World War Z is almost the left successor 4 dead I wanted for years

I came to peace with the fact that Left 4 dead 3 will never happen. So, without Valve creating a new entry into the franchise, it is up to the other studios to fill that zombie-coop-action hole that L4D3 will never fill. World War z has the impression of being able to do it, but it is actually a bit too difficult.

World War z is, I suppose, based on the Brad Pitt movie of the same name, which was very vaguely based on the book of the same name. I liked the book although I skipped the movie. As far as I know, the game is barely connected to the movie, so do not feel obligated to watch it before playing.

Developed by Saber Interactive, World War z is essentially Left for dead and not just because it's a 4-player cooperative shooter with zombies. Many different elements and ideas found in Left for dead can also be found in World War z.

There are special zombies that have different abilities, including one that crawls and jumps on players and keeps them on the ground while reducing them. Yes, they literally have a special hunter infected with L4D in this game. Players wear medkits that can heal other players or themselves. When players are attacked by special infected, they are highlighted by the game, allowing teammates to help them more easily. The friendly players are represented by white lines across the walls, which facilitates their search and collaboration. Levels often end in dead ends and small goals are added in some areas, such as five crates, to make levels more hectic and difficult. You had the idea.

however, World War z is not just a carbon copy of L4D. Instead, one has the impression that the developers used these games as a base and built them by adding new features and mechanisms.

The biggest difference between World War z and Left for dead is the focus on classes and upgrades. In Left for dead all the characters were the same and the players all had the same abilities and the same limits. World War z goes in a different direction, giving players several classes to choose from and each of these classes has different starting abilities and equipment. For example, the doctor class starts with a health boosting pistol and an SMG, while a different class could start with a rifle and bags of explosive ordnance.

Another major difference is that every weapon in the game can be improved. When players use weapons, they level them. Then, between the missions, the players can improve these weapons. So, you may like to use the sports rifle and after using it, you will improve it with a viewfinder, making it more accurate. So, the next time you participate in a mission and find a sports rifle in the world, you will have this opportunity. Passive abilities and buffs for each class can also be improved as you play.

For some, this extra depth will make World War z a more interesting game than Left for dead. However, for others, the game may seem unnecessarily complicated and difficult to penetrate. If you are a doctor, should you treat other players because you do it faster? During my career in the game, I found that the different class abilities and improvements to weapons mattered little. But I'm still early. The most challenging missions may require players to focus more on synergies and capabilities.

The star of World War z are the hordes of zombies. They are seen in all marketing and trailers. These hordes are amazing to see in action in the game. Seeing thousands of zombies running across a level, creating an ocean of corpses, is wild and feels quite different from other zombie games. More impressive, at least on PS4, these hordes do not cause huge performance problems.

Hordes in World War z, as in the film, will climb the walls creating pyramids of zombies. It's a bit silly, but it also creates moments when players must not only manage zombies, but also the giant wave of zeds that grow behind the wall. Shooting these hordes and pyramids with a rocket or grenade is extremely rewarding.

Hordes are also used in some haunting moments of the game. A particularly special moment is the moment when players climb a large vertical tunnel and suddenly zombies begin to throw themselves from the top of the tunnel. It was a strange experience to cross such bodies.

World War z has a lot that works. Unfortunately, some problems currently prevent it from being a true successor to Left for dead.

The biggest problem is the feeling that this game is not over yet. The audio quality is variable. Some characters sound good and others as if they had recorded all their lines during a Skype call of 2009. Frequent crashes have been reported on various platforms and on PS4, some players have encountered a bug that erases their backups and their progression. .

Another disadvantage is that for a game focused on cooperation and multiplayer mode, World War z missing some important features. Players can not create private lobbies to play with friends. So, if you and a friend want to play with robots, you're out of luck. Instead, players are forced to play online with random players. You can play solo missions in disconnected mode, which is good, but not how I want to play this game.

Strangely, you can not start an online mission with other players either. Instead, you search for a mission lobby and you are added to a match randomly. This means that you could get into a game during a mission. While playing with my brother, we continued to join the missions because they were almost finished. Because you can not start a lobby and meet people, then load a new mission from the beginning, I have not seen the beginning of some cards yet. Fortunately, it seems that private lobbies could be added in the future.

The servers have also been uneven, with players on all platforms reporting problems to join other players. I had two missions late and I was sent back to the lobby.

Shit waiters, no private lobbies, and some quality issues hold World War z back now and make it difficult for me to really enjoy it. However, these are all issues that some updates and fixes could potentially solve. I hope that these problems are solved because when the game works and everyone fights, I feel World War z is an excellent cooperative game and a worthy successor to Left 4 Dead 2.