➤ Dead Island: Survivors, the review 🎮

Dead Island: Survivors is not the first spin-off of the series originally entrusted to Techland, currently in dangerous limbo after leaving the team, which in recent years has dedicated itself with great success to the franchise of Dying Light. However, the brand is still very popular and therefore, waiting to know something about the development of Dead Island 2, Deep Silver has seen fit to entrust the Fishlabs guys with the creation of a mobile game with an intriguing concept that would bring us back to the famous islands invaded by zombie, available for free at App Store e Google Play after a long period in soft launch. In this case, the experience is a curious mix between a tower defense and an action RPG, in which we control a character who knows the threat of the undead well and knows how to counter it, using not only the hands but also and above all a set of different devices: from machine guns to cannons, from flamethrowers to incendiary bombs.

With the aim of freeing the various areas of a large archipelago, saving the survivors trapped in situations that are not exactly idyllic, in the game we will find ourselves organizing the defenses on the basis of a predetermined enemy path, which we can however modify by placing our towers on the map. or simple barricades. If the zombie should they reach the entrance of our camp they will be electrocuted by an electric charge, but the trick will only work three times: where the opponents reach their destination in large numbers, it will be game over. Precisely for this reason we will have to make sure that the weapons disseminated within the scenarios act to the maximum of their effectiveness, possibly supported not only by our direct action, but also by a series of "traps" that can be activated as needed and that contribute to sow death (the definitive one, of course) and destruction.

Gameplay and structure

As mentioned, the Dead Island: Survivors formula takes up the traditional mechanics of tower defense, presenting the same scenario on each island and highlighting the paths that the zombies will follow to reach the entrance to the base. Our task will be to use this information to place the towers, upgrade them where possible using virtual currency (which is obtained simply by proceeding in the stages), perhaps resort to some rubies (the hard currency) to speed up operations and finally start the mission. .

The difference compared to the classic strategic is in the possibility of supporting the fire of the towers with the intervention of our character, according to canons very similar to those of the action RPG, although unfortunately the touch controls in this sense have not made us crazy: instead of opting for a virtual stick and an attack button, the developers have preferred a "touch and go" style approach, which however does not go well with the close-up view and often forces frequent touches, at a very short distance, to be able to move quickly in the most excited situations. The settings do not currently allow you to change the layout, which is a real shame.

Fortunately, this lack does not undermine excessively the goodness of a plant that certainly does not boast an extraordinary variety but involves and amuses, even more so when the degree of challenge rises, that is from the third island onwards. There are secondary levels that you can complete to get money and resources, fairly challenging boss fights and mechanics freemium which in fact make themselves felt a little, but at the same time we did not want to limit the use of the game in any way and therefore you will not have to wait for the recharge of the action energy to be able to make all the attempts you want. In short, we are talking about an interesting and well packaged product, especially from a technical point of view, thanks to excellent graphics that include various types of enemies, even if the choice to limit the scenarios to a single map per island translates into a visual impact a bit monotonous.

Comment

Tested version iPhone (3.0.0) Digital Delivery App Store, Google Play Price Free Resources4Gaming.com

7.8

Readers (2)

8.8

Your vote

Dead Island: Survivors is a fun strategy-based pastime for fans of the series produced by Deep Silver, to try their hand at while waiting to know what happened to Dead Island 2. The mix between tower defense mechanisms and action RPG is tantalizing and produces situations. different from the usual, very engaging when the degree of challenge becomes more consistent and freemium dynamics also come into play, in some ways annoying but never really limiting: you can face dozens of missions without having to wait, and stages designed to obtain resources and money is not lacking. It is a pity that the touch control system is inaccurate and unsuitable for our character's sortie on the path dotted with towers, but it is a small price to pay for a well-made title, definitely worth trying.