Zombie Army 4: Dead War review – the dead don’t snipe

Zombie Army 4 screenshot — Zombie Army 4 – not just zombies but Nazi zombies (pic: Rebellion)

With the recent previews of Doom Eternal there’s been a lot of discussion about what constitutes mindlessness in a video game, especially a pure action game. Something like Doom might not have complex moral decisions to make but to suggest it’s mindless is very unfair. A fast action shooter requires both situational awareness and the ability to constantly improvise and readjust your tactics. So while we’re about to describe Zombie Army 4 as good dumb fun, we don’t necessarily mean that literally.

If you’re not familiar with the Zombie Army games, and are wondering how they managed to get to number four without you noticing, they were originally PC-only spin-offs from the Sniper Elite series. They were never intended as anything more than a bit of silly co-op fun but became unexpectedly popular and the first three games were eventually ported over, in one giant-sized compilation, to consoles.

Although there is still more emphasis on sniper rifles (including Sniper Elite’s patented x-ray effect) than you’d expect from a zombie game the series has become increasingly less reliant on its connection with its parent series and now feels more like a cross between Left 4 Dead and Call Of Duty’s Zombies mode. Which is as specific enough a comparison that even if you’ve never heard of the franchise before you should be able to guess exactly what you’re in for.

Played from a third person, vaguely Resident Evil style viewpoint, Zombie Army’s greatest achievement is how surprisingly proficient it is at confounding your expectations. At first the fairly low rent presentation and perfunctory storytelling (zombie Hitler has raised an army of the dead is about all you need to know) is thoroughly underwhelming, especially as the default zombies are slow-moving Romero-esque ones that you seem to have all day to deal with.

Then you realise how limited your ammo is, and how, as you get funnelled down into narrow corridors and enclosed areas, you suddenly seem to have less room to manoeuvre than you thought; while they might be slow-moving, the zombies never stop and many of them are on you much sooner than you expected. And that’s before the fast-running ones, the suicide bombers, and the heavy weapon zombies turn up. Or the zombie tank and all the other, stranger boss-like enemies (bear in mind that there is a zombified zoo at one point).

Despite all the other obvious influences we were constantly reminded of old school lightgun games (The House Of The Dead is the obvious comparison), which also seem trivially simple until you play a bad one and realise how much skill is involved in getting the pacing and fairground-like set pieces flowing together. Zombie Army 4 isn’t quite up there with Sega’s best but there’s a number of situations that seem impossible the first time you encounter them and yet which you can navigate with relative ease once you form a plan and learn to execute it properly.

In the main campaign this can often result in quite large open-plan areas where you have to manage the influx of zombies before you can move on. Although it can be done on your own this is where it becomes obvious that the game’s full potential is only reached via co-op. Co-ordinating in a team of up to four players, with some acting as guards for others that perform the game’s simple pseudo-puzzles, is clearly the way the game’s meant to be played and generally both easier and more entertaining – assuming nobody decides to be a lone wolf.

Beyond that, the biggest change is the expanded Horde mode, which, despite the name, has little in common with Gears Of War’s seminal survival mode. Instead it’s much closer to early Call Of Duty Zombies maps, as you endure waves of zombies in order to unlock new areas and access to more powerful weapons. A mild randomisation element adds longevity and it’s a good place to practice with a new team of players, especially if they don’t have time to get settled into the campaign.

Zombie Army 4 is never going to change the world and it was never intended to, and that’s part of the appeal. We would’ve liked to see a bit more flair in terms of gore and/or comedy, as the game toys with an Evil Dead style atmosphere but never fully commits, but playing with three good friends can fill in the gaps perfectly well. It’s not aiming to be high art, but Zombie Army 4 is still destined to be one of the best co-op experiences of the year.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War review summary

In Short: Its enemies might be mindless but while it’s very one note the gameplay in Zombie Army 4 offers some surprisingly engrossing co-operative action.

Pros: Enjoyably single-minded gameplay with solid gunplay and a good range of different weapons and enemies. Well-paced level design works especially well in co-op and Horde mode.

Cons: Few new ideas and the expanded customisation options are still fairly shallow. Some cheap presentation and never quite as funny or gory as it might have been.

Score: 7/10

Formats: PlayStation 4 (reviewed), Xbox One, and PC
Price: £39.99
Publisher: Rebellion
Developer: Rebellion
Release Date: 4th February 2020
Age Rating: 18