Zombie Army Trilogy

Because magical Hitler must be stopped!

This spin-off from Sniper Elite has slowly fixed a number of things for our co-op sessions, given I've written about it twice before. This trilogy has all the missions from the last two Nazi zombie games and adds five more, bringing the total to 15. Well 14 since Chapter 1 of Book 2 still had connection problems for three of us (DL, Jim and myself) right at the end so we had to skip it which thankfully is a valid option.

Indeed, you can pick whatever mission you want to try - no unlocking required - but must rely on the mission checkpoints to save your progress through it. The last book sees the sniper heroes return to a much better looking apocalypse graphics wise, and for a change there are other friendlies in a few missions. Also introduced are new enemies, such as the terrifying chainsaw elite and heavily armored zombies and giant zombies.

That's one big Fuhrer!

There's definitely a difficulty increase towards the final mission (to kill Hitler) with some ludicrous amounts of zombies needing to be killed (looking at you book 3 chapter 3 finale) but its all good fun and definitely one a co-op team would enjoy. I give it four relics out of five, but won't play it again. Killing the millions of zombies once was enough, thanks. :P

Insight: In the final chapter(s) most goals switch from kill the zombies to get "x" done, because the zombies won't stop spawning anymore which is especially true fighting Hitler (unless he's having a migraine, then you can relax and prepare first before the next phase). Jumping from the balcony there can be a real life (and time) saver!

Game Design: PvP in "Story-Based" Games

[Part of my MMO Design Folder.]

I quite enjoyed playing through single player mode in the Assassin's Creed series as well as the Batman: Arkham series. As you probably know I am always behind in terms of keeping up to date with them because of my spending habits on games (ie. I don't). I keep finding though that some of these games have a small PvP section to them, like bonus content. Sometimes these sections also sound pretty cool.

The problem I'm seeing though, perhaps because I'm on the older games, is that almost no one is playing these modes. Not enough to even start up a match from my personal experience. I have to question then the wisdom in spending resources in developing a part of the game that is surely going to be unplayable over time. Surely it makes more sense to dispose of it and completely focus on the story campaign? I've found cooperative modes often follow the story line as well like in the Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army series so that's not really an issue. If you have allies cool. If you don't you can still go ahead.

It's just the logic of the PvP thing I don't understand. As a mainly co-op player it's quite likely I am mistaken, so I ask you dear reader: In games like the above, how many hours did you spend playing through the story and how many hours did you spend playing in the competitive PvP modes? Surely Call of Duty guys clock more PvP hours than story hours right?

Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2

Don't worry if you haven't played the first game, because the "escape" finale there is nullified as the heroes are sent back into the heart of darkness to try put an end to the undead horde - meaning there's a bit more story this time around. Much of what I liked from the first part is still here too: the jump scares, the head shot requirement to kill zombies, and the pretty scary atmosphere which is uberly amped up in some spots. Enemy wise, there are a few new types I've encountered that join the list of your old favorites from the previous outing.

Don't let them get close!

Many maps that I've played through are again re-purposed from the previous games (Zombie Army 1 and Sniper V2) but changed enough to be quite a new experience. What they do a lot this time though is to block off any escape routes you had just before a big fight. Game play wise this means a bit more running and gives higher importance to the shotgun and its excellence at close quarters, but programmatically it also frees up the memory from all the zones you've already cleared making it a much more stable experience, especially in coop mode which is fantastic. Sure, you cannot fall back to the very beginning of a map any more but it's a small price to pay in the scheme of things I think.

Currently around half way through and am enjoying it thoroughly, giving it 4 bullets out of 5.

Here's a clip of some zombie killing action for those interested. I'm the guy with the hat.