Zombie Army 4: Dead War

Here's something I've learned: I really need to stop doubting Rebellion. When I worried that a developer wouldn't be able to do justice to Alien vs. Predator, they proved me wrong. When I feared that a game based entirely on sniping wouldn't be my thing, they proved me wrong. And just this week, when I suspected that I wouldn't be able to fight through the multiplayer-focused Zombie Army 4: Dead War by myself, they once again proved me wrong. I think it might be time for me to drop the skepticism and finally admit that Rebellion makes great action games that I have no problem recommending.

Before we dive into the rotting, undead meat of the review, I should first mention that I'm new to the Zombie Army series. Even though I've liked Rebellion's other Sniper-focused games, I am only now getting around to this horror-themed franchise. I also want to mention that this review will be coming from a single-player perspective. If you're the type of person who plans on mostly playing this with friends and wants to know how Dead War compares with the other Zombie Army games, then you may want to check out one of the other reviews. This is going to be the take of somebody who is new to the series and going it alone.

The good news is that you don't need to be a Zombie Army veteran to enjoy this newest sequel. This tells a standalone story that sees a few resistance fighters working their way through Italy, Croatia and other European stops as they push back at the undead hordes left over from the reign of zombie Hitler. The plan is to march right into their strongholds, blow up their towers and send every last one of them back to Hell. But with these war-torn cities crumbling around you and an endless supply of Nazi zombies on your tail, I don't like our chances for coming back alive.

We follow the resistance fighters through nine different stages, with all but one of them split up into four bite-sized chapters. Most of the levels involve getting from one side of the linear stage to the other and then surviving a wave of aggressive zombies. You'll need to protect a generator until the power comes back on, top off the gas tanks to fuel the escape boat, kill enough enemies to fill a blood fountain and so on so forth. You'll get into the rhythm of moving to a spot and then fighting off hordes of zombies in order to get to the safe room and do the whole thing all over again in the next chapter.

This is a bit of a departure from the large, open levels found in the last two Sniper Elite games. Part of what I loved about that franchise was how it always felt like the missions could be tackled in any number of ways, but that's not the case with Zombie Army 4. A lot of the game involves walking through narrow corridors and passageways, all while zombies are rushing you from both sides. These cramped locations do eventually make way to larger arenas where waves of zombies flood in, but they are considerably smaller than what we saw in Rebellion's other sniper franchise.

That's not to say the stage designs are bad, because a lot of them are incredibly memorable. There's a feeling that things are only getting worse as the cities continue to crumble around us and lava flows through the streets. I like the variety of fighting through the forests, swamps, cities, rivers and even a zoo that has definitely seen better days. There are just enough side paths and secret areas to keep you searching, and the attention to detail really helps to sell the lived-in (and bombed-out) feel of war-torn Europe. Rebellion has given each location its own personality and atmosphere, and I can see fans wanting to replay some of these levels over and over again, especially online with friends.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

It helps that the gunplay is so damn satisfying. This is something Rebellion always gets right, and Zombie Army 4 is no exception. Your sniper rifle tears through that rotting flesh like it's paper, allowing you to take out giant rows of brain-eaters with a single shot. And when you perfectly line up a head or kidney shot, we'll get a dramatic X-ray look of the damage that bullet is doing. It's also liberating when you realize that you don't have to worry about giving away your location. This is not like Sniper Elite, where a missed shot means relocating and trying again. If you miss a zombie, then just back up a little and try again.

Of course, there are plenty of times when a powerful sniper rifle just isn't fast enough to push back the zombie hordes. Sure, you can use the environment to trap and kill many of those walkers, but you'll often need to resort to the secondary gun. Because of the more linear and cramped level designs, I found that I played through most of Zombie Army 4 with my trusty shotgun. There are other secondary weapons you can equip, all of which can be upgraded and modified through a variety of fun perks. Toss in a few grenades and a powerful melee attack and you have a well-rounded resistance fighter that is ready for pretty much everything, even heavily armored zombies with flame throwers.

What impresses me the most is that Zombie Army 4 is a multiplayer-focused game that rarely feels like it needs to be played with other people. I can imagine it being even more fun and hectic with three friends by your side, but I never got into battles where having other players around felt essential. That's not to say that the game is easy, because there were definitely times when the undead hordes got to be too much and overtook my brave soldier. But was this any different from the countless other single-player action games that throw dozens of enemies at you? Not really. It rarely took more than two or three reloads from the checkpoint to successfully mow down the zombies, and there was only one time when I felt like the game was being unfair.

Despite working as a fun single-player game, there are definitely times when Zombie Army 4 shows that it was clearly designed to be played with other people. Instead of playing through one, connected stage, the different chapters are split up by safe rooms. This is great if you just want to jump into a specific part of the game, but it also has a way of breaking the illusion. These chapters start out long and full of action, but tend to feel more bite-sized and disposable by the end. I kept wondering if I would even notice the repetitive structure if not for the way the game breaks up the chapters. There's a bit where it becomes painfully obvious that every narrow corridor section would eventually lead to an open arena battle, followed by planting some sort of bomb and then locating the safe room.

Click For the Full Picture Archive

I'm also not a huge fan of the way the resistance fighters move. While all the gunplay is fantastic, our heroes just kind of stumble around when forced to navigate the levels. They aren't always responsive and have a bad habit of getting stuck on rocks, chairs and pretty much every other thing in the environment. This is especially bad when there are zombies around, and I died way too many times due entirely to being caught on the level designs. I also hate the way the grenade and hold your breath actions are both mapped to the same button. The game wants you to hold that button when scoped, but if you take your eye away too quickly, you'll accidentally throw a grenade and blow yourself up. This happened constantly, and it left me fuming every single time.

I think it's fair to say that Zombie Army 4: Dead War is far from perfect, but that's okay. The intense and always satisfying gunplay helps to keep the action exciting, even when some of the repetition starts to set in. Best of all, the diverse and wonderfully detailed levels will keep you coming back for more, no matter if you're playing with a group or all by yourself.