I’ve always felt that there’s always a place for the mindless action game. The kind of game that eschews reinvention for simply delivering a solid gameplay experience. They provide a safe and dependable gaming haven where you know what you’re getting with no strings attached. They’re the perfect palate cleanser between meatier and more involving releases. Zombie Army Trilogy is a perfect example of this kind of game. It’s unremarkable in pretty much every way, but its solid gameplay and design is fun and engaging nonetheless.

The plot is as simple as they come. During the final days of World War II, Hitler attempts to turn the tide of war by unleashing an army of zombies on the Allies. This goes predictably bad for all involved, and Germany is soon turned into a hellish nightmare. You play as an agent of the Allies infiltrating Berlin in an attempt to stop the zombie horde and assassinate its leader. Across the game’s three campaigns of five levels each, you’ll venture across Berlin and beyond to see it done.

The base gameplay is very reminiscent of Sniper Elite, which makes sense given the first two campaigns were originally DLC for Sniper Elite V2. However, there’s also some Left 4 Dead elements tossed in to shake things up, as well as a focus on mindless action over stealth. You play in a squad of one to four players slaughtering the undead across linear maps, inter-spaced with safe rooms where you can rest and ammo up. Before each level begins, you can equip yourself with a sniper rifle, a secondary weapon, and a pistol. There are also a few traps and grenade types at your disposal. Throughout each level you’ll find a variety of weapons lying around, allowing you to switch things up as you play. There’s also a very weighty kick for when things get tough, or ammo gets scarce. There’s also eight characters to choose from, but that choice is purely cosmetic. Their backstories are as shallow as a puddle.

There’s not a whole lot more beyond that, which is both a strength and weakness. There’s only a handful of weapons to choose from, which keeps things simple at the price of variety. Levels are very linear and play quick, but outside a few which might feature some special objectives, they all play and feel the same. Still, the gunplay is very solid and mowing down Nazi zombies never really gets old. Sniping is especially fun, and getting into sniper battles with flying/teleporting Nazi zombie snipers is a highlight you sure won’t find in the mainline titles. Which we can all agree is certainly their loss.

Zombie Army Trilogy is unassuming yet fun, especially on the Switch. The pick up and play nature of the game makes it a perfect fit for a handheld. Also the lack of games of this genre on Switch makes it a standout, versus the over-saturation of L4D clones everywhere else. It could be more, without a doubt, as evidenced by the additions made for Zombie Army Trilogy 4: Dead War, but for what it is, it’s more than enough. Anyone who just wants to kick back on the couch and mow down some Nazi zombies could do a whole lot worse than this.

Graphics: 7.0 I never knew there were so many shades of grey until I played this. Other than that, it looks decent enough on the Switch.	Gameplay: 7.0 The gunplay feels satisfying and level design fun and challenging, even if they all feel the same. Weapon and enemy variety is lacking however.
Sound: 7.5 Gunfire, especially sniper shots, sounds great, as does what little voice-acting the game has. The soundtrack is barely background noise however.	Fun Factor: 7.0 It’s a “great mindless fun” kind of game, especially in co-op.
Final Verdict: 7.0

Zombie Army Trilogy is available now on Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One, and PS4.

Reviewed on Nintendo Switch.

A copy of Zombie Army Trilogy was provided by the publisher.