Zombie Army Trilogy review for Nintendo Switch, PS4, Xbox One

I did something very dumb while playing Zombie Army Trilogy: I tried playing it solo.

In my defense, I don?t yet have Nintendo Switch Online, and Zombie Army Trilogy has no local co-op mode, so I didn’t really have any other choice. But still: this is a game designed to be played with other people, and by playing it by myself I didn?t get the full, proper experience. (I probably should?ve been mindful of my colleague?s Tyler review of Zombie Army 4, where he talked at length about how much fun this series is when you play with others).

The bright side, I guess, is that I can state pretty with a high degree of certainty that Zombie Army Trilogy probably isn?t worth your time if you?re looking for a game to play by yourself. This game is all about running from Point A to Point B, and shooting as many zombies as you can along the way. There?s a bit of a story involving Hitler and the occult to tie it all together, but it?s really just filler: this game is about racking up the headshots.

Don?t get me wrong, that?s fun for a little bit. Popping off a zombie?s head from a hundred metres away is awfully satisfying. But you quickly realize it?s really all there is to Zombie Army Trilogy.

What?s more, when you hit one of this game?s frequent difficulty spikes and you have to hold off a massive zombie horde, you also quickly realize this is a game designed for holding off those hordes with other players. Reloading weapons is a bit of a chore, and the hordes are pretty relentless in their pursuit of you, which means that not even running away solves all that much. If you have someone covering for you, of course, that?s less of a concern, and you and your fellow players can work together to blast away to your collective hearts? content. But solo, you?d better get used to restarting from the same checkpoints pretty frequently, because you?re going to die a lot.

Mind you, I don?t want to leave the impression that Zombie Army Trilogy is built around tactics or strategy just because it?s geared towards playing as a squad. Playing with others just means you have more firepower at your disposal, not that you’ll be able to carry out more complicated manoeuvres. But in a game where firepower matters above all else, you can see why that would be helpful.

One thing that’s clear even playing solo, though, is that Zombie Army Trilogy runs pretty well on the Switch, even in handheld mode. It’s hardly the best-looking game, of course, but you don’t need a game to be a graphics powerhouse when you’re just talking about rotting zombies and bombed-out buildings. I was pleasantly surprised that even when there were dozens of relentless zombies on my tail, the game was generally able to handle them all pretty well.

That’s not enough to make Zombie Army Trilogy worth recommending, though. No, the only reason you should buy this game is if you’re eager to go online and blast away at zombies with others. There are worse reasons to buy a game, though, so if that’s what you’re after — and that’s literally all you’re after — it may just be worth your time.

Rebellion provided us with a Zombie Army Trilogy Switch code for review purposes.