If you ever wondered what Dead Island would be like if it played more as a traditional first-person shooter, you can find out in this new downloadable single-player campaign. It casts you as Ryder White himself, a battle-hardened Aussie colonel (and antagonist from the first game) who must butcher his way through the undead-infested streets of Banoi to save his wife, Ellen.

Though Dead Island let you use guns, they were in very short supply. In this DLC, however, you’re armed to the teeth with a deadly array of firepower, giving you less need to defend yourself using baseball bats, butcher knives, and other blunt instruments ideal for braining zombies, Quests and open-world exploration are also absent for the most part, in favor of a more linear experience where you’re constantly moving from location to location. While many of the “new” settings in Ryder White appear to be recycled from the previous game, it features new areas like a hospital overrun with the undead, along with a massive bridge you get to blow up with explosives.

Unfortunately, as a shooter, Ryder White is a sluggish and unwieldy experience. Aiming and shooting in general proves to be horribly unresponsive once you engage Dead Island’s living enemies: exchanging fire with other humans is alarmingly inaccurate in that you’re mostly just firing in their general direction and hoping to hit something, rather than using cover and precision to strategically take them out. Even more disappointing, the new campaign is also plagued with some glitches, such as one where you occasionally can’t pick up new guns even if you have empty slots in your inventory.

Conceptually, a more streamlined, shooter-based spinoff of Dead Island sounds like a great premise. Sadly, this new chapter doesn’t offer a whole lot new aside from its emphasis on gunplay. The storyline does shed some light on the origin of the game’s viral outbreak, but this reveal, too, is a letdown.

Ultimately, despite its few hours of gory entertainment, Ryder White’s an underwhelming add-on that we’d recommend only to fervent Dead Island fans.

PUBLISHER: Deep Silver  •  DEVELOPER: Techland  •  ESRB: Mature  •  MULTIPLAYER: None  •  ACHIEVEMENTS: None  •  COST: 800 Microsoft Points ($10)

On Xbox 360

+ Emphasis on gunning down zombie aggressors transforms the game into a fast-paced, moderately entertaining (if clumsy) FPS experience.

– Unfortunately, the enjoyment derived from that experience is marred by meager mission design, settings, and storytelling.

– Lack of multiplayer guts one of Dead Island’s bigger draws; no Achievements!

? Why don't vehicle-mounted gun turrets rotate 360 degrees? It's no fun having a blind spot where zombies can attack you unharmed.

5.0