Deep Silver’s sequel to the “zombie apocalypse in paradise” game, Dead Island Riptide (April 23, 2013), picks up right where the original Dead Island left off. The four characters from the first game board a helicopter with a convict and island native in tow, with the intention of fleeing the island of Banoi and returning to a zombie-free lifestyle somewhere less tropical.
The survivors land on a military naval vessel and apparent safe haven, but instead of freedom they are treated to testing and captivity. Naturally, the situation on the ship goes South when the crew becomes infected and the survivors are shipwrecked on the monsoon-ravaged island of Palanai.
Another immune Aussie, John Morgan, joins Sam B., Logan, Xian, and Purna as a playable character. Morgan is a hand-to-hand combat expert, so players are finally able to make use of all those brass knuckles and claws just laying around the archipelago. The plot is nearly the same as the first game: find transport and get the fuck off the island before the government nukes it. Okay, so it’s exactly the same as the first game.
Peculiarly Familiar
Dead Island Riptide suffers greatly from the same shit, different island syndrome. A lot of the game looks exactly the same as the original, which gives some credibility to allegations that Deep Silver recycled environments from the first game. Endless looting returns as an unwelcome leftover from Banoi. My character was carrying somewhere around seven tons of canned food, wire, electronic scraps, magnets, and other crap scavenged from suitcases and dead island folks. Why does Deep Silver limit the amount of ammunition that a character can carry, but not the amount of trash? I guess we have magic backpacks but ammo belts grounded in reality.
My least favorite part of Dead Island makes a strong return for the sequel: the idiotic side quest. After the newness rubbed off in the first game, players soon found their quest log filled with the lamest of side quests like “find my teddy bear that I dropped at Zombie Central” and “I’ll give you a shiny quarter for each can of beans you bring back to me.” Riptide makes characters scour Dead Zones for a film director’s camera, round up supplies for lazy beggars, and score cocaine from an undead dealer. The denizens of Palanai live a quid pro quo lifestyle: nobody on the island is willing to part with anything until you perform some suicidal act of reciprocity. Just give me the fucking map or I’ll kill you! Yeah, you can’t do that in this game. You can only kill the folks that the developer wants you to kill. I tried to kick mouthy villagers, shot an elderly German doctor in the head, and attempted to machete an addict barricaded in a hut. As far as I know, they’re still alive and well.
Regenerating zombies were another low point in the game. I ended up backtracking through several parts of the jungle, as well as the town of Henderson, only to find that the dozens of zombies that I stomped and decapitated along the way regrew their heads and respawned in the exact same spots that they were before. I would not begrudge new zombies springing out of cover to attack, but placing the exact same zombies in the exact same place turned exploration into a grind where random zombies would enhance the tension that should be prevalent in a zombie game. These scripted spawn points feel like an impediment to progress and an unnecessary depletion of resources.
Henderson and That Ol’ Co-Op Magic
The first game started out strong but lost steam as the game progressed. Riptide starts off weak but finally perks up once the characters make it out of the jungle and arrive at the town of Henderson. The jungle environments are very similar to the first game, but a lot of it is underwater. Henderson rewards those stalwart souls who braved the monotony of the jungle to an interesting town with real personality. Henderson plays home to the Old Town Cinema, a WWII fort, an open air market, and its own superhero...The Zombinator!
Once in Henderson, the little side quests become rooted towards reality and an actual sense of progression can be felt. The enemies also become more varied and numerous, which allows the co-op experience to really shine. Co-op, although a bit on the laggy side, provides quite a bit of entertainment, especially during a horde siege. These siege events occur when something attracts a large number of zombies to the players’ location-such as music, noise, or smoke- requiring players to bolster and repair perimeter defenses while fighting off waves of the infected. There are worse ways to spend a Saturday night.
Weapon mods were expanded for the sequel, and characters can be imported from the original game, so Dead Island veterans do not have to start over from scratch. Players now have access to different types of mines, which makes surviving sieges much easier and enjoyable. Riptide also dreamed up a couple of new zombie types to keep players on their toes...or the edge of their seats.
The Sound of Silence
There are a few major glitches that were exposed early in the game. I completely lost all sound twice during the first mission while trying to escape from the ship. I lost it again during co-op play while advancing through a military base in an attempt to reach a radio to call for help. I had to leave the game both times to reacquire sound, which was aggravating. Another point of contention is the autosave feature. I had finally acquired a boat and installed the engine at the inland marina, but a drowner knocked me out of the boat in deep water and I drowned. All that shit in my backpack probably didn't help.
The boat was unreachable due to the depth of the water, which resulted in subsequent, and repeated, drownings , closely followed by a rage-filled chapter restart. After the acquisition of a boat, suddenly boats appeared all over Palanai. I found boats to be a very unpleasant way to travel, and almost preferred walking in the waist high water, especially in single player. Vehicles, like trucks and Jeeps, make a return in Riptide, but due to the condition of Palanai’s roads, I spent very little time driving over zombies.
Final Verdict
Dead Island Riptide is unlikely to be anyone’s favorite game. It’s a roller coaster ride of awesome highs and annoying lows. However, the moments of magic cannot overcome the tedium, repetition, and restarts required to get there. Play it with friends to make the most of the experience; just realize that you won’t be playing it two weeks from now. Dead Island Riptide is one and done.
