Zombie Army 4: Dead War Switch Review – War Rages On

Rebellion has made a name for themselves with their Sniper Elite and Zombie Army titles, and now we have Zombie Army 4: Dead War on the Nintendo Switch. Rebellion’s trademark is the kill cam, in which you can see your shot in slow motion and what it can cause, and seeing it in action is a thing of beauty, even if it is brutal.

So does Zombie Army 4: Dead War continue the success of the franchise? Or is this one dead in its tracks? Let’s take a shot, shall we?

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is the continuation of the Zombie Army franchise, and it picks up where Zombie Army 3 left off, with Hitler being cast into a hellhole. However, despite the head of the snake being removed, the zombies continue to rise and cause havoc. This is where our ragtag team of troops are set on ending the zombies completely and taking earth back by storm.

As is the case with a lot of Rebellion titles, Zombies Army 4: Dead War is not the heaviest narrative, but it is a fun one that injects some real history with zombies and ongoing apocalypses. The characters are a lot of fun, with some solid voice acting and entertaining interactions with each other through story mode and horde mode, and with the DLC, there are so many more characters to add to the roster, like all 8 of the Left 4 Dead main characters from both titles, that add even more to the experience. Simply put, this is just fun.

I do love the combination of chapters when it comes to the story, as the campaign is not necessarily a stringline story, but one of many avenues. It does continue in its own way, but instead of a solid point A to point B campaign, we have chapters with their own little mini-stories that connect from Milan all the way down to the depths of hell and beyond. You continue to use your same chosen character, but any one “chapter” feels like its own mini-campaign, if that makes sense, which is a nice and convenient method to play at a slower pace if you so choose. Still, it is set up really well, and there are even DLC chapters for those interested.

Gameplay-wise, Zombie Army 4: Dead War plays very similarly to previous Rebellion titles, and if you read our Sniper Elite 4 review before, you will understand what I mean. This is a third-person shooter with heavy emphasis on sniping. The big gameplay feature of course being the slow motion kill cam that follows your bullet and gives you an extra close view of the damage it does to the oncoming zombie army. You will see it blow their heads up, break bones, and even go through certain organs with an x-ray display, and it is even possible to go through multiple zombies if they are lined up. This is always a fun feature, and although you have the ability to skip the kill cam animation, I never found myself doing so.

Where things get a little less fun is the repetitiveness of the gameplay. Although the storied chapters are fun nuggets of zombie killing, the constant wave upon wave of seemingly endless amounts of zombies gets tiring after a while. There are even many points in the story where you cannot progress until you kill a certain amount of zombies or a particular one, and it can feel like it is taking ages due to the repetitive nature. Don’t get me wrong, though, killing zombies is a lot of fun and the central point of the whole game, but there are times where killing 50-100 zombies in sequence just feels taxing for a story mode chapter.

Similar to other zombie titles, like Left 4 Dead, Zombie Army 4: Dead War has specialty zombies that mix things up. There is a nice variety to keep certain areas feeling fresher than others thanks to the inclusion of these special zombies, and there are even points where big ol’ boss zombies provide an even greater challenge. Again, it can be a bit taxing and overwhelming fighting an endless wave of zombies while tackling the big one, but this is a zombie apocalypse, so this is expected, huh?

Horde Mode is about what you would expect it to be. This is a series of waves that increase in difficulty over time, and this is quite the fun mode on top of the story. There are a lot of maps in Horde, and the nice variety of special zombies are sprinkled throughout with bigger zombies like the Butcher coming in later waves. As you play Horde and pass certain waves, new areas open up, making for a more challenging experience, as zombies have even more ways to enter the fray.

The wonderful thing about the entire experience is that Zombie Army 4: Dead War is completely playable solo, locally in multiplayer, and online. I didn’t get to test out the local multiplayer for this review, but the online matches I was able to connect to were solid and had very little-to-no lag or latency issues (Outside of some regular bugs, but I’ll get there in a moment). Getting to experience the entire story with a pal is great stuff, and teaming up for a cooperative Horde Mode challenge is even better. Learning to strategize for the tough waves, especially on the higher difficulties, is of the utmost importance.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War also has some cool options, too. There is an extensive records collection that keeps track of a lot of the going-ons of the game, as well as unlockables, achievements, and even a tutorial if you need it. The other excellent addition to the game is the accessibility menu, which grants the opportunity to make the game a bit more playable for certain types of individuals. Although I would have appreciated a bit more of an accessibility menu, the fact that it is there and offers something is of course better than nothing.

From a graphical standpoint, Zombie Army 4: Dead War is another grand achievement for Rebellion, especially on the Nintendo Switch. This is a pretty massive game that has a lot going on at the same time, and it is impressive that they somehow got all of this to run on the Switch really well. Don’t get me wrong, this is not nearly on the same level as the other console versions of the game, but considering the Switch’s power and abilities, this is simply an excellent outing.

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However, as is the case with these Rebellion titles, there are some issues that happen. For starters, when a cluster of zombies are spotted far away and you start sniping them, they may “die” but continue to move like they aren’t. Some times this even results in the zombie standing still like it is stuck, but this seems to be another long-distance kill glitch where they default to their standing pose (Almost like a T-pose in some ways). There are other minor problems throughout, but they rarely-to-never cause any real issues and are mostly cosmetic issues like textures not loading or zombies getting an arm stuck in the wall.

A final excellent point is the soundtrack, which is a great mix across both story and Horde. The upbeat tracks that get your blood pumping as the hordes of zombies come your way is exhilarating, and it definitely helps to elevate the dangers in many ways. An unfortunate side of the sound, though, are the zombie groans, which are confusing, at least on the Switch. The volume of which their groans came in do not reflect how close or far away they are many times, so even at points where no zombies are around you, it could sound like they are, which doesn’t help the panicky heart.

At the end of the day, if you are looking for a zombie-themed experience on the Switch that offers a tremendous amount of gameplay and fun, then look no further. Zombie Army 4: Dead War is a ton of game, and it will keep you and your friends busy for a very, very long time.

Sure, it may have its problems and doesn’t look as good on Switch compared to other platforms, but that does not matter. What Rebellion accomplished here needs to be praised, as Zombie Army 4: Dead War on Switch is a miracle in many ways. So get that sniper rifle ready and prepare yourself for some excellent slow-motion kill cam footage of zombie brains, hearts, and balls exploding.

You won’t regret it.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War Switch Review provided by Nintendo Link
Publisher: Rebellion Interactive
Developers: Rebellion Developments
Release Date: April 26th, 2021
Price: $49.99, £39.99, €49,99
Game Size: 6 GB