friend out of the mix, once you're on for any amount of time you start lagging. Bad and hard, and you constantly have to drop into and out of each other's games to "reset." High speed buddy and I will literally use Google chat to talk to each other, because in-game chat is crap and constantly breaks up. On GChat, WHILE playing the game, we're having no problems with sound quality another reason we know it's the game, not us.
Friend search takes forever. To the point where it's actually easier to find and play with strangers than your own friends.
Loading between areas takes forever.
Connectivity issues mean you can, for example, be in a menu with a friend trading items, and your friend gives you a lot of stuff on their end, and it leaves their inventory. But it never makes it to your inventory. They just disappear into the ether, never to be seen again.
Zombies spawn in the exact same place every time no random factor.
All room environments look the same. What this means is, any "special area" you go to to clear out of zombies looks the same as all other special areas. If you go into a hut door, the interior looks like all other huts you've ever been inside.If you go into a cave, the cave looks like all other caves you've been inside. So you could be on the entire opposite end of the island and go into a room that looks exactly like where you were for some other quest, and be extremely confused about where you are, and then of course, feel less invested because you're not finding or doing anything new.
Driver visibility in road vehicles = bad and not in a justifiable way. Any driver in the world can look around their entire body if they want to while driving but not in this game. So you may, like I did, run over your own team mates without even knowing they are there. Or, not realize you have a zombie on you until it's too late.
Fury mode requires a very long button press to trigger (not useful when you're in the middle of fighting and getting swarmed, which is exactly when you NEED to use Fury)
There are some very obvious spots with "endless spawn." In one town (Halai) you can see them keep generating out of the same random holes in the sides/tops of buildings. The game is just not subtle, at this level of game and in this day and age, I dunno, this seems kind of below par.
UPDATE to the CONS list
Every time you drop in/out or even if you STAY in the game and move between areas your quest resets to the main quest. And every individual player can set their quests separately from the game they are in. So let's say Player 1 is playing a side quest, Quest B. Player 2 joins, and the game puts Player 2 on Quest A (main quest). Player 3 join, the game puts them on Quest A. Both players will get HUD directions that map to Quest A, even as they're running around with Player 1 and doing Quest B, extremely confusing. Sidetracked by some zombies and distracted by a room area that will offer secret boxes of weapons and some extra killing for XP, the group enters an area on the way to their Quest B destination. They complete the area, repair their weapons, and exit the area. Guess what? All three players get their quest reset to Quest A. DUMB. If you don't notice this, Player 1 may in fact lead them accidentally back to the path of activities for Quest A, until they double check the quest list, and switch it back.
Storyline character quests: This is very VERY poorly hidden in the game UI. So a heads up to any of you who buy this all the goodies you collect out in the world can offer benefit not only to the NPCs you meet, but to any of the survivors you meet in Paradise Base Camp (and throughout the game in future base camps). Basically, anyone YOU are not playing, or if you are with others, anyone that is acting as an NPC in the survivor camp can actually give you quests, but you don't get them by simply walking up to them like you do every other NPC in the game when you meet them (basically you don't get the little convo box that prompts a new quest with survivors from the original camp who are playable). These quests are basically to assist them with their role in the group so, let's say you're playing the rapper. If you're alone, you can get several quests from any of the other characters you chose not to play, the rest of the team, Harlow, Harry, Wayne, and the other merchants. To get these quests, you need to go into the game menu, go to the TEAM tab, and then wherever it says "new quest available" you need to go down to that line, and click on the quest to "make yourself eligible." Then you've got to go up to these people, they have a convo with you and tell you what they need. For some people, they are coming up with new weapon types (grenades, for example) and then they give you some freebies for supplying them. For others, you are helping them upgrade their weapons, and they will give you freebies or a weapon. In each case you get a LOT OF XP. But remember every time you complete a quest, you need to go BACK to the TEAM tab to open up the next one to continue. You turn in the quests like you do with other NPCs on the island once you have what's needed, a hand icon appears over the NPC to hand in.
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It seems that this game much like its predacessor are good in concept but no so much on the delivery.
Weapons 9/10
The array of weapons and mods is great. only gripe that I have is the reach on some weapons plus your arm puts you out of reach of zombies and they hit you first. Its easy enough to dodge and attack but when Im weilding a 2 foot bat I have to have some reach.
Plot 3/10
Its a stereotypical plot very easy to guess and full of holes.
Audio 3/10
The music isdecent enough, but the voice acting is pretty bad.
Video 4/10
There a re plenty of bugs with zombies and invisible walls where a zombie climbs an invisible wall or just stands there stuck on something but not reacting. Also the zombie corpses that werent actually corpses just part of the scenery. I feel all zombies should be interactable or none at all having them all like that adds to the games spookiness.
Overall 6/10
The game seems like it was unfinished some major bugs here and there. Acting wasnt the greatest either but all in all it was decent so if you dont mind a buggy zombies its worth a rent.
