Rebellion returns to the battlefield with the undead. A quarter funny, unpretentious of greatness and perfect for the cooperative.
Putting a numerical value on a series of sensations and experiences is always a complex and arduous task, which is not going to ramble here because of the rivers of ink that are already written. That this introduction is made is not trivial, since we talk about a title like Zombie Army 4: Dead War, a game that invents nothing and that stands out in almost no way with respect to its main competitors (and predecessors), but that it's fun. And this is the important thing.
What note should therefore be required of Zombie Army 4: Dead War? When we traveled to London a couple of months ago to try it, we already had a breakthrough and a very reliable representation of what was to come. After all, we play an almost finished version of the project that once again shows a characteristic: better accompanied than alone (like everything else in life).
Taking advantage of Sniper Elite
Rebellion has in its possession some renowned franchises, but there is one that stands out above the rest: Sniper Elite. At the moment, the saga has the most famous sniper in the world of videogames, an event achieved thanks to the excellent work they have been doing for more than a decade with each game launched. New delivery, better experience.
From Sniper Elite, Rebellion decided to create a kind of spin off called Zombie Army. At first it emerged as a DLC, but the impact it had caused us to now analyze the fourth part of this saga individually. And here comes the main handicap: killing zombies is always more corseted than enemies that move fast, with bullets raining from all sides and with the speed that predominates in these games.
Zombie Army 4 can become repetitive. And a lot. The variety of objectives in the missions of the campaign mode is scarce, so seen the first two levels, the rest is to repeat everything over and over again. Likewise, the horde mode is the traditional one of any game where we have to receive one wave after another, as well as weekly events with very specific objectives and requirements. The end.
As you can see, the game is sparse in content in terms of game modes and, above all, variety within them. When playing alone, the feeling of monotony is worrisome, not to say boring, but this changes completely in cooperative.
Zombie Army 4 is designed to play with friends, microphones and a preset high difficulty. We had a great time playing with other teammates and even with people we didn't know about anything. It is to recover that more basic essence of “first shoot and then think”, with the healing of your friends always as a backdrop so that no one falls into combat.
Saving the distances by the way of posing the zombie invasion, he reminded us at all times of those games to Left 4 Dead that marked an era. In fact, it is no accident that the number of people in a squad is a maximum of four. You know: repeat what works and do not change it.
In addition, and this point is important, not only the horde mode is the cooperative, but also the campaign, which makes the missions more fun and, in particular, the way to perform them (the shorter the execution time, the faster the I go through the level and therefore less boring).
The frame
The game modes and the variety within them may not be very original or different from each other, but much of this is remedied with the framework or context in which the work is located.
It is clear that the developers of Zombie Army 4 have drunk from the films and series B of past decades. It has that tuffillo that brings the comic tone to each sequence, but at the same time sufficient maturity of the genre, something essential to get the occasional scare. They bet on it – and very well – to get that feeling.
For example, this is achieved not only with the lines of dialogues – good translation, by the way, taking advantage of the winks of the series – but also with weapons and situations on screen. We can equip the characters from blaster grenades to shotguns that expel lasers, all added to special movements that turn our protagonists into superheroes. In addition, this is perhaps the main differentiating element with respect to previous parts, which is the degree of customization. We have to improve the equipment and skills of our character. At a higher level, we will do more crazy things.
On the other hand, in Rebellion they control their Asura graphic engine. Although it is not a technical wonder at this point – we start from the basis that it is like Sniper Elite 4, which came out in February 2017 -, the fluidity of the game is appreciated at all times. We talk about the screen showing dozens and dozens of enemies, and the game never drops from 60 frames per second. In fact, the title offers two game modes to prioritize between graphics or frame rate. The player chooses.
All this is complemented by a level design of the house brand that bets, precisely, so that the graphic engine does not suffer, knowing how to play its cards very well between closed and more open environments.
CONCLUSION
Zombie Army 4 doesn't invent anything at all, but it doesn't need it either. In Rebellion they go without encouragement of greatness, knowing the strengths and weaknesses of the work from the start. Get home, shoot some shots, have fun with friends. Simplicity, which is sometimes forgotten, as the axis of the work.
THE BEST
- In cooperative it is very fun.
- The atmosphere and touch B.
- On a technical level, nothing to acharcarle.
WORST
- Playing can only bore you and be monotonous.
- The repetitiveness of the objectives in the campaign.
- Risk little and repeat formula (good and bad).
Good
It meets the expectations of what a good game is, it has quality and does not present serious failures, although it lacks elements that could have taken it to higher levels.
