Note: This review focuses specifically on the Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops 6. For our thoughts on the other modes, check out our single player campaign review or ours Multiplayer review in progress.
Have you ever wondered how we got here? Not in the existential question of “where did we come from?” sort of, but more specifically: “how did a one-off co-op survival mode in a video game that flashed quotes about the horrors of war on screen after you died turn into This?” After 16 years, it’s hard to reconcile what happened in the original Nazi Zombies mode from 2008 The world is at war he was with outrageous people, Resident Evil 6-inspired by a camp festival Last night I spent a few hours playing with red eyes. I don’t mean this in a bad way, mind you; This mode in Black Ops 6 is exciting and unique thanks to all the new movement mechanics and good map design. Zombies haven’t been what they were in World at War for a while now, and I still have a lot more of this year’s version to play before I’m ready for my final review, but this one thought still really struck me, so far: How We Got Here , old?
Let’s cut the damn guts out of this, shall we? Black Ops 6’s Zombies mode includes two brand new maps: Terminus, a prison complex converted into a biological research station, and Liberty Falls, a small town in West Virginia whose slice of quaint America will soon be tested on the worst day Ever (spoiler: it doesn’t seem for all to go well in America). The story itself is a direct continuation of the Zombie campaign from 2020 Cold War Black Opsand if you’re like me and have largely forgotten what’s happened over the past four years, there doesn’t seem to be much of an attempt to catch up with you. This means you’ll hear a lot of dialogue filled with proper nouns could to be important or funny references, but instead, a little too often, I found myself saying, “I vaguely remember this person.”
Mostly, I wanted the voices in my ear (and the characters I played) to stop. They have what I would call the Modern Video Game Character Problem™, which is that they all talk too much – especially since most of the time they just say their thoughts out loud. I’m not saying that each of them is a deeply irritating, completely unfunny, or outrageously unlikeable person, but I’m not NO I say that too. Their banter during combat is reminiscent of a Schwarzenegger movie clip written by ChatGPT – I’m not expecting poetry here, but at least some Gears of War-level banter, you know? All I hear are lyrics like this one where someone complains that zombies make them so mad that they “boil their urine” or that we need a mop to clean up all the brains we spray everywhere so many times before I feel like Instead, point my gun at my allies.
The story so far is mixed, but you know what isn’t? Game. The biggest change is Omnimovement (Zombiemovement?), a complete overhaul of Call of Duty’s core movement mechanics in Black Ops 6. You can run, slide, and dive in any direction, and even chain these moves together. You also have a full 360 degrees of movement, which means you can do crazy things like sprint backwards, dive into a retreating spot, mow down zombies coming at you from all sides, and then get up and keep moving before they will reach their destination at all. close. We haven’t seen zombie-killing moves like this since Resident Evil 6, aside from a few suplexes here and there. (Dear Treyarch, please add suplexes. Love, Will.) Even if Treyarch misses what could be the easiest post-launch routine, in this case, what I’m saying is that it’s I feel fineand I like it. I like it very much.
I also like the maps themselves. I think I prefer Liberty Falls to Terminus so far because I like its height, with the extremely fun ziplines that let you jump from rooftop to rooftop. I also like the more traditional “pay Essence to open doors and access up-to-date places” structure rather than the Terminus phrase “restore power to generators and defend them from zombies so you can gain the ability to open doors”, but that doesn’t mean Terminus doesn’t he doesn’t do anything cool. At one point I found a small outboard-powered raft that allowed me to venture out to smaller islands around the main area. I died pretty quickly because when I landed on the beach, a horde of zombies popped out of the ground like a bunch of really angry undead cabbages, but c’est la vie, right? Are you undead? I don’t speak French.
I’m a bit more confused about how the maps handle story progression. From what I’ve played so far, there isn’t much “defense” needed in the Black Ops 6 zombie version. Instead, you’re constantly moving around, unlocking new areas, and trying to complete that map’s main quest over the course of rounds. You can do it pretty much any way you want. In my experience, this means a lot of saving lives and trying to get enough Essence (which you get from killing zombies) to open a path to the next area, buy a new weapon, or upgrade the weapon you like in the -a-Punch Machine pack , which does exactly what it sounds like. Treyarch plans to release an optional, more focused, story-focused version of this mode later to preserve the sanctity of the Easter egg hunt (whatever that means) – this will disable Easter eggs and side quests, but I kind of wish it was the case here to see the difference it makes it does. These maps are really big and as someone with a terrible sense of direction, I just want to feel where I am supposed to go and how to get there before focusing on the optional stuff.
One thing I really don’t like, at least for now, is the meta-progression. You won’t unlock the ability to create your own loadouts until you reach level four, and even then you probably haven’t unlocked anything cool that can be customized for any of the weapons you have. Moreover, progress seems painfully slow; I reached level four after an hour and a half of play, which seems too long to wait for this basic functionality. So far I’ve only played alone, which has certainly slowed me down, but the lag still isn’t too great. Furthermore, the lack of customization at the beginning made my runs (two at Liberty Falls, one at Terminus) feel the same, which I didn’t like. I hope playing with friends will solve this problem, but I need to be careful if I continue playing.
There are a lot of things I haven’t mentioned yet, such as map progression and upgrades (my first impression is that “there may be too many mechanics here”), so I want to spend more time with this year’s Zombies mode before finalizing it this year review and rate next week. For now, I’m excited to keep playing and I’m still very impressed with how we got here. The undead sure is strange, isn’t it, soldier?
