Dead Island Riptide Gun Play Gets Upgraded, Dynamic Weather System Added

Dead Island's sequel, Dead Island Riptide, is not only set to right some of the game's misdeeds, but it also aims to bring in a few new gameplay additions, too.

In an interview with OPM UK, Dead Island Riptide creative producer Anthony Cardahi talks about some of the new features and fixes fans can expect in their second romp in Dead Island.

First off, Cardahi talks about Dead Island's "unpredictable" gun play. Cardahi notes that in the first game, "The ranged combat in the original was only pushed during the middle and latter stages of the game, and ammo was really sparse," He then adds, "As such, most of the tweaking and balance time was focused on the melee combat and not so much on the shooting."

Cardahi admits, "It was a great hassle to get any kind of efficient headshot in the first game," but that now they're putting the ranged weapons and lot of ammo into the early stages of the game. Because of this new shooting mechanic, "headshots are now really devastating. You can also improve and upgrade the guns to the same level as melee weapons. Guns now represent a completely viable combat choice that you can maintain throughout the game."

In addition to the upgraded shooting mechanics, Cardahi reveals that there's a new "dynamic weather system" in the game and this allows them to "play around with the atmosphere of the game a lot more thanks to different lighting systems, from sunny blue skies to dark, torrential rains storms that will obscure your visibility."

While Dead Island didn't manage to bring in the same level of quality as its highly-acclaimed initial trailer. it was still a solid zombie romp that managed to rope in a lot of players to try and survive in "Dead Island." Can the sequel fare better? For the sake of zombie fans everywhere, let's hope it does.

Did you like the first Dead Island? What were your main complaints against it and what do you want to see the sequel improve on?

Dead Island Riptide is set for release on April 23, 2013 for the PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.