ZOMBIE ARMY 4: DEAD WAR
Is it a grave new approach to horde shooters?
Hordes of zombies and an undead shark? You’re going to need a bigger, er, gun.
“WHY HAS MY ON-SCREEN
ZOMBIE HUNTER BROUGHT A
SNIPER RIFLE TO A HORDE SHOOT?”
The synth music rises, and out of the fog at the lake’s edge the shambling undead stumble into view, their glowing eyes teasing the mass of bloodied bodies shuffling our way. If you grew up on the schlocky horror films of Argento and Bava you’ll revel in this game’s atmosphere; if you read those names as designer Italian coffees have no fear, the tightly designed horde shooter lurking beneath the style will still satisfy you.
If you haven’t played a Zombie Army game before you’ll begin your first fight for survival scratching your head and asking: “Why has my on-screen zombie hunter brought a sniper rifle to a horde shoot?” While similar shooters offer machine guns and shotguns, handy for close-quarters corpse crowd control, Zombie Army 4: Dead War arms you with a scoped rifle. That’s because this series spun off from Rebellion’s Sniper Elite V2, and now adopts the superior controls, handling, and reworked locations of PS4’s Sniper Elite 4.
BONE APPÉTIT
And it works. Picking off zombies with a sniper rifle, tapping u to hold your breath to zero in for headshots or even pick apart a zombie limb by limb, feels incredibly satisfying. That each level feels spacious and developed to accommodate sharpshooters is telling, but you’ll regularly be called upon to shuffle to your secondary weapon as the horde grows.
As we push forward through the levels, moving from one gated zone to the next to survive a mixed bag of zombies and ‘heavies’ – weaponcarrying monstrosities – the game’s intricacies and strategies begin to shine. There’s genuine
stress to many of these skirmishes as we empty our M1 Garand and the zombies keep coming; we withdraw and turn to our Thompson but the horde keeps surging forwards. Finally, back against the wall, we rely on our revolver to pick off the stragglers as they lunge for us.
DEAD GOOD
There’s a fine line being staggered down here as Zombie Army 4 plays it dead straight. Zombie Hitler is back from the grave (again) and has created a supernatural army to terrorise postWorld War 2 Europe. It’s a premise the devs treat like a serious war story while layering on arcade perks, rewards, and buffs.
Although you can’t upgrade your character (options include Sniper Elite’s Karl Fairburne, Zombie Army’s Boris, and new heroes Shola and Jun), each of the game’s guns can be modded to improve accuracy and mag size, and tweaked in more fantastical ways, such as adapted to fire explosive and electrical shots. Later, a Vampire scope enables you to earn health with every skill shot you make, doubling down on the arcade tone and puns.
In the heat of battle this side of the game becomes a tactical crutch to lean on. The greater your combo count, the more abilities you can unlock; string kills together to earn a melee attack (one sets enemies alight, another rewards you with health). More combos will enable a takedown move to earn health and unlock a weapon’s special shot – the sniper rifle will fire a powerful bullet that explodes the first enemy and knocks down any surrounding zombies with its aftershock. The game offers a distinct risk-and-reward loop; the sense that one more kill can unlock an ability to earn health or hinder the horde’s advance drives you forwards.
STAY THE CORPSE
In the story mode the pace is kept up admirably, and each country you visit on the road to face off against zombie Hitler in the bowels of Hell (and beyond), is beautifully crafted to feel unique, but there’s unavoidable repetition at the game’s bleeding heart.
Each stage is a series of horde survival zones in which you must defend a mission objective while a ceaseless, cannibalistic mass made up of bullet-spraying, armourplated, shambling brain-eaters inches ever closer.
What sets these moments apart from other, similar, shooters is the game’s shared DNA with Sniper Elite 4, which lends Zombie Army 4 a tactical layer that gives each fight a new dimension, especially in co-op. Mines, electrical tripwires, incendiary traps, and more aid you in Home-Alone-ing the area in anticipation of the enemies’ arrival. There’s a smug satisfaction that comes from placing a series of traps which snare and control the lumbering undead while you snipe safely from afar.
“EACH OF THE GAME’S GUNS CAN BE MODDED TO IMPROVE ACCURACY AND MAG SIZE.”
This doesn’t completely exempt Zombie Army 4 from its repetition. But don’t let that stop you enjoying some of the most gratifying guns and gore we’ve seen for some time. Every bullet connects with an audible zip, pang, or splush, depending on whether you’ve landed a kill shot or merely grazed an enemy.
You’re constantly rewarded with exploding heads, shot-off limbs, and, if targeted, bursting body parts.
PULP PADDING
Rebellion’s attempted to make the levels more than connected arenas, hiding items and scares for you to discover. These range from the creepy – dolls scurrying across the floor – to the weirdly comical – animated dismembered dancing hands. Finding these rewards you with new Perks that other passive abilities and buffs.
When playing solo these mods feel limited, enabling you to hold more ammo or extend your health, but in co-op you can think of the team and use area-affect and squad-enabling Perks. It’s one of the many moments when Zombie Army 4 proves it’s a game best played with friends as a four-player shared shooter.
While you’ll see the credits in around 12 hours there’s an incredible amount of replay value to the game. Horde mode is an arcade-perfect wave shooter best played with pals, for example.
Zombie Army 4 may not be the next Death Stranding, but it is a fun shot of arcade silliness, a pulpy celebration of cult horror and the art of the well-timed head shot.
VERDICT
Zombie Army 4: Dead War offers few variations on the horde survival template… but what it does, it does it so well. If you love arcade shooters, it’s a no-braaaaaainer. Ian Dean