Dead Island: Riptide takes place directly after the events of the original game and the group of survivors are taking on board a navy vessel. But just when they thought they were safe, the soldiers on board the navy vessel are ordered by a ‘Frank Serpo’ to take the survivals to some kind of experiment labs to find out why they are immune to the virus outbreak. A little later in the game you awaken with the other survivors in the living quarters and it is here that you meet the newest member of the Dead Island roster ‘John Morgan’. But soon into discussions with the survivors of why and what is going on, you pass out to later awaken to find that just about everyone has turned into the walking dead! Then to make things even worse, you are dragged into the middle of a ferocious storm which results in you crashing into a nearby jungle and zombie infested island of Palanai and it’s clear that the virus has made its way from the island of Banoi or perhaps it was here all along and the virus is more widespread then the survivors ever imagined? As the famous saying goes “Out of the frying pan and into the fire”.
Visually Dead Island: Riptide is not leaps and bounds above the original game, but there is a slight improvement. As you already know the tropical holiday resort is no more, but even though the original game did feature a jungle setting, it was featured more towards the back end of the game. So now the vast majority of Riptide is set within the jungle and while the gameplay mechanics have only changed very little, Riptides visuals is arguably its best improvement. The same cannot be said for the facial animations, as just like the original, the characters seem to have the mannerisms of a tongue twisted giraffe with a locked jaw. But the jungle location is very well presented, especially when the sun is shining. You would expect a jungle/rain forest to be bright and full of life (the irony) and Dead Island Riptide delivers just that. Many a times did I find myself admiring the cliff face views, looking at the tree’s above, whilst listening to the echoing sounds of the hidden away wildlife.
Speaking of hidden away, obviously within a jungle there are many places in which our zombie friends could tuck away and hide. The amount of times I found myself just admiring the views ahead, which is left me vulnerable and exposed to zombie attacks, but even when you’re on guard, you won’t always see them coming. The jungle is a crafty place for those pesky zombies and this just helps to add a little more tension, possibly more so then the original game and this is when its daylight! So when night falls in Riptide, the tension gets cranked up a notch and quite possibly the scariest part of the jungle at night is when you’re not actually being attacked, as you are on edge anticipating the next zombie to come jumping out of the bushes. Though the weather changes can be very random at times, the ‘Dynamic Weather’ conditions certainly helps Riptides atmosphere, one moment it can be sunny, bright and cosy (well for an island plagued with the undead) and then as quick as you can click your fingers, monsoon like rainstorms can hit you without a moment’s notice, and can spice up the fear factor as it can serious effect your visibility, especially when the sun is down.
The principle of Dead Island: Riptides gameplay pretty much remains the same as the first game, but a few little changes here and there. While the Dead Island series will fall into the FPS genre, even though you can use firearms within the game, it tries to encourage the main focus of attacks to be melee. This can be from anything such as punching a zombie in the face with some brass knuckles, to cracking a zombie over the head with an electric shock hammer or like I found myself doing on many occasions, simply running away can often be the best tactic when overwhelmed with hordes of the undead. There is however may firearms within Riptide for you to use, though they are more few and far between, so when you’re lucky enough to find a shotgun, handgun or an automatic rifle, it’s wise to use your ammo sparingly and use them against large groups of zombies or the more deadly individual such as the ‘Thug’.
Speaking of the Thug, this particular species of zombie can be a right pain in the backside, getting in close can result in a few deadly haymakers, knocking you flying back for a six (or homerun). This may be a tactic that you may or may not use, but I’ll share it with you anyway. If you have no powerful firearms to attack these monster zombies, try to use a more ranged melee weapon such as a machete. Quickly move it with two swipes at its arm and then jump back, repeat this process until both his arms have been cut off (reminiscent of the black knight from (Monty Python) and now he will not be able to haymaker you to the face. How’s that for a flesh wound?
As you may already know, you have several characters to choose from in Riptide, all each with their own skills and attributes. You have Logan who is a former NFL pro and an expert in throwing, in particular retrieving thrown weapons and being able to aim at multiple enemies during ‘Fury’, resistance to fire and increased damage when intoxicated. Then we have Purna, she is a highly skilled bodyguard and a former member of the Sydney police force. She will give herself and the group combat boost; carry more ammo and being extra handy with a side arm. We also have Xian, a Chinese Special Force member and very skilled with sneak attacks and a blade, she also has the ability to regenerate her Fury a little faster than anyone else, meaning it can also be used a little more often. Then last but not least from the original game we have big Sam B, who was my particular favourite. He’s the strong man of the group and very skilled with blunt weapons, he has a higher resistance to damage and has the ability to knock enemies flying with a powerful charge. But that is not all, as Riptide now has a new and fifth member to join the group and his name is John Morgan. John Morgan is a soldier and he is a master of hand to hand combat in particular a devastating uppercut and running kick.
While I’m on the topic of the characters, one new and very handy feature that has come to Riptide is having the option to import your characters stats from the previous game. This means that your XP level, skills and abilities can now all be carried over into Riptide, meaning that you don’t have to start from level one. That’s assuming of course that you still have your saved data on the hard drive.
With Dead Island: Riptide being very much the tried and tested formula, there is more here that has been carried over from the original game, and then there are new elements. Now that’s not a knock, as depending on which way you look at it, both offer positives and negatives. The combat system is what we all know from the original game, main quests and side quests are the same formula, you will level up with the XP system in the same manor and even the skill tree is the same. It will be very harsh to say that this game is like an expansion pack, because if it was, it will be the biggest expansion pack that I have ever known. One element that you should be happy that has also made the cross over is the weapon customisation. By scavenging all the random parts that you can find, you can create a host of lethal weapons to aid your zombie massacre. Direct from the ‘Workbench’ you can create Hammer and Swords with the ability to shock your enemy, spiked knuckle dusters, down to the trusty and faithful nailed baseball bat. All of which can also be repaired and upgraded via the Workbench. The ‘Fury’ also makes a welcomed return, fill up you Fury gauge, hold on Circle/B and unleash your rage for a brief period of time to inflict some added zombie damage.
But there are some elements new to Riptide, namely being able to drive boats. With the Island being flooded, it would be one hell of a ballache if you had to make your way round via the traditional land vehicle or by foot. So it’s a natural progress having the ability to drive sea based vehicles, but be warned, unlike land vehicles, zombies can now climb aboard a moving boat. They will also be able to do this when you’ve slowed down, so make sure it’s all full steam ahead and get running down those undead misfits. Quite possibly, well in fact most definitely the biggest new feature of Dead Island: Riptide is the ‘Hub Defence’ missions; the best way to describe this would be to say it’s kind of like a ‘Tower Defence’ game. Think Plants vs. Zombies meets Dead Island and you may just get the jist. How this works is that you’ll have to strategically place traps such as land mines (Meat Bait), fences that can be upgraded to electric shock the zombies, turrets and more as you fight off hordes of the undead. NPC (non playable characters) will work with you to defend you base, but this mode is extra fun when you gather some friends together for some co-op action. You can upgrade certain areas of your defence unit by collecting side quests for specific characters by collecting the required parts to allow the upgrade.
The voice acting is nothing spectacular, but that’s not to say that it doesn’t do a good enough job. Each and every character that you choose to play as whether it is Sam B, Xian or the new member John Morgan, they all have their own personality and dialogue (though random survivors in the camp tend to repeat the same dialogue over and over again). Riptide won’t win any BAFTA’s or a VGA in the voice acting department any time soon, but it does the job that it needs to do. Though one area within Riptide’s audio that does exceed its expectations is with its original soundtrack. From the moment you load up the game and it reaches the main menu screen, you are greeted with a musical theme that would be fitting for any 1980’s zombie flick. This happens throughout Riptide’s campaign and aids the zombie tone perfectly. In fact Riptide’s soundtrack does a very superb job throughout, whether it’s a more relaxed scene when discussing a mission with one of the characters or going on a dangerous and deadly mission. Credit has to go to the composer Pawel Blaszczak, who is not only responsible for both the Dead Island’s soundtracks, but also ‘The Witcher’.
Dead Island: Riptide does have bags of replay value, as with the original game, the campaign is huge and has a ton of main mission quests and side quests, even though the vast majority of the missions are go here and fetch this or do that can come back kind of quests, the XP levelling up system keeps things extra addictive and gives you that urge to do just one more mission to get the next level up. Throughout the campaign there are also a host of hidden items to find such as postcards, recordings, holiday guides and more as you aim for that 100% completion. As we know there are now five characters to choose from and once you have finished the campaign with one character, you can then finish it with another. Each character will bring their own skill and abilities to the table and each will offer a different approach to the game, not to mention that finishing the campaign with each of the characters, you will earn character specific achievements. All of this is just considering the single player modes, but if you can gather some friends together or some random’s online; you will also be able to play one of the best and most enjoyable co-op games out there.
If you’re new to the Dead Island series and are tempted by this game, then my advice would be to start with the original game as Riptide’s story follows directly after the previous events, plus the game will be very cheap to buy now. But if you’re already a fan of the series, then you will pretty much know what to expect and the chances are that you’ve already made your mind up on whether to buy this game or not. Dead Island: Riptide may not have the biggest development budget and it may not be the most technically gifted game, but Dead Island: Riptide has that special something that money can’t buy and will always gather a loyal cult like following.