Dead Island: Riptide Gets All Defensive

[IanDavis]

Dead Island: Riptide Gets All Defensive

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A 10 minute long video demonstrates new defense missions, turrets, and boats.

After a bizzare tease last week with a [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/121520-New-Dead-Island-Riptide-Bundle-Offers-Bloody-Boobs]bloody bust[/a], Dead Island: Riptide is back in the news and ready to finally drop the goods. While still in pre-alpha, developer Techland has released a video showcasing the gameplay from their upcoming co-op zombie-em-up title. While the core action remains, Riptide will feature a handful of new features designed to enhance your zombie survival experience.

Perhaps the most interesting feature is the new hub defense missions, which fulfill the classic zombie fantasy of a last-stand defense. Players will have to scavenge for weapons and supplies before fighting against the inevitable onslaught of undead flesh. You'll have the freedom to place mines and barricades to block off passages and funnel the cannibal corpses into the kill zones of turrets. Chain link fences offer more flexibility by blocking off a path as well as letting you shoot through them. While the video shows players scavenging for machine gun turrets from a downed helicopter, they appear to only be placeable at pre-defined points.

Since the previous game, the tropical wonderland of Banoi has been swamped with monsoons, leaving large parts of the island underwater. To get around, players will be able to use boats which feature a speed boost and more defensive positions than previous vehicles.

Dead Island: Riptide is set to launch for PC, Xbox 360, and PS3 on April 23rd.

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[ProtoChimp]

Why would anyone go back to Banoi? That place is fucked!

 

[Kuredan]

That's interesting. These hub defense missions are sort of like a "Make your own Left 4 Dead final boss mission" maker... I hope there's a level editor for the PC version.

 

[AngryBritishAce]

Well, Dead Island was quite a snooze-fest so you won't see me getting all excited for Riptide. If Deep Silver listed to any fan responses from the previous title, hopefully this may be a decent successor, otherwise, I think I'll pass.

 

[Sidmen]

Sadly, I got Dead Island (luckily rented it) without knowing it was an online-only game. For those of you now scratching your head and thinking "it had single player". No, it didn't. It was a multiplayer game that didn't even have the decency to give you Bots when you weren't online.

 

[Korzack]

The additions are interesting, whether they'll be enough to make Dead Island feel fresh again though is another question though, particularly as bits I really liked about it seemed to get shoved out the way once act 1 was wrapped up + by the time the jungle showed up I was just grinding through it to see how the story ended. If the focus was back on survival rather than... Whatever bonkers direction the story took in the first one, that'd be cool. Would be nice to see a zombie game try something that hasn't been done plenty of times before, though.

 

[Harker067]

At this point to get my interest Dead Island riptide needs characters that aren't completely unlikable to rekindle my interest. Much like Korzack I was jut grinding by the time I got to the jungle and had grown to intensely dislike all the main characters from what little exposition there was. Maybe they need to get the people behind the trailer (I can only assume they are a completely different group of people) to work on some emotionally compelling characters.

 

[jollybarracuda]

Sadly, I got Dead Island (luckily rented it) without knowing it was an online-only game. For those of you now scratching your head and thinking "it had single player". No, it didn't. It was a multiplayer game that didn't even have the decency to give you Bots when you weren't online.

I actually enjoyed the single player. Especially with some mods that made the game a bit tougher, like only being able to kill enemies with a blow to the head, and guns killing zombies in a headshot (except the boss monsters), and stuff like that. The base game itself was a bit of fun for me, but with those mods it became a bit more survival and was a ton more fun to enjoy.

I'm hoping this expansion focuses a bit more on the survival aspect. It seems they got guns to be a lot more effective against the zombies, and defensive missions are definitely the right direction to get that feeling. I just hope they go all the way with it.

 

[gigastar]

Something im a bit confused about, was this an expansion or a sequel?

 

[major_chaos]

I'm slightly concerned by a game that is supposed to launch in April only being in pre-alpha in late January.

 

[Frostbite3789]

I'm slightly concerned by a game that is supposed to launch in April only being in pre-alpha in late January.

The footage isn't necessarily up to date.

 

[Baron_BJ]

I'm slightly concerned by a game that is supposed to launch in April only being in pre-alpha in late January.

I'm glad I'm not the only person to notice this.
This seems like it could be a rather large problem, especially since the original game still has its own share of rather glaring bugs.

 

[CardinalPiggles]

Oh look, another FUCKING weapon wheel.

Colour me uninterested for now, until I see how good the PC port, animations and voice acting is.

 

[Lord_Gremlin]

Sadly, I got Dead Island (luckily rented it) without knowing it was an online-only game. For those of you now scratching your head and thinking "it had single player". No, it didn't. It was a multiplayer game that didn't even have the decency to give you Bots when you weren't online.

One of my playthroughs was 100% singleplayer. You're mad.

I'm definitely buying new one. It was fine on PS3, no way sequel is more buggy.

 

[Kirov Reporting]

Oh good, a very slightly different black ops zombies mode.

Someone get a dustpan so I can sweep up all these bits of broken mold.

 

[svenjl]

Sadly, I got Dead Island (luckily rented it) without knowing it was an online-only game. For those of you now scratching your head and thinking "it had single player". No, it didn't. It was a multiplayer game that didn't even have the decency to give you Bots when you weren't online.

One of my playthroughs was 100% singleplayer. You're mad.

I'm definitely buying new one. It was fine on PS3, no way sequel is more buggy.

Sidney - No single player, huh? Doesn't sound like you invested much in the game. Did you actually look through the menu properly?

Lord_Gremlin - I would suggest to everyone that they buy the GOTY edition of Dead Island. Very clean game. Still a bit clunky, but it has a certain charm. Fun game. I don't think I'll get Riptide if it's more of the same. Sequels rarely grab me unless the story and characters are amazing.

 

[Sidmen]

Sidney - No single player, huh? Doesn't sound like you invested much in the game. Did you actually look through the menu properly?

It has been quite some time, but IIRC, the singleplayer was simply the multiplayer game without anyone else playing with you. Which left the game feeling very ... I suppose the word would be wanting.

It absolutely wasn't a terrible game, but it was wanting in so many areas that I couldn't be compelled to push on further. I'm sure the game was much better if you played it with friends, but in single - it was an endless grind through infinite hordes of zombies. Which, turns out, isn't as fun as it seems at first.

 

[Comocat]

I'm slightly concerned by a game that is supposed to launch in April only being in pre-alpha in late January.

Yeah this confused me too because on-disc DLC is justified because devs have nothing better to do for a couple months while the game is certified. So if we are in pre-alpha are they going to try and knock out QA in a month?

Still I've always wanted to play a zombie survival rpg, so hopefully the defense stuff is as neat as it sounds.