Dead Island 2

This game has everything to be the best in its genre and it does it well with an excellent narrative, graphics and impressive details. It runs a bit heavy for some players on PC. The co-op mode is one of the best features of all, though not having cross-play takes away the real fun. Slaying zombies isn't hard until you hit the streets of Hell-A and want to get out alive.

Dead Island 2 surely went through a few levels of development hell, so anyone following its path would reasonably suspect that the game might have issues. I can't say that it does anything exceptionally well, but it has enough life in it to avoid major stumbles. For better or worse, it is a by-the-numbers zombie basher that doesn't do anything terribly distinct. Its humor makes it compelling and fun, and it's at its best whenever it relies on that strength.

All in all, Dead Island 2 is an excellent surprise and a must-have for all the fans of the genre, that seems to us undeniable. And if, despite its rather minor problems, Dead Island 2 can lose credibility at first sight, there is no doubt that its important strong points will make you forget these small details as you progress in the game. The work done in many respects is colossal, and you feel it throughout the progression. A very good game that we highly recommend!

Dead Island 2 is like a good B movie. It's imperfect, but it doesn't commit to more than it's capable of offering. Incredibly entertaining, it keeps in the foreground what makes it stand out: the destruction of zombies, without a single shred of shame. It doesn't revolutionize the genre and never breaks free of the genre's moorings, but it's a real pleasure to smash zombies - from zombie number 1 to zombie number 1000.

Dead Island 2 is not as ambitious as some of the other zombie slashers out there, but that actually works in its favor: With solid game mechanics, gory combat, good level design and some well-written characters, you are in for a bloody good time. Just don't expect a game that pushes anything forward.

Dead Island 2 is a surprisingly good game that I had more fun with than I would have expected. It doesn't reinvent the wheel, but its well-made mechanics, its simplicity and its honest intentions are enough elements to score it positively.

Dead Island 2 knows what it wants and does it just right. The zombie slasher is good solo, but even better in co-op.

Dead Island 2 does not revolutionize the saga or the survival game, but provides the essentials. Dambuster Studios offers fans of zombie survivalism a bloody and sunny journey to the heart of a red-painted City of Angels. Mutilating the emaciated has never been so brutal and the pleasure felt so visceral. This FPS is not perfect, far from it, and suffers from a certain repetitiveness that it tries to erase with undeniable generosity. The Dead Island franchise is well and truly back, a resounding return through the front door.

Dead Island 2 groans can be loud as its technical and execution faults are hard to ignore, however, it feels crafted with so much love, that if you give yourself over to its shambling grasp, you might be surprised to hear a beating heart inside its exposed ribcage.

Dead Island 2 is every bit the head-stomping blast that it promised to be. There are a few creases that Dambuster ought to iron out over the coming weeks, but if you’re hoping for mindless chaos and exceptional entertainment across the grindhouse slaughterhouse that is HELL-A, you’ve got it in spades right here.

A fun but not relaxing trip to the fancy parts of L.A, Dead Island 2 is a major improvement over the previous franchise entries, with accurate goriness for the player's situation.

Dead Island 2 departs from the original setting of an island and takes place in a zombie-infested Los Angeles. The game now offers a semi-open world, featuring satisfying combat mechanics, a vast array of upgradable weapons, and intense battles against hordes of zombies.

Considering its troubled and long development cycle, it is almost a miracle that Dead Island 2 turned out as polished as it did. No issues at all on PC either. The game has its strengths, however, it feels a bit repetitive after a few hours.

Blunt, gory, brutal - after ten years of development hell, Dead Island 2 is a good, dull action snack with no pretense or story highlights.

Refreshingly brainless and made with a lot of heart, Dead Island 2's repetitive quest design and disappointing conclusion don't stop it from being a whale of a time.

For being a game that has been in development hell for over ten years, Dead Island 2 turned out alright, thanks to the wacky atmosphere and characters, fun combat, and acceptable quest quality. All of these features, however, become progressively worse as the campaign proceeds, making the game nothing more than an acceptable experience that may not be worthy of its full price tag for those looking for something a bit more involving.

A sleek and good-looking zombie smashing experience. Great combat and sense of humour are shackled to a sadly formulaic feel.

Dead Island 2 is a remarkably solid game, one that doesn't make any attempt to reinvent the wheel, but nevertheless is a more than satisfying mindless casual zombie-killing gorefest. It won't be a game held up in years to come as the go-to model for open-world zombie games but given its decade-long tenure in development hell, it's nothing short of a miracle it ever managed to crawl across the finish line as anything less than a complete mess.

Dead Island 2 delivers bone crunching combat alongside a generic experience that feels ripped straight from 2011.

There’s a lot of fun to be had slaying zombies on the streets and beaches of HELL-A, but if that first bite doesn’t infect you, you might find – like the protagonist – that your experience gets stronger as you play.

If you aren't as big a mark for zombie horror as I am, there's a lot you can pick apart about Dead Island 2. It's dated, a little shallow, and is effectively over at its halfway point. It's still a good co-op game, and its story kept me interested up to the end; I can't hate a game where I can dropkick a zombie into downed power lines. If you pick up Dead Island 2, bring a couple of horror-nerd friends to Hell-A with you, and you can get a few good evenings out of it. For solo play, though, only true zombie maniacs need apply.

It’s not necessarily a failure on Deep Silver’s and Dambuster Studios' part, but Dead Island 2 simply doesn’t feel like a game worthy of a decade-long wait. It maintains all of the elements that made the first few games popular and expands on several in fun and interesting ways but does far too little to separate itself from the titles that came before it.

Dead Island 2 is hampered by dull design choices, repetitive combat, and a painfully weak story, with its only saving grace being its great performance on PC.