Review: World War Z (PlayStation 4)

by Jim Smale · April 23, 2019

Humanity is on the brink of extinction. From New York to Moscow and Jerusalem, the undead apocalypse continues to spread. As the end looms, a hardened few band together to defeat the horde and outlive the dead.

Pros:

Decent graphics.
37.76gb download size.
Platinum trophy.
Zombie shooter gameplay.
Five control layouts.
Two modes- campaign and multiplayer.
The co-op campaign is online or offline.
Five difficulties-easy, normal, hard, very hard and insane.
Four chapters-New York, Jerusalem, Moscow, and Tokyo.
Quickplay option.
Plays like Left 4 dead with improvements and additions.
Six playable classes-Gunslinger, Hellraiser, medic, fixer, slasher, and exterminator. Each class has unique load outs, own skill tree, and level.
Campaign-all locations and levels within them are available.
Gun customisation-earn exp with each gun and buy unlocks like scopes, power, etc.
3rd person view.
Multiplayer-quick match, swarm, domination, King of the Hill, swarm deathmatch, scavenge raid and vaccine hunt.
Party invites system.
End of level scorecard showing who did what and how many.
Each location has four characters to choose from.
Impressive on-screen zombie count. We are talking what looks like 100s.
Solo play is you and 3 bots.
Has a ping system for loot and location.
Load out-primary, side, heavy and equipment.
Find guns and ammo in the game.
Breaching charge-hidden in levels and used to open bonus cargo crates.
Collection can look at all guns, locations, notes and origin trailer for each character.
The base defense set pieces. Collect and deploy defensive weapons. You have a set preparation time.
Seriously intense.
Keep Exp on failed attempts.
Multiplayer is 4v4 and has random zombie attacks.
When teammates die they come back as a zombie.
Story throughout.
Can replay levels.
Decent gun plays with each gun handling differently and overall having a tight responsive feel.
Swarm-happens a lot and fills the screen with zombies. It takes their behavior from the film, they fall from buildings and form pyramids in order to scale walls.
On-screen objective markers.
Stealth is a legit tactic. Using melee or silenced weapons will stop zombies attacking en mass.
Different zombie types like screamers that attract more zombies, lurkers that pin you and gas zombies who umm gas you.
Zombies are fast runners.
Tense atmosphere.

Cons:

You have to agree to data collection or you cannot play online.
In-app purchases.
Exp does not save when you get a disconnect.
Can’t pause even in solo offline.
Bots are not very good at all.
Lines are constantly getting repeated.
Doesn’t show what levels you have done.
The slowdown in places.
Have to be really precise for interactions to work.
Levels feel short.
No private game options.
Can’t earn gun exp in online multiplayer.
3rd person view can obstruct your view.
Afkers really ruin the game. More so due to how many group up points are in a level.
Upgrades are slow and early on you can only have sights or power, not both.
A handful of blue screen crashes.
Needs more levels.
Doesn’t have friendly fire but your pals will constantly shout out about it and it’s tied to a trophy.

8/10
Graphics - 8/10
8/10
Sound - 8/10
8/10
Accessibility - 8/10
7/10
Length - 7/10
9/10
Fun Factor - 9/10

8/10

Summary

World War Z is a game that apes Left 4 dead. I mean it kinda makes sense but man it was a surprise. I was expecting some action cover based shooter or something but this genre totally makes sense. I am so glad they kept the zombie behavior from the film, shooting down pyramids of zombies is not only fun but it looks incredible. The on-screen zombie count is next level. The shooting in the game feels good, it doesn’t have a wide selection of guns but it has enough to keep you going. Locations look good and all feel different, it needs more because the levels feel really short and small in scale. Aside from the straight up running and gunning you also get set pieces where you have time to set up defenses and deal with waves of zombies, again this is well done and breaks up the gameplay somewhat. Having individual origin films for each character is a really cool touch, shame its pot luck if you get the new character you need in order to get the origin story unlocked but that’s another story. I find myself once again saying though that a surprise hit of a game falls short in the content department. It’s a sad fact that this happens a lot and I just hope we get more levels and additions to help keep the player base. I had little desire to go back once I did all the locations and saw the story out. I can’t quite put my finger on it but it doesn’t pull you in as strongly as Left 4 dead, I mean it should but it doesn’t, well for me anyway. As it is I loved my time with world war z but once I did the story I never really went back apart for the odd game with friends.