Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army 2
The Defence
The Prosecution
AMD equivalent
AMD Radeon HD 7750
The Case
In today’s video game industry, we’ve grown used to seeing yearly iterations from the big publishers’ most popular franchises. Every year a new sequel comes out, and every year it feels like the sequel brings less new with it. In this context, it seems quite a bold attempt for developer Rebellion to release the sequel to Nazi Zombie Army barely nine months after the original hit the scene. In my NZA review I was quite clear about how mediocre the original game was. Can we expect an improvement in the sequel?
The Trial
Well, here we are again. Feels like it was just yesterday, didn’t it? Probably because I reviewed Nazi Zombie Army back in February of 2013, and here I am reviewing the suspiciously identical sequel the same damn year! Seeing the trailers and reading about the new features long before release, I felt a bit awkward at the lack of coverage for...well, new features. A couple of new enemy types and...that was it.
Yeah, let’s not beat around the bush here. The amount of changes to be found between the two NZA games is staggeringly low. The games look the same, play the same, ARE the same. Apart from a few exceptions, NZA 2 gives you the same amount of pleasure and frustration as its predecessor did. So instead of writing the same review twice, let’s instead focus on those exceptions.
The first thing you’ll notice when you start playing is that the frustrating mechanic of the first game that forced you to kill every zombie through a headshot or watch him rise again, has been toned down. Some zombies will still get back up unless you give them a blowjob to the brain, but a lot of them will actually remain dead after the first beatdown. It’s a welcome change of pace, as not being allowed to kill zombies through nutshots - or anywhere other than the head - was incredibly frustrating in the original, and it rendered the killcam feature not only pointless, but tediously repetitive as well. You’ll also notice that Rebellion indeed threw in some new enemies to fight. These are the Summoners, who continuously spawn new zombies, and the Fire Demons. The fire demons are at least worth mentioning, because they’re the only things keeping the game from feeling 100% identical to the original. These big brutes come running at you, and occasionally stop to praise the Nazi überpowers in the skies, and set all nearby zombies up on fire. It’s wise to take down the fire demon quickly, as zombies that are all fired up (he he) will be much faster and more savage than the regular ones, and surviving an onslaught of those guys for extended periods of time can turn out to be quite a challenge. Other than that, it’s still the same stand-alone budget zombie shooter as before. It looks and sounds identical with absolutely no changes - when it comes to the visuals, that’s at least a good thing. It’s the same gameplay, where you run around shooting zombies, or stop and shoot zombies. The objectives are as mundane as always, constantly tasking you to either find the nearest safe house, or “survive the siege”. The levels are still mostly ripped straight out of Sniper Elite V2, with only minor cosmetic changes - just like the original NZA. The characters you play as are still completely lacking any voicework, and they show off no personality, denying you the ability to actually care for these guys. The game also feels like it’s constantly denying you having any sort of fun. The only fun weapons, like the double-barrel shotgun, are hard to find and ammo is even more so. It’s like the intention is to make you feel like you’re fighting a hopeless battle. It wasn’t fun in February and it’s not fun now. Rebellion haven’t put any effort into finding a use for V2’s various mechanics either - like the stealth and the cover system. The explosive traps you can put out that worked well to protect you from single ambushers in V2, are just as pointless and woefully underpowered in NZA 2 as they were in the original. The X-ray bullet cam is still exclusive to the single player portion, which is just as baffling now as ever. I mean, it’s clearly a game aimed at Co-Op audiences, WHY would you want to leave out the signature mechanic from the main game mode? And last but not least - can you actually believe, they used the exact same final boss again? YES! REALLY! It’s like you’re not even trying anymore, Rebellion. If we need a perfect example to describe a “cash-grab”, then Nazi Zombie Army 2 is it. I would almost have been fine with how absolutely identical NZA 2 is to its predecessor, had the original at least been a solid game. But that is not the case. NZA was a seriously flawed game, that was only enjoyable if you tried really hard to enjoy it and three of your friends were willing to join in. Barely anything has been fixed or improved and virtually nothing new has been added. Going in, I had hoped to see some new levels that take more advantage of the gameplay but those were the same levels from V2 with just a thin coat of paint thrown on top. What were you doing for these past eight months, Rebellion?
The Verdict
Case Review
- Got the Looks: Though the lighting effects seem less cool after all these months, NZA 2 still has moody and atmospheric look.
- 4-player Co-Op: Always a good card to play.
- All the Same: If you are one of those who enjoyed NZA, you might enjoy this too.
- Don’t Fix What isn’t Fixed: Problems from the first NZA remain unfixed.
- Silent Heroes: The characters are still stripped of personality and voicework.
Appeal
The Nazi zombies return for a second round of the invasion of a demonic derelict Germany. Karl Fairbourne returns with his three new friends to lay waste to the undead Nazi enemies, including some new ones that make their debut in this second chapter of the Nazi Zombie invasion series. The most notable thing about this package is that it is all very similar to V2, and especially Nazi Zombie Army 1. When I mean similar, I literally mean re-used environments from V2, although with a spruced up demonic paint job. You also have the same familiar arsenal as in the previous games with no new additions, not even one, which is a tad disappointing. However, it is a different adventure, within the same but now very different looking environments, which isn’t all too bad when you have some new targets to shoot at.
The new enemy types consist of demon spawner and summoner. They do add to the variety at times, although most of the time you are basically fighting the same foe you’ve previously met in last iteration. Even the ending boss, the occult general, is the same, which is...cheap. Although if you really don’t care about the lack of new friends to shoot and don’t mind jumping into some familiar levels, then you should have a blast, preferably with friends. The game is also short, it doesn’t have a huge amount of content. However if you haven’t played the first NZA or Sniper Elite V2 and like zombie shooters, you’ll probably at least somewhat like this, especially in co-op. If you did play one or the other and still loved both and don’t mind having more of the same, then you’ll probably like this one too.
Appeal
Because annual releases are for 'suckas', Rebellion went one step further and released two whole games in a single year. Sort of. That's the way it's been advertised, certainly, but the truth of the matter is somewhat both more, and less exciting. In reality, Nazi Zombie Army was a quirky, enjoyable gimmick romp of a game. Whilst the sequel, which we are here for today, is exactly the same thing, over again, with a couple more enemies.
There really isn't anything interesting to talk about. As a co-op game it's fairly entertaining, but that has nothing to do with the game itself. Any co-op game is fun to play if you're playing with friends. Sure, it looks decent enough, and the overall gameplay itself isn't terrible. It's simply uninspired and, frankly, extremely repetitive. The levels are nothing more than a series of linear paths leading from one zombie horde to another. With the hordes coming in staggered waves of, supposedly, increasing difficulty. But in truth, unless you're playing alone and/or are a complete idiot, they turn into a monotonous grind rather than a challenge.
The gameplay itself is functional, but has a lot of redundant features, like laying prone, that are not only unused, but wholly counter intuitive. Why on Earth would you lay down on the street whilst a horde of fleshing eating Nazis are rushing up to munch you in the face? The long and the short of it folks, is that there is simply nothing of note. The fact that it is so relatively cheap is the only thing that has it scraping through at being barely mediocre.
Gallery
Posted 15-11-2013, 04:06
We heard you liked zombies so we put more zombies in your zombies!
ps: Note from the developers: HELP US ZOMBIES ARE IN OUR DEVELOPMENT STUDIO EATING OUR BRAAAAAAAINZZZZ....
Posted 14-11-2013, 20:16
It's just meh
Posted 12-11-2013, 19:28
Sniper Elite 2 had some fresh moments, seems like Zombie Army 2 is as fresh as the rotting in-game zombies.