It’s hard not to compare Strange Brigade and Zombie Army 4: Dead War. With both games coming from Rebellion and sharing similarities in gameplay I wondered if the former had had an influence on the latter. While speaking with Senior Systems Designer Vicky Boyce, I asked her about Strange Brigade and how it may have influenced Zombie Army 4.
Strange Brigade is a co-operative, third-person shooter featuring hordes of enemies, lots of weapons, special powers and more. More like Left 4 Dead than the stealthy, sniping gameplay of Sniper Elite and Zombie Army Trilogy, Strange Brigade almost seems like a template for Zombie Army 4.
Boyce told me that while she can’t so how much influence Strange Brigade had on Zombie Army 4, it was likely that developers saw things in the former that might be cool in the latter.
Zombie Army 4
Zombie Army 4’s gameplay is much more action-oriented than Zombie Army Trilogy. It’s a faster, tougher game with waves of enemies and hordes of zombies to deal with. This certainly feels more like Strange Brigade as do the traps you’re able to set.
Traps have always been available in Sniper Elite, however, in Strange Brigade and Zombie Army 4, you’ll be able to set off specific, environmental traps that can take out huge swathes of enemies in one go.
Boyce told me that Rebellion uses all of its experience to try to create the best possible game.
You want to push yourself and you want to push the engine that you using further and further. Because we have had so many years of experience with it, with this type of they franchise, we are able to tap into, the mechanics and the systems that we use in there and make improvements upon it rather than trying to build everything from scratch.
She said that it’s not quite as tough or difficult as when you’re making a brand-new game but she believes that with every game, developers should be pushing themselves to deliver the best possible experience.
Zombie Army 4 will be available for PC, PS4 and Xbox One on February 4, 2020.
