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Gareth von Kallenbach (965 KP) rated the PC version of Zombie Army 4: Dead War in Video Games
Feb 11, 2020
With the success of the Zombie Army series of DLC as well as the Zombie Army Trilogy game; Rebellion has released the next chapter in the series with Zombie Army 4: Dead War. The game is set at the end of World War 2 where Hitler has unleashed evil Occult powers to create an unstoppable army of the dead.
The game opens with players playing either on their own or in a group of up to four players as the Rebellion is seeing a resurgence of the Zombie forces that have spread over Europe.
This time around players will have many more options at their disposal such as the ability to find Upgrade Kits that will allow them to upgrade their weapons with added power, enhanced magazines, and other features. As before players can use Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, Machines Guns, and Pistols. There is a nice variety of weapons and players will want to find and customize ones that best suit their style of play.
Another great new feature is the Heavy Weapons that can be used when a player defeats a Boss Zombie and they include a Heavy Machine Gun, Flamethrower, and Super Saw. There are some others as well such as a Rocket Launcher and Emplacement Machine Guns.
All this is needed as the hordes are endless and they come at players in unending waves as they attempt to complete mission objectives and make it to strategic points on a map.
There are scores of new creatures to battle beyond the traditional hordes and the vast variety and abilities of the enemies makes the game a challenge. This combined with the fact that ammunition, health packs, and explosives are in limited supply, players must find supply chests and recover them from enemies in the form of stomping enemies.
Zombie Army 4 also allows players to customize the look of their characters and enhance their abilities such as Stamina as they would the same way they upgrade weapons.
The various segments are broken down into four-part chapters and the names and visuals that go with them embark memories of the classic Horror Films of the 70s and 80s.
Players will be able to take a break from the action by locating Safe Rooms at the end of each chapter. This haven allows players a safe place to upgrade, heal, reload, and more before taking on the next chapter.
Another nice feature of the game is that players can now do Melee based eliminations of enemies as well as pick a custom option such as a Flaming Axe, Power Punch, etc. to clear the hordes. Should a player fall they are able to be revived by their fellow players or else they have to wait until the next Checkpoint to be revived.
The game has some really impressive graphics and great imagery as locales from Sewers, Docks, Zoos, Bunkers, and more are all depicted in full detail complete with Macabre and Gory Supernatural decor.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War is lots of fun to play and has all of the gory action that fans of the series will love. The addition of all the new enemies, weapons, customizations, and abilities greatly enhances the game as well as the replay value as players can select a skill level that works best for them.
Should players need a break from the traditional game and want to practice using the traps, explosives, and other techniques in the game, there is a Horde Mode where players can simply focus on taking down waves vs doing mission objectives.
While the series began as a DLC; Zombie Army 4: Dead War looks and plays like a completely new game from the ground up. The look and gameplay will be familiar to fans of the series but the multitude of enhancements and new features make this a game that players will want to play.
Some of the lines in the game did get a bit annoying as they repeated themselves often and in the heat of battle hearing the same thing over and over gets old fast. Another issue comes when players play as the same character and you hear the voice of your character saying that their ammo was low even though you just reloaded.
In the end; Zombie Army 4: Dead War is not only an engaging and fun game; it is the best game in the series.
4 stars out of 5
The game opens with players playing either on their own or in a group of up to four players as the Rebellion is seeing a resurgence of the Zombie forces that have spread over Europe.
This time around players will have many more options at their disposal such as the ability to find Upgrade Kits that will allow them to upgrade their weapons with added power, enhanced magazines, and other features. As before players can use Sniper Rifles, Shotguns, Machines Guns, and Pistols. There is a nice variety of weapons and players will want to find and customize ones that best suit their style of play.
Another great new feature is the Heavy Weapons that can be used when a player defeats a Boss Zombie and they include a Heavy Machine Gun, Flamethrower, and Super Saw. There are some others as well such as a Rocket Launcher and Emplacement Machine Guns.
All this is needed as the hordes are endless and they come at players in unending waves as they attempt to complete mission objectives and make it to strategic points on a map.
There are scores of new creatures to battle beyond the traditional hordes and the vast variety and abilities of the enemies makes the game a challenge. This combined with the fact that ammunition, health packs, and explosives are in limited supply, players must find supply chests and recover them from enemies in the form of stomping enemies.
Zombie Army 4 also allows players to customize the look of their characters and enhance their abilities such as Stamina as they would the same way they upgrade weapons.
The various segments are broken down into four-part chapters and the names and visuals that go with them embark memories of the classic Horror Films of the 70s and 80s.
Players will be able to take a break from the action by locating Safe Rooms at the end of each chapter. This haven allows players a safe place to upgrade, heal, reload, and more before taking on the next chapter.
Another nice feature of the game is that players can now do Melee based eliminations of enemies as well as pick a custom option such as a Flaming Axe, Power Punch, etc. to clear the hordes. Should a player fall they are able to be revived by their fellow players or else they have to wait until the next Checkpoint to be revived.
The game has some really impressive graphics and great imagery as locales from Sewers, Docks, Zoos, Bunkers, and more are all depicted in full detail complete with Macabre and Gory Supernatural decor.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War is lots of fun to play and has all of the gory action that fans of the series will love. The addition of all the new enemies, weapons, customizations, and abilities greatly enhances the game as well as the replay value as players can select a skill level that works best for them.
Should players need a break from the traditional game and want to practice using the traps, explosives, and other techniques in the game, there is a Horde Mode where players can simply focus on taking down waves vs doing mission objectives.
While the series began as a DLC; Zombie Army 4: Dead War looks and plays like a completely new game from the ground up. The look and gameplay will be familiar to fans of the series but the multitude of enhancements and new features make this a game that players will want to play.
Some of the lines in the game did get a bit annoying as they repeated themselves often and in the heat of battle hearing the same thing over and over gets old fast. Another issue comes when players play as the same character and you hear the voice of your character saying that their ammo was low even though you just reloaded.
In the end; Zombie Army 4: Dead War is not only an engaging and fun game; it is the best game in the series.
4 stars out of 5
Daniel Boyd (1066 KP) rated Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain in Video Games
Nov 2, 2017 (Updated Nov 2, 2017)
Gameplay (1 more)
Graphics
Characters (1 more)
Twist ending
A Review By A Disappointed Long Time Fan
Before this game was released, I was certain that it was going to be my Game Of The Year for 2015, and in a lot of ways it is a worthy contender. As an open world stealth game, it is groundbreaking. The gameplay is some of the best I’ve ever seen, the controls feel tight, the underlying systems and features, (such as reflex mode and the buddy system,) are solid and the AI is responsive and fair. This is KojiPro’s first attempt at an open world game, and as far as first attempts go, this is ‘pretty good.’ The world is breathtaking as well, the graphics that the Fox engine can produce are stunning in every way, the world feels alive, with both enemies and wildlife, the textures, the particle systems, the gun models, every visual in this game has been created with an insane amount of attention to detail and all of it really pays off. I experienced little to no glitches while making my way through the single player campaign and the presentation overall is great. Motherbase is also awesome, you genuinely feel as if you are assembling an army and even though the Fulton is daft, it is a nice touch. And the amount of variety this game provides is vast, you can take 4 different buddies with you, each with unique skills, you can infiltrate in the morning or at night, you can choose your guns and customise them to suit, you can also customise your buddy’s gear, your helicopter and to a small extent Motherbase too, although that could have went deeper. Now, if that is all that you are looking for, then seriously, stop reading this review right now and go buy the game, you will love it and there is so much to do, I sank a good 75+ hours into this game and my overall completion rate is still only at 75%. If however, like me, you are looking for something more than just great gameplay, you will be left feeling as empty as I do. Like I keep reiterating, the gameplay is phenomenal, but that’s the problem, I have never played MGS for the gameplay. It wasn’t the gameplay that made me fall in love with the series growing up and if anything you would always suffer through the stiff gameplay in order to experience the deep and complex story and that was okay, because it would always be so worth it. This game throws all of that out of the window.
The way that this game is structured is awful. You play a few main missions in a row, the story is beginning to hook you, but then OCD kicks in and you realise that you have 4 or 5 side missions building up to be completed, so you go and do them, but then you come back to the main story and forget what was going on in the last mission, but who cares when you can Fulton a goat, right?
The writing in this game is possibly the laziest it’s ever been, one example of this is the ‘controversial’ character known as Quiet. This character has been masterly debated over a lot (see what I did there?) and thrown more gasoline on the fire that is the over-sexualisation of women in video games. My stance on it is somewhere in between, the reason for her lack of clothes and speech is silly, however she is running around Afghanistan and Africa, which are very hot countries, so really they could have put her in a bikini top and a pair of cargo pants and I doubt anyone would have batted an eyelid. Now, the Metal Gear series has always been known for its odd Japanese perviness, but when it is a main character that has been sexualised, it’s always been for a justified narrative reason, such as EVA in MGS3 walking about with the front of her jacket unzipped showing off her bikini clad chest, but the whole point of her mission in that game, was to seduce Snake, so it made sense within the context of the story, in this game the reason for Quiet’s over exposure is much lazier and feels tacked on as a cheap excuse.
The worst part about all of this is the fact that, this is it, Kojima’s definite last Metal Gear game, there is no going back to redeem anything, like in MGS2 when everyone hated it, but because 4 solved some of the problems that were created in 2 people are now okay with 2, that can’t happen with this game because Kojima and Konami are no more. Now I could write a whole other paper on Konami vs Kojima and my stance on it but this is the jist, Kojima was spending too much money and taking too much time with this game, Konami demanded he finish it so they can make their money and add their microtransaction’s etc Kojima told them where they can stick it and the partnership was dead. This has had an effect on the game, there is clearly content missing, Konami has confirmed that at least one mission was cut, where Snake would have went to Africa to have another battle with Eli and Sahalanthropus, which is the Metal Gear in this game, which is unacceptable really. Also, I assume there was a lot of other content that was cut that we weren’t told about. Sahalanthropus is another problem I have, how is it that this Metal Gear created in the 80’s is more advanced than REX, which was created in the early 2000’s. Also, when you fight Sahalanthropus, there is no one in the thing, it is an empty robot being controlled by Mantis, who floats beside the giant mech. That is actually a decent metaphor for the lack of villains in this game. Skull Face is hardly in the game and his eventual death, like every other significant event in this game, just kind of happens with no build up and packing little punch. The team of bosses in the original Metal Gear, headed up by Liquid and Ocelot, were probably the best team of villains in any game ever, since then the bosses have gone slowly downhill. The Sons of Big Boss were great, Dead Cell were pretty cool, The Cobras were okay, The Beauty & The Beast Corps were pretty lame and The Skulls in this game are emotionless zombies who don’t even have individual names and Skull Face is such a disappointing antagonist, he is hardly in the main game and then he shows up at the end, gives some silly speech that we have heard before in the trailers and then just dies, no boss fight or anything. Also, no customisable Metal Gear, which I feel like is a huge missed opportunity and no Sims like Motherbase customisation, interior or exterior.
David Hayter was missed in this game, Keifer was fine on the rare occasion he did speak, but the phantom Snake twist was the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Hayter’s voice and they didn’t take it. Also no Campbell or EVA, not even a reference. And it is never explained why the last time we see the real Big Boss, he is rescuing a child and a young girl and the next time we see him he has become modern day Hitler. Ultimately, this game just makes me sad, it is hard not to focus on the fallout from the Konima debacle, P.T/Silent Hills is no more, that promisingly terrifying demo we were teased with will amount to nothing and this game is all we will ever get again in terms of the Metal Gear saga. This is the end of an era, and it’s an end that doesn’t sit perfectly with me.
The way that this game is structured is awful. You play a few main missions in a row, the story is beginning to hook you, but then OCD kicks in and you realise that you have 4 or 5 side missions building up to be completed, so you go and do them, but then you come back to the main story and forget what was going on in the last mission, but who cares when you can Fulton a goat, right?
The writing in this game is possibly the laziest it’s ever been, one example of this is the ‘controversial’ character known as Quiet. This character has been masterly debated over a lot (see what I did there?) and thrown more gasoline on the fire that is the over-sexualisation of women in video games. My stance on it is somewhere in between, the reason for her lack of clothes and speech is silly, however she is running around Afghanistan and Africa, which are very hot countries, so really they could have put her in a bikini top and a pair of cargo pants and I doubt anyone would have batted an eyelid. Now, the Metal Gear series has always been known for its odd Japanese perviness, but when it is a main character that has been sexualised, it’s always been for a justified narrative reason, such as EVA in MGS3 walking about with the front of her jacket unzipped showing off her bikini clad chest, but the whole point of her mission in that game, was to seduce Snake, so it made sense within the context of the story, in this game the reason for Quiet’s over exposure is much lazier and feels tacked on as a cheap excuse.
The worst part about all of this is the fact that, this is it, Kojima’s definite last Metal Gear game, there is no going back to redeem anything, like in MGS2 when everyone hated it, but because 4 solved some of the problems that were created in 2 people are now okay with 2, that can’t happen with this game because Kojima and Konami are no more. Now I could write a whole other paper on Konami vs Kojima and my stance on it but this is the jist, Kojima was spending too much money and taking too much time with this game, Konami demanded he finish it so they can make their money and add their microtransaction’s etc Kojima told them where they can stick it and the partnership was dead. This has had an effect on the game, there is clearly content missing, Konami has confirmed that at least one mission was cut, where Snake would have went to Africa to have another battle with Eli and Sahalanthropus, which is the Metal Gear in this game, which is unacceptable really. Also, I assume there was a lot of other content that was cut that we weren’t told about. Sahalanthropus is another problem I have, how is it that this Metal Gear created in the 80’s is more advanced than REX, which was created in the early 2000’s. Also, when you fight Sahalanthropus, there is no one in the thing, it is an empty robot being controlled by Mantis, who floats beside the giant mech. That is actually a decent metaphor for the lack of villains in this game. Skull Face is hardly in the game and his eventual death, like every other significant event in this game, just kind of happens with no build up and packing little punch. The team of bosses in the original Metal Gear, headed up by Liquid and Ocelot, were probably the best team of villains in any game ever, since then the bosses have gone slowly downhill. The Sons of Big Boss were great, Dead Cell were pretty cool, The Cobras were okay, The Beauty & The Beast Corps were pretty lame and The Skulls in this game are emotionless zombies who don’t even have individual names and Skull Face is such a disappointing antagonist, he is hardly in the main game and then he shows up at the end, gives some silly speech that we have heard before in the trailers and then just dies, no boss fight or anything. Also, no customisable Metal Gear, which I feel like is a huge missed opportunity and no Sims like Motherbase customisation, interior or exterior.
David Hayter was missed in this game, Keifer was fine on the rare occasion he did speak, but the phantom Snake twist was the perfect opportunity to reintroduce Hayter’s voice and they didn’t take it. Also no Campbell or EVA, not even a reference. And it is never explained why the last time we see the real Big Boss, he is rescuing a child and a young girl and the next time we see him he has become modern day Hitler. Ultimately, this game just makes me sad, it is hard not to focus on the fallout from the Konima debacle, P.T/Silent Hills is no more, that promisingly terrifying demo we were teased with will amount to nothing and this game is all we will ever get again in terms of the Metal Gear saga. This is the end of an era, and it’s an end that doesn’t sit perfectly with me.