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Zombie Army 4: Dead War Review - Old Is Good Again
There aren't many long-time video game fans who can resist the urge to roll their eyes at the term "Nazi zombies," but with Zombie Army 4: Dead War even this consistently re-hashed concept feels, if not completely new, then at least fresh and endlessly entertaining. There isn't much in this game which is wholly original, not many things players can discover which they haven't seen before in other titles, but the particular combination of mechanics used in Zombie Army 4: Dead War goes a long way towards making the player experience engaging, fun, and surprising.
The magic of Zombie Army 4: Dead War is in all the little touches, perhaps best exemplified by what happens when a player dies. Most games would simply boot the player back to a menu screen immediately, offering them the chance to try again, start over from the beginning, or go back to the main title screen. These are all options in Zombie Army 4: Dead War as well, but the screen to access them after death must be activated with a button press. If this isn't done, the player character will lie dead on the ground for a few moments and then slowly bring his or herself to their feet, having now become a zombie themselves. If the player never activates the menu, never restarts the level, their character will shuffle mindlessly around the game area for all eternity, or at least until the player's console goes into Rest Mode.
Multiple aspects of Zombie Army 4: Dead War are reminiscent of things found in the Left 4 Dead series. Both games offer cooperative play where up to four characters face off against endless hordes of zombies in a series of somewhat linear levels punctuated by safe house locations that offer a short respite from the carnage and also act as save checkpoints. In Zombie Army 4: Dead War, these locations also allow players to apply upgrade kits to their weapons, provided they have discovered said kits in the previous level.
Indeed, each level in Zombie Army 4: Dead War is filled with hidden collectibles, be they lore-related notes from Nazi officers, comic book covers, or simply well-hidden weapon upgrade kits and special one-time use attachments for guns. Once again, as a mechanic this is nothing new, as many games include similar hidden loot in order to incentivize the player to explore the environment to the best of their abilities, however there's something about the particular placement of the hidden items in Zombie Army 4: Dead War which makes them feel less like filler and more like an actual reward. For instance, heavy weapons like turrets, machine guns, and flamethrowers are often hidden nearby large combat areas, meaning that a little exploration will make a player's next battle far less dangerous and far more entertaining.
There's a distinct feel of actual passion and creativity in the way Zombie Army 4: Dead War approaches missions, with each one offering a slightly different setup and context to the one before it. From running across the tops of trains to slugging through the zombie-infested waist-high waters of Venice, every new level carries with it the distinct feeling of forward momentum and substantial progress in the mission at hand. This feels like something which shouldn't be so surprising to see in a video game, but given the hundreds, if not thousands, of homogenized, similar experiences which have dominated the marketplace, the simple existence of a good idea executed well is worth celebrating, if not embracing wholeheartedly.
That's not to say Zombie Army 4: Dead War is perfect. There are a few glitches here and there, a few occasional graphical hiccups, and every now and then the combat feels a little too loose, especially when trying to swivel the player around a full 360 degrees in order eradicate the surrounding zombies. However, none of the issues encountered come even close to something which could be called game-breaking, and are barely even detrimental to the experience as a whole in any capacity.
One of the few complaints fans of zombie games may have with Zombie Army 4: Dead War is how predictable the first few variations of zombies are. While later stages in the game see more creative enemies begin to make their presence known far more often, the earlier levels are not only filled with the generic zombie monsters seen in every other form of media but also with traditional video game zombie variants, including those that can spit poison, those who explode upon contact with the player, and the always-frustrating 28 Days Later type of running zombies.
Difficulty is split between the traditional Easy, Medium, and Hard modes, but players who aren't familiar with third person shooters may want to begin on Easy first. Zombie Army 4: Dead War isn't overbearingly complicated or difficult, but it is also not for players who enjoy long periods of relaxation. Combat encounters, especially as the game progresses to bigger and bigger set pieces, become quite lengthy and complex, and proper utilization of things like environmental hazards, special abilities, and weapon upgrades are integral to surviving on the harder difficulty settings.
Perhaps one of the most impressive aspects of Zombie Army 4: Dead War is how it manages to be funny without ruining the game's serious tone. There are many different ways to introduce comedy into a horror story, and yet so many games go the way of titles like Voyage of the Dead, confusing the idea of humor with simply being, acting, and talking silly. Zombie Army 4: Dead War is not silly, but it is funny. Dialog between the characters on-screen is well-written and informative, and the characters never misrepresent the seriousness of the situation at hand, yet many of the lines spoken are truly giggle-worthy thanks to the delivery and context. Thanks to this, even small visual gags like a typewriter which spells out "All work and no play" when activated or a hidden room containing a Stranger Things reference still feel like they're appropriate in context within the game.
It's surprising to think that, especially in 2020, a game featuring third-person Nazi zombie shooting could be as entertaining as Zombie Army 4: Dead War ends up being, but it's a good kind of surprise, and it's because of all the little touches. Multiple character types, weapons, and unlockable perks mean the game has tons of replay value for players to engage in after finishing the main campaign, and an online horde mode ensures additional hours of enjoyment with friends or strangers.
The passion which went into creating Zombie Army 4: Dead War is evident in every corner of the game, even down to the sound design and the pause menu. PlayStation 4 players, in particular, are in for a treat, as few games utilize the speaker function on the PS4 controller as well as Zombie Army 4: Dead War does. While not an original concept by any means, the entertaining execution and perfectly-combined elements of other titles makes this one of the most fun video games since the PlayStation 2 era, and anyone who thinks they have even a little bit of energy left for just one more zombie killing adventure should look nowhere else.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War releases on February 4, 2020 for PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC.
