A few years back, Rockstar Games released a fascinating horror-themed add-on for Red Dead Redemption called 'Undead Nightmare.' Many gamers have been zombie-out for years, but we still enjoyed 'Undead Nightmare' for adding dark fantasy to an otherwise realistic Western setting.
UK developer Rebellion clearly took inspiration from 'Undead Nightmare' when spinning off its own Sniper Elite series into the smaller-scale Nazi Zombie Army games for Steam. Yesterday we announced that Rebellion is finally bringing those zombie sniping games to Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Steam in early 2015 as "Zombie Army Trilogy." Now we're back with a detailed look at everything we know about the game so far.
Whether or not zombies are your targets of choice, we have an upcoming Sniper Elite III contest in the works that you won't want to miss!
Historical horror
The main Sniper Elite series takes place during World War II. Its gameplay emphasizes stealth as you seek advantageous sniping points and try to stay out of the way of overwhelming Nazi forces. The stories might involve mildly fanciful Nazi technology or even killing Hitler, but they are generally grounded in reality. The game revolves around highly realistic sniping, after all.
The Zombie Army spin-off games abandon those pretenses of realism in favor of a nightmarish zombie apocalypse. Sniper Elite protagonist Karl Fairburne finds himself trapped in a Germany overrun with undead Nazis. Karl and the remaining survivors must put aside their differences and work together to escape with their lives and stop the zombie menace.
Sniper Elite III supports 2-player online co-op, as did its predecessor. But the Zombie Army games take things further by doubling up for 4-player online co-op. Zombie Army Trilogy offers eight characters to choose from, including four females. Whatever your team makeup, you'll have to watch each other's backs and protect your snipers from zombies who get too close.
The series' traditional slow-motion sniping kills return in Zombie Army. Only now they're even grosser, since you'll be shooting undead enemies instead of the living kind. Of course, the sniping kill cam can be turned off if you're squeamish.
Three times the zombies
Zombie Army Trilogy collects the two previously released PC games (which you can think of as episodes) and adds a brand-new third episode that will conclude the World War II-era tale of horror. All three episodes will run at 1080p.
New to the Trilogy is a Horde mode with five maps to defend. Players can team up and test their ability to defend themselves and survive against never-ending waves of zombies, demons, and other monstrosities. As a big fan of the Horde modes in Gears of War, I welcome the zombie sniping equivalent here.
The first two Nazi Zombie Army games on PC sell for $15 each. Considering that the new Trilogy will contain both of those episodes and a new one, it will be interesting to learn how much this collection will cost on consoles. Steam users who own the existing episodes can upgrade for a discount.
I could see them charging $60 for the Xbox One game, but a lower price wouldn't hurt. Sniper Elite publisher 505 Games is not currently associated with this spin-off, which could explain Rebellion's decision to drop Sniper Elite from the title.
Zombie Army Trilogy is due out on Xbox One, Playstation 4, and Steam in early 2015. Stay tuned for more details!
Update
We have confirmed with Rebellion that they will be self-publishing Zombie Army Trilogy on consoles. The console versions will be released at retail and digital. Rebellion couldn't confirm a price yet, but will announce it in the near future.
Sniper Elite III Twitch contest coming soon
Maybe zombies aren't your thing, and you'd rather pretend kill plain old Nazis. Sniper Elite III, which I named as one of my top Xbox One games of 2014, lets you do just that.
As our regular readers know, we stream a different Xbox One game at Twitch.tv/Eastxtwitch every Saturday evening and give out free copies of the featured game. So far, all of our weekend streaming games have been downloadable titles, stuff that tends to sell for $30 or less.
That will soon change, because we're teaming up with 505 Games to stream Sniper Elite III (a full retail game) and give out free codes for it as prizes! You'll be able to tune in, watch me sneak around sniping at targets, chat with our excellent Twitch crowd, and possibly win your own copy of Sniper Elite III.
We'll be streaming Sniper Elite III on Saturday, January 17. The stream takes place at 8pm Central/6pm Pacific and lasts for two hours. Don't miss it!
