World War Z: Aftermath Horde Mode XL Impressions
Almost four years after my original review of World War Z and some 18 months after fellow GBAtemp reviewer @FAST6191 's take on World War Z Aftermath: comes the much anticipated PS5 upgrade that also packs in "Horde Mode XL" for the ultimate survival horror experience!
WWZ, as a gaming franchise at least, has certainly matured and excelled over the years, captivating almost 20 million players around the globe within its dark decaying web of zombie-shredding awesomeness and pushing the latest generation of consoles to their limits with the sheer scale of the developers' visions. Where other games have paled in comparison and receded back into the shadows, WWZ has maintained its player base and its ability to keep you gripped even through the most daunting of chapters.
While the roll-out of the "Next-gen upgrade" was a little bumpy, to say the least, quite a few people (me included) were baffled as to why the free update had not rolled out on the release date of January 24th as stated. Whilst whatever issues were being resolved I replayed as much of the PS4 edition as I could and I eventually got my hands on the upgrade around the 26th of January, and I can honestly say that I was pretty impressed! The upgrade was relatively smooth with an option onscreen to convert progress from the PS4 version to be compatible with the PS5 version, and even removing the digital PS4 version allows you to save precious space on that internal NVME.
Following on from GBAtemp's prior review of WWZA, I have to agree with the overall sentiment that the game is incredibly well-rounded, and the review scores, pros and cons, definitely still stand. Though Horde Mode XL adds the jeopardy of upto one THOUSAND zombies swarming the environments the game still massively retains its playability, expansive roster and arsenal, however, there appears to be a slight trade-off between FPS and polygon count on screen. Another addition to the previous take is that the 49 available mutators can now be used in Horde mode Z, two new weapons (the sai knives and tri-barrel shotgun) were added and the weapon progression system was improved to incorporate new ways to upgrade and customise your weapons.
Interestingly the PS4 version which locked in lower resolutions and swarms of up to 500 hungry zombies managed to attain 60 FPS (when played on PS5 hardware), whereas the native PS5 version boosts the resolution to 4K but with a lowly 30 FPS throughout most maps (there are exceptions to this rule). The explanation could simply be that of poor optimisation, or the fact that the developers simply could not eke out 4k and 60 FPS as promised due to the substantial volume of undead that plague the levels within their proprietary "Swarm engine".
WWZA PS5 upgrade still retains the dropped frames, stutters and lost connections of its predecessor, but when you get in the groove and buddy up with some online pals, the experience is fantastic despite the fluctuating frame data. We can only hope that the developers (Saber Interactive) push for more stable frame rates and more solid connectivity in their incremental updates.
This version of the game, while not entirely the sleek and silky definitive edition we had hoped for, certainly keeps you entertained for a long time, and if you're new to the series then now is the time to dive in: you're in for a treat!
Last edited by KiiWii,
