Thank you BadFly Interactive for sending us this game to review!

Dead Effect 2 continues where the previous game left off.  On the spaceship ESS Meridian, death was conquered by a mad scientist, but many of the test subjects turned into zombies as a result.  Instead of being rewarded for stopping the madman, your character wakes up in a lab being experimented on.  A cyborg named Danette aides in freeing you, but needs your help in return.  In total there are twenty missions and over one hundred and seventy Steam achievements in this 3D first-person shooter game.

There are three characters to choose from and each has a different weapon specialty.  I played as Jane Frey who is an assault specialist that prefers shotguns.  The other two characters are male and they include Gunner Davis who uses heavy weapons and Kay Rayner, a sword wielding melee fighter.  The melee character is recommended for experienced players.  There are multiple difficulty levels to try if you’re looking for a challenge.  Grinding is required if you want to have a powerful and well-equipped character to tackle some of the tougher bosses.  You can also have a friend join alongside you in-game to help as well.  Unfortunately, I was unable to find anyone to join my games when online.  There is an active topic on the Steam discussions for people looking to connect with others though.

Experience is earned by killing zombies and sometimes they will drop equipment or credits to buy ammo, medkits, weapons, armor, or implants.  There’s quite a lot of customization that you can do to your characters and they have a skill tree with helpful abilities that you can unlock.  Upon completing a level you’ll get scored on how much money and damage you did and how quickly you completed it.  The better you do, the better rewards you can choose from.  Each level has several hidden tablets that are worth finding to read about the game’s backstory.  Some of the tablets will also have door access codes that will save you some time hacking if you can find them instead.

Aside from shooting and slicing zombies and soldiers, you’ll be tasked with several mini-game puzzles to use various doors and generators and so forth.  Some of the puzzles have you matching sound waves or by connecting certain numbers to equal a specified sum.  

At the beginning of each level, the game will warn you if you're below the recommended level for completion.  If you’re not strong enough, you can replay previous missions to earn more experience and money.  The boss battles are especially tricky if your weapon is not effective against them.  I like how you can pay to respawn in the same room and the boss’s health will remain where you left it.  If you find that your weapon is totally worthless, you can buy another at the store that changes inventory every twenty minutes or so.  

With a wide variety of zombies, soldiers, and mutant dogs attacking you, there’s rarely a dull moment.  For an FPS game, Dead Effect 2 does a lot of things right, but it does have some flaws.  This title was originally released on mobile devices and the interface is overly simplified for PC users.  A more intuitive shopping interface would have been nice.  For example, a way to buy multiple quantities of consumables would be much appreciated.

Another common complaint is the slow walking pace.  While the movement speed is lacking at times, it is bearable.  Those looking for adrenaline rushed Sonic speed will be disappointed.  My final complaint is the voice acting, which is often emotionless and laughable at best.  Thankfully the audio is redeemed by the fast paced rock music that gets your adrenaline pumping while slicing and dicing zombies into pieces.

It should come as no surprise that this game is violent and there’s plenty of bloodshed and bodily dismemberment to be seen.  You can blow up zombies with explosives, riddle them with bullets, or hack away at them with a chainsaw.  There’s lots of options and weapons to choose from.  As if the blood and gore wasn’t enough to keep this game from the eyes of little ones, headphones should also be worn to prevent kids from hearing every curse word ever created.

The $19.99 price tag for the PC version seems a bit steep since the mobile version is free to play with in-app purchases.  If you don’t have a mobile device to try this game on, there is a demo available on Steam.  I strongly recommend trying it before parting with $20.  Even though Dead Effect 2 does have its flaws, it’s still a decent game and is worth picking up on sale if you can find it at a good price.