In a slightly altered version of history, Hitler, almost at the point of defeat in the second World War, unleashes his deadliest weapon: Hordes of undead soldiers. That's the starting point for Rebellion's new co-operative shooter. Fans of Rebellion's Sniper Elite series will find a lot of the engine very familiar and may well have even played earlier versions of the first two segments of the game, which was availalble as a downloadable expansion.
The game has been fully remastered and has had all manner of extras crammed in to feed your zombie slaying habit. There are now 8 playable characters that you can choose to take through the campaign mode in co-operation with up to three of your friends, or you can choose to go lone wolf. Although it's worth pointing out that your finely honed sneaking skills gained from Sniper Elite are worth exactly squat against the horde.
Speaking of hordes, this release of the game introduces a new Horde mode. This is for those players who have reached the endgame and really want to test their skills. In this mode, wave after wave of the undead attack whichever of the strongholds you choose to defend and it's up to you to prevent it being overrun. Like all of the best Zombie movies, you can never actually win in this mode, instead it's all about who can survive the longest.
The array of weaponary on display is truly impressive. You can take your pick out of a vast variety of WWII era firearms allowing you a primary, secondary and tertiary choice. As well as the standard choices, there are also special weapons hidden within the game environment that can be picked up during gameplay, such as The Preacher, a devastating close range shotgun that can decimate the ranks of the enemy when you're in a tight spot.
Traps are an important element of the game as you can set them up all around your base ahead of the attack to allow you to strengthen your defenses. Based on the play I've seen so far, you'll be hard pushed to make it past wave 3. No-one managed that on our play test.
For those who are not familiar with the Sniper Elite series then the Bullet Cam will be a wonderful new discovery as you get an X-Ray view of exactly what damage your shots are doing to your intended target. Since we are dealing with zombies, there are a few game mechanics which allow for you to sever limbs from your target and still have them crawl along the floor trying to bite off your ankles until you make that all important headshot.
In conclusion, much as it's fun blowing away the undead horde, I do hope that there is a little bit more to the game in terms of storyline and puzzle solving in the full version as I could easily see it becoming a bit too repetitive.
Zombie Army Trilogy is due for release on PC, Xbox One and PS4 on the 6th March 2015