Dead Island 2brought some great surprises after being stuck in development hell. Developer Dambuster Studios finally brought the action horror title to life, and althoughDead Island 2has plenty of fun moments, the studio made a surprising choice with the game’s co-op mode.
One aspect ofDead Island 2that many players were looking forward to was the game’s co-op, but the decision to make the game’s multiplayer three-person instead of the more common four-person was a head-scratcher for some. AlthoughDead Island 2’s co-op is a lot of fun, three-person co-op is an uncommon approach to multiplayer gaming. If theDead Islandfranchise continues, a third game in the series may want to rework its co-op approach.
A Three-Person Team Can Feel Unbalanced
Using an odd number for a game’s co-op is a surprising choice. When it comes to multiplayer gaming, a four-person team has become more of a standard due to it feeling more balanced for many. Although theteams inDead Island 2are one person short of an even number, this mode in the game still emphasizes the importance of sticking together and working as a unit, even if the group is a trio.
The biggest disadvantage with three-person co-op is that it can make the team feel pretty uneven. With four players, a team can split up into two groups to cover more ground and verify enemies are kept at bay on multiple fronts. A three-person team can make it a little more difficult to cover substantial ground and strategize when facing zombie hordes. If Dambuster Studios makesanotherDead Islandgame, reworking the co-op into a four-person unit could give a lot more flexibility to the multiplayer gameplay.
The choice to use a three-person co-op approach is unorthodox, but there is also good reason for it. On the official website forDead Island 2, Dambuster Studios actually addresses the use of a three-person system. After thorough play-testing, the game’s developers found that keeping the cap at three players surprisingly made the multiplayer experience more balanced. According to the developers, a three-person team “kept the combat challenging with just the right amount of zombies”. Despite some being unhappy with the three-person cap,Dead Island 2was one of last year’s best co-op games, so the three-person approach clearly didn’t affect multiplayer that much.
Furthermore,Dead Island 2is chaoticenough with one person hacking and slashing through zombies. Three players taking on a group of zombies seems to be just the right number before things could get far too gory to even keep up with what is happening on screen. Using three players for co-op also helps with the game’s overall performance. Adding a fourth player into the mix could prove to be overload for the game, since there is so much blood and action for the FLESH system to process.
Three-person co-op may not be the general standard, but it’s not anything new.Destiny 2is one of the biggest online co-op titles around, and the campaign only allows for three players in a team. There are plenty of great games where three-person multiplayer is actually the right balance for both gameplay and performance, andDead Islandseems to be one of them. Despite the odds,Dead Island 2has been a success, and its multiplayer is a great way to experience the game. Three-person co-op may take some time to get used to, but it offers a unique and diverse gaming experience.
Dead Island 2
WHERE TO PLAY
The open-world zombie slaying action RPG makes its long-awaited return. Dead Island is back, and with it comes a host of enhancements to its winning combination of creative first-person zombie slaying, pitch-black humor and open-world exploration. Welcome to HELL-A. The City of Angels has been transformed into a hellish sprawl, its populace now mutated into disgusting zombies with an insatiable appetite for humans. In this extensive, visceral RPG experience you’ll journey to iconic LA locations, taking on quests, meeting eccentric survivors and enjoying a joyously pulpy narrative along the way. The game’s brutal melee combat gives you access to an expansive array of inventive zombie-slaying weaponry that lets you slice, smash and tear through the hordes before they get the chance to do the same to you. Can you survive HELL-A?
