Picking between the six classes lets you specialize in certain areas like gun damage, melee, explosives, or healing, and the more time you dedicate on a particular class, the more abilities you unlock. One notable area where World War Z does add onto Valve’s blueprint is a class and progression system, which has in the intervening years since Left 4 Dead become more or less standard in the genre. Instead it makes little effort to do so, which is disappointing. World War Z is clearly trying for a more serious tone to its story and characters, and the 'realism' of its vanilla weapons might be part of that, but it’s definitely possible to add more interesting options while maintaining that attitude. Outside some of the other explosive weapons like the Rocket Launcher, nobody on my team was really fighting over the chance to grab any of the two dozen different standard weapons lying around. It’s a blast to use, but sadly it’s one of the few items to offer a fresh method of dealing with the undead.

The fun-to-use and hard-to-find crossbow is the only weapon in World War Z that really stands out, with explosive-tipped arrows that send small groups of zombies flying into the air after a satisfying detonation. Using a shotgun to blow off heads or an SMG to mow down large groups feels just like they're supposed to, but they're far from the most exciting form of attack. On top of that, most of your arsenal of weapons comes across as a bit bland. Just a little originality could’ve gone a long way toward making World War Z feel like its own game. They're all good fights, but they are essentially carbon copies of Left 4 Dead’s cast of Special Infected. You also have the annoyingly distant Screecher that summons extra zombies, as well as the massive Bull that can quickly incapacitate a teammate and dismantle a mission if given half a chance. There's the poison-spewing Gasbag that needs to be strategically killed from a distance and the pouncing Lurker that picks off straying party members and must be knocked off by a teammate. Just take a look at the cool yet limited number of special zombies that frequently appear to shake things up. The tense situation quickly became hectic as enemies appeared from within the foggy toxins.

After a quick chat, we decided the teammate with the most health would take the dangerous plunge while the rest of us protected our brave friend from the grated walkway above. The goal was to search one of the bodies amid the poisonous fog to find a key to access the ventilation system, meaning one player on our team would have to take damage to retrieve it. One standout mission put us in an underground warehouse where the bottom floor of a multi-level room was filled with poison. It's a simple foundation for an encounter, but it was always enjoyable and strongly pushed me and my team members to work together. For defensive objectives – by far the most common and fun type – you’re given about a minute to decide where to deploy machine gun turrets while communicating strategies and picking spots for your teammates to stand guard before the zombies come pouring out of every opening, crack, and crevice.

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