Call of Duty: World at War was my first Call of Duty game, so I still remember the surprise when a friend showed me the secret zombie mode. I played so much zombies World at War And Black operations that I was actually a bit burned out by it. Most Call of Duty games since then World at War have a kind of zombie mode, with some radically deviating from the original formula. On the other hand, Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 The zombie mode seems familiar, but that’s not a bad thing.
At today’s Call of Duty Next event, Treyarch showed what the zombies will experience in BlackOps 6 in detail. I previously tried out a solo game of Zombies at an event in Washington, DC.
After playing a few games, I found it to be a great mix of old and new. It has all the visual flourishes and loadout friendliness I expect from a new Call of Duty game. This is certainly a far cry from the humble, hidden horror mode found in World at WarStill, its turn-based nature is a welcome return, and the feeling of growing more powerful and tense with each round means Zombies has lost none of its shine since 2008.
The Walking Dead
During a meeting before my playing time with BlackOps 6Treyarch has been adamant that it’s going “all in on turn-based zombies” this year. The setup is familiar. On round one, you start with slow and weak zombies, but by the time you get to round eight or ten, more are coming at you and they’re harder to defeat. As the zombies get stronger, so do you.
The currency I got from killing zombies could be used not only to unlock new areas of the map, but also to unlock access to new weapons and abilities. It’s a complicated tug of war that makes me feel between very overpowered with upgrades and temporary power-ups and woefully underpowered with each round. Even with all the flourishes around BlackOps 6 taking on zombies, I can appreciate that that core is still there.
That’s what made the original zombies so appealing in World at Warand I was dismayed every time I saw Treyarch or other Activision studios deviate from it. BlackOps 6 includes elements that have been introduced in Zombies over the past 16 years, such as the ability to quit a match so that it doesn’t end fatally, and the Gobblegum system from BlackOps 3However, there are still some valuable additions.
Attention to detail
Zombies has all the inherent advantages of belonging to BlackOps 6. It looks fantastic and there’s a lot of attention to small details. Liberty Falls is a new map and although the outdoor setting in daylight is a visual change for turn-based zombies, it makes the map unforgettable. I love that different death scenes play out depending on what killed you.
Call of Duty’s zombie modes are inherently highly replayable, so it’s nice to see repeated play being rewarded by making each death feel unique. It’s also now possible to play zombies in third person, which is another way to bring some freshness to this familiar turn-based formula.
There are also many other small quality of life improvements. These include the ability for two players to spend their currency together to open a door and the fact that Pack-A-Punch weapon camos are toggleable if you only want to see the camouflage you have equipped your weapon with. Treyarch also announces a “Directed Mode” that will be available in BlackOps 6 Zombies after launch. This gives players who want to discover the story of Zombies a clearer and guided way to experience it in addition to the main quest of each map.
BlackOps 6 Zombies feels like a return to the basics of everything that has come before in Call of Duty Zombies. There have been many improvements to the mode to give this version a special flair, but fans of old school zombies should find it quite appealing. I can’t wait to play more and dig into some systems from later games that I haven’t had a chance to fully experience yet.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 will be released on October 25th for PC, PlayStation 4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X.
