Arizona Sunshine, the first of the name, was released in 2016 and it immediately won over all Zombie slayers around the world to the point that seven years later, some excellent DLC and ports to new VR headsets later, it is still selling very well at a high price. This extraordinary longevity will therefore end with the upcoming arrival of its sequel, very logically named Arizona Sunshine 2. After such success, VertigoGames must offer, in this new opus, something new without losing the essence of what made the first one successful: the crazy humor and the thrill of destroying Zombies en masse. Not easy. We had the opportunity to play a pre-version on PC at the publisher’s premises for around forty minutes and here are our first impressions.
We really appreciated the action side without needing too much thought in Arizona Sunshine 2
Graphically, Arizona Sunshine 2 is impressive, whether in terms of the settings, the characters or even our dog Buddy, who is particularly well done with successful animations, such as the Zombie attacks. We started our journey indoors and we indulged in spending a few minutes looking at everything that was around us and it was beautiful. Outdoors, it still remains visually clean and the display distance is more than correct when we are on the heights observing the zombies from afar. The modeling of the latter is also very successful and the explosions of heads or the cutting of limbs (with an ax for example) are super bloody and well done.. Sensitive souls, refrain from diving into this game. The work on sound and its spatialization is also well done. Needless to say, it is difficult not to stress with an atmosphere filled with grunts and other sounds that are not really reassuring. On the weapons side, there is a certain realism in their noises and that completes the whole thing very well.
In principle, the history ofArizona Sunshine 2 follows directly from the first episode. It therefore takes up the principle of survival in a post-apocalyptic world populated by Zombies who clearly do not want our good. In terms of the scenario, given what we were able to test, we are in the same fairly linear delirium as in the first opus, a common thread to justify the need to kill the living dead without much more thought.. Basically, during our demo, we moved between various locations increasingly filled with zombies, found increasingly powerful weapons, looked for how to open a door (and therefore find a key) to manage to finish this test. It doesn’t take much to have fun and we really appreciated this action side without too much thought even if there is a little air of déjà vu with its predecessor.
On the other hand, this time, beyond the solo melee fights, we are now accompanied by Buddya police dog who will assist us in the latter but also by allowing us to carry weapons in its harness. This addition is honestly a good idea. We also appreciated, more than once during our test trip, having it within reach or teeth to help us. A faithful canine soldier, he obeys our orders and can attack or come and join us. If we’re too busy killing zombies, he also knows how to make himself useful independently. This cooperative combo works perfectly and brings a touch of freshness – if it’s possible to put it that way given the benevolent theme of the game – in the gameplay. It is on this point that many improvements have been made. To begin with, the available arsenal has grown a lot and we were able to try a simple pistol, a shotgun, a grenade launcher, a submachine gun, a flame thrower, a rocket launcher, grenades… and we certainly forget some. Another good point is the possibility of picking up items in order to assemble them to make ammunition (grenades in our demo). In short, there is now something to vary the pleasures on how to slay piles of soulless meat.
Arizona Sunshine 2 seems well on its way to ensuring a quality successor to the first opus.
The handling, VR obliges, aims to be “natural”. Indeed, the weapons are held as if they were “real” and their handling is done in the same way. Our ability to know how to reload quickly and aim well will be more than essential here. As such, it is possible to choose the height of the location of your tactical belt on the hips, which allows you to have part of your arsenal at hand to face the hordes. The work of the developers on the handling of handguns and close combat is obvious.. It’s really fun to slash a zombie’s throat or smash its face with an axe. The physics is effective and, unlike other titles, there is no latency in our movements and attacks. We strike “in real life”, it strikes the same in the virtual world. It’s a real release, we loved it. Note, the reloading of weapons is very realistic (eject the magazine, take one from the belt, put it in place and rearm) but the choice of which magazine to take is not made in relation to what we see on the belt but automatically depending on the weapon in hand. Nothing complicated, but it took us a few long minutes to explain this to our brain and not panic while reloading. Once past the threshold, it goes without a hitch and the zombies have understood this well despite their growing numbers as the demo progresses. .
Our first impressions: very good!
Arizona Sunshine 2 seems well on its way to ensuring a quality successor to the first opus. It is equipped with graphics that flatter the retina, new features of gameplay very appreciable like the appearance of the dog Buddy, improved close combat, a crafting system for ammunition and many new weapons. Although it took us a little time to get used to the weapon reloading system, although it was logical, we ended up mastering it and having a lot of fun. This game has everything to succeed with a studio that masters its subject, a loyal community for years and a technical achievement which, if confirmed in the final version, really offers pleasure at all levels.
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