World War Z - Reloaded
It also happened with World War Z, the literary creature of the writer Max Brooks, first inspiring a film with Brad Pitt, and then a cooperative video game that since the announcement smelled of Left 4 Dead from every pore. For this reason it is right to take a time jump to April 14, 2019, which saw the publication of our review of World War Z, released on PC, Xbox and PlayStation 4. The world is in turmoil, devastated by yet another pathogen that leads men to become violent, forcing them to inhuman and brutal gestures. As the slaughter unfolds, the centers of the world economy collapse, the cultural metropolises are immersed in a bloodbath and the open-air areas are covered with rotting corpses, ready to wake up to feast on our guts.
The flaming launch trailer that showed us the main game mechanics at the time.
Watch on YouTube. What separates us from a slow and painful death is the barrel of a gun ready to do the dirty work, protecting us from an angry neighbor trying to nibble us and a hot dog vendor who would be happy to use part of our small intestine as a condiment. The launch of World War Z was moderately received by industry critics, but more positively by gamers. In the first week, the increase in sales figures exceeded the expectations of Saber Interactive, which sold one million copies in its pocket. Numbers that, given the cooperative nature of the work, sound like a resounding victory, especially because in conjunction with its publication in the next few days, another zombie video game would be released that answered the name of Days Gone.
World War Z has collected the difficult legacy that the popular Left 4 Dead has left behind, placing itself as a shooter with well-defined mechanics, embellished with a survival system that winks persuasively at The Last of Us. To have hit the players, however, are the brutal hordes that the player must know how to manage while exploring the levels, different for setting but unfortunately similar to each other in the activities to be carried out. The game has been criticized due to some bugs encountered by the players, a dancing framerate even on PC and a superficial optimization on consoles, evident criticalities that have made the most fans turn up their noses. In addition, the maps, only twelve, were too limited to fully enjoy the experience, with uninspiring longevity.
The 'Undead Sea' DLC takes us to a frightening abandoned ship, but perhaps not too abandoned .. .
Watch on YouTube. The patches that followed shortly after launch focused more on stability than content, the true Achilles heel of the production. Season 1 added a new mission to Tokyo and new zombies, as well as extreme difficulty and innovative weapons to survive this hellish apocalypse. Proving Grounds, one of the biggest updates, has added challenge modes with three active modifiers that change every week in private lobbies to enjoy with our friends. In addition, a new in-game currency, Challenge Coins, was added shortly afterwards, allowing you to unlock cosmetic items, new skins and decals.
However, it was with Season two, launched on October 30, 2019, that more news arrived on the playful side, which remained muted due to the corrective patches that solved some headaches such as the framerate and some bugs. Nothing too serious: Saber Interactive has taken care of the stability of its title update after update, going to clean up the uncertainties of the graphic engine, a Swarm Engine that has performed well especially after the launch of season two.
I Season 2 supplements, in addition to adding crossplay between PC and Xbox One, have brought new missions to the maps of New York and Moscow, two of the most popular locations for players. Not only that, the Horde mode, previously launched in Season 1, has been treated properly with new difficulty levels, different perks for the weapons and the introduction of Virus Champions for the main campaign, a solution for all those who love the film adaptation and want to try their hand at an adventure different from the usual orb barrel in co-op. Collecting virus samples allows players to collect more rewards once the main campaign missions are completed, which can be played in both co-op and single-player.
With the launch of the GOTY Edition, World War Z has received one of the most popular DLC by fans. It's impossible not to shout 'Vive la France'.
Watch on YouTube. The Undead Sea DLC, launched on June 3, 2019, takes us on a cruise ship to battle zombies and a new enemy, called "The Infecter", off Tokyo, the new game map added in Season 1. They don't improve only the lobbies but bug fixes and some performance changes are made for all platforms the game is available on, as well as changes in the immense arsenal at our disposal.
With the launch of the GOTY Edition , released on May 5, 2020, Saber Interactive has increased the experience with the episode dedicated to Marseille, the well-known French coastal town located on the Côte d'Azur, once a crossroads of cultural and commercial exchanges but now the scene of a horrible but unsuitable slaughter to minors.
Three new missions have been added in this single DLC, a skin pack with new characters called "The Professionals" and clothes reminiscent of those worn by the Résistance de Paris duran you the Nazi occupation in World War II. In short, an additional content that screams "Vive la France" from every pore, with valuable additions also on the paraphernalia, such as weapons equipped with silencers to be used against the undead in the very rare stealth phases.
The support post launch is to be evaluated sufficiently considering the initial premises and the good ideas of the team, which still today takes care of the title with updates aimed at stabilizing it, making it pleasant to play. However, beautiful maps and extra missions were not enough to give it a jolt capable of revitalizing it, much less a single DLC that can be obtained separately by purchasing the Season Pass, unless you invest in the GOTY Edition.
Season 2 brought more content. One of the most popular is Horde Mode, in which four players team up to take down as many zombies as possible and, bites permitting, to survive.
Watch on YouTube. As we said at the time of its release, the title has sold a million copies on PC, placing as many on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One. It was above all thanks to the discounts that arrived after the first seven days in the main main stores, thus increasing sales and managing to reach the digital boards of many players. A month after its launch, the game has totaled two million net copies sold: to celebrate this result, the team has released a very evocative dedicated trailer.
Even today, World War Z is played on PC, on Xbox thanks to GamePass and on PlayStation, albeit to a lesser extent considered the excellent alternatives of the competition. Judging by the unenthusiastic reviews on the digital store of the Japanese flagship but definitely more positive in that of the Redmond giant, console players appreciate the zombie carnage on Xbox especially thanks to Microsoft's subscription service.
In general , the user prefers to play it on a performing machine that can make the best of Saber's Swarm Engine: the PC is therefore the most logical choice, although there is no reliable data on an actual community around the title, despite the crossplay between PS4 and Xbox One is excellent news to abandon ourselves to the most risky hypotheses on the actual existence of a more solid community. Take this our wish with a grain of salt: in our view the bulk of the community is clearly on PC and Xbox.
The 'Dronemaster' update allows us to take control of a drone, which can support our team and save our necks on several occasions.
Watch on YouTube. As for the comparison between Old-Gen and Next Gen we carried out a test on Series S in backward compatibility with Xbox One and we found a very good graphic comparison, as well as a satisfactory technical stability that brings the title to a fixed 60fps, despite the usual bugs scattered. for game maps. The result is still valuable, in line with the expectations we have made of the game, although the best way to fully enjoy it is on PC, where it lends itself to the best of its possibilities.
From what we have been able to perceive , the community sentiment is that PC is the best platform to try World War Z on because it offers better performance, representing the most classic of the vast choices available to us. On Xbox the title runs very well while on PlayStation 4 Slim we have found some drop in framerate. The Pro version reaches 30fps, with a better defined graphic impact. To excel is then the management of the swarms of zombies, which we found really well defined in backward compatibility. Sure, World War Z isn't optimized for next-gen consoles yet, but it still remains valuable when compared to previous generation machines, where the title even dropped below 25fps.
The update dedicated to the craziest difficulty within the title is the 'Six Skulls', where we can select an extreme challenge not suitable for the faint of heart.
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Currently the gaming experience is quite fun and satisfying, despite the lack of real relevant content such as a more full-bodied DLC park and additional supplements to revitalize it. Considering today's standards, it is an actual criticality that we feel we can underline because it represents a real missed opportunity, one of those cases that if it had been treated better from a content point of view, it would have excelled with some of the most iconic co-op titles. of the videogame landscape.
As it is we consider it a pleasant title, to play with a few friends so as not to get bored and laugh at your results and at the zombies killed, not to start alone because it could be boring and monotonous . And if you were looking for better co-op titles, thank goodness there is no shortage of them: think of Sea of Thieves, Call of Duty Warzone, State of Decay (zombie themed) or the Left 4 Dead itself.
Considered the current value, World War Z could be purchased during the period of great discounts in the digital stores of each platform or played directly on GamePass, giving the opportunity to those who are undecided to try it before putting their hand in the wallet.
