By Chase Burgess

If you’re excited about Dying Light and you’ve never played Dead Island or its sequel Dead Island Riptide, go pick up Riptide. DIR is developed by Techland, the same developers working on Dying Light. Compared to the other games on this list, DIR is fairly new considering it was launched in 2013.

Similar to L4D2, DIR allows you to choose from five different characters. Four of the characters are the returning playable characters from the first Dead Island, and the fifth character is a completely new addition to the crew.

The game play remains largely the same as the first Dead Island. In fact, it’s exactly the same. The entire game is essentially the same. The graphics are the same, the idea is the same, and the weapons are largely the same. The only real difference in DI and DIR is the level of difficulty. DIR is much harder than its predecessor and guns are a lot harder to find. However, mods for your melee weapons are much more easily accessible.

DIR is a typical RPG minus the character customization. Each kill provides your character with experience points that are used to level up different attributes. Some weapons and mods are only available after reaching a certain level.

People have argued that this game could have been a downloadable add on to DI, and they’re right. Although DIR is a full length game, there’s nothing that really sets it apart from the original. The new location is nice, but it’s just another tropical paradise turned into a death trap with a few survivors hiding out in various locations.

Dead Island Riptide is available on Amazon.com for $17.29 and is rated M for mature. If you’re looking to kill some time in anticipation of Dying Light, then go pick this up on your Xbox 360 or PS3. Dead Island Riptide gets a 3/5.