«What turns a person into a drug dealer? A drug dealer into a drug lord? Make contacts, cook drugs, and manage your cartel on Isla Sombra, where power is the only law». We’ll see what it’s about.
Story and Gameplay:
This game returns us to the gritty world of narcotics, this time on the sunny shores of Isla Sombra. Stepping away from the claustrophobic apartment of the first game, this title throws us into a sprawling open world, complete with co-op functionality and with the promise of rising from small-time dealer to a full-blown cartel kingpin. But does it deliver on its ambitious vision, or does it fall victim to its own lofty goals? Let’s delve into the heart of the operation.
Speaking of the story, we can start our drug cartel (and out story) by choosing a protagonist between 6 characters. After escaping from the past, we find ourselves reaching Isla Sombra’s criminal underworld. The early hours focus on establishing ourselves, taking on menial tasks for local thugs and building relationships with potential suppliers. In this sense, we must try to ascend through the ranks of the common street thugs and become a full-fledged drug lord with all the allies, resources, and money we can amass. This grind can feel tedious, but it effectively conveys the desperate struggle for a foothold in the cutthroat world of cartels.
In terms of gameplay, we found a first-person drug cartel crime simulator game (similar to the first one, but better) where we can organize our cartel by hiring people to carry out hits and transactions to earn a lot of money. We can rack up products, sell them in shady transactions, escape from our getaway car, and also upgrade our cartel. Also we can take matters into our own hands and carry out manual business if we want to do things more directly. In this sense, without a doubt it´s a very fun game.
On the other hand, we also have the possibility of using combat, when things don’t really go the way we want. This possibility doubles as first-person brawler and shooter, where you may engage others on the street with our fists or melee weapons (hammers, wrenches and some different others).
Also, we should say that we have an online cooperative mode which is much more entertaining to play than the single player game itself. This is because with friends everything is much better and, incidentally, the missions become more bearable. Changing the subject, what could be criticized of this game would be some bugs (which are, fortunately, in the process of being repaired by the devs, who are constantly answering questions on the Steam forum), the menu-based management system, which can be quite tedious at times; and also some pretty strange animations regarding the NPCs.
Graphics and Sound:
Regarding the graphics, we found a quite varied aspect. On one hand we have very beautiful and detailed island landscapes, on the other hand we have quite strange and bizarre character models, some with a lack of details and others simply with rather crude and disturbing movements. In this sense, we are not talking about a triple A game, so we do not expect cutting-edge graphics. That said, the graphics are pretty decent in general.
Regarding the sound, this is another mixed section. Although this is not a bad section, it is questionable, due to the quality of some sounds, mainly in the voices of the characters, which change, regardless of whether it is the same character or not. On the other hand, the ambient sound and the sound of the tools and weapons is well done.
Conclusions:
With a very interesting gameplay and story, Drug Dealer Simulator 2 is a great sequel to the first game. Even with some things and bugs to solve, it´s a great option to take into account, especially if you are a lover of simulators and always wanted to play them with friends in a great cooperative mode.
My Score is 7.5
Hen Games 