You could be forgiven for thinking that zombies are so passé in 2013, but this self-confessed geek still cannot get enough of the popular gore fest genre.
I was brought up on a VHS diet of George A Romero’s classic movies. Dawn of the Dead’s not so subtle attack on consumerism feels even more relevant now than it did in the 80’s, whilst the irony of vast amounts of Walking Dead merchandise on the internet makes me smile.
Yet with the Walking Dead TV show off our screens until October, where am I going to get my zombie fix? Luckily Dead Rising Riptide will be with us in the next few weeks, so let’s take a look at what we can expect.
Dead Island Riptide promises to reanimate the zombie terror from the original game. A monsoon has hit the once beautiful archipelago, and heavy rainstorms have laid waste to large areas of the islands. The city of Henderson and jungle areas on the island of Palanai were flooded, leaving boats as the only remaining way of transportation. Dynamic weather conditions will force the team members to adapt to changing visibility conditions.
A fifth character will join the team, with an all-new, unique skill set. The combined skills of the group will be sorely needed, since terrible, new and unknown zombie mutations have emerged all over the island.
In new hub defense missions, the co-op teamplay skills of the survivors will be tested to the limit. They need to strategically place traps, fences and turrets to fend off oncoming zombie onslaughts and protect the humans in these sanctuaries.
Deep Silver’s Dead Island has sold-through more than five million digital and physical units since its release in September 2011. It seemed to divide the gaming community on its initial release, but here at This Is My Joystick, we were quick to point out the game’s strengths.
As we approach the end of the gaming season and leave our consoles to stock up on vitamin D, don’t be fooled into thinking there are no more interesting titles to be released. The current generation of gaming still has some fight left in it, and killing zombies seems like the perfect way to go out in style.
It’s too early to tell if Dead Island Riptide will offer anything new to non-believers, but when the sun goes down this summer, if the idea of knocking back bourbon from a dirty glass before zombie slaying is your thing, then this is a game you might want to get your hands on sooner rather than later.
Stay tuned for our review of Dead Island Riptide very soon…
