I don`t know about you folks but I am getting a tad bored with zombie slaying, I sort of peaked at Dead Island which I did think was a descent game even though it did have its faults, so when Deep Silver sent over a copy of Dead Island Riptide my first thoughts were “here we go again”

Dead Island riptide is exactly that, more of the same and its obvious they have thrown a bit more cash at this outing yet there isn`t really anything more on offer, don`t get me wrong I am a fan of this franchise, I just get the impression this is almost like a DLC version of Dead Island.

The story starts were the last game finished with the four survivors escaping the island of Palanai after the entire population has become infected, due to bad weather the rescue helicopter is forced to land on a military ship and due to the fact that the survivors are infected we end up with the entire crew becoming zombies, which isn`t good for our heroes.

Yes you`ve guessed it after a bit of zombie bashing our intrepid heroes end up back on the Island and its back to the old routine.

Which isn`t too bad really, if you enjoyed the first one then you should enjoy this one but don`t expect anything spectacular because it’s all been done before .

There are some new features that keep the interest up in this version, we spend a fair bit of time on water so we have a new hazard, zombies can now drag you off the boat and drown you, the weather is also an important factor in this game with some pretty nasty storms thrown at you which does give the gameplay more interest.

John Morgan a character from the first game makes a return, he is the butt kicking navy cook (sort of Steven Seagal from under siege) and with the new hub defence missions the player has to find objects ,setup booby traps and fencing to keep the undead at bay.

There are a bunch of new zombies around and it is still satisfying to be able to bash their heads in or shoot them with the variety of guns lying around the place, there is of course the weapon modifying benches as seen in the last one were you can create all manner of head splitting weapons.

Gameplay is pretty full on with a nice open world feel to it, the graphics are still as good as ever and there are plenty of things to do with side missions and co-op play also available.

I am glad to see they have dropped the level limitations between co-op partners, the game now automatically re balances your abilities to find some common middle ground.

Dead Island Riptide has the familiar opt in/opt out mode for multiplayers allowing you to join in or drop out at any stage.

Another nice thing about Dead Island riptide is we can now get our hands on firearms early on in the game which is way better than the last outing, and there are some nice weapons available, of course you have to be careful about your ammo as its quite scarce and it’s easy to get carried away when a bunch of the undead start coming at you.

Dead Island Riptide is really geared up for co-op play and this works well , with the focus being on bashing zombies and collecting things it’s not overly sophisticated, yet who wants sophistication when after all games like this are all about the zombie slaying.

Summary Dead Island Riptide is in my opinion one of the better zombie slaying games available with plenty of side missions, sometimes overwhelming enemies and a wide range of weapons I think this is every bit as good as the original Dead island.

It’s not trying to be anything more than a hack and slash title and if that’s what your into then you can`t go wrong with this, OK there are still the usual glitches and game mechanic problems that plagued the last one, but this becomes insignificant once you become involved in the game.

Deep silver haven`t really pushed it too far with this title and have basically gone for the same format as before so it does feel a like a large DLC pack, yet it still has the edge over other zombie games and is worth a look.

• Dead Island Riptide • Developer: Techland • Publisher: Deep Silver • Xbox 360 • Playstation 3 • PC • Genre: FPS • Release Date: 26th April 2013 • Gameplay: 4/5 • Graphics: 4/5 • Story: 4/5 • Overall: 4/5

Review by The Leet in association with White Room Games Limited.

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