World War Z Review

"Swarms Upon Swarms"

Campaign

April 20, 2019 at 4:21am

Being based on the Paramount film property, World War Z delivers a series of campaign levels to play and a fairly solid multiplayer component. The main story is split into four chapters with each offering a distinct cast and location. This keeps things fresh, but at the same time I was hoping for more content. It's decent for replayability, but at the same time this could have been expanded upon further. Things are slightly different when you take on encounters for a second time, but nothing too wild.

It definitely feels like it captures the spirit of Left 4 Dead, but with a modern style and something slightly different to it. The missions are a mix of content where you're moving through overrun cities, battling within tight corridors or holding off positions using traps. It's a fairly fast paced experience, and that's due to the nature of the zombies. They're quick, and there's something magical about seeing them form of a pyramid to chase after you.

There are also NPCs that you need to work with, one issue I had was with points of no return. These areas would occasionally see a real player, or an NPC getting stuck where we've dropped down. Since there's no crawl feature they'd die, if it was an NPC that got stuck we'd have to restart the whole segment. The chapters do feature smaller sections, and these also give distinct experiences. There's a bit of narration, but you only get a glimpse into the lives of each group. To the side of that, you definitely get a sense of a larger scale since it does provide small windows into how this event is altering the entire world.

Multiplayer
The other main portion of this experience is the multiplayer. There are an impressive selection of game modes and maps to play on. Most modes are familiar to those that have probably experienced PVP shooters in the past, yet some are distinct. What's really neat about this is that there's an element of zombie swarms thrown right into the middle of the action.

You'll be fighting for a position, and then the swarm will come flying in to cause complete mayhem. It's wild, and done just right as not to be overly annoying. A fun distraction from the serious competitive elements. I found the multiplayer modes to generally offer a fair bit of distinct combat and to be a fun time. I played many matches while always being entertained and enjoying it. Hopefully they support this with an extra map every so often to keep it fresh.

Gameplay

World War Z is a third person shooter that brings frantic action. You'll be using a series of weapons, and finding new ones as you progress. After every mission in the campaign you'll have the option to upgrade weapons or class skills with the special coins you earn while playing. These grant bonuses, and promote extra play. This experience is somewhat carried over to the multiplayer with class based options to select.

There are a wide range of characters present for both parts of the game, with a distinct and unique quality to each of them. Aside from traditional guns, you'll be using traps to assist in combat while also taking advantage of the environment. The world itself is actually great looking. There are many unique locations, with lots of depth and a great draw distance. The game is fantastic on Xbox One X, runs perfectly. This is despite a high quality of visuals and packs of zombies running everywhere.

It's crazy, and sometimes overwhelming which is half the fun. There are many moments where they just unleash massive swarms against your squad of four players. For the campaign this is a cooperative experience, its best played online with others though your AI pals are helpful enough. If you ever find things too easy, there are multiple difficulty options present to bring some extra edge to your survival.

The Conclusion

World War Z delivers a quality experience that's filled to the rim with zombie swarms. It brings a fairly high level of replayability and something that's just generally fun to play. There certainly could have been more content present, but what's here works to provide an enjoyable time. There's a solid campaign with multiple areas to explore and the option to go back for more of a challenge, or a slightly new situation.

The experiences you face are varied in the campaign, and the swarms are very satisfying. I'm not sure there's another zombie title out at the moment that delivers numbers like that. It's just impressive and quite something to witness during large scale moments. I would have liked another general area of the game, maybe survival or something like versus from Left 4 Dead. That being said, between the story and the multiplayer I was more than happy with what's available. The multiplayer offers quite a bit, with many modes and its fun to see zombies thrown in the middle of conflicts.

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World War Z Review on Xbox One X
Review Code Provided by Saber Interactive

Rating Overall: 7.5