Dlc's of the dead!
Ryder dlc, lets do this!
Knocking Dead Island off the list was an ordeal, but how about the Ryder dlc and stand-alone Riptide expansion?
After searching all over Steam and the game menus, I finally found the Ryder dlc. It appears the games final antagonist was in the character roster the whole time.
I had worried that Ryder's campaign would just be new game-plus with a new character and some voice acting, but Ryder's dlc campaign is a lot different. Our story begins at a helicopter crash site and held me to a faster pace than the vanilla campaign. Gone are the complex perk trees and slow-rolling out the weapons. There are few if any sidequests to distract from the main plot. Ryder blitzes through zombies and looters alike while back-filling the original plot and illuminating the motives of a certain cyberhacker scumbag.
this dlc campaign is short and gun-centric. Though, it feels more like a typical fps than the melee, rpg, slow-cooking slugfest of the original game. The Ryder White story does fill out the the game a little and add some depth to a character that we never really saw.
Dead Island Riptide, Here We Go Again!
Continuing from the serene helicopter ride of the first game, our protagonists land on a navy ship only to be accosted by more military hard-asses. It seems that the government has some kind of anti-disease bias, typical CDC discrimination.
Within littoral seconds, I found my self shrugging and quipping "it wasn't my idea to bring her!" while fighting my way through a zombie infested warship, aided by the easily overwhelmed Aussie jarheads. It seems that a modern navy is still no match for some hangry bitey-boys. No worries, my expertise honed with hours of solo whacking got us all out of another sticky situation though perhaps, into another one.
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| No harm inviting her |
Prologue prologged, time to select a character. Conventional wisdom would have had me picking the tried and true Logan Carter, but boredom pushed me to a more exotic white guy, John Morgan.
The former ADF soldier turned middle aged Bruce Lee. John's character specific perks are all high damage melee attacks. Assuming I wouldn't get my hands on a firearm until late game and melee weapons keep breaking, John Morgans honed kungfu would save me some headaches.
Keeping with the title, riptide takes place on another island, merely a stones throw from Banoi, so naturally the game follows the formula pretty close. The main quest is to escape the island once again, with some twists and turns along the way, not to mention an entire boatload (or helicopter load) of sidequests to complete. The skill tree and leveling system returns with a twist, melee, guns and blunt weapon proficiency will increase with practice instead of spending skillpoints. The old adage practice makes perfect applies here.
While I can't speak for the other characters, John has some really high power skills empty hand skills. Off the bat I gained deadly strike and the running kick. Morgan's running kick is a great tool for knockdowns and dealing huge critical damage. Another benefit is the hand-to-hand boosts that are unique to John are also applicable to the claw type weapons, so you can hack and slash like wolverine while using your 'unarmed' skills.
As the plot progresses it explains more of the zombie virus and the immune characters abilities. I thought the first game was long enough to fit these squishy story bits in, but instead they make their way into another fairly long campaign that had me building up my xp once again and fighting a variety of zombie types. The whole plot and mission structure had me running about collecting items and slaying zombies, all while once again trying to escape yet another 'Dead Island' as it were. Riptide is, after all, an expansion of the first game, not a sequel, so it doesn't have to deliver much in terms of originality, though I liked it enough to finish.
Both dlc's slain, on to more old-assed titles in my library, but until then, adios amigos!
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