Sniper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army

niper Elite: Nazi Zombie Army is the latest installment of the Sniper series. It’s labelled as an expansion, but is a standalone game and requires you to have no experience with the previous games to dive right in. Set at the end of World War II, the premise is that Hitler, in a final act of total desperation has unleashed a horde of zombies upon the world. One of the last remaining souls in Germany, you, aided by up to an additional 3 friends, must stop the shambling hordes of evil from world domination. It is developed by Rebellion and came out on 28th February at the princely sum of £9.99 or $15, with a discount if you’re purchasing a 4-pack.

This is the first time the Sniper series has ventured into co-op and it is a fairly seamless performance. You can choose from three different characters, the German officer, the scientist and the Russian soldier. Weaponry is varied, accurate and balanced. Ammo is well calculated – not so little that you can’t afford to have a little fun as you shoot but enough that you do need to take care and hunt out your precious resources. Enemies are well modelled and tactically varied – from the occult commanders, snipers with ridiculous jumping skills, suicide bombers, skeletons, fast moving runners or slow shambling zombies. The movement of the enemies is especially well done, and the action is fast paced, constant, smooth and highly entertaining. Bullet cam is smooth and well rendered as it was in the previous titles.

ifficulty is pretty brutal on the harder levels; definitely a challenge available for the experienced sniper and not a pushover even on the easiest setting.

There are more ballistics available in single player, due to the ability to slow time down but co-op is fun so it’s worth forsaking that if you have a few friends to play with. Work together to lay traps and mines and lure those hordes into your “Boom!” When the map is done you can compare scores and check out your friends on the leaderboard, thus proving your superiority and clinching your position as best-friend in any future zombie apocalypse.

With its ammo filled safe rooms, checkpoints and objective driven play the game reminds me more of Left For Dead 2 than CoD: Zombies, One major downside is there is no jump in jump out co-op. If you get disconnected you cannot rejoin the game with your friends and if you decide you want to invite someone half way through a map, tough. This really would have been the icing on the cake for me. Each map is a story-driven chapter, there is no survival mode, no endless swarms. Instead you have a story-driven set of objectives. I do think that a basic survival map would have increased the replayability and some players may be frustrated by the linear nature of the maps.

must confess that due to the name and premise, I’ve spent a fair amount of my time mocking this game pre-purchase. I was expecting it to be gimmicky and farcical, with entertainment provided by the guys I had lined up to play with rather than good gameplay so I am quite shocked (pleasantly so!) at the quality. This game is really well done for what it is and you’ll have tons of fun with like minded friends at a bargain price. Kudos to Rebellion for providing what I would consider to be the best addition to this game series.