Zombie Army 4: Dead War, the latest entry in the franchise from developer Rebellion Developments, takes players to the year 1946 where World War 2 has evolved into the Dead War, pitting players against hordes of countless zombies instead of living Nazis. In doing so, Rebellion offers players fun gunplay and a stellar co-op experience built upon the Sniper Elite 4 engine, but if the title sounds all too generic, it's worth noting a majority of the game feels that way too.
Players will be able to choose one of four characters—Karl, Boris, Shola, and Jun—and a weapon loadout composed of a primary rifle, a secondary, and a pistol. Each character has unique attributes, with players able to modify their characters further with perks unlocked via gameplay. For example, players who pick up a lot of heavy weapons in the field will eventually unlock a perk that allows them to better utilize heavy weapons, whereas some are unlocked by leveling up. Rebellion Developments' Zombie Army 4 allows players to design their weapon loadout to tailor their gameplay, whether that's adjusting the weapon with explosive rounds, a vampiric scope, or a mod that allows one player to heal another.
That is practically the crux of the game: gunplay and co-op. Players will be able to figure out which weapons they prefer, which mods fit their play style, and go into the field suited for most scenarios. Sniping zombies or blowing them away with heavy weapons creates a genuinely fun experience backed with excellent co-op gameplay in Zombie Army 4: Dead War. However players choose to design their own character, the co-op seems symbiotic as if the game itself were designed for co-op. This is evident in every part of the game, whether it's the quest design, the loadout, the character interactions, and even the overall stability of the game.
Luckily, Zombie Army 4 players don't need to worry about any bugs or glitches that affect the ability to play online with co-op partners, as the worst glitch that we came across was a camera snafu when shooting a sniper rifle. Other than that, it was a straightforward and solid experience that helped drive the full capabilities of its co-op home.
There's also something to be said for the game's exploration and the various smaller features available in Zombie Army 4. Some of the best moments of the game arose when exploring alongside our co-op partner, and there'd be a train carriage or house to explore. Several times, collectible Zombie Hands would be inside doing something strange, or there'd be dolls that would appear in safes, in the woods, on bridges, and in other areas. When shot, these dolls would react in a variety of ways that reward the exploration.
Death itself is a rather interesting mechanic as well. When players die, their characters return as a zombie until they either decide to quit in single player or get killed and/or respawned by their co-op partner. Shooting these dolls, collecting the zombie hands, and coming back from the dead add a nice air of eerie ambiance to Zombie Army 4, yet this isn't really enough to cast it among the best zombie games out there.
Zombie Army 4 players will quickly realize that this is practically all the game has to offer, and without a co-op partner, the main campaign is more monotonous than anything. Players will repeat the same grindy process throughout, whether that's breaking arbitrary barriers known as blood seals (by killing zombies), filling blood fountains (by killing zombies), and dealing with summoning shrines and rifts (by killing zombies). There are a few unique enemy designs as well, but by large, it's generic zombies and zombie heavies. The game ships itself as a zombie game, so on the one hand, this isn't altogether too surprising or different from what the franchise has done in the past, but it does evoke a sense of zombie fatigue after a few hours.
This is only worsened by a mostly unremarkable story. Zombie Army 4 players spend a lot of time repeating the same game mechanics in the same story vein, destroying hellgate after hellgate until Hitler's eventual revival. On this point, it's worth noting that this isn't the type of game that should be played for its story, as it offers zombie levels of mindless fun to enjoy. Zombie Army 4 is largely predictable and unoriginal, and while that does count against it, the title practically says it all. Outside of the main campaign, there's also a Horde Mode and Weekly Event players can check out.
Once again, though, the Horde Mode offers little if not done so in co-op. It is wave after wave of enemies but feels so limited due to a lack of variety. There's simply not enough guns to make a Horde Mode truly enjoyable, and while players can find their guns and have them adapted to their loadout, there's a lot of senseless grinding involved in trying to make that an effective reality.
The Weekly Event offers some replayability by introducing new elements to main campaign missions, but the only point in this would be to continue leveling up and improving a player's various loadouts for the Horde Mode. For those who are obsessed with maxing out characters and love to endlessly grind, this is a beneficial element to Zombie Army 4, but for those who are in it just for the fun, there is some here but not near enough. This element makes the game feel like the ill-conceived and rotten child of Call of Duty Zombies and Left 4 Dead, containing elements of both games but failing to reach the same level.
At its core, Zombie Army 4 feels uninspired and fails to capture anything unique. With the plethora of zombie video game content out, it seems safe to say that there is plenty out there that have done it better. For zombie enthusiasts or those with a dedicated co-op partner, this game is a reasonable recommendation, but for anyone looking for something more, there are other games out there that can check all the boxes of a zombie game but still offer a unique experience. This is more than can be said for this game, and while it is typically best to avoid judging a game by its cover, Zombie Army 4's cover says it all.
Zombie Army 4: Dead War is out now for PC, PS4, and Xbox One. Game Rant was provided a PS4 code for the purposes of this review.