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Taking inspiration from Left 4 Dead and the original zombie horde mode from Call of Duty: World at War, Rebellion first introduced us to its particular brand of third Reich undead in a standalone PC expansion to its quasi popular World War II stealthy sniping game, Sniper Elite V2. The same year it returned with Nazi Zombie Army 2 and now just over a year later the trilogy is completed. Rather than deciding to release a further standalone experience again just for PC, the developer and publisher decided to take advantage of the new(ish) current generation kit and ever growing PC spec to create a remastered bundle utilising all the bells, whistles, tweaks and updates they’d developed for Sniper Elite 3.

For those unfamiliar with the franchise Zombie Army Trilogy takes place in the final days of the Second World War. Mr Hitler, knowing that his time is up, decides to turn his hand at occult incanting and resurrects his dead troops to set them upon the Allied forces and accidently himself (what a Berliner). What follows is a third person single or coop experiences which has you navigate the rubble of zombie apocalyptic Germany, fighting the variety of demonic enemy types to reach each objective (find an artefact, escape, kill zombie Hitler etc). That’s really the story. Rightfully so this doesn’t need to be Tolstoy. It’s just a tale of grizzled allies killing reanimated Nazi’s.

Zombie Army Trilogy is played via a third person perspective and switches to an over the shoulder when aiming or a scope when zoomed in. The original unique selling point of the first game in the Sniper Elite series (and its sequels) has always been the super-slow bullet time and x-ray kill cam mechanic. The camera would follow the path of a particularly well made shot along its trajectory and into (and occasionally through) an enemy. This would result in an internal view of the victim showcasing the hit and explosions of any organs or bodily matter it made contact with. Once again this is incorporated into the Zombie Army games and operates in exactly the same way. “Nice!” you may think to yourself. The complaint with this visceral feature is that with any zombie game only hitting the head really (grey) mattered so good shot after good shot produces a too frequent 4-5 second projectile view. Although these are amazingly fun to watch, and will make you smile especially if you can get a couple of the shambling horde lined up, the gimmick will become tiresome very quickly and see you mashing the space bar to skip. Thankfully this does take a considerable back step when playing with friends (can you imagine this happening four times in a row as each person gets a headshot? The level would last for hours!) and only presents the zoom/splat for split seconds.

Because the stealth mechanics from Rebellions non-zombie sniping games have been removed (enemies appear to know instinctively where you are and hone in) the emphasis on accuracy can frequently play second fiddle to a trusty boom-stick blast or a grenade spam of a spawn room. To balance this out they’ve made accuracy an important function and be essential in other ways. 90% of the enemies can be dispatched with a single shot, but some enemies are not so accommodating to a copper-jacketed bullet travelling at supersonic speeds. Some are rudely armoured to protect a resurrected noggin and require a pinpoint shot to reveal a venerability, or with a larger undead inhabitant require multiple headshots to drop them back to the desecrated dirt. When scoped with one of the rifles you are also able to focus (i.e. hold your breath) which rapidly reduces gun sway and produces a reticule which adjusts for the distance a bullet will drop. Marry all of this with large enemy waves frequently flailing at you whilst fumbling to find ammo to reload and it lends to some fun encounters.

As mentioned, the trilogy package remasters the first two campaigns of the game (Nazi Zombie Army 1 and 2) and bundles with an all new third chapter, plus includes a few extras to sweeten the deal further. Mechanically the game feels very repetitive and shows little deviation. Check point. Zombies. Check point. Tough Zombies. Special mention goes to the early stages of the game (Chapter 1, I’m looking at you) as they feel particular dated and clunky. As you move around invisible barriers block you off to create fake choke points while ill placed obstacles are encountered that can be an inch higher than you’re allowed to traverse. Each stage and chapter is bookended with ever growing set pieces that increase with complexity and intricacy. Chapter 3 (the latest) is the most well rounded and fun to play I found of them all, which I imagine for the most part is down to all the tricks the developer has learnt from the recent Sniper Elite 3.

Graphically, although this is a remastering of 1 and 2, the games doesn’t jump out as pushing hardware capabilities. It demonstrates some nice touches with things such as fire and fog, or end trails that jiggle by themselves like an abattoir disco, but if you’re looking for something that dazzles in this department I’m sorry to disappoint.

Gameplay sound is good. Guns and explosives carry some gusto, but the thing that stands out most are the voice work for undead denizens of Germany. Each creature has its own sound. The suicide bombers in particular make a screaming whine so you know they’re inbound, but using audio cues to listen is certainly key on where to focus your attention – or try and direct your friend’s attention.

Away from the campaigns story, Rebellion thankfully has included a horde mode to oopf up replayability. These Horde maps comprises of 10 levels that can be played solo or, preferably like the campaign, as a cooperative experience. Each round brings an increasing number of undead as well of types. Things escalate quickly so it’s important to loot corpses and rearm before shooting that last zombie.

With any zombie game the enemy relies on sheer numbers to kill you. 90% of the undead you encounter and just fodder designed to swarm and expel your ammunition. The good news is that the 10% made up of the other enemy types are the ones that elevate the whole experience for me and starts to claw back a good game. Whenever you hear the faint wail of a bomb laden kamikaze running zombie the pace changes dramatically from slog to a real sense of threat. These enemies will side step making sniping a little more difficult. Together with that low ammo or slow reload time and you could find yourself quite easily gibbed. The boss battles also show thought and this is appreciated. The game is one of very few games these days that can be played cooperatively. THIS is how Zombie Army Trilogy is best played. Not going lone wolf taking on Berlin’s 3 million undead inhabitents John Rambo style (you can if you want, but it’s very boring) but it’s best to go with a dysfunctional group of friends. The ones that don’t look behind themselves or decide to go out in a blaze of glory, or the ones that do press the “release Zombie prisoners button” (that last one was me, sorry). Ammo becomes even more scarce and bravado increases. The sense of “Maybe I should creep through this area slowly” gets replaced with cries of  “Come on! I’ll take you all one!”.  If you are lucky enough to have four like minded friends, this trilogy will make for a fun few evenings indeed.

Overall Zombie Army Trilogy is not a bad game. It’s just simple and can be repetitive. The later campaigns are fun and try to vary scenarios to stop it getting boring but overall things can look very familiar all too often. Kudos to the developers for also adding a new horde mode, as it’s a nice additional feature and something that was missing from the original release of the game. Most importantly I must state that if you’re looking for a solo experience you’ll really going to miss out on what this game offers.

Fun with friends, but skip if you’re a Welhelm Nein Freunde.

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