If there is one constant of the Call of Duty series other than thrilling multiplayer, it must be the Zombies mode. Ever since its first appearance, it’s been present in most installments of the series, except for Infinity Ward’s Ghosts and Modern Warfares.
What is the appeal of this rather fanciful mode in a series that tends to go for down-to-earth (if explosively spectacular) military fiction? Might Zombies be better than the campaign mode itself?
Since both solo story and Zombies are featured in the freshly released Call of Duty: Black Ops 6, it’s a great excuse to talk about CoD’s narrative chops! Of course, other games in the series don’t fall far behind on the storytelling front, so if you want to see what the series has to offer, save yourself some time and money and take a look at the offers available on the G2A.COM marketplace.
If you’re into first-person shooters, military fiction, and fun co-op CoD is a real treat, and we can prove it!
The art of Call of Duty campaigns
Although the series evolved from a fairly straightforward World War II story, these days it’s mostly oriented towards more or less modern military and paramilitary operations. This year’s Black Ops 6, for example, uses the Gulf War as the backdrop for a plot about early 90s black ops. In the case of BO6, it’s about stopping a paramilitary group Prometheus from accomplishing its ambitions.
CoD campaigns tend to be on the “high action” end of the military thriller genre, with intense shoot-outs, exciting action sequences, and, possibly, walls and buildings being reduced to rubble. However, there are two things CoD campaigns don’t do.
The first is having a sense of humor. This isn’t unreasonable, the plots tend to be rather serious affairs of state security and deep-seated grudges, so being diegetically silly would be disruptive.
The other thing CoD campaigns don’t do is multiplayer. This also makes sense, participating in a solo, cinematic, dramatic adventure is the point. Especially certain heavily scripted moments wouldn’t work the same way.
You can probably guess where we’re going with this.
The immortal Zombies mode
Zombies first appeared in Call of Duty: World at War all the way back in 2008. Some people at Treyarch, as well as the people in charge of money clearly saw the potential of this mostly story-driven, very silly co-operative mode, because it’s been in about a dozen different Call of Duty games since CoD: WaW.
It’s a very different experience from both the sour-faced campaigns and the hectic, PvP multiplayer. The Zombies mode is strictly team-based PvE, often done as a wave survival, other times as story-driven missions, but what’s certain, is that it hardly ever is serious. How could it be, if over the years the storylines involved time travel, alternate dimensions, mad scientists, David Hasselhoff being a DJ, and perk-granting soft drinks?
The Zombies mode in Black Ops 6 is a direct sequel to one from Black Ops: Cold War. It involves the Requiem team being freed from their unjust imprisonment by a former enemy, all in the name of going after a mutual foe. The story, of course, involves dimensional rifts, hordes of zombies, shocking mutations, and dramatic twists you could expect from a limited-run action/science fiction TV show from the late 1990s/early 2000s… or a Resident Evil game, for that matter, although the latter doesn’t involve dimension-hopping. It finds a good balance between being gritty and serious in-universe and the inherent silliness of a plot involving dimensions, AI, and zombies.
Together forever
An important element of the Zombies mode is the co-op which rather than putting you in nameless avatars with no personality, instead goes the Left 4 Dead and Vermintide route. You step into the shoes of defined characters with their own motivations and inter-party banter fleshing out their relationships and personalities.
Playing through the mode with friends can feel like a four-person movie night, except the movie is playable and there isn’t much time to munch popcorn or other snacks. Unless you choose to just ignore the story and focus on the gameplay, which is certainly a valid approach, the hordes can get quite nasty if you don’t pay attention.
Three dimensions of CoD
Thanks to the reliable presence of story campaigns, the Zombies mode, and the traditional multiplayer, the Call of Duty series can cater to three kinds of shooter fans: the solo player, the fan of working as a team against the game, and the one that seeks challenge only PvP can offer.
Black Ops 6 is just the latest installment of the series, and much like with many of the prior entries, you could save a lot if you chose to get it on G2A.COM marketplace, which has tons of attractive offers for the Call of Duty series in general, and BO6 in particular.
If you’re ready to test your nerves, precision, as well as your preferred controller’s resistance, get Black Ops 6 and hop into any of its modes. After all, just because they aren’t PvP doesn’t mean the campaign and Zombies won’t offer thrills and challenges worth overcoming.