Written by Patrick Orquia
Title: Into the Dead 2
Developer: PikPok
Publisher: Versus Evil
Genre: FPS, Arcade
Number of Players: 1
Release Date: Oct. 25, 2019
Platform: Nintendo Switch
Price: $34.99
I'm not the most avid zombie survival video game fan in the world, but I do like them. I have had my fair share of such games, like Resident Evil 4 on the Wii (the best Resident evil game ever) and ZombiU (the best zombie survival game ever made… yes, I stand by that statement despite your possible disagreement). I even have a copy Resident Evil: Revelations on THREE different consoles (3DS, Wii U, and Switch). That game is also awesome. I could play that game and the other previously mentioned two now and I know that I will surely have a great time.
Speaking of zombie survival games, Into the Dead 2 is of such variety, released on Switch. I had no previous knowledge of the game until I was asked by my editor to review it. I saw the trailer and thought it looked ok, and gave it a go. I was not sure if I had to play the first game first but I did enjoy the game on its own, so probably not.
In this game you play as James, who seems to tirelessly run across great distances to reach his sister Helen who is taking care of his daughter, Maggie. His wife Clare died some time ago, if you want to know and to remove any Game of Thrones-related thoughts that probably have about their circumstance. Anyway, so one day, the zombie apocalypse happens and James now has to race against time and kill a big multitude of zombies to get to his loved ones. The narrative is gradually revealed through conversations of James and his sister via walkie-talkie at the end of each level.
By the way, this is a first person shooter on rails, sort of. At the start of every level, you have to run a given set of distance, kill zombies that get in your way with a set of weapons of your choosing, with a companion dog or bear or tiger to help you in taking down them zombies, and reach the end alive. As simple as that, and yet can be really hard as well, especially on the latter levels.
Unlike of other on-rail FPS games, you only move forward, though you can stir to the left or right to avoid zombies or to reach weapon crates to restock your bullets and grenades. You start with a basic pistol, but as you progress, you get to unlock more and more weapons, like shotguns and rifles and even bows, and the more you kill with your weapon of choice, the more they gain XP. Upon reaching a certain number of XP, they level up (up to the maximum level 5). To sweeten the deal even more, you also get to obtain power-ups for the weapons, such as explosive bullets, higher reload rate, higher number of bullets to get for cranes, etc. The bullets are, of course, limited, so you have to also try your hardest to pass through crates to get more bullet (and, not as often, grenades). If you run out of bullets, you don't get to fire your weapons, and all you can do is try to avoid zombies. You get to kill a zombie that catches you with a knife only once per level, so there is at least some room for error. Get caught a second time means death, and you get to see yourself getting torn to pieces by zombies as they eat your intestines, unless you press skip.
The game is divided into 60 levels across 7 chapters. Each level has 5 winning conditions, winning you a star for each one that you accomplish, one of which is to survive it, i.e., not getting caught and eaten by a zombie. The other winning conditions vary from the obvious like kill a certain number of zombies, sometimes without being touched by a zombie, to the ridiculously specific, like walking on top of a picnic table or passing under power pylons. It’s very hard to win all 5 stars in one go, so you will be encouraged to replay levels to win all 5 stars. Winning a certain number of stars will gain you gold coins that you can use to buy and level up weapons and animal companions. Winning all stars in a mission will unlock a special weapon that can only obtained with such feat. It also unlocks the elite difficulty for the mission, with tougher enemies and much harder winning conditions.
Aside from the Story mode, there is also a Side Stories mode, with additional levels that will unlock new weapons and companion animals. These side stories are unlocked upon completion of certain levels in the story mode because they are ties to the narrative of the game. There are also two DLC levels based on the Dawn of Dead and Ghostbusters movies. Unfortunately, I wasn’t given the codes for these extra levels, but I guess if you are a fan of these two movies, they are worth checking out.
And if those two are still not enough, there is an Arcade mode, where you have to beat levels by killing a certain number of zombie kills, with 3 goals that will unlock gold or power-ups. Beating the first two goals unlocks the next level. This is an effective way in earning extra gold and power-ups. That is, if you are good enough, because these levels can be tough to beat.
So, this game seems to be packed to the punch. There must be a catch, right? Yep, and a big one.
The game costs a whopping $34.99. But with 60 levels in the story modes plus a few more in the other modes and a play time of 20-30 hours, this is not a bad deal you may think. If you are like me and you didn’t know that this is a port of a mobile game… a FREE-TO-START mobile game… yeah, probably the price is ok. But the fact of the matter is that there is a still very much active mobile version with, for what I reckon, more features and has more bang for buck (it is free, of course it has), this Switch port is one overpriced game. If this was priced at $9.99 or maybe even free, I will surely recommend it at a drop of a hat, but no, this is just too much. For $34.99, you pretty much get just a straight port of the mobile game, with every little overhauling of the graphics and audio, and with the Arcade mode replacing the Daily challenges mode on the original. That’s fine, but the gold and loot drops are very so small and far in between, even on Story mode levels. For example, in this game, upon completion of a level, you get the chance to choose which loot you want to get, either gold or a power-up or maybe a grenade or two. If you choose gold, you only get 5-10 coins. The upgrades and weapon/animal companion purchases cost 50 to 200 a pop. Yeah, even the supposedly unlocked weapons/animal companions need to be bought in order for you to use them. This means you have to grind, and grind a lot. The game gets very repetitive almost right away, so grinding in this game become much more of a chose than anything else. At $34.99, you shouldn’t have to do this anymore, or if you still want to do it, it is because you want to do it and not because you have to.
Overall, I did enjoy playing this game. Maybe too much than I should. At one point I was playing it for 6 hours straight. That is how insanely addicting this game is. But when I found out this the game might be a mobile game port, because it did scream mobile game right on the get go, and then finding out that it is indeed a port of a mobile game, my interest for the game quickly waned. Not throwing insults at mobile games, mind you. I had my fair share of getting addicted to Plants vs Zombies and Angry Birds back in the day, after all. But what I’m saying is this game is just not priced fairly. The 2 DLCs available are not even readily available, they are paid DLCs. If those DLCs were included, maybe it would sweeten the deal some more, but as how things are right now, it’s better if you wait for a price drop or sale for this game. Or better yet, just try the mobile version. Like what I said, it has more bang for buck, more customization options, and more features. Sure, there are ads to get around of but they are really not much of a bother, because u are not required to buy stuff unless you lack the patience. At the time of writing of this this review, the game is not out yet, so hopefully the publisher will still make some changes in pricing or maybe include more features in this game. For such an enjoyable game at its core, Switch games need to get more for what they pay for.
REPLAY VALUE: Very high
PROS
- Simple yet addicting gameplay
- Excellent voice acting
- Subdued but effecting musical score
- The zombies having lit up eyes is a very nice touch
- Large number of weapons to choose
- Large number of power-ups to use and customize weapons with
- Quite challenging in terms of difficulty which entices you to play more
- Suitable for handheld gaming for short gaming sessions
- Good use of HD Rumble
CONS
- Mediocre graphical and art style: characters look rubbish up close and everything looks like taken from the PS2 era
- Highly repetitive gameplay
- Grinding is a must
- Highly overpriced for an originally free-to-start mobile game, which arguably has better features and more bang for buck
- Upgrades and purchases cost a lot
- Loots are way too small compared to the things that need to be bought in the game
- Unlocked weapons and animal companions still need to be bought for you to use them
- No online modes, unlike the original game
- Available DLCs are paid ones
RATING: 3.5/5 Running with zombies
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