Into the Dead 2 review

From mobile to Nintendo Switch.

Version tested: Nintendo Switch

Into the Dead 2 it's a game Survival horror, originally launched in 2017 on iOS and Android as a free-to-play title. The aim of the game is to survive hordes of agitated and frantic zombies as our character advances, just moving from left to right to avoid incoming attacks and desperately trying to conserve valuable ammunition. We will also be able to unlock a selection of animal sidekicks that will attack the incoming zeds and grant us small rewards to help us here and there.

gameplay-">"A simple but too repetitive gameplay"

The gameplay is pretty simple and repetitive, as you might expect from an auto-runner, but everything works best, except for some odd situation where we were caught off guard even though we are more than sure we have successfully dodged or placed a hit. to the surgical head. There is a story to follow in the main campaign, in which each of the sixty proposed levels is accompanied by a nice radio joke (through the walkie talkie) between the protagonist, James and his sister who is on the run and is trying to survive the zombie invasion with what's left of her family. It is a predictable narrative (really, we didn't expect a subversive zombie horror masterpiece here) which harks back to an endless list of films in the genre, but at least provides some sort of basic narrative framework throughout the playthrough. However, there are moments of high tension, in which the protagonist's malaise is clearly perceived of not being able to do more. All this is accompanied by a discreet dubbing.

gameplay

A gameplay certainly not innovative and not very different from iOS and Android; playing a handful of levels is enough to see pretty much everything in terms of mechanics on offer - apart from a couple of new weapons and armed turrets that add only temporary variety. The beating heart of Into the Dead 2 is actually the constant unlocking and updating of new weapons, rewards, and canine partners, rather than the gameplay itself. It is a direct consequence of its nature as an FTP title, but nothing has been done to improve its enjoyment on Switch, which quickly leads to its abandonment. The levels seem almost eager to get us moving as quickly as possible to the next, towards the XP screen so that we can see where we are in order to access the next one. The proposed settings are quite varied. Forests, wheat fields and tunnels.

Weapons for all tastes

On the other hand, there are a lot of weapons to unlock. All very beautiful and well detailed; we have everything from double grip pistols to riot rifles, bazookas, old western style rifles, machine guns and some fancy compound bows, but the fire mechanics are actually too simplified - being completely absent the possibility of identifying individual parts of the body, for example, blowing the legs of an enemy to let them crawl towards us - and we are not sure that all this variety of paraphernalia really make a difference. It's all about unlocking stuff and getting to the next upgrade. Sure, a bazooka will be more effective than a gun, but we will find ourselves continuously running forward automatically, moving left to right to avoid enemies, nothing more.

"Sixty levels, each practically the same as the other"

There are also, many add-ons we can add to our guns to make things easier as we make our way through the undead: explosive ammo, improved rate of fire, piercing ammo, and more - but again, they don't seem to be able to diversify the gameplay. The main campaign, as mentioned previously, has sixty levels, each practically the same as the other, except for a few moments of novelty.

In the end, the variety comes with a handful of extra side missions that slowly unlock as we progress through the main campaign. These "mini adventures" see us take control of different characters in new locations and also introduce some human partners that we can use to attack enemies. The first of these missions, set in the aftermath of a military plane crash in a zombie-infested war zone, actually proved to be much more interesting to play than the main adventure. That said, and with the risk of becoming repetitive like a free smartphone game, the gameplay is still the same.

At the end of each level you can get a reward opening a loot box which allows you to receive, special ammunition and other useful items, including gold. The reward system comes directly from the mobile version. Unlike the latter, however, in addition to being more full-bodied, they reduce crafting to a minimum. Everything is based on obtaining gold, which makes the character growth system, slow and frustrating.

Arcade mode

Rounding out the different game modes offered here is a standard arcade mode which increases the difficulty and the number of zeds to kill in order to move on to the next mission. Obviously, being repetitive would be fine at a certain price, at a reasonable price, the above can be overlooked, but perhaps the biggest problem with Into the Dead 2 on Switch - and surely the reason we're judging it so harshly - is that costs 34.99 €. We also have to mention that there are two licensed DLC packs: Ghostbusters and Night of the Living Dead, which of course both sound great and could be some really cool little additions to what's contained in the main game.

Graphics

Into the Dead 2 it has very nice graphics, it is well done, but there is not much else to recommend that you live the game experience offered here, no matter how many unlockable modes there are - it is not worth the selling price. This is a small, sometimes slightly exciting zombie-based survival game built around an endless hustle and bustle of unlockable items, which provide nothing in the way of gameplay variety (or even enemy variety). It's something we'd be more than happy to dive into for free on our phones, but there's absolutely no reason we can honestly recommend buying the Switch version at this price point.

Conclusion

Into the Dead 2 is a pretty fun and well-made self-run survival game that comes to Switch at an absolutely crazy price. The main game is enjoyable enough for a few minutes, but it has depth that one would expect to find in a game that started out as a free-to-play mobile experience. It's been filled with loads of extra modes and they're all fully functional, but it's still the same albeit with slightly different settings. If you like to run through endless waves of zombies while very slowly unlocking the weapons that delude you that you are changing that experience in some way, buy it, but for everyone else we recommend that you leave it alone.