Rebellion’s Zombie Army started its life as mere expansions for the normal Sniper Elite titles and Rebellion released Zombie Army 1 and Zombie Army 2 as expansions. However, later the developer bundled both of them together, added a concluding third episode in the game and released it as Zombie Army Trilogy back in 2015. Fast forward to today and we now have this brilliant trilogy releasing on Nintendo Switch which brings the complete Zombie Army experience on Nintendo’s flagship console. This is our review of Zombie Army Trilogy for Nintendo Switch in which we explode some Nazi zombies’ heads and get mauled by chainsaw-wielding zombies at the same time.
Zombie Army games were originally released as simple expansions for the normal Sniper Elite titles on which these spin-offs are based on. The story begins as Hitler is facing a defeat however at the very last moment, he unleashes his Plan Z which involves bringing back the dead and use them as his army. This turns the tide of the battle around and he again gains the upper hand against the defending forces. This is where you step in and you must come face to face with the undead army and take down Hitler once and for all. You have the option to choose from eight unique players and select your own loadout before heading into each campaign mission.
Essentially you can call Zombie Army Trilogy a single game because all three campaigns are incorporated in the game in such a way that it does not feel like three different games. Each game is called an episode in the game and it further contains each chapter from that particular game that you can play. There are 15 missions in the game including all three campaigns from the game and you can play them as a campaign since the final episode is essentially the conclusion of the trilogy. Combined together, all three campaigns will last you around 20 hours of zombie slaying action depending on how quickly you can complete the levels.
The fun does not stop after you are done with the campaign missions. You can jump in the Horde mode which pits you against waves and waves of Hitler’s relentless undead army and you must try to survive as much as you can. The Horde mode brings hours and hours of additional gameplay as you jump in different maps from the original campaigns and try to survive the undead army solo or with your friends online. The campaign builds up slowly and introduces much of the tougher enemies gradually, however, depending on the map you pick in Horde mode, you will face the complete brunt of Hitler’s undead army right from the start. The maps are huge and you have plenty of space to play around with different tactics.
Combat and gameplay are where Zombie Army Trilogy shines the most. You will have a primary weapon which is always a Sniper Rifle and you can equip a secondary weapon which could be a rifle or a shotgun. Each comes with their own strengths and weaknesses. You also have a sidearm pistol that can be used as a backup weapon. You also have plenty of explosives including Trip Wires, dynamite sticks, grenades, and land mines. You can use these explosives in areas where you have to defend yourself by laying down traps and strategically killing zombies without shooting a gun at them. You also have the signature critical hit cam here as well as you will get see every critical hit in its traditional X-ray vision and slow motion. I will recommend that you keep the aiming speed a little higher so that it is easier to headshot zombies as they move quickly because, on normal speed, I was always lacking behind.
Another great aspect of Zombie Army Trilogy on Nintendo Switch is that you can play with up to three friends as well. If you don’t have anyone to play with locally, you can also take the action online and join a game with random strangers for some hardcore zombie-slaying action. It supports all Switch modes as well which include TV mode, handheld mode, and tabletop mode. However, I did notice on my Nintendo Switch Lite that the game drained the battery much quickly as compared to other games. On the normal Switch, I found it to be just fine. If you have a Switch Lite, you will need to juice up your console much quickly as compared to the normal Switch.
The game, however, runs flawlessly in all different modes. There is not a single frame drop in any sequence no matter how many zombies I had on screen and when I say how many zombies, Zombie Army Trilogy really throws hordes and hordes of zombies at you. It would be unfair to compare Zombie Army Trilogy with the recently released Zombie Army 4: Dead War However Zombie Army Trilogy still brings the same level of horror, challenge and sniping action to Nintendo Switch. It is a great shooter on Nintendo Switch and introduced a genre which is not yet very common on the console.
A few annoying things for me, however, were simply some dated mechanics. None of them were related to the port or its performance. The grenade throwing mechanic was particularly annoying for me because every time you throw a grenade, your character would stop and a whole animation would play during which you take out the grenade, unlock its pin and then throw it at the enemies and then take out your gun before you can finally move again. This leaves you seriously vulnerable to some of the powerful enemies in the game such as Gunner. Bullets sometimes ignore the enemies and pass right through them. This was very rare for me but it mostly happened on heavy enemies in particular.
Final Verdict:
Rebellion’s previous title was one of the best one in the entire franchise however Zombie Army Trilogy is the best one in the franchise on Nintendo Switch. If you were unhappy about Zombie Army 4: Dead War not releasing on Nintendo Switch, you now have three entire zombie shooters to play on your Nintendo Switch and experience the same challenging and brutal zombie shooter franchise wherever you go. Zombie Army Trilogy brings all the content offered on other consoles to Nintendo Switch and plays exceptionally well. If you own a Nintendo Switch, you must play this game because even if you are not a fan of zombie games, it is still a solid shooter and one of the best ones on Nintendo Switch. However, I will recommend that you play using a controller. Sniping could be a little hard on Switch Lite or in handheld mode of the normal Switch.
Final Score: 9/10
