Imagine a “road trip” kind of game but with flesh-eating zombies out to get you!Earn to Die 2 is a substantial leap from the first Earn to Die. The guys at Toffee Games got the memo after a forgettable first release and delivered a fairly respectable sequel, though not exactly groundbreaking. 

Now, I’ll say this right from the onset: This is a blatant reskin of Fingersoft’s Hill Climb Racing set in a zombie apocalypse. The mechanics are very similar, if not virtually the same. However, in this game, there is no brake button. Instead, you’ll find the gas button on the bottom right, an occasional contextual button next to it, and two other buttons placed at the bottom-left corner of the screen, which, to be honest, look somewhat confusing. Eventually, you’ll find out that they tilt the car upwards and downwards.

On another note, the story mode here is five times lengthier than that of the first game. The developers even explicitly say so in the app’s description, which I found slightly amusing. I almost expected them to say something to the effect of “we screwed up that first time, so we decided to improve on X and Y.” 

The premise of the game is quite simple. You must reach an evacuation ship on the U.S. coastline to escape the country after a nuclear disaster hit, bringing about a zombie invasion. That’s basically it. From there on, you just follow the predetermined path the developers set out for you until you reach the port. 

This premise is broadly laid out in the cool intro cinematic, created with 2D artwork similar to that used for the actual gameplay. I found Toffee’s artistic direction here totally on target, and I can only give kudos to the creative team for pulling this off.Mind you, this game's visual style and graphical delivery are virtually the same as in the first game. From a visual standpoint, the only thing that changed was the environmental design. 

Gone are the monotonous desert backdrops. Now, we are introduced to a very elaborate city skyline that, to be honest, also gets a bit dull after a while. It would not be until Earn to Die 3 that we’ll see some needed divergence from the predominantly (and quickly tiring) brownish palette. With that said, I take no issue with the general aesthetics of this game.

While I made the comparison with Hill Climb Racing earlier, this game benefits from being the newer one on the block by adding some exciting twists to the formula. 

For starters, this is not just a driving game, just as Death Stranding is not merely a “walking simulator”. Earn to Die 2, just like the first title, implements Contra-style gun combat for additional thrills. In my view, the vehicles you obtain later are cooler-looking than those you find in HCR. To be fair, HCR does have some neat (and quite extravagant) vehicles, but the cars here are military-oriented, which I personally prefer.

Your vehicles can be upgraded and revamped in the aptly-called “Garage”. You can  modify lots of equipment pieces and machine parts. Some details you can adjust or fine-tune include the wheels,  the transmission, the engine, the weapons, the accelerator, the weight distribution, and the fuel tank. These will impact how your vehicle will fare across the different levels it’ll be traversing.

Essentially, your performance will depend upon various factors, including the amount of fuel you have available and your vehicle’s resistance. In contrast to this game’s predecessor, cars here can break down if they consistently crash against obstacles, so you must be more careful in your driving. This adds a layer of difficulty to an already challenging gameplay. 

I’ll finish off by saying that a significant part of your success in this game rests on your individual skills. That last part may sound obvious to the reader, but not many games grant this type of agency to the player nowadays. Nevertheless, having a car that’s able to crush or decimate large zombie armies on a whim at high speed also helps a whole lot!

Overall：While I don’t believe Earn to Die 2 is a masterpiece, it delivers a satisfactory experience. It still suffers from repetitiveness, and it doesn’t help that the game is as long as it is. In any case, you will not regret playing this game.We’re looking forward to your remarks about this fantastic zombie-killing fest in the comments below!