Turtle Rock Studios return to the genre that made their name with Back 4 Blood, the spiritual successor to their 2008 hit zombie first-person shooter, Left 4 Dead.

For over a decade there’s been a massive gap where Left 4 Dead and Valve’s sequel Left 4 Dead 2 should be.

The simplicity of these cinematic zombie shooters served as the inspiration for the countless zombie action games that came afterward. We’ve been treated to some incredible zombie games since, like Dying Light, Dead Rising, and Days Gone, even Call of Duty got in on the action with their take on zombie Nazis.

None of these games had the simplicity of the ground-breaking drop-in-drop-out multiplayer gameplay of the Left 4 Dead games. The only game to come close in recent years is World War Z, especially the recent Aftermath reboot with its third-person mode.

The premise of Back 4 Blood is simple.

Players take on the role of one of the four characters in a team of survivors fighting their way through areas infested with zombies. The campaign is split into four acts each act having several parts. The parts are strung together as runs which can be used as starting points once unlocked on the first playthrough.

The campaign is meant to be played online with others but can also be played solo. Initially, that’s exactly what I did to experience the game myself. With subsequent online playthroughs via the quickplay option.

Quickplay gets you straight into any available online runs. This can spoil the campaign if you just jump in at a random point that you’ve not yet unlocked. However, the levels are designed in a manner that allows them to be played in any order.

There’s also a horde mode that confronts players with wave after wave of ridden (zombie).

The level design is pretty linear, the runs branching off from the hub area in a different direction. The game is about fighting zombies, though, not exploring an open world. I got disorientated a few times, but by and large, the areas are easy to navigate.

Some areas have triggers to unleash a sizable horde of zombies but having just come from World War Z: Aftermath, rather manageable. The environments are varied taking the player through familiar tropes of rail yards, misty swamps, and sewers, travelling from one safe house to the next.

The game has quite the arsenal, each character having their favourite loadout which can be swapped out. Each safehouse has a shop in which equipment can be purchased using coins collected in the levels.

The game’s zombies, the ridden (which seem to have worms infecting them) are of the running variety rather than George A. Romero’s shambling undead. There are a few special variants and bosses, the huge ogres, the club-handed tall boys, the gross explosive reekers to name a few. There’s enough variety to keep things interesting.

Back 4 Blood takes the gameplay of Left 4 Dead and up the ante with the addition of booster cards. Players can create decks of cards that include boosts and challenges for better rewards, for instance, more ammo or a speed run.

Each level adds a few cards to the deck with corruption cards, like birds that if disturbed call the horde, added to the challenge. During the recent beta, I wasn’t sure about this. I wanted the simplistic feel of Left 4 Dead. Playing the full release, I can see how this addition increases the replay value of the game, especially on the higher difficulties.

Additional cards as well as equipment and character customisation can be obtained via the base hub area. There’s also a range for practicing some zombie killing.

The PC version does not currently run in fullscreen, rather borderless fullscreen (i.e. a window that fills the screen). This caused issues with my G-Sync monitor as I don’t tend to have it set for windowed views. I’d say that the lack of fullscreen also has a performance hit. I hope that they sort this out soon.

The visuals are superb and aside from the above, the game has a very polished presentation. The story takes a backseat to the gunplay which is fine. The game runs at a swift pace on Xbox Series X and high-end gaming rigs which is also exactly what you need from a shooter like this.

I found Back 4 Blood to be very much the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead, to the point of it being nostalgic. The cards add something new, but I couldn’t help but wonder if the genre has moved on from this sort of zombie corridor shooter.

Whereas I enjoyed playing it, I’m not sure if the game has the legs to compete with the Call of Duty games and other more involved multiplayer shooters available now that weren’t about back in 2008.

If shooting zombies is your bag, you’ve come to the right place with Back 4 Blood. If you like shooting zombies with friends, even better.

Raw, no-nonsense zombie shooting match with an interesting card mechanic and unlimited replayability make Back 4 Blooda great solo/multiplayer zombie shooter.

The post Back 4 Blood (Xbox Series X / PC) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

The original release of World War Z, the belated tie-in to the movie starring Brad Pitt, itself loosely based on the book by Max Brooks, was pretty good.

It felt like the spiritual successor to Left 4 Dead. Not bad for a game based on a five-year-old movie.

Even though World War Z: Aftermath seems to be pitched as a sequel, it’s more of a remaster with some extra bits thrown in. Whilst I played the game on PlayStation 5, it was as a PlayStation 4 game running under backwards compatibility.

The formal next-gen patch is to be release at a later date.

The campaign consists of seven episodes each set in a different location. The original release consisted of New York, Jerusalem, Moscow and Toyko.

An additional location, Marseilles was added as DLC. This release contains all the previous maps plus Rome and the frozen Kamchatka level.

Each location has a few different maps for players to fight their way through.

The episodes are separate stories, with their own characters, and designed to be played in any order.

In fact, each of the 23 parts can be selected individually. It’s only the final episode, Kamchatka that continues the story from the Tokyo episode.

The re-issue increases the player classes to eight. The Gunslinger, Hellraiser, Slasher, Medic, Fixer, Exterminator, Drone master are joined by the new Vanguard class. This new class uses the new shield and can charge at zombies with it.

The Left 4 Dead vibe is ever-present.

But World War Z: Aftermath cranks everything up to 11.

Not even Sony’s Days Gone features as many zombies as this game. The undead horde pour into the various locations just as they do in the movie.

Thankfully, there are defensive items like electrified flooring and turrets that can be positioned to make things a bit easier on our survivors.

The zombie games that followed the Left 4 Dead games, like Dead Rising, Dead Island, and Dying Light, upped the ante when it came to weaponry.

Unfortunately, there’s no fancifully crazy customised electrified chainsaw combo weapons in World War Z: Aftermath, which takes a more serious and, um, grounded approach to the zombie apocalypse.

The combat is still high-octane stuff. The carnage is only limited by the number of bullets in your guns.

World War Z: Aftermath makes some other tweaks to the original’s gameplay. Most notably, the original game was exclusively played in a third-person view. Aftermath allows players to choose to play in a first first-person mode similar to other zombie games.

Personally, playing first-person wasn’t my cup of tea as it restricts the view too much, especially when surrounded by the zombie horde.

One of the problems I found with the initial release was the dearth of players and, unfortunately, it’s the same for this rerelease.

The game has cross-play, as well, with console and PC gamers all being able to play together co-operatively.

Whilst the campaign game is entertaining enough with the AI teammates, it’s not the same as playing with real people.

If you have up to three friends with the game you can play through the campaign in the private online session, but I found it very rare to find real players when set to public online.

Playing the horde mode is no fun with AI teammates and for the multiplayer matches, online players are essential.

Thankfully the levels are well designed and full of variety.

The story elements of each episode are entertaining enough for the game to function well as a single-player experience. If you want to play alone, the game can be set to be an offline single-player affair.

World War Z: Aftermathis polished and looks really nice on a PlayStation 5. The visuals are crisp and the combat very enjoyable.

The incredible number of zombies on the screen is an engineering marvel, serving to add an element of chaos and anxiety to the proceedings.

It’ll be interesting to see what the next-gen patch for the game, due next year, add to what is already a very fine, if (it would seem) unappreciated, game.

I enjoyed returning to the world of World War Z.

The extra levels and refined gameplay make this expansion/sequel well worth a look if you liked the first game or for some reason missed out the first time around.

The post World War Z: Aftermath PlayStation 5) Review appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

A game music orchestra from Finland, Game Music Collective, was hit by a zombie attack in their latest music video.

Game Music Collective, renowned for their great live concerts, has released a new music video. This time the theme is zombies and the theme music is from the hit game Call of Duty: Black Ops – Zombies. The brutal horror-themed music video is for adults only and definitely not for the faint of heart. At the end of the video, Lukas Stasevskij, the founder and cellist of the orchestra, ends his days in a rather unfortunate way.

“I have a somewhat Tarantino-like attitude towards violence. It can be used as an element in art, but I oppose violence in real life to the fullest,” comments Lukas Stasevskij, the founder and cellist of Game Music Collective. “We also want to be responsible and that’s why we’ve released two versions of the video – one for adults only and a censored one with less violence.”

Collective’s game-related music videos have more than two million views on YouTube. As their latest video project, Game Music Collective filmed footage for war game themed music videos at the Parola Armour Museum in cooperation with the Conscript Band of the Finnish Defence Forces. Their newest music video is the second one in the series as the first was released last December.

Game Music Collective is an orchestra of 20 musicians, complemented by a choir and other guest stars as needed. Game Music Collective Band is a band consisting of seven members from the orchestra. Game Music Collective’s first concert at the Finlandia Hall in September 2017 featured a wide range of game music from a variety of game series conducted by conductor Eero Lehtimäki. Since then, the collective has done a variety of performances and other activities related to game music.

Game Music Collective is also an active influencer on YouTube and regularly releases new video content. The video of Halo’s main theme has already been watched over 1.1 million times.

Game Music Collective has also just completed the recording sessions for game music composed by Ilmari Hakkola for the computer game Iron Danger which is due to be released next week.

Game Music Collective received a significant grant of 200,000 Euros this week from the Alfred Kordelin Foundation. The foundation was established in 1918 for supporting the work done for Finnish culture. This is to strengthen and deepen cultural work internally, and also to represent Finnishness amongst other nations.

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AMC released today the opening minutes of the highly-anticipated mid-season return of The Walking Dead Season 10, premiering Sunday, February 23rd, 2020 at 9:00 p.m. ET / PT.

You can watch the opening minutes above.

The Walking Dead returns to find our group of survivors are trapped. Some in the confines of a cave filled with walkers, while others are caught in a spiral of suspicion and grief. All orchestrated at the hand of Alpha, who continues to prove the Whisperers are always watching, and one step ahead of the communities. Which includes the new and potentially deadly threat of having added Negan to their ranks.

Through this conflict and all they’ve lost, a few still hold onto hope, especially Eugene, who believes the mysterious voice he spoke with on the radio may lead to their world getting bigger once again.

But with the Whisperer War upon them, the collective communities must come together and possibly sacrifice all they have to find a way to silence the Whispers once and for all. Otherwise Alpha will ensure they face a certain doom.

Based on the comic book series written by Robert Kirkman and published by Image Comics, The Walking Dead tells the story of the months and years after a zombie apocalypse and follows a group of survivors who travel in search of a safe and secure home. The series is executive produced by chief content officer Scott M. Gimple, showrunner Angela Kang, Robert Kirkman, Gale Anne Hurd, Dave Alpert, Greg Nicotero and Denise Huth.

The post AMC RELEASES OPENING MINUTES OF THE WALKING DEAD’S MID-SEASON appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip is a new video game inspired by the story, characters, humour and horror of Sony Pictures’ original hit film Zombieland and its sequel, Zombieland 2: Double Tap, which arrives in theatres on October the 18th, 2019. 

Set after the events of the first movie, Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip is a ridiculously fun top-down twin-stick shooter featuring local co-op multiplayer for up to four players. Play as your favourite heroes from the original — Tallahassee, Columbus, Wichita and Little Rock — as well as new unlockable characters from the upcoming sequel.

Use your special abilities, an arsenal of weapons and the essential Zombieland rules for survival to stay alive against huge numbers of uniquely grotesque and dangerous undead monstrosities in Zombieland: Double Tap – Road Trip’s story-based campaign mode, wave-based horde mode, and ongoing daily and weekly challenges.
 
Developed by High Voltage Software, the game will launch on October 15th, 2019 on PlayStation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and Windows PC. 

The post Double Tap a Zombie! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

BlitWorks and Numantian Games are pleased to announce that the acclaimed RTS They Are Billions.

The BlitWorks team were so addicted to They Are Billions that they themselves became infected. The infection spread like wildfire and soon zombie developers started trying to get the infection across onto Xbox One and PlayStation 4 consoles.

They worked intensively on the superb RTS to achieve a great performance as well as adapting the game to be played with a controller or added mouse and keyboard support. The swarms finally got what they wanted; They Are Billions will be reaching Xbox One and PlayStation 4 this July (2019).

The post Zombies by the Billions! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

Premiering in a livestream last night, Bohemia Interactive debuted a brutal and powerful live action trailer (watch above) to announce the worldwide launch of DayZ — the open world online survival game on PS4.

Following the game’s release on both PC and Xbox One, PS4 players will now get to experience the game that established the Survival genre as they join a tense battle for their very lives in the bleak post-apocalyptic wasteland of Chernarus. Players are able to tell their own stories as they help or hinder other players, all against the backdrop of the infection’s dominance over the region.

With an open focus on the world itself, players are free to attempt to overcome the dangers of Chernarus by working alone or banding together. Thanks to the comprehensive suite of survival mechanics, persistent servers, and a massive 230km map, all sorts of organic experiences can arise, giving each player their own story. This is not Battle Royale. This is DayZ.

Bohemia Interactive will be continuing with post-launch development across all platforms following today’s release, further expanding upon the content available in DayZ and delving deeper into its existing gameplay concepts. These improvements are scheduled to drop in updates throughout 2019.

Rising to popularity as an Arma 2 mod, DayZ originally launched as a standalone game in Steam Early Access in December 2013. Since then, the game has gone through a major engine overhaul. Now powered by modules of Bohemia’s new Enfusion Engine, practically every part of the game has been completely redeveloped and improved.

Launching throughout the day, DayZ is available now digitallyon PSN, and is out on Steam and Xbox One as well. The console versions of DayZ will also be seeing a physical release distributed by Sold Out Games, available in stores later this year.

‘We’re so excited to be bringing the PS4 & Xbox One versions of DayZ to physical retail following its phenomenal success digitally,” said Garry Williams CEO Sold Out. “Survival games don’t get much more intense than this.”.

The post-soviet country of Chernarus is struck by an unknown virus, turning the majority population into frenzied infected. Fighting over resources has bred a hostile mentality among survivors, driving what’s left of humanity to collapse. You are one of the few immune to the virus – how far will you go to survive?

DayZ is an unforgiving, authentic survival experience. Up to 60 survivors on a server engage in a completely unscripted gameplay scenario with no goals given, except for one: to survive as long as they can, by all means necessary. There are no superficial tips, way-points, built-in tutorials, or help given to players. Every decision matters, and every mistake can be lethal. If you die in DayZ, you lose all your character progress and start over, as the game features a permadeath concept.

In DayZ, hostile player interactions – or simply just struggling through severe weather – can easily turn into intense, nerve-racking moments where you experience very real emotions. On the other hand, meeting with another friendly survivor in DayZ can lead to a true friendship that lasts a lifetime.

Today is DayZ.

The post The DayZ Has Come. appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

In Zombie Rescue Squad, players customize their squad member and team up with their Snapchat Friends to enter the front lines of the zombie apocalypse, working together in real time to rescue stranded survivors and gather supplies. Score tallies and ranks at the end of each round allow players to level up and earn weapon parts that help blast through the hungry hordes. Playable with 1-4 players and up to 28 spectators, players are encouraged to form bigger squads to earn bigger rewards.

“Snapchat is a home for people to express their individuality and share experiences with friends, making it a perfect fit for multiplayer gaming experiences,” said Mario Wynands, Managing Director of PikPok. “Teaming up with Snap for the launch of this new platform has been such a rewarding opportunity for pushing the creative boundaries for mobile gaming, and to create an experience that can be shared by people with their friends around the world.”

Zombie Rescue Squad is available now in the United States, Norway, Sweden, New Zealand and the UK on Snap Games.

[Adsense-C]

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NOW CLOSED – Can YOU survive the hordes?

World War Z from Sabre Interactive pits you and your team in a co-op zombie infested frenzy of explosive action, undead slaughtering and survival.

Thanks to our good mates at Focus Home Entertainment, STG has ONE digital copy of the Video Game; World War Z on Xbox One for that zombie exterminator you know you are.

To Enter our World War Z Video Game Giveaway you will need to  answer this Question correctly:

World War Z is a game adaption of a film of the same name. Who stars in that film?

A: Brad Pitt

B: George Clooney

C: Jim Carrey

You can give us your Answer by placing a Comment below, hitting us up on Facebook, Tweet to us, or Email Us.

* Winner(s) will be randomly selected from those that Comment below / Facebook Comment / Email in accordance to the above Question.Winner(s) will receive a digital code for Xbox One for the video game; World War Z. World War Z has a R16 Age rating. Competition ends on the  23rd of May 2019.

The post Enter to Win a Copy of World War Z (Video Game) on Xbox One! appeared first on Shane the Gamer.

World War Z is a good movie, despite the clear differences from the book.

The 2013 Brad Pitt starring zombie movie is even better than you remember it. With a sequel still a while of, releasing a tie-in game based on the movie is a bit surprising.

I’ve not been following the development of Sabre Interactive’s licensed World War Z game and, to be honest, I wasn’t holding out much hope for it. Despite the film’s success back in the day, World War Z isn’t a triple-A licence.

Even if the developers do have a reasonable body of work behind them, including Spintires: Mudrunner and a hand in Halo: Anniversary, a zombie game based on a five-year-old movie, is a bit left field. On the other hand, the developers could in no way really rest on their laurels and let the licence for a five-year-old movie automatically bring in the sales.

Only the other day I was lamenting on the simplicity of the Left 4 Dead games. On how easy it was to drop in and drop out of a game, how each chapter was a blast to play and just how much fun it was. It’s not hard to view World War Z as the spiritual successor to Gearbox’s co-op zombie shooters.

The co-op campaign is based around four episodes set in New York, Jerusalem, Moscow and Tokyo. With the exception of Tokyo’s two, each Episode has three chapters. Whilst the do follow a rudimentary storyline, like the Left 4 Dead games before it, they are designed to be, and can be, played in any order as complete levels.

The campaign is best played online, with players dropping in and out of your game as they wish, replacing the AI versions of your three companions. If you are just after a quick go and don’t want to offend someone by prematurely dropping out you can play off-line, relying entirely on your AI team members.

Putting a modern gaming spin on the classic Left 4 Dead formula that is its inspiration, World War Z features an upgradable class and weapon mechanic. There are six customisable classes: Gunslinger, Hellraiser, Medic, Fixer, Slasher and Exterminator; each doing exactly what is written on the tin. As you play you earn credits with can be spent on attribute and weapon upgrades.

The third-person view is very reminiscent of Ubisoft’s The Division games, as are some the locations. The visuals are good, just as you’d expect, but nothing more.

The zombies, like in the film are your modern, running 24 Days Later variety, rather than the traditional shuffling George A. Romero type. There’s also loads of them. Possibly the most zombies on screen at one time in any game (Days Gone may have more). The zombies do that frightening clambering tower thing from the movie to reach higher ground. A well-placed grenade will, however, see to that.

There’s also a number of special zombies, that seem be common of the genre. Screamer draw the horde to your location, whilst the huge armoured bulls will pound you into the ground. Lurkers jump out of dark corners encapsulating you. Hazmat suited gasbags fill the area will toxic fumes that also obscure visibility.

Characters must stock up with a rifle, sidearm and an optional heavy weapon. There’s also medikits and grenades available. These are scattered around, rather than only in safe areas as with Left 4 Dead. The game features standoff areas which sometimes have auto-turrets and electrified floors to strategically position to slow the advancing horde.

The co-op campaign Levels, basically have players fighting there way though the zombies from A to B, to escape to safety. Along the way, there are objects to pick up. Switches that need flicking and VIPs that need escorting. There’s even a nice nod to Call of Duty Zombies, with entrances that need barricading.

The campaign, aside, World War Z also has a proper competitive multiplayer mode, offering some familiar match types, but with added undead. Classic multiplayer game types such as domination, king of the hill and deathmatch, also with savage raid – which has players collecting resources scattered around the map and vaccine hunt – where plays must try to keep hold of a vaccine for team points. Not only do players have to contend with other players, the levels are littered with zombie who don’t care what team they are attacking.

World War Z is a game that shouldn’t be any good, but actually is really good. If the game had been released with the film, I doubt that the developers would have been under as much pressure to release a good product. The fresh film licence would have likely generated the sales.

Instead, Sabre Interactive have had to work for their money, giving us a game that stands on its own, yet very much draws on the overwhelming hordes of zombies as portrayed in the film.

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