‘Dead Island Riptide’ Knows It’s A Simple Game

Dead Island Riptide knows it’s a simple game, and it doesn’t care. It just wants you to have fun.

It’s been said that Dead Island Riptide is really just a B movie wrapped up in a videogame. The game itself won’t argue with that. It was intended to be simple fun. After all, how much of a story do you need for a videogame about bashing zombies over the head with a crowbar? What kind of plot do you need to explain running zombies over with a truck?

Zombies are probably the easiest monsters to make a quick story around. This could be why the Resident Evil films are the most successful franchise based on videogames.

The launch trailer for the first Dead Island did not gain it much attention. A few gamers actually trying it out and spreading the word probably did more to advertise Dead Island than anything intentional. If it wasn’t for the zombie fad, the first game may not have gotten noticed, or it may have vanished in an ocean of World War whatever clones.

With sales of over five million a sequel was inevitable. However, the word “sequel” doesn’t quite describe Dead Island Riptide, as it’s really just a continuation of the storyline from the first game. Again, what storyline do you really need? It’s just dirt simple fun.

The original Dead Island had you playing one of five survivors (four until the DLC hit and gave us a fifth) stranded on an island infested with the undead, and the main objective was simple: Get off the island, and try not to die. In the meantime you were sent on fetch quests during which you grabbed parts for weapons you could use to tear the zombies a new hole. Along the way you gained experience points you could put toward upgrading your survivor and giving him or her new abilities.

What are your thoughts on Dead Island Riptide being just simple fun?