''World War Z'' is a

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

video game developed and published by

Saber Interactive Saber Interactive Inc. is an American video game developer and publisher based in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Founded by Andrey Iones, Matthew Karch, and Anton Krupkin in 2001, it is controlled by Karch's investment company Beacon Interactive, cr ...

. It was released for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

and

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

on 16 April 2019, and a

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

version was released on 2 November 2021. It was released for

Google Stadia Stadia was a cloud gaming service developed and operated by Google. Known in development as Project Stream, the service debuted through a Software release life cycle#closed beta, closed beta in October 2018, and publicly launched in November 20 ...

on 5 April 2022. Ports for

PlayStation 5 The PlayStation 5 (PS5) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. It was announced as the successor to the PlayStation 4 in April 2019, was launched on November 12, 2020, in Australia, Japan, New Zealand, North ...

and

Xbox Series X/S The Xbox Series X and Xbox Series S are the fourth generation of consoles in the Xbox series, succeeding the previous generation's Xbox One. Released on November 10, 2020, the higher-end Xbox Series X and lower-end Xbox Series S are part o ...

released on 24 January 2023. Loosely based on the 2006 novel '' World War Z'' and set in the same universe as the 2013

film adaptation A film adaptation transfers the details or story of an existing source text, such as a novel, into a feature film. This transfer can involve adapting most details of the source text closely, including characters or plot points, or the original sou ...

, the game follows groups of four survivors of a

zombie A zombie (Haitian French: ; ; Kikongo: ''zumbi'') is a mythological undead corporeal revenant created through the reanimation of a corpse. In modern popular culture, zombies appear in horror genre works. The term comes from Haitian folkl ...

apocalypse.

Gameplay

The game is a co-operative third-person shooter in which four players fight against massive hordes of zombies in seven locations, including New York, Jerusalem, Moscow, Tokyo, Marseille, Rome and Kamchatka. Each location, or episode as it is known in-game, is divided into 3-5 individual levels. After completing a level, players receive "supplies" based on a resulting defeat or victory. Supplies can be used to upgrade weapons and unlock new attachments. Perks can be bought for specific classes using supplies. Players can choose from eight classes: the Gunslinger (specializes in range), the Hellraiser (specializes in explosives), the Fixer (engineer), the Medic (healer), the Slasher (specializes in melee), the Exterminator (specializes in

crowd control Crowd control is a public security practice in which large crowds are managed in order to prevent the outbreak of crowd crushes, affray, fights involving drunk and disorderly people or riots. Crowd crushes in particular can cause many hundre ...

), the Dronemaster (support) and Vanguard (defense). New perks can be unlocked for each class as players continue progressing in the game. The game can support up to 1,000 enemies appearing on-screen simultaneously, and they can climb onto each other to reach players on a higher level. Players can collect different items in the battlefield, but their locations are procedurally generated. In addition to fighting zombies, players need to complete different objectives, such as escorting survivors, in each location. The game features five competitive multiplayer modes. The Player vs Player vs Zombie mode pits two teams of players against each other while the zombie hordes attack both teams

Development

Approximately 100 people of

worked on the game. The studio decided to use the ''World War Z'' license for the game as they felt that there were too many risks involved in marketing a new

intellectual property Intellectual property (IP) is a category of property that includes intangible creations of the human intellect. There are many types of intellectual property, and some countries recognize more than others. The best-known types are patents, co ...

. Matt Karch, CEO of Saber Interactive, described the game as the combination of both the 2013 film and the 2006 novel. Gerry Lane, the character played by

Brad Pitt William Bradley Pitt (born December 18, 1963) is an American actor and film producer. In a Brad Pitt filmography, film career spanning more than thirty years, Pitt has received list of awards and nominations received by Brad Pitt, numerous a ...

from the 2013 film, does not appear in the game as the team opted to include multiple survivors who have their own stories. The team took inspiration from '' The Chronicles of Riddick: Escape from Butcher Bay'' when they were exploring how they could incorporate elements from the film and the book into the game. ''

Left 4 Dead ''Left 4 Dead'' is a 2008 first-person shooter game developed by Valve South and published by Valve. It was originally released for Windows and Xbox 360 in November 2008 and for Mac OS X in October 2010, and is the first title in the '' Left 4 ...

'' also inspired the developer when they were crafting the game's gameplay. A proprietary

game engine A game engine is a software framework primarily designed for the development of video games which generally includes relevant libraries and support programs such as a level editor. The "engine" terminology is akin to the term " software engine" u ...

named the Swarm Engine was used to power the game and render the huge zombie hordes. The Swarm Engine is purposefully built to handle up to 500 zombies on the screen at one time. The game was announced at The Game Awards 2017. The game was released on 19 April 2019 for

and

Focus Home Interactive Focus Entertainment (formerly Focus Home Interactive) is a French video game publisher based in Paris. It is a subsidiary of PulluP Entertainment Group. Founded in 1996, Focus has published and distributed original titles such as ''Sherlock Holm ...

and Mad Dog Games served as the title's distributor. It was an

Epic Games Store The Epic Games Store is a video game digital distribution service and storefront operated by Epic Games. It launched in December 2018 as a software client, for Microsoft Windows and macOS, and online storefront. Android and iOS versions of t ...

exclusive. Saber planned to support the game by introducing more episodes, characters, settings, and competitive game modes, after the game's launch.

Post-release content

''World War Z'' is supported with regular updates, patches, new episodes including major content for horde mode and hub fixed, most of them being free. A ''Game of the Year Edition'' was released on 5 May 2020, and includes new weapon and character packs, a new three-mission PvE episode set in Marseille, France, as well as all previously released downloadable content. Alongside the reveal of the ''Game of the Year Edition'', a

port was announced. Matt Karch, the CEO of developer Saber Interactive, called getting the game to run on Nintendo's console "the hardest thing that we have had to do". It was released on 2 November 2021. An upgraded version of the game titled ''Aftermath'', which includes the Game of the Year Edition and introduces three new locations (Marseille, Rome, and the Kamchatka peninsula in Russia), new characters, a revamped melee system and a first-person mode, was released on 21 September 2021.

Reception

According to review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the game received "mixed or average reviews" from critics. ''

Game Informer ''Game Informer'' (''GI'' is an American monthly Video game journalism, video game magazine featuring articles, news, strategy, and reviews of video games and video game console, game consoles. It debuted in August 1991, when the video game reta ...

'' compared it to ''Left 4 Dead'' series and praised its shooting mechanics, visuals and story, but criticized its soundtrack and lack of non-vocal player interactions. It was the best-selling retail game in the UK in its week of release. As of 23 April 2019, more than 1 million units of the game have been sold. It sold almost 2 million copies in the first month after the release. In Japan, the PlayStation 4 version of ''World War Z'' sold 27,872 copies within its first week of release in September 2019, placing it at number seven on the all format video game sales chart. As of October 2019, more than 3 million units have been sold.

Adaptation

A pinball table based on the game was released by Zen Studios for ''

Pinball FX ''Pinball FX'' is a pinball machine video game for the Xbox 360. It was developed by Zen Studios and published by Microsoft Game Studios. It was released on April 25, 2007 via the Xbox Live Arcade service. The game features three tables, wit ...

'' on 21 April 2022. It was the first table on that platform to incorporate video footage from another video game, although DMD animations had previously been used in a few tables for '' Pinball FX3''. At the time of release Zen Studios was part of

References

;Notes ;References

External links