Stormtroopers of Death – Zombie Army Trilogy Review

<p>Rebellion Software&&num;8217&semi;s <em>Sniper Elite<&sol;em> series was <a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;bagogames&period;com&sol;just-shy-bullseye-sniper-elite-3-review&sol;">an odd contradiction<&sol;a>&comma; combining serious WWII gameplay with the gore-porn of its X-Ray Kill Cam&period; Randomly&comma; when the player fired a shot&comma; the camera would pull back&comma; revealing the expelled round drilling through the air before it made contact with its target in a shower of blood and bone&period; Sometimes&comma; for added gruesome effect&comma; an x-ray cutaway would reveal skeletal trauma as bulled blasted brainpans&comma; shattered shins&comma; or ruptured ribcages&period; They&&num;8217&semi;ve done it for three games now and it&&num;8217&semi;s still an odd sensation&comma; seeing the horrors of war and combat reduced to a meaty money shot&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The<em> Zombie Army<&sol;em> games &lpar;nee Nazi Zombie Army&rpar; seemed a better fit for the slackjawed slaughter&comma; replacing regular Nazis &lpar;still very shootable&comma; mind you&rpar; with a horde of shambling schutzstaffel&&num;8211&semi;the titular Nazi Zombie Army&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s mechanically identical to the Sniper Elite progenitor&comma; but sets its action in the midst of a full-blown zombie apocalypse&comma; which impressively makes the already bombed-out Europe even worse&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011607&sol;ZAT-3&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-80586" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011607&sol;ZAT-3&period;jpg" alt&equals;"ZAT 3" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"450" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>The game knows that it&&num;8217&semi;s inherently ridiculous&comma; and starts off as such&comma; with a scene mocking the infamous bunker meltdown from Oliver Hirschbiegel&&num;8217&semi;s Downfall&colon; Hitler is warned of the imminent defeat of the Reich at the hands of the Allies&comma; and the furious fuehrer demands that they execute &&num;8220&semi;Plan Z&period;&&num;8221&semi; Lo and behold&comma; the dead rise from their graves&comma; ready to reduce Europe to rubble&&num;8230&semi;or reduce the rubble to smaller pieces&comma; I guess&period; How this fits in with the Final Solution and Hitler&&num;8217&semi;s vision of the Übermensch isn&&num;8217&semi;t really clear&comma; but you really can&&num;8217&semi;t fault a game about Nazi zombies for thumbing its nose at historical accuracy&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>You start the game by choosing one of 8 characters &lpar;4 men and 4 women&&num;8230&semi;very progressive&excl;&rpar;&comma; then pick one of the three campaigns and your initial loadout and you&&num;8217&semi;re off to the &lpar;Aryan&rpar; races&period; The game is about as simple as they come&colon; shoot zombies&comma; score points&comma; make it to a safe house&comma; lather&comma; rinse&comma; repeat&period; There are larger gauntlets peppered throughout the game&comma; complete with weird energy barriers that block progression until you eliminate all threats&comma; from basic troops to swarming skeletons to suicide bombers who stuff their stielhandgranates in their mouths before detonating&period; To be frank&comma; even with enemy variety&comma; the game is incredibly repetitive&comma; and after a while burnout begins to set in&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Thankfully&comma; liberal checkpoints mean that you can drop in and out almost at will without having to retrace too many steps&comma; so you can get on with your life until another itch needs to be scratched&period; This isn&&num;8217&semi;t a game you marathon&comma; but its dumb-and-dirty gameplay is intensely satisfying in small doses&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><a href&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011623&sol;ZAT-2&period;jpg"><img class&equals;"aligncenter wp-image-80585" src&equals;"https&colon;&sol;&sol;cdn&period;bagogames&period;com&sol;wp-content&sol;uploads&sol;2015&sol;04&sol;05011623&sol;ZAT-2-1024x576&period;jpg" alt&equals;"ZAT 2" width&equals;"800" height&equals;"450" &sol;><&sol;a><&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Graphically&comma; the game&&num;8217&semi;s gently enhanced over its predecessors&comma; which is to say it looks good&comma; although the inherent dinginess of its subject matter and environment limits the palette to a variety of earth tones and red&period; The x-ray effects are suitably nasty&comma; and maxing out the occurrences of the Kill Cam leads to plenty of morbid moments as zombies are reduced to chunks of cheap chuck and burned brains&period; Audio is suitably powerful&comma; with the firearms delivering a punishing punch in the bass department&comma; and the music&&num;8230&semi;oh the music&period; The music&&num;8217&semi;s brilliant&comma; calling to mind the synth-heavy works of Goblin and Fabio Frizzi&comma; which adds immeasurably to the experience&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p>Its performance on Xbox One &lpar;it&&num;8217&semi;s also available on PS4 and PC&rpar; was uneven at times&comma; with frame-rates plunging more often than one would expect&comma; but not so much as to make it unplayable&period; There&&num;8217&semi;s also a lean host of multiplayer options&comma; including co-op play for up to 4 players and a &&num;8220&semi;horde mode&&num;8221&semi; that strips out the story entirely for surviving wave after wave of zombies&period; It&&num;8217&semi;s not particularly deep or revolutionary&comma; but it&&num;8217&semi;s the sort of dumb fun that less cynical gamers will appreciate&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;<p><em>Zombie Army Trilogy<&sol;em> isn&&num;8217&semi;t a particularly deep or affecting experience&comma; but its bombastic b-movie blitzkrieg offers plenty of cultish carnage&period;<&sol;p>&NewLine;