Zombie stomping is a very popular game type in video games whether it has you trying to survive the Zombie apocalypse or trying to prevent one. They can be very tense affairs or they can go full on arcade, but the one game I had not expected to feature the recently raised from the dead and searching for human flesh to eat was the Sniper Elite series and their spin off Zombie Army 4: Dead War ticks a whole lot of boxes and is a surprising brilliant game to play.

I love the Sniper Elite series with the meticulous planning of assassinations and covert missions set during World War 2, taking my time to make sure my long-range sniper shot was masked by the sound of an overhead plane or land vehicle going past. I would take my time to make sure I remained undetected throughout the mission, even starting all over again if I had messed up, it is a series that rewards my patience with attention to detail skills.

Zombie Army 4: Dead War is certainly none of the above and is set in a very different kind of game world where stealth really is not an option and being loud and in your face is just as satisfying for me. To set the scene for this series which is a spin off from the Sniper Elite series, the year is 1946 and following the allied forces having defeated Hitler and his Nazis, in a last gasp move Hitler casts a demonic spell which results in the raising of the dead of both armies giving him an undead horde to spread out across the world in his need for world domination. In the last game, a team of heroes managed to send Hitler into a hell dimension hoping that this would break the Zombie raising spell but instead, it only left the zombies leaderless and even more dangerous as they continue to spread across Europe. Now the new war is against the undead and it is up to you to beat the Zombies back.

I absolutely adored this game which is surprising considering it is the total opposite of what I love about the Sniper Elite series. This is arcade Zombie smashing at its best for me and boy does it deliver at throwing huge numbers of Zombies at you in a World War Z kind of way. Everything about this game is about trying to slice your way through a constant supply of the undead and delivers it in a very gratifying package. It has a full story campaign with both solo and co-op modes with co-op being up to 4 players taking on missions with the action scaling depending on how many is in your team, so if you have 2 or more you will end up facing more Zombies than if you were to play it solo but then even playing on your own the game still throws an abundance of the undead at you to keep the action thick and fast.

The arcade style gameplay is really the selling point for the game for me, taking the fun aspect from Sniper Elite such as the fantastic X-ray kill shot animations which believe me, getting a cracking x-ray animation from getting a headshot on a Zombie, a heart shot of the infamous testicle kill shot x-ray is even funnier when it is a Zombie Nazi than a regular Nazi soldier. Despite the setting of WW2 and the weapons of the era being the default weapons you can select, this alternate version of reality allows them to be upgraded in particularly fantastic fashion with the upgrade kits you pick up along the way and using the workbenches in Safe Houses to take a moment to upgrade them to have more damage, larger magazines or to even add an element effect to one bullet in a fresh clip such as exploding rounds. Out in the mission and players will discover weapon mods in supply crates which despite having a limited use, can help handle groups of Zombies such as the electric mod which adds shock damage to your rounds.

The magic of the action really comes from the bloodthirsty level of violence from fighting huge numbers of zombies, firing off your shotgun to take out an oncoming horde of Zombies is exhilarating then that moment when you have let the zombies get too close and you have to reload whilst avoiding them or worse yet, getting caught up in the action so much to fail to notice your ammo level and suddenly get the “no ammo” alert and quickly try to switch to another weapon. Thankfully, this is a world where ammo is readily available either in the ammo resupply crates that are strategically placed just before or after a big fight area as well as the undead dropping ammo when they are destroyed, some have to be stomped on in order to release what they are carrying so try to picture the classic image of people squashing grapes with their feet in order to make wine just with more blood and guts from the stomping of zombie corpses.

The action can get really frantic as well especially if the mission has objectives such as repairing and firing up generators to provide electrical power and having to hold your ground to protect the generator until complete. Zombie types range from the default standard fallen Nazi Soldier to suicide vest Zombies to types that can spit toxic acid at you. Now if you thought that was bad enough you will also begin to encounter far more deadly ones such as the flame thrower and mini-gun tank class zombies who are formidable indeed. The game ramps up the challenge the further through the campaign you progress and I do advise, because it will happen, if you do fall to just keep an eye on the game over screen as your corpse joins the Zombie horde, which if you are playing in co-op will give your teammates the cheeky opportunity of killing your new Zombie self for a cheeky achievement/trophy.

The story campaign is great entertainment and even more so if played with friends in the online co-op which also has matchmaking for those who just want to jump in with random folk online. There is a reward for exploring every inch of the area the missions are set in with collectables lying around which will unlock new things to use such as cosmetics like clothing. Each mission has a score target as well which will also unlock new items as you level your character up, as you do more slots will open up for upgrades and character perks in so doing giving the campaign a nice replay factor as you continue you increase your character level to become even more of a threat to the recently saved from being dead masses.

The Horde mode is exactly what you expect it to be as you team up with friends to take on waves of the reactivated dead folks but the brilliance comes from the gameplay which just makes all the blood splattering violence come to life even more as you fight wave after wave of the “refusing to stay dead” dead folk slowly targeting you in large numbers. The gunplay has been so refined for this instalment that everything just feels super polished, making those right in the thick of it moments and times when fallen teammates need saving very memorable. Everything just works as you would expect and hope it would and the result is an incredibly rich and fun shooter that offers something to series veterans as it does for newcomers like me.

Going into Zombie Army 4: Dead War having not played the series before; I was unsure what to expect. To say that I was more than pleasantly surprised by it would be an understatement. As a solo experience no campaign mission was dull and when joined by friends it just enriched the experience even more. The horde mode does exactly what it says on the tin and offers a tremendous experience for a solid team of friends to take on all the waves. Visually this game runs and looks amazing on the Xbox One X and the gory mess you can leave the Nazi Zombies in never fails to get stale and the sound of the gunplay is visceral and gratifying.

If you are a fan of the series you will be pleased to see all the refinements that have been introduced for this instalment whilst those new to the series will hit the ground running. It might be a tried and tested genre of games but Zombie Army 4: Dead War manages to keep things both satisfying and fresh to make this a must play title for 2020.

From the moment this game was first announced at E3 2019 it immediately grabbed my attention. I love space faring video games, especially those that allow me to be the hero saving the universe or just to explore strange new worlds in games like No Man’s Sky and Astroneer. But Journey to the Savage Planet managed to do something very different with that genre of gaming, and it does so in a funny and brilliant way that feels fresh making it a cracking way to kick off the new gaming year.

We all know the standard space exploration game is often to go searching for new worlds and alien life just for the sake of exploration and the betterment of Mankind, taking the role of a hero and best example of humanity sent to the stars by benevolent organisations whose only goal is discovery and enhancing the human spirit. Sounds all rather NASA and Star Trek doesn’t it, but this is where Typhoon Studios with 505 Games has managed to do something rather splendid and refreshing with this gaming trope because instead of the cookie cut space hero to star in their game, in Journey to the Savage Planet, you are more of a hapless standard person just trying to make some money by working for the 4^th best Space Exploration company there is in Kindred Aerospace.

The strength of this game really does come in the form of flipping the conventional space exploration game tropes 180 degrees and makes it something far more realistic, that of just being someone sent on a job because they have debts to pay and the mission was sold as a get rich quick by just going to a new planet and having a bit of a walk about scanning stuff. But the moment you land, well crash land on the unexplored world known as AR-Y26, you get the sense that this is not the simple job you were promised. Your ship is a mess, a video message from Martin Tweed, CEO of Kindred Aerospace, automatically plays to celebrate your *smooth landing* reminding you of all the opportunities to go out and make discoveries that will make Kindred Aerospace a whole bunch of money as motivation for you the player and that oh by the way….you used up all your fuel reaching AR-Y26 and that if you want to get home, you better find some fuel!

From that very moment and I am talking literally the first ten mins of the game, you just know this is going to be a very different kind of game. I love that Kindred Aerospace is the 4^th best, meaning that you literally land with no way of getting home because the company saved money by not making it a round trip for you, probably due to the realistic expectation that you, as with hundreds of other employees blasted off into space, would not make it back at all. Not only that but you have been given no equipment other than your suit, a 3D printer and some cartographer bots along with the ship’s AI EKO for company. This means you have two main objectives really, do the job you have been sent on in order to make the money you want and need and also, find the fuel so you can actually get home again.

Visually this game has a vibrant art style with a planet made up of different environments to explore and traverse witch constant reasons to fire up the Photo Mode to both take screenshots and to just take in the sights of the world around you and it pushes the player to constant go exploring, looking in every corner and every platform to see what else the area you are in has to offer you. I love how the aesthetics constantly remind you of just how wondrous this new planet is but also just how 4^th rate Kindred Aerospace really is. Returning to your ship or habitat after some exploring will often have a new video message from Martin Tweed or a TV advert for a Kindred product with a full on 80s cheesy presentation which is just funny and brilliant. I do not want to spoil what the ads are for but believe me when I say that the developer team had great fun in making these in game videos.

The humour continues in the wildlife you encounter in the world as well, often drawn for comedic value such as the puffer birds that are everywhere you go, just beachball size creatures with beaks that are harmless enough unless you do something to annoy them which is going to happen because the gameplay encourages you to pretty much, go give them a smack. Unlike other games of this nature, you are actively motivated to interact with the wildlife on this planet and not in an altogether friendly manner. All wildlife is made up of the very resources you are going to need to not only build the equipment you are lacking at the very start but also for the many upgrades you will require as you progress through the main missions. What probably makes it worse is the fact there is real satisfaction via the animation and sound of toe punting a puffer bird off into the distance, and as mean as that sounds, I challenge you not to do it a few times and giggle out loud.

In terms of things to do, this game will throw a massive number of objectives to complete, some are necessary to complete the main story whilst some are side objectives for the area in which you are in. As a solo experience there is always something for you to do including extra tasks which are completely optional such as the science experiments Kindred Aerospace ask you to do such a scanning objects to catalogue them or taking samples from various forms of wildlife. Completing Science experiments will unlock more items in the 3D Printer such as upgrades to your jump pack and number of items you can carry. The gameplay really does cater for those who are the completionist nature and want to do everything they can in the game by finding every collectable and unlocking everything as well as catering for those who might just be happy to play through the story missions and be done. I really appreciated how the humour of the game constantly tries to motivate you into doing all you can as EKO constantly tells you of the bonus you could get by achieving everything you can do before even thinking about heading home once you have found enough fuel to do that of course.

The main missions involve the discovery of ancient ruins which Kindred Aerospace had previously no knowledge about so you are instructed to go investigate them leading to the discovery of a planetary teleport network which you can rather handily use as a fast travel system to nip about the different areas in the game. Most of the gameplay revolves around going to a new area and learning that you need a specific new bit of equipment in order to continue forward which leads the player to having to go find a certain alloy or element in order to build that bit of kit. Once you have the kit you will then be able to explore previous areas further as even the very early areas will have sections blocked by equipment needs. However, this never feels like a chore to do even in the later sections of the story as it always enables you to do more of the fun things in the game such as puzzle solving and exploring. What surprised me the most is just how chilled this game is to play, it really is just relaxing to be in the world just running around either looking for collectables such as the lovely orange gloop orbs that if eaten will enhance your health and stamina levels to alien tablets with strange broadcasts that EKO can translate for you.

How you decide to tackle the game is completely up to you as you can leave the planet as soon as you have found enough fuel to launch, even if you have not completed the main mission or side objectives, which of course will determine how happy with your performance Kindred Aerospace will be. This game can be played fully solo but you can also bring a friend along for some co-op shenanigans which can also be hugely fun which is really what Journey to the Savage Planet is about, having fun be it playing with a friend to the humour of the game or just exploring the world and investigating its secrets. There is a lot in this game that fills the ten hours that my full run in the game took and that still left a lot of space for completing all the science experiments and finding all the collectables outside completing all the main story and side missions before launching to return home.

Journey to the Savage Planet was a cracking way to kick off 2020, and for the asking price of just £24.99, it certainly will not break the bank so soon after Christmas and the new year. I smiled throughout my first run with the game and immediately fired it up again to attempt a full 100% playthrough. You can really feel the attention to detail that was put into this first title from Typhoon Studios from the writing of the story to the comedy moments and all the way down to the names of the Achievements.

I honestly cannot remember the last time I had a full bug free experience with a game that left me just wanting to start it all over again but this time I will be sharing the experience with a friend to double the fun….and the chaos!