Ever ponder how we arrived here? More precisely, “How did a one-off, cooperative survival mode in a video game that used to display phrases about the horrors of war on screen when you died turn into this?” rather than in an existential, “Where did we come from?” manner. After 16 years, it is difficult to connect the ridiculous, Resident Evil 6-inspired campfest Zombies with what the original Nazi Zombies mode from 2008’s World at War used to be. I do not mean to sound negative, but Black Ops 6’s version of the mode is exciting and different because of its many new mobility features, well-designed maps, some amazing Easter Eggs, a ton of really ridiculous weapons, and the joyous return of round-based action. For a time now, zombies have not been as popular as they were in World at War, and I still wonder how we got here, but I am not whining about the outcome.
Shall we cut out the bloody guts of this thing? Two brand-new maps are included in Black Ops 6’s zombies mode: Liberty Falls, a small West Virginia town whose slice of charming Americana is set to face The Worst Day Ever (spoiler alert: it does not seem to be going well for the Americana), and Terminus, a prison complex turned bio-research-station. There does not seem to be much of an effort to catch up if, like me, you have mostly forgotten what transpired over the previous four years. The tale itself is a direct sequel to the Zombies campaign in 2020’s Black Ops Cold War. You will hear a lot of proper-noun-filled speech, which may be significant or entertaining, but it made me say “I faintly recall that person” much too frequently. Having said that, there are several interesting plot points here that I am afraid I can not discuss without giving anything away, and if you focus on the small things, you will enjoy each map more.
For the mid-combat chat, I wish I could say the same thing. Above all, I wanted the characters I was playing and the voices in my ear to stop talking. They all talk too much, which I am going to refer to as The Modern Video Game Character ProblemTM, especially when they are merely expressing their opinions aloud half the time. I am not claiming that they are all incredibly obnoxious, utterly unfunny, and wildly unlikeable, but I am also not denying that either. Their in-fight conversation is akin to a compilation of a Schwarzenegger movie written by ChatGPT. I am not expecting poetry, but at least give me banter on par with Gears of War, you know? Before I want to shoot my pals, I can only hear phrases like “We need a mop to clean up all the brains we are splattering over so many times” or “Someone is whining that the zombies make them so upset they “boil their urine.” While some of it is humorous, such as Grey’s story about wanting a protractor to determine an impact angle, much of it is just kind of there.
But you know what is sick? The gameplay. The most significant modification is Omnimovement (or zombie movement?) in Black Ops 6, which completely redesigned Call of Duty’s fundamental movement mechanics. In every direction is possible for you to sprint, slide, and dive; you can even chain these motions together. Additionally, you have complete 360-degree movement, allowing you to perform amazing things like run backward, execute a retreating dive, and slay zombies coming at you from all sides before they even arrive. Except for a few occasional suplexes, we have not seen zombie-killing maneuvers like this since Resident Evil 6. (Please add suplexes, Treyarch. Will, love.) The point I am trying to make is that this feels wonderful, and I like it, even if Treyarch misses what could be the simplest post-launch, patch-introduced layup with it. However, when the zombies become more prevalent in the latter stages, Omnimovement seems more like a fascinating addition than something you would utilize frequently.
The maps in this year’s zombie mode are my favorite feature.
The maps themselves are my favorite feature of this year’s zombies. Because of its larger open spaces and distinctive transport alternatives, such as the incredibly fun ziplines that allow you to zoom from roof to roof, Liberty Falls is my preferred destination over Terminus. Although Terminus does have some fascinating features, I prefer its more conventional structure of “paying Essence to unlock doors and access new areas” to its “restoring power to the generators and defending them from zombies so you may earn the right to open doors” twist. At one point, you’ll have to take a little outboard-powered raft to journey to the smaller islands around the main region to accomplish the next step in the map’s Easter Egg-fueled story mode. Even then, you’re not going to escape any zombies that were hunting you on the mainland. A swarm of zombies appeared like a group of enraged, undead cabbages when my group and I arrived on a beach, but c’est la vie, eh? What are the undead? I am not fluent in French.
The Easter Eggs that are specific to each map are what I truly enjoy. Throughout each round of Black Ops 6’s zombies mode, you must move around a lot, open up new places, and try to finish the Main Quest on that level. You will have to run for your life and try to collect enough Essence (from killing zombies) to unlock the next region, improve your favorite gun, or purchase a new weapon at a Pack-a-Punch Machine, which does exactly what it sounds like. The most enjoyable part is finding Easter Eggs. Naturally, there are your Main Quest tasks, such as completing math problems at Terminus’s research lab to construct your Wonder Weapon—a very strong weapon that you will need to advance through the Main Quest—or using that weapon to shoot ceiling tentacles you have called forth to locate a hard drive they have eaten. However, Easter Eggs are optional and not very entertaining. For example, you might gather all the bowling shoes on Liberty Falls and go zombie bowling, or you could shoot a concealed skull on top of the church to perform your version of It is Raining Men. There are several of these, and while I do not want to give anything away, they are all enjoyable, some in really outrageous ways.
My only gripe is that you will need a pre-made group to accomplish the exciting stuff. Our ability to move forward was constrained because each matchmade group I led either did not know what they were doing or did not feel like communicating. You will either need a lot of patience and be willing to learn how to do it, or you will already know how to do it, to finish the Main Quest on Black Ops 6’s zombies. Not only the Easter Eggs, either. To advance the Main Quest more easily, you will need to know which benefits—such as boosted health or faster reload times—to purchase first from the soda machines (and where they are, so you can eventually grab them all), when to use Essence to pack-a-punch your weapons and upgrade their rarity with Salvage, where to purchase armor upgrades, what Easter Egg goodies to save for the late game, how to keep one zombie alive at the end of a round, and much more. You will need to understand how to utilize the majority of the many mechanics in Black Ops 6.
Part of the joy is figuring out how to make sense of all this stuff.
Gogglegums, single-use candies that reappear from Black Ops 3 and offer special power-ups during matches, were the only ones I saw not receiving much rotation in my runs. In essence, you bring a personalized pack to matches, and you may either earn them or purchase them mid-match by using Essence at Gobblegum machines. In general, my team believed that it was better to spend money on more costly, guaranteed boons like a Pack-a-Punch upgrade rather than risking money on the less expensive Gobblegums, even though it is a cool idea and there are some powerful Gobblegums out there, such as Perkaholic, which gives you every perk on the map, or Wonderbar, which will give you a guaranteed Wonder Weapon the next time you use a Mystery Box. We hardly ever used them. Considering everything else you have access to and how restrictive Essence can be at times, I do not think they are horrible in and of themselves, but I also do not think they are necessary.
Please understand that half of the fun is figuring out how to make sense of all of this. Some of it will come easily to you if you have played Zombies before, but it does take a lot of coordination. And without that, well, some people would not have much fun, judging by some of the groups I was paired with. I kind of wish it was here now so I would not have to roll the matchmaking dice every time my friends were busy, but Treyarch intends to provide an optional, more supervised, story-focused version of the mode later on to protect the integrity of the Easter Egg hunt. This version will disable Easter Eggs and Side Quests. However, if you want to take a break, whatever account progression you get in Zombies is transferable to the multiplayer. Before you start matchmaking, get yourself some new firearms.
Oh, and you would better stick with Main Quest if you want to do it. Even if you are doing it correctly, finishing a map can take hours, and you can not save your progress unless you are playing alone. For example, the first time I cleared Liberty Falls, it took our group roughly three hours; admittedly, we were doing a lot of optional activities, but that is still a long time. Therefore, for the best experience, you will need a team that is accessible at the same time, a few hours of free time, and the assurance that nothing will go wrong. It is heartbreaking to reach the conclusion of a map and die, not because you failed but rather because it can take a long time to start over. We completed a map in its entirety one evening, died, and then attempted again for around ten rounds before we all realized we were worn out and should probably just start over tomorrow.
Additionally, there are a few irksome glitches. We would occasionally experience mid-match disconnects or stuttering, or my teammates would have to interact with items for us to advance, or when I tried to select our Wonder Weapon, they would consistently drop the same, super-upgraded Pack-a-Punch gun instead of the cheap one we wanted to give up. Similar issues arise with every major multiplayer game launch, but they are never enjoyable. We once struggled to properly exit a contest. Fortunately, we did not lose any progress, but it was still annoying.
Verdict
One of the people I was playing with said, “I do not think I have the correct sniper gun, because enemies are not exploding.” That sums up Black Ops 6’s zombie mode. When upgraded, a sniper rifle can shoot grenades, therefore he was not being metaphorical. There are hordes so large that, if you are not careful, they can kill your entire team before one of you can shout, “Please revive me, I have a raygun.” There are also spider monsters that explode from the corpses of slain zombies. Clearing a map for the first time is a massive job that will leave you feeling both fatigued and triumphant. It is ridiculous, campy, fantastic, and goofy in all the best ways. After our little hiatus last year, I am thrilled to see round-based gameplay returning, and I adore that there are two intriguing maps to pick from. Despite a few issues, I have not felt the need to quit playing because of them. I believe that tonight I will return to Terminus. A couple more Easter Eggs that I want to find. Who knows? I might play the remainder of Black Ops 6 at some point. But I have zombies to kill right now.
