Dead Island 2 Review

Satisfying Weapon Variety & Character Builds

And trust me there are a lot of weapons in this game. From humble hammers to electrified swords, to curved fist blades, you'll always be able to find something to suit your mood, and when accompanied by a hefty slew of ranged weapons, means you're deadly at almost any position. Plus nearly all of these devices can be upgraded further into weapons of ridiculous devastation, meaning you can fully customize your loadout into a Swiss army bandolier of death and destruction.

Yet it's not just the weapons that can be fine-tuned as each Slayer is given access to a hand of card perks that can be stacked to form a bespoke fighting style, rewarding you with increased damage, health regen or access to potent special moves that I won't spoil here, as they need to be seen to be believed. What makes this upgrade system so intriguing however is that each card acts as both a blessing and a curse, with skills being gated to an either/or mechanic.

For example, if you fancy yourself as a dodging machine why not make use of that skill by adding in a perk that gives you a health boost for each successful perfect pirouette? Sounds great right? Well, that dodge ability has come at the cost of being able to block, meaning that if you get cornered with little room to maneuver you'll be joining the ranks of the undead in no time. I truly enjoyed playing around with skills and loadouts throughout my campaign run, and by the end I had a tailored perk system that kept me in the fight for longer, rewarded me for taking risks, and let me unleash special moves with a supremely shortened cooldown.

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