Zombie Army… A spin off from the Sniper Elite series, now modified into its own brand. I was happy to take on Zombie Army 4: Dead War from Rebellion because I had played ZA before and knew what to expect. Blood soaked carnage, weapons galore and blowing zombies heads apart with the faithful X-ray bullet camera. I was in my element.
ZA4 is foremost a 3rd person multiplayer shoot-em-up with scoring systems and upgradable weapons. You aim is to destroy as many zombies as you can and make it to the next checkpoint or safe room in one piece. Here, you can customize your weapons and regroup. A solo Campaign Mode is also included, along with the Horde Mode which pits you against waves of oncoming zombies swarming to your location.
“The resistance have defeated Zombie Hitler and cast him into Hell – but the dead rise once again with greater hunger than before. Continue the alternate history of Zombie Army Trilogy in huge new levels, and uncover a sinister plan that takes the Survivor Brigade across Italy and beyond!”
When loading in you have a choice of 4 or more characters depending on which edition you’ve purchased. After this, select your weapons and load into either quickplay, host your own or start a solo campaign. You will find gameplay very similar to Sniper Elite 4 as it was made by the same team, but this time with a lot more of an action/arcade feel. Pulling your weapon out and unleashing on the first few zombies, you will notice a combo start to trigger. The more zombies you can hit in time will raise the combo further netting you more points in the process. Different zombies and multi-kills grant the best points which helps with your rank also. While tearing around shooting zombies you will come across military chests and crates which you can open for supplies, ammo, and even short weaponry upgrades which will last till your onscreen counter depletes. Your weaponry consist of trench guns, shotguns, riffles, tommy guns, side arms and so on, the standard mix of weaponry in most games. You can find and earn upgrade kits throughout the missions to add a bit more bite to your favorite weapons. Also even the weapons themselves come with challenges to achieve extra skins. You will also find turrets and heavy weapons such as flame throwers, HMG’s and a big ol’ blunderbuss that makes quite a mess.
The levels are massive, vastly detailed and seem to go on forever. From rocky landscapes to underground sewers and train stations you’ll really be looking forwards to that safehouse by the end of everything, especially with 200 or so zombies on your tail. The game is set mainly around Italy so you can expect to see ruins and canals running through the cities as you trudge through swamps and underground pipes connecting your locations. The game has a dark, dirty feel but done very well. Horde Mode offers an expanded map session meaning the longer you survive, the more of the map opens up to help you out with a bit more room to deal with the infested hoard. The detail that has gone into these zombies is pretty great; if you’re using rifles you’ll see this at its best when a bullet pierces through a zombies forehead and explodes out the back spraying chunks of skull across the screen – it feels pretty satisfying. Big juggernaut types lurch towards you relentlessly while Flamer’s with flame throwers run up and spew fire your direction – so best not to stick around for that. You’ll know when things are about to go from ‘OK’ to ‘hang onto your butts’ by the sounds of these things bellowing out a roar across the area as if to say “CHARGE”.
Now multiplayer, which I was surprised… is fine. No major issues in the time I’ve played, and I’ve enjoyed the experience immensely. Mechanics seemed to work well with each other and the pay off is truly something to behold. When a bunch of players get together and take down a humongous horde you can turn around to each other and emote for joy before continuing on. Its great to see a company say “right were making a multiplayer game so that part needs to be the best”. Another part that keeps the game interesting is fast paced random noises which add that comical vibe every now and then. Like combo points adding up at the end of a round give of a pinball machine sound and strapping an upgrade attachment while playing will crack like a whip, just enough to say hey, were having fun killing zombies… with a smirk.
Conclusion
Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a great game and a lot of fun for the older generation. With an awesome realistic look and gameplay I found myself enjoying it right up to the end. With a strong following I hope there will be more Zombie Army games to come, because why not right?
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