We have all been patiently waiting for Valve to announce Left for Dead 3, or any new game from them in all honesty. But while we’ve been waiting, Saber Interactive went on a stealth mission to give us the 4 player co-op zombie game that we have been asking forever since 2009. I say it was a stealth mission because there was such little media coverage of this game, that your average gamer would have no idea how truly special World War Z is. Now, maybe that’s because Saber Interactive and the publisher Mad Dog games aren’t really household names in the developer/publisher food chain; but that didn’t stop them from making a fun and technically sound video game that was just what the doctor ordered.
Everyone loves a good underdog story, and that is exactly what the development, as well as the release of this game was. It was initially announced at The Game Awards 2017, and even I will admit, I was highly skeptical at first. It was odd to see a game coming out under the same license as a then 4-year-old movie. A movie that wasn’t highly revered by critics and fans, but when put into context, the license made perfect sense for what the game was trying to be. World War Z is a 4 player co-op game that takes place in multiple different cities across the globe, each city representing a chapter in the game. You move throughout these cities fighting the biggest hordes of zombies ever displayed in a video game, this feature was used heavily in the marketing of the game. It was shown off as each horde acted as its own entity, they moved in specific ways that made it feel like a giant tidal wave of grotesque zombies coming to wipe your team off the face of the Earth. Saber Interactive flaunted their very own Swarm Engine as the engine that made these huge hordes possible. After beating every chapter, I have to say the hordes are just as impressive as they promised. There is rarely any framerate drops, and seeing all of those zombies coming at you once is something really magnificent to see. I look forward to the hordes of each level more than anything else in the game.
The way the game is put together is very similar to how the Left for Dead games were played. It is divided up into four chapters, each having multiple levels that make up the chapter. There are four characters to choose from for every chapter, the characters themselves being different in each chapter. The levels are pretty straightforward, mostly consisting of get this object to get from point A to point B. Along the way, there are multiple sequences peppered in where you conveniently have to wait for something so that a couple of hordes of zombies show up. All sounding very similar to Left for Dead, am I right? Well, there are a few things that majorly set World War Z apart from games that have influenced it from the past. There is a progression system that adds the perfect amount of modernization to World War Z. You can choose from different classes to play as during each level such as a Medic Class or an Engineer Class. When you finish a level you gain XP for this class that unlocks new abilities and perks to make your path through each level a bit easier. Each gun has its own level as well so that the more it is used, the more attachments and mods you unlock. This progression system is just what the game needs to give you a reason to jump in on a regular basis and level up your characters.
I have gone through a lot of the positives so far for World War Z, but upon release, it was met with mixed reviews. I believe some of that can be attributed to early launch hiccups that the game faced. Upon launch the servers were not incredibly stable, I found myself randomly disconnecting from lobbies right in the middle of a mission. There was also no way of playing a private match with you and one or two of your friends. If you played with one friend, you were put into a game with two other random players. You were allowed to play solo matches with 3 bots at the time of release, in case you wanted to play entirely by yourself. The game wasn’t completely original of course, and this was only highlighted in the lack of originality for the special zombies. The special zombies in World War Z were a carbon copy of what was in Left for Dead. While these zombies are still fun and interesting, most would agree that a little variety would go a long way. Still with the issues that I have addressed here, Saber Interactive has done a great job on keeping up with player feedback, and as of today all of these issues have been addressed and fixed aside from new enemy types.
I write this almost six months after World War Z’s initial release day to try and encourage you to go out and try it. Saber Interactive has shown a lot of talent and passion to make a triple-A experience, without the triple-A budget. World War Z just got its biggest content update yet, a whole new chapter, guns, and quality of life improvements are some of the things that were included. As of October of this year, World War Z was added to Game Pass with a new horde mode being introduced as well. Game Pass is really just what the game needed for the Xbox players who were on the fence about trying it out. Being added to Game Pass is just another example of a developer and publisher who are making the right decisions for all gamers willing to try them out. Like I said, it’s the Left for Dead we have been waiting for, why not give it a shot?
