Zombie Army Trilogy
Rebellion
Platforms: PS4, Xbox One, PC
July 21, 2015
Reviewed by Jess Landry
I don’t know about you guys, but I love to blow shit up. Not in real-life or anything (I swear), but through the magic of technology and from the safety of my own couch where I can eat chips and wear pajama pants. So thank you, Rebellion, for creating Zombie Army Trilogy. Not only can I satisfy my urge to wreak havoc, but I can also do some right in the digital world by taking out Nazi zombies including an undead version of the most hated man in history, that Volkswagen-driving bastard, the Fuhrer himself.
The plot is fairly simple: Point. Shoot. Kill Nazi zombies. You can choose to play as one of eight characters (four men, four women. Love it.) for either a solo game or a multiplayer venture (for the PS4 ‘horde’ (multiplayer) mode, you will need to be a PlayStation Plus member).
With your skin selected, you then get to pick your artillery. Unfortunately, you can only hold onto three weapons at a time (fortunately, that doesn’t include the various grenades and other tiny things that go boom) – one rifle, one automatic machine gun and one handgun, so choose wisely. The weapons menu takes you through the strengths and weaknesses of each weapon (twenty-five all together!). There are also a special few weapons hidden throughout the game that pack a little extra punch with your destruction, so keep an eye out for the Panzerfaust and my personal favourite, the Preacher. Those two are like ZAT’s equivalent to Doom’s BFG. Oh, yes.
With weapons selected, you’re thrust into the first episode, “The Berlin Horror.” Of the three episodes that make up Zombie Army Trilogy, each contains five chapters. That means you’ll be spending a fair amount of time perfecting your headshot and chucking your Stielhandgranates into hordes of the undead. Super fun!
Your missions take you through the German countryside and into the streets of Berlin with one goal: take out Hitler. For those who like a little historical accuracy with their reanimated corpses, real-life locations like the Fuhrerbunker make an appearance. And then there’s just your run-of-the-mill, creepy locations: abandoned buildings, churches, subway stations, train yards, libraries, etc.
The zombies that stand between you and the Fuhrer vary in size, strength and assholery. Some of the undead wander haplessly towards you intent on eating your brains, some are skeletons that can be despatched with a swift kick, others are undead suicide bombers jerks and some even have guns and knives and will not hesitate to cut a bitch. You don’t have to worry about finding health throughout the game as you automatically heal yourself over a small amount of time (unless you’re under constant attack, then you die).
The bosses aren’t too tough and can always be taken out with one or two or seven headshots, even the final boss, Giant-Zombie-Mecha-Hitler. Horror movie fans will appreciate two of the bigger, badder bosses – An American Werewolf in London-style, roided up asshole with a machine gun and a chainsaw-wielding, Texas Chain Saw Massacre-type that even does ol’ Leatherface’s signature swing. Also, the music of the game is reminiscent of John Carpenter’s 80s-era synthesizer jams. That, along with the nice visuals, add to the creepy atmosphere and overall enjoyability of the game.
However a few minor glitches interrupted the fun on more than one occasion. It happened twice relatively early on in the game where the objective was complete but the next area would not unlock. In particular there was one spot where a zombie sniper was stuck in his own glitchy version of the Running Man, but he was well-hidden so it wasn’t apparent he was the problem. With a quick Google check, it became clear that others had encountered the same issue. The solution was simply finding the glitch and shooting it in the head.
I can’t say enough about this game. It took me way longer to complete than I expected and I enjoyed every bloody, gory, Nazi-killing moment of it. I generally prefer puzzle-laden, subtle survival horror games that require more brains than brawn, but this game is just plain fun. So if shoot-‘em-up, tactical war games are your thing (or even if they aren’t), then you’ll have a blast (total pun intended) playing Zombie Army Trilogy.
