I don't know why, but in the last decade, everyone is taking "Zombie" and "post-apocalyptic monster" themes to a whole new level. Even if those concepts are as old as literature itself. They have simply been gaining renewed popularity in both movies and video games with titles such as "The walking dead", "The last of us", "Left for dead" and "Dead Island".
Somehow a game which originally started out as your typical WW2 game ended up getting itself involved in zombies. How you ask? After designing the Sniper Elite series (known for its slow motion sniper/headshot cam), the developers started messing around with DLC's and came up with a Zombie Themed DLC. Zombies being undead and all, it's natural to think that they can only be killed if they heads are detached from their bodies and the only way to do so is to blow their heads off with a nice clean sniper shot slow-motion style.
At first, it was more of a way to give players some extra fun, but it turned into a completely separate game. The worst was that this game was actually very good and perhaps even better than the original from which it spawned. Nobody had ever done a WW2 kill cam survival game before. After the success of its first DLC which they called Zombie Army 1, they eventually came up with another episode which they called Zombie Army 2. After releasing the third episode they decided to release a repackaged stand-alone game calling it Zombie Army Trilogy which contained all 3 DLCs and was sold as an actual game.
The perfect combination of WW2 sniper game mechanics, zombie survival and ruined post-war cities of Europe. A match made in heaven! With the ongoing success of Zombie army, a 4th part was released called Zombie Army 4 : Dead War which is the topic of today's review. Not to be confused with the newly released and remastered polished version of Zombie Army trilogy for Nintendo Switch.
Well the story is quite simple. After the collapse of Nazi Germany Hitler unveiled a secret plan called "Plan Z" to use demonic relics to summon the dead in order to take over the world. In the first Zombie Army game (which I recommend playing) you collected all the 3 relics and took down Hitler. Unfortunately, Hitler is back with a brand-new army and even more monsters. As he starts invading the world, countries have united to defeat the undead menace and save Europe once again. Your job is to choose one of the available characters, create a build to suit your combat style and fight off the forces of evil.
The Good:
The game is super fun and challenging and unlike its predecessor you are now able to use special melee and gun attacks to finish off zombies faster. There is a clearer combo system which chains the amount of zombies you kill depending on the method adding to a final score at the end of each level. This score serves as the primary EXP points received in order to upgrade your character and unlock new perks. You can now choose various WW2 weapons and upgrade them with kits you find throughout the chapters. Once upgraded, you can use different elemental attacks to dispose of enemies faster. The graphics are great and the way the arenas are set up are really fun with traps and supplies. This game was created to play Co-Op but the single player campaign was equally good.
Compared to the original Zombie Army, there are newer types of zombies and additional boss type enemies such as the "Flamer", "the Engineer" and the "Screamer" which were added to complicate your mission. The levels are really cool and set in various locations ranging from cities in ruins, mountain trails to deep underground Nazi bunkers. It never leaves you bored!
So far, the game has already 5 DLCs out. So needless to say that the developers are creating content for the community.
The Bad:
The game sometimes crashes, and I have had some occasional bugs where the zombies didn't spawn. I had to restart the chapter. The Terror Lab DLC caused my game to crash when launched.
The enemies and especially the bosses get repetitive after a while. Once you know the weak spot of some enemies, you can dispose of them in seconds. The gameplay also gets repetitive with one of 4 things.
1- Find some explosives, batteries,gas around the map or turn some switches on + survive incoming waves.
2- Turn something on, wait for it to start working + survive incoming waves.
3- Survive incoming waves by filling a blood fountain to open a door.
4- Kill everyone.
It's literally the same 4 things over and over again. They could have come up with something more original. Eventually it got a bit boring.
I have found some weapons to be overpowered like the Gewehr Automatic Upgrade and the Divine Slam. If you keep using the Slow motion breathing you can literally clear a whole arena of zombies effortlessly because it slows down time. There are way too many grenade types. Some of them are useless like the divine grenades. The best way to kill 50 zombies without breaking a sweat is to throw a bait grenade, wait for the zombies to gather in one spot and then throw 2 explosive grenades. Once you figure out the game mechanics, the game starts being way too easy even on Hard.
The bosses can be killed in an instant with the Slow motion + Gewehr Automatic Rifle attack. I took down the final boss in a matter of minutes. The game definitely needs some balancing and debugging.
VERDICT: Amazing game! It's worth every penny and its super fun!