Zombie Army Triolgy. If ever there was a game which is exactly was it says on the tin, it’s this. From Rebellion Developments, Zombie Army Trilogy is a re-release of the two Nazi Zombie standalone downloadable pack for Sniper Elite V2 and a previously unreleased third part. Fans of Sniper Elite will feel right at home. I happened to be playing Sniper Elite 3 a few weeks ago, and the control system is identical. Although, with hordes of Nazi Zombies about, it is a lot less about stealth, and much more about all-out attack, and defence of points on the map.
The premise of the game is fairly straightforward, and quite entertaining. It’s the last few days of World War 2, and Germany are about to lose the war. Despite advice from his advisors Hitler refuses to lay down arms in the eyes of defeat, and decided the next clearly logical step – using occult rituals to raise the fallen as a zombie army to use against the Allied forces, which causes Germany to being overrun with undead. Silly Hitler!
For those of you unfamiliar with the Sniper Elite series, it will come as no surprise, that the sniper rifle plays a key feature. With different difficulty levels dictating how much movement the bullet will have in the air, along with the normal increase of enemy AI difficulty. However, whether a sniper rifle should be the weapon of choice with hundreds of Zombie’s surrounding you, will be up for debate, especially if you’re playing solo.
The bullet cam which Sniper Elite is well known for is present. The slow motion following of the bullet showing the impact on the exact area of body it hits is as satisfying as ever. It may be an idea to change the setting of its frequency in the settings, what is a nice gameplay feature in a slow paced war game, becomes a bit of an annoyance in all honesty, when you’re faced with taking out hundreds of zombies.
Each campaign is split across 5 levels, all of which are available to play from the start, and while I’ve not played every single one, it seems they all have the same sort of layout. Work your way to an area, defend area, go to another area, defend area and repeat. Bar the few mini bosses, and actual bosses it is very repetitive, fun in short doses but not something you can invest hours at a time in. There is also a Horde mode present, which is a ‘survive as long as possible’ experience against waves and waves of enemies.
All the campaign levels can be tackled solo, or in a team of 4 on Xbox Live. With the former I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated during the defensive parts of the game where legions of zombies lay siege to areas, and it was seemingly impossible to be able to effectively defend areas. Using traps to cover different entrances was only effective for a short period, and the kamikaze zombies were soon sprinting up to me and blowing me to smithereens. It is all well and good sniping away, but you’ll soon be surrounded and needed to restart the level. I managed to work in a decent team a few times online, and it led to a much more successful and enjoyable experience.
Online, will let you drop into a game on whichever level you please, or start you off while other drop in around you. It’s a good system as I think you’ll be waiting a long while for people to join before starting the level, so joining others after they have already started lets you get your zombie killing fix, without the potential long waits that would likely come if it was needed to have all 4 players to start a level.
Gameplay wise, the sniping is solid, but I find shooting with other weapons a bit loose and not as fun, which isn’t something that comes as a surprise being familiar with Sniper Elite, but when you end up relying on the other weapons a lot more in these circumstances it is a shame. The controls are straightforward with anyone familiar with third person shooter over the last decade and are picked up quickly.
Zombie Army Trilogy is a relatively fun little game in short bursts, I’d find myself playing through a level then needing to turn it off and play something else. Worth a few quid when it comes into a sale or gets reduced price, but not worth the £30 entry fee at the moment.
**Thank you to XCN for the opportunity to review the game**