Hollywood's undead rise up in "Dead Island 2"
It's time to smash some brains to save what's left of the Sunshine State.
Hollywood embraces the zombie apocalypse in this extremely bloody adventure, one with enough violence and gore to make it strictly for adults only. Dead Island 2 (Deep Silver) sees the undead walk the red carpets of Los Angeles while the living fight to survive.
This third installment of the franchise occurs ten years after the events of Dead Island and Dead Island: Riptide, where the zombie virus first erupted on the fictional Banoi Island in Papua New Guinea. But as the infestation reaches California, the entire state is put into quarantine lockdown.
Players can choose one of six "Slayers," each with their own unique special abilities and attributes. Jacob (voice of Okezie Morro), Bruno (voice of Jay Rincon), Carla (voice of Carolina Ravassa), Dani (voice of Michelle Fox), Ryan (voice of Ronan Summers) and Amy (voice of Skye Bennett) all board the last evacuation flight out of La La Land, but the plane is shot down by the military when a zombie is discovered among the passengers.
The player's chosen character survives the plane crash and meets another passenger, a celebrity actress named Emma Jaunt (voice of Hannah Steele). The Slayer also meets Emma's boyfriend, Sam B (voice of Cavin Cornwall), one of the playable characters from the original title. They work to escape the city and help others along the way, but are drawn into the machinations of a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) doctor, Reuben Reed (voice of Colin McFarlane) who knows more than he's letting on about the virus.
Dead Island 2 features cooperative play for up to three people, which can be done in three ways: by setting your lobby open to public matchmaking, by invitation only, or open only to those on your friends list. It should be noted, public lobbies risk exposure to the behavior of other players.
As is common among the zombie subgenre, the visuals are graphic and bloody, with brains and viscera splattering the ground. Combat includes dismemberment and decapitation, and some gruesome cutscenes -- one of which uses the heel of a stiletto shoe as a weapon.
While playing a game in itself is not sinful, nevertheless it is important to be mindful of how games affect us, and whether they positively or negatively affect our moral decision-making to do good and avoid evil. Killing flesh-eating monsters in a fictional world is no violation of the Fifth Commandment; for our fictional protagonist, it is an exercise in legitimate self-defense.
The excessive blood and gore also may be upsetting to many, especially children, and even some adults, and therefore they should avoid it. As a rule, if you find playing certain games negatively affects your moral and spiritual equilibrium, then avoid those and find something else.
For adults who enjoy fighting off hordes of the undead, the red carpets of Los Angeles await in Dead Island 2.