Dead Island 2has a lot of things going for it. The gore is impeccably gross and omnipresent. The incredibly bright light sells the feeling that you’re trying to get by in a post-apocalyptic version of the West Coast’s most sun-drenched city. you may zap zombies with a jug of water and some electrically charged Wolverine claws. But the thing that’s bringing me the most consistent, visceral satisfaction is the game’s jump kick.
When you first start out, you can do a normal standing kick, which doesn’t do much damage, but pushes enemies back and is effective for crowd control. After playing for an hour or two, though, you unlock the jump kick which allows you to leap into the air and deal serious damage to any shambling Sharon or Shane that stumbles into your way. Instead of just pushing them back, this will typically knock them to the ground. Sometimes one running jump kick is enough to kill them on its own, and there’s an incredible flow to the way you can lead with your feet. If you see a zombie coming while running down the street, you can leap into the air, kick them to death with a single strike, land on your feet, and keep running without a dip in momentum.
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Pulling off the maneuver does take more precision than you might expect. A few times I’ve jumped and kicked in the general direction of a zombie only to watch in horror as I sailed past their head and landed with a thump on the ground. So you may’t just run around kicking at everything; you’ll make yourself vulnerable to attack when you fall and drain your stamina. You have to save the jump kick for the right moments - the moments when you have a real chance to send a rotting head flying like a soccer ball.
It’s fun to see them fly. With even a slight running jump, a kick will send a zombie ragdolling. Or, if you’re in a hallway, the attack could send them ricocheting off of the wall like a pool ball with some English on it. My favorite maneuver also feels like it’s straight out of a ball-based sport. If you may kite a group of zombies down a hallway, then run and jump kick the first one, it often sends the ones behind it flying like pins smashed by a speeding bowling ball.
The sheer amount of air you’re able to put on one of these flying corpses feels unrealistic — which is fine, this is an extremely goofy game — but it helps that I’m playing as Amy, a Paralympian with a sharp metal leg, perfect for taking heads off. As you go, you can upgrade the jump kick, equipping skill cards that modify its power. Right now, I’ve got one slotted that has a chance to weaken any opponent I hit with it., which can help me get out of a sticky situation if I start overdoing it with the drop kicks.
The jump kick is fun in its own right, but it’s also a crucial part of varying Dead Island 2’s combat, most of which is localized to the right trigger. It can feel same-y after a while. But, when you get sick of swinging your machete around, sometimes all you need is a swift kick in the head.
