Developer Rebellion already knew that Nazis made good antagonists as they’ve used them and a World War II setting for their past Sniper Elite games. Adding zombies to the mix to create a new spin on that series, something other series’ with Nazis as antagonists have done to great effect in the past, just made good sense. And so two years ago they released Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army unto the PC gaming masses at a budget price, and less than a year later, followed it up with a sequel. Now two years later the final chapter in the Zombie Army Trilogy arrives and this time its wholly available for console players to play on PS4 and Xbox One.
When I played Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army two years ago, I found it to be a fun experience that was a bit repetitive, a bit buggy, and a bit frustrating. Buoyed by its slow motion bullet time/camera gimmick that highlighted great long range sniper shots, the game was something of a cathartic endeavor. It’s sequel was more of the same and the repetitive nature of the game was a bit tiresome, but for the budget price it came in at, I was willing to forgive a lot of its flaws to shoot some Nazi zombies in the head with my rifle and watch their skulls shatter in X-Ray vision.
With this collection of Zombie Army games, not much has changed in the presentation and execution of the first two episodes. Both are still a bit repetitive, a bit buggy, and a bit frustrating. But shooting zombies is still fun and cathartic. These are games that you can literally shut your brain down and just point and shoot your way to victory, provided your aim is true and you don’t doze off (I’ve done this a couple times).
Episode III isn’t a huge departure from the formula established with the first two, it is still very much a “point and shoot your way to victory” game. But some adjustments have been made to make the game a little less one note. Episode III contains NPCs that you can talk to and take on side quests for. It’s nothing earth shattering but it does give just enough extra distraction to keep you from feeling like it is just a mindless zombie slaying game, even though most of the quests are just shoot more zombies in the head. The other adjustment is that the level design is a bit more varied. The locales that are visited in the game are more interesting and their layouts are better suited to prevent frustration. And that is very important because Episode III introduces some really frustrating enemies to the game.
In Episode I & II, there are a couple of “super” zombies that can be frustrating to play against but Episode III cranks it up a notch. The new Chainsaw Elite is a pain in the neck as he moves fast and jerky, making it hard to get a line of sight on him, and there are now creepy robotron Nazis that are quite difficult to take out without a mound or two of explosives. Add in the regular Elites from past games, suicide grenadiers, zombie snipers and fire demons, and Episode III presents the most varied enemy approach yet. And this makes combat a bit more active than just trying to find a nice perch and take out as many zombies as you can before they get to you and you have to retreat. I personally found it to be the proverbial mixed bag. I didn’t zone out during longer play sessions like I did sometimes with the first two episodes but I thoroughly despised anytime I had to face off against the Nazi Zombie version of Leatherface and the T-1000.
Zombie Army Trilogy isn’t trying to be anything more than a fun, low-key zombie shooter. More often than not it accomplishes this task, especially when playing with others. It’s the perfect game to just jump in with some friends and shoot zombies while killing time. It’s getting those friends to buy in that may prove a bit difficult though due to the $50 USD price tag for the collected edition. It’s a hefty price point for a game where two-thirds of the content is about two years old and doesn’t necessarily offer a whole lot more than the ability to have all three episodes on consoles. But, if you do splurge on it, it is just the game you want to be able to boot up after a long-day of work to take your mind off the stress of everything else. Just sit back and shoot some zombies and watch their heads explode in slow motion.
This review was written with material provided by the publisher on the Xbox One console. For more on our review process, please read here.
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