Call of Duty has been one of the most influential and successful video game franchises out there. You say the name and most people know what you’re talking about, but the last few years it seems many fans shrug at the mention of the game or talk down about it now regardless of what critics say about the games.
What official critics say and the stats showing the sales of games are one thing but the biggest concern is, are the fans happy with the games? For years the game’s roots were mainly entwined in World War II but then ‘Activision’ left the past and came into a more modern era with Modern Warfare (2007) which seemed to have re-spark interest with old fans and opened the door for new fans.
The original ‘Nazi Zombies‘ from ‘COD: World at War‘
Not long afterward fans were taken into an alternate historical reality with Black Ops (2010) which eventually took the series towards more of a futuristic approach, but it was back in 2008 that something new was added into the game. Nazi Zombies, a bonus level you unlock after beating World at War, the last WWII themed Call of Duty game till the latest release of Call of Duty WWII (2017)
Zombie art from ‘COD: WWII‘
The level was simple, you had to earn points that acted as a form of currency to unlock barriers and buy stronger weapons in order to stay alive as long as possible against waves of literal Nazi zombies. Since then the Black Ops series had a zombie level, Advance Warfare (2014), Infinite Warfare (2016) and this year’s release WWII all have zombie levels. Meanwhile, the Modern Warfare series and Ghosts did not have zombies; Ghosts had a zombie-like level where players fight aliens.
The zombies from ‘COD: Black Ops III‘ the level appears to be heavily influenced by Lovecraft and set in the ’20s
As the years progressed, the main campaign of the games seemed dull while the zombie levels appeared to have had more thought put into them, especially since the levels have evolved to become larger, actual storylines are in place, objectives and complicated easter egg puzzles to solve. Also, the zombie game mode has their own main characters who are voiced by well-known actors that give them a bit of a Hollywood film sort of feel.
Zombies from ‘COD: Advanced Warfare‘ otherwise known as ‘Exo Zombies’ since many of the zombies are wearing exo suit rigs as seen here
So now to the point of this, I think it’s time for Activision to make an official standalone Call of Duty Zombie game. I know, there was COD Zombies and Zombies II but they were for iOS (mobile). I’m talking an actual full-length game that can be played solo or co-op, extensive levels, weapon upgrading systems, in-depth storyline, A-list cast etc. From what I’ve seen personally and watching YouTubers I’ve noticed that the developers seem to put more effort into these kinds of levels and stories then they do for the main game itself, so why not just make a whole game like that?
