On its first week of release on UK shelves, Saber’s ghoulish shooter topped the chartsflesh tower and the whole swarm will
collapse on itself; a squad-saving
move that can often be accomplished
with a single frag grenade.
Saber has also done a reasonable
job of trying to break up the monotony
of all this relentless zombie murder.
Yes, 80 per cent of the action revolves
around mindlessly mowing down
undead cronies, yet in key moments,
bespoke objectives give levels some
welcome variety. Whether it’s escorting
a bus through the ruined tunnels
of Tokyo or preventing a nuclear
catastrophe in an underground
Russian bunker by fiddling with
reactors, it’s good to see Saber has
the sense to occasionally halt its
often overwhelming undead carnage.
Squad goals
As much as it’s best sampled in short
online bursts, World War Z also does
its best to entice committed survivors
with long-term goals. Regularly revisit
missions and you can both improve
guns through weapon customisation
and tweak the game’s multiple classes
with perks – say, an unlockable power
which highlights special zombie
variations around corners, or another
bonus that increases the distance of
your push attack by 50 per cent.
If you want to damn World War Z
with the faintest of praise, it’s at
least as good as the underwhelming
Pitt flick. It also has something the
schlocky film doesn’t: self-awareness.
Unlike the somewhat tone-deaf
movie, the game knows it’s campy,
ultimately good-natured trash. There’s
a reason for the lower price point, and
a knowing, winking philosophy that
sees every element of the game, from
cliched character design to painfully
generic menus, feel like they were
birthed in 2008. Yet when you consider
the source material, this wry cheap
and cheerful quality ultimately works
in the game’s favour.Despite the largely one-note action,
noticeably low budget, as well as the
lack of imagination on show, there’s
at least a scrappy charm displayed
here that makes this zombie romp
just about worthwhile. If you have a
few Xbox Live chums who have an
undead-annihilating itch to scratch,
you could do worse than waging this
brain-biting battle. QPERK UP
There are six different
classes in World War Z
and each can be
improved if you buy
perks. If you choose
the Gunslinger class,
‘Swapping Mags!’
allows you to reload
ammo 25 per cent
quicker, while the
‘Power Nap’ perk
reloads any
unequipped weapon
after ten seconds. If
you’d rather embrace
your inner arsonist
and plump for the
Exterminator class,
the ‘Pyromaniac’ perk,
which increases the
fire damage of
Molotovs by 50 per
cent, is especially
useful. Now go and
burn those undead
pests, recruit.“In key moments,
bespoke
objectives give
levels some
welcome variety”
FAR LEFT To
topple zombie
towers, aim for
the decomposing
saps right at
the bottom.
RIGHT Sadly, the
undead don’t get
the sniffles –
even during
freezing
blizzards.OXM VERDICT
A decent, if
somewhat
uninspired, Left 4
Dead clone with
scrappy charm.6
LEFT The Tokyo
chapter has your
survivor seeking
refuge on a
luxury liner.More Xbox news at gamesradar.com/oxm THE OFFICIAL XBOX MAGAZINE 079REVIEW