World War Z was surprising in a number of ways. It was good, when I’d lazily written it off (not here or in any public forum, but privately to my cat). It was hugely popular for a time, too. It did well enough for Saber Interactive to keep at it, adding new cities and creating a GOTY edition. And now they’re updating it all again. World War Z: Aftermath is both an expansion to the original game, or a standalone that includes every update so far. It also has two new cities, survivors, a first-person mode, and lots of melee attacks.
]]>This E3 had a lot more zombies than I was expecting, but you know what? I'm always down for more co-op zombie shooter shenanigans. World War Z developers Saber Interactive have announced a new version of the game, World War Z: Aftermath, which will arrive later this year. It will add new zombs, a new melee system, first-person mode, cross-platform multiplayer, and a bunch more. Aftermath will cost $40 for the whole thing, or $20 if you already own WWZ.
]]>Zombies, demons and... music? This week's free rotation on the Epic Games Store is an odd mix-up, that's for sure. You know the drill by now - from today until next Thursday, World War Z, Tormentor X Punisher and Figment are free to keep forever over on Epic. Once Thursday rolls by, it's back to full price they go, replaced in kind by Gone Home and Hob.
]]>World War Z doesn't have an original bone in its body, but I think that's okay, because it's a shameless Left 4 Dead tribute in a world that's been waiting for a sequel for a decade now. As with its primary inspiration, Saber Interactive have some big free updates planned for the game, including new missions, difficulty levels, game modes and features. I admit that I'm a little surprised at how successful the game has been, considering how little interest people seemed to have in the lead-up to launch, but it's good to see the studio committing to a protracted zombie siege.
]]>What if Left 4 Dead had a third-person camera, was slightly less fantastical, had less charm and character, and was based on a license years past cultural relevance? It might look a bit like World War Z, a cooperative zomboshooter launched this morning based on the 2013 Brad Pitt movie (not the original 2006 book). That's a bit of a damning summation from me but hey, hanging out with your pals on Discord shooting zombies can almost always be a lark.
]]>You don't need a zombie plague to turn me into a shambling, groaning husk, just remind me that Left 4 Dead 2 came out nearly a decade ago and I've been waiting forever for a sequel. World War Z, Saber Interactive's game of the film of the barely-related book looks like the next best thing, and it's due out next Tuesday, April 16th. It looks a whole lot like Turtle Rock and Valve's classic zombie-masher, with class-based progression and preposterously enormous swarms of undead that can scale walls by creating heaving zombie-piles. Lovely. See the oddly upbeat trailer below.
]]>Just when we thought it was safe, the tide of zombie games returns with renewed ferocity. At least with World War Z, now confirmed for an April 16th launch with a lower-than-average price, looks like Saber Interactive are doing something a bit different. Loosely tied to the Brad Pitt movie and even more loosely to Max Brooks's original book, it's a class-based, mostly co-op shooter. Four players square up against literal tides of hyperactive undead - the kind that form (in)human ladders to climb buildings that players would normally think themselves safe in. Below, a release date trailer.
]]>No, I refuse to do it. I will not use the term 'PvPvZ' to describe World War Z's competitive modes. If we're going to give it a silly name, let's just call this bundle of four-on-four variants 'Team Undeathmatch' instead. Still, nice to see that Saber Interactive's upcoming co-op zombiefest is doing something beyond of its Left 4 Dead-ish inspirations. There's five modes in total covering all the team shooter standards, including king of the hill and team deatchmatch. Take a peek at how the zombies will probably mess up all best laid plans in the trailer below.
]]>My expectations for games based on movies are never high, so I'm surprised and delighted that World War Z actually looks quite fun in gameplay footage swarming out of E3. The four-player cooperative shooter looks a whole lot like a less-cheery version of Left 4 Dead, with a touch of defence-building and oh, swarms of up to 500 zombies who will form inhuman pyramids to reach you and eat your face. It's based on the movie, so yes, they are fast zombies, but those rolling waves of zombs were pretty neat-o. Anyway, click on to watch.
]]>The film World War Z is supposed to have a sequel coming. I'm not sure how or why, considering that the first title had one of the more troubled production histories in the last decade of cinema. Brad Pitt and director David Fincher pop up every few months to remind us that it is still happening, probably, sometime. That's fine by me. But what's much finer by me is the way that the new World War Z video game is shaping up. Between a teaser trailer and a bunch of pre-prod art, this had all the looks of a project that might never see the light of day. Well, today we have a gameplay trailer that seems to really get both the action and the themes of the story, and that's much more than I'd been hoping for.
]]>Books! They're like films without pictures, or games that are all cutscene. Old people and hipsters really like them, teenagers think they're like totally lame, and quite frankly we should all read more of them. There are countless games inspired by books - most especially Tolkien, Lovecraft and early Dungeons & Dragon fiction - but surprisingly few games based directly on books. Even fewer good ones.
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