In the world of game development, it’s all too common to see studios outside the titans of the industry either get snaffled up and absorbed by said titans or fade away into obscurity, or worse, bankruptcy.
British developer Rebellion has very much bucked that trend. From humble beginnings making the rather good Aliens vs. Predator for the doomed Atari Jaguar, to its present-day, multi-faceted form that’s been reviving lost franchises, building up its own IP such as Sniper Elite, Strange Brigade, and Zombie Army, as well as owning big-name comic book titles such as 2000AD. Rebellion even has its own TV and film department now, with Moon and Warcraft director Duncan Jones adapting the 2000AD Rogue Trooper series for the big screen.
With the company’s latest game, the highly enjoyable Zombie Army 4: Dead War out on consoles and PC today, we spoke with longtime Head of Creative at Rebellion, Tim Jones about the game, 2000AD, VR, Aliens Vs. Predator, Speedball II and more.
Bloody Disgusting: With this being the first Zombie Army title to launch as a fully standalone title, has it allowed for more ambitious ideas in terms of how the game plays and looks? There does seem to be a bit more freedom from the World War II template from what I’ve seen. There’s also a bit of an 80s horror vibe to it in the most recent trailer.
Tim Jones: Certainly, we had more time with this game to work on what makes Zombie Army games tick, and double down on things that, perhaps, seem a little goofier, amp up the crazy, and really take the gloves off, so to speak. It’s been a lot of fun to make, and the response we’ve gotten so far (this was before reviews went up) seems to suggest we’re on the right track with a no-nonsense, killing Nazi zombies kind of game.
You’re right to point out the ’80s horror vibe. It’s always been a part of the game’s development, though it’s not specifically mainstream ’80s. In my mind, there’s a lot of cult horror to it, particularly Euro-horror
BD: It definitely has a bit of a Lamberto Bava’s Demons to it. A bit of Fulci…
Tim Jones: Yes definitely, Bava, Giallo films, Argento, as well as the more obvious American influences such as John Carpenter. It does run through the game from the visuals to what happens in the game itself to the audio, which has inspiration from Goblin, Fabio Frizzi, and greats like Ennio Morricone as well.
For me, it’s an aesthetic that bleeds through the entire game, right down to the way characters have a deadpan, serious reaction to all this ridiculousness around them. It’s funny, whilst being a bit scary and gross, but to the characters, this is the reality of the world they’re in, and that’s where part of the fun comes from.
BD: Were there particular types of zombies from other media that inspired the look and movement of the Zombie Army undead?
Tim Jones: The meat and potatoes have always been the zombie horde. It’s always been important to me that they were the slow, shambling zombies over faster, more aggressive zombies. When we first started making the Zombie Army games it was debated that we should use fast zombies because they’d be a greater threat to a player who already has guns, but I was like ‘no, no, they have to be slow-moving and creepy, the threat comes from getting caught unawares by sheer numbers from any direction, and they just keep on coming.
You feel comfortable when they’re at a distance, but before you know it one has crept up behind you and you’re backed into a corner, fighting your way out. I really like that ebb and flow, the way it changes up the pace of gameplay and forces the player into different ways of playing.
Plus, if they weren’t slow-moving, you wouldn’t be able to place traps and perform the X-Ray kills. You’d lack the strategy.
Of course, we do have some faster moving zombies. We’ve introduced the officers in this game, who can transform existing zombies into the faster more aggressive kind until you take out the officer by shooting its heart, stomping on his heart, taking his heart in your bare hands and squishing it, you know, just as long as you destroy the heart otherwise he’s getting back up again and again.
We’ve also added more Elites (Zombie Army‘s mini-boss style zombies) this time, including a flamethrower zombie who doesn’t care about his own troops and will just spray fire anywhere he can. We also allow players to pick up the Elite’s weapon after defeating them, so you get to have fun wielding a flamethrower and the other special weapons, which is a nice reward.
BD: Multiplayer has evolved in the time since Zombie Army Trilogy, especially in the horror game space where there’s been a shift to asymmetrical multiplayer, but you’ve clearly taken that into consideration with the new customizations and progression. Has it been difficult to try and balance the classic Zombie Army experience with something closer to the games as a service model? Did the development of Strange Brigade help in that regard?
Tim Jones: We certainly take inspiration and influence from what we’ve personally done before, and aspects of what we introduced in Strange Brigade, such as the special powers and upgrades, have made their way into the Zombie Army 4 mix. It’s something we’ve always wanted to add to Zombie Army, so it’s been great to do so this time.
In regards to Games as a Service and that kind of thing, our focus was more on creating what I suppose you could call a traditional product that a user can buy and have a lot of content from the off. Whether they’re player singleplayer or multiplayer, we’ve got a really meaty campaign in there with really lengthy levels and a narrative running through it.
We were playing a chapter of a level on a Twitch stream for almost an hour and still hadn’t finished, but we had to stop the stream by then, so there’s a lot more to it now than simple arenas that you have to grind over and over for some currency. Players have a reason to come back. They did so with Zombie Army Trilogy too, but now we have the XP and leveling systems, with things to unlock both aesthetically and in terms of skill trees, plus a plan for more downloadable content in the future, some of it paid, some of it free.
So yeah, it’s something of a middle ground, but the focus is first and foremost on delivering quality content from day one.
BD: Rebellion has been enthusiastic about making games in virtual reality, and has Sniper Elite coming to VR this year. Would there be any chance of Sniper Elite VR getting its own Zombie Army VR spinoff?
Tim Jones: I can’t tell you how much I’d love to. Certainly, nothing I could comment on at this stage because if we were doing something on it I couldn’t talk about it. It would be a perfect fit though, as the glut of horror VR games out there points towards, horror is a natural thing for VR.
It’s hard to imagine any kind of gaming environment we create that wouldn’t be cool in VR because virtual reality gets you more into the action. Even if it’s a top-down board game, that’s more immersive in VR. It’s still an emerging medium, but we continue to be excited about it and to work with it. Certainly, Sniper Elite VR is shaping up to be a success from the response we’ve got over the last few months
BD: Rebellion acquired the rights to The Bitmap Brothers games late last year. With so many classic titles there, which do you think would resonate the most in the modern market? Personally speaking, something as brutal and competitive as Speedball could be a joy to see reborn (though I have a soft spot for The Chaos Engine and Gods).
Tim Jones: Again, I can’t yet talk about exactly what our plans are with those titles. It feels like Rebellion has become something of a custodian for a lot of classic geeky culture, especially in the UK. I think we own the majority of comic IP over here.
Often we acquiring things that have been forgotten and neglected, and we’ve lovingly digitized and archived it where we can, making things available for study because so much of it is languishing in people’s attics on rotting bits of paper or tucked away in museums. We just love doing it because of the heritage and the culture of it was inspiring to a lot of us growing up and we want to make sure it’s not forgotten and gets taken care of, whilst continuing to create cutting edge stuff with the likes of Judge Dredd and 2000AD. Even in games we acquired the license to Battlezone from Atari and remade it as this big new VR title.
The opportunity with the Bitmap Brothers came up and again as so many of us grew up with those games, it’s exciting to have those in-house now and be able to do something with them and make sure they’re not forgotten.
Going back to your original question, in terms of which of those Bitmap Brothers games I’d like to see going forward, I’m of the same view as everyone else seems to be when it gets mentioned, including yourself, is Speedball II and The Chaos Engine. Those are the first ones that seem to spring to mind. I would have no qualms spending development time on those two if the opportunity comes up. You could certainly see something like Speedball II finding a place in the current market.
BD: Yeah, with over the to sports games like Rocket League doing well, you could definitely do well with something as aggressive and over the top as Speedball.
Tim Jones: Absolutely, I can’t think of too many games out there like it. Goofy futuristic sports, sounds awesome, right? It could have been made now.
BD: Talking of acquisitions, Rebellion has been in charge of the famous 2000AD comic series for 20 years now, and we’ve seen that it has branched out into film and TV productions of the license with Duncan Jones working on Rogue Trooper for instance. Is there a plan to make new games using 2000AD’s big hitters again? If I recall correctly, there’s not been a game from that since 2011’s Judge Dredd vs Zombies on mobile devices
Tim Jones: We are always open to all possibilities, and always looking for things to do with what we have, but it has to be the right fit. We don’t want to be making things just for the sake of it, to do a cash cow franchise. It has to have a reason for being. But yeah, as you pointed out, with everything else we are doing in games, comics, movies, TV and the rest, some things get left behind. But there are some things bubbling under that you’ll see sooner or later. There’s a lot of IP in 2000AD that are perfect for games. So yeah, watch this space, that’s about as revealing as I can get I’m afraid.
BD: It’s been ten years since Rebellion got to make an Aliens Vs. Predator game. Do you wish you could have another crack at that series?
Tim Jones: It’s funny, I’ve been thinking about that myself. I started at Rebellion working on the first PC Aliens Vs. Predator which came out in 1999. Then a decade later I was heading up AvP 2010, and it’s now ten years after that, time flies, and it’s such a shame we’re not doing another one right now because I’d love to. It still feels, to a lot of us, like a part of the heritage and DNA of Rebellion.
The right opportunity hasn’t come up, unfortunately, but we would love to if it became possible to do that again, as we love the franchise. Certainly, for me, I feel like the world needs another AvP FPS game, and I’d love to help create it, but yeah sadly, 2020 isn’t gonna see another Rebellion AvP game. There’s your world exclusive! Rather anticlimactic I’m afraid, but the passion to do it is there, rest assured.
Zombie Army 4 is out now on PS4, Xbox One, and PC. Sniper Elite VR is out on PSVR and PV VR systems later this year.