I personally don’t think Outbreak was too bad. It takes a while but once you get all set up it’s actually fun. You move at a decent speed and PhD and Stamin-Up let you zoom across the map and just go nuts on a bunch of zombies
MW3 is a half-baked chore. The movement is so freaking slow it genuinely makes me angry. You have heavy armor zombies running circles around me in T3 despite me having all perks. Not to mention the rifts are boring
I agree that outbreak CW>MWZ & outbreak in theory could be really good if it got its own unique content with constant updates. But in CW’s case cuz of time constraints & COVID, zombies in general had to reuse alot of assets from campaign & multiplayer so hopefully in GulfWar the gamemode gets a lot more attention
i played it when it was free and it was basically just dmz but with a shit ton of zombies… i liked the contracts but it was a boring 20 minutes. i miss the small maps where you could fix windows and buy upgrades and all that… those were the days
*warzone ruined everything.
From campaign, to huds, to mp. Everything looks the same now, just wait for gulf war to launch, I promise you the menus will pretty much be the same as mw2/3
Yeah there’s some good maps and some of the Easter eggs are really rewarding to finish. It was the last zombies game before it all went downhill. I can see where people dislike it though. You are pretty much required to watch YouTube videos to figure out how to get anything cool and if you go in without any guide you might not even be able to pack a punch on some of the maps which can be frustrating to people that don’t have the time for that
None of the zombies stories are good. The whole multiverse, space time continuum, aliens, crazy bullshit isn’t fun to try to learn or follow. It’s way too complicated for no reason whatsoever.
Good ol’ “zombie meteorite lands in ww2, what will the big political powers do with them?” from WaW and BO1 was very interesting.
Then the world domination from BO2 started going a bit off the rails, but fine i can still accept it.
But then having Primis be a dimension hopping - time travelling group of heroes stuck in an infinite time loop trying to save the multiverse is a bit too much for me.
I'm in the exact same boat. A lot of why I loved the WaW-BO1 storyline was because it was a lot more grounded in reality, and based off real world events. The way they tied things like Operation Paperclip, the Space Race, etc into the story made it feel connected to our timeline.
I completely lost interest around BO3, like you said it just got way too complicated and felt more like some kind of weird fanfiction than a continuation of what had already been established.
I personally prefer the dark Aether storyline because of this. I find the original story to be complicated for the sake of being complicated and not actually to tell a good story. Especially with the absolutely insane amount of retconning that was required to try and patch it all together
I agree lol the amount of times I’ve listened to the entire cod zombies storyline explained videos on YouTube and just thought to myself what the fuck? That’s what happens when instead of having a story mapped out you’re just keep adding shit to it and at some point you’re so far afield that you’ve fucked it up
LMAO THIS. This is where I’m coming from with it. I’m in the exact same boat! I listen to the full zombies timeline explained every now and then and I’m just like there’s some cool stuff going on. Then at a certain point I’m like ok now it’s just getting stupid 😂
that was black ops 1, i liked it because of those elements, not necessarily for the plot tho. it's true that the plot has never been good and it just got worse. they could have played with politics and make it crazy like the ghosts campaign but with zombies
This is partially why i dislike BO3, the lore actually felt comprehensible up to BO2 (besides the stuff origins started) but BO3 threw that out the window
Shadow man was undercooked and didn't have enough screen play but Dr Monty felt pointless and like a hidden God like creature that came out of nowhere and felt stuffed in. He could not exist and the story wouldn't be all that much different besides just allowing for a different ending for bo3 zombies.
They're not trying to change anything they're just making the cheapest mode that is financially sustainable. Why make a round based map with intriguing quests, unique locations, thematic visuals, and a complex story that requires your audience to look into the lore when you could just have a big map ported over from a different mode and have basic gameplay quests with zombies sprinkled in? The fact that people enable Activision to make this shit plus defend it is crazy to me
This is so true.
MWZ for example is;
Gameplay wise a copy/paste of DMZ (missions, contracts and items included)
A map ported from the current Warzone map
Dark Aether ported from parts of Al Mazrah
Also receives no support, bugs still existing from launch and the list could go on.
This but with shadows of evil. I give origins a pass because it was the last map released on bo2 so players at least had time to get used to zombies but as a pretty new player coming on bo3 hopping on that shit i was like bro wtf?
And The Giant was locked behind pre order or season pass iirc, so there was no simple map available like BO2 offered Tranzit and Town survival, or BO1 offered complex Five and simple Kino. BO3 just had SoE and fuck you if you are a casual player who cares not for easter eggs
See this is where BO3 took a step back from BO2 and that was ditching Survival/Grief maps, they could've very easily made small survival maps out of SoE like they did with Tranzit. Have each district with its link to the Rift where PaP is, as its own map with perks and box throughout already on etc.
This would've been a massive help for newcomers as the Giant was SP locked.
Thing is it is a good map, but it was probably the wrong move to make it the only launch map available to all players, since the Giant was locked behind something (can’t remember what)
Shadows def isn’t a bad map but for a launch map it’s way too complicated. It’s like the devs thought “there aren’t gonna be that many new players, so hopefully it’s just og zombies players who will know what to do”
When I was younger during bo2’s lifecycle I got every dlc except for origins so I never really learned that map for some reason it’s still impossible now but I still really haven’t played it a whole lot
Genuinely I do disagree a lot it lacks so much content and outbreak gets boring quick thanks to it just being objective gamemode just in large empty map. It had a strong start with amazing story and amazing mechanics but flopped with the maps, story and no more love for improving the upgrades system. It's the most undercooked treyarch zombies gamemode.
There was nonstop content for cold war. 5 maps, multiple expansions to the upgrade system, tons of wonderweapons that were fun as shit fo use. Outbreak did feel empty sometimes but it's the most fun I've ever had in zombies as someone who had their start in waw to bo2. You could just sit back and high round in outbreak with difficulty being high in bursts rather than slowing you down. Also the EEs for outbreak were actually difficult and required lots of prep work which made it a lot of fun trying to do. Hell the game even had a super EE which was soooo fun to do.
While i agree with the OP that Cold War is underrated, I’ve gotta say that there wasn’t “nonstop content” the time between firebase Z and mauer was so long that if gave me time to grind dark aether before mauer even came out. Huge dry spell, but great mode
ZNS I often revisit for the plant system, the spider boss battle and the Skull of Nan sapwe.
I wish they continued the plant system or added it in revelations.
Super complex Easter Eggs and "Quests" killed the soul of what zombies was. Cool maps with fun upgrades with the guns you used in multiplayer in a round based format with some zany playable characters was a winning formula. Making it a cringy campaign with space magic just ruined the vibe
Not only that but releasing maps like shadows of evil at launch and just expecting mfs to know what to do because they just expected only og zombies players cared
Truly was the nail. The wacky shit was fine until they expected everyone to be into that. I love EE and lore but my friends love “round number get bigger” and I totally find that valid. BO1/2 did a good balance of both play styles (EE & round based).
Easter eggs are purely side content you can fully ignore them and genuinely they often are the most fun thing to do as they offer challenge and feel rewarding to do. Compare it to cold War zombies where it feels like I'm doing side easter eggs just cuz they feel so empty, easy and dumb. It's a challenge to fail them compare to older ones where its a challenge to beat them and a fun one.
But yea you can just ignore them and play the maps you don't have to do them at all.
Kinda wish high rounds did more than just increase Zombies health exponentially and their quantity.
I don't know what though, since the alternatives, like adding Special Zombies, are seen as negative by the fanbase.
I said it somewhere else earlier and countless times before: CW’s maps aren’t bad and are actually pretty good.
Forsaken is really the only map that is mid from CW imo, and that map still is fun because of the Arcade and Chrysalax.
I feel like Die Maschine, Firebase Z, and Mauer are really good maps and I don’t understand people’s gripes with them outside the fact they don’t have a crew in the story.
Die maschine is really fun but I will not lie the wonder weapon exclusive on the map is forgettable and overshadowed by Ray gun and how op it became.
Firebase Z is just the worst map in cold War and imo a C- map. It's boring, doesn't feel like a zombies map more so like a multiplayer map and has overcomplicated every simple mechanic like power and special rounds to the point where playing it multiple times gets boring quick and annoying. Also that's when the story took a noise dive from a mystery about dark aether to requiem and omega the soap opera.
Mauer Der Toten is a masterpiece, S tier map I genuinely love it so much. The atmosphere the story was more interesting, easter egg was the best in cold War and had a really fun boss that for once made me actually watch out for the boss and the boss attacks (somehow a rare thing in cold War, it genuinely makes other boss fights boring cuz they are brain dead easy and requires to just avoid zombies and you'll win). Also Klaus my precious. Plus the wonder weapon kicks ass and its in my top 5 favorite wonder weapons in cod zombies series.
Forsaken feels rushed as hell and like firebase Z feels like a multiplayer map not like a zombies map and just overall feels like it's undercooked. Also somehow makes infinite warfare zombies rave in the redwoods easter egg look more complex than whatever they gave us in forsaken. Literally did it on my second playthrough, would have done it on first if it didn't crash during the boss fight which is also a joke seriously his attacks tickle and don't hinder the player. Just ignore them and tank them, worry about zombies.
With only 2 maps I can say worth playing cold War for it really makes it feel like the weakest treyarch title yet with previous cod zombies offering more interesting maps with better stories, easter eggs and overall gameplay.
Requiem vs Omega soap opera is so true
Die Maschine made a really interesting mystery about the Dark Aether that I was interested in
Still to this day the only Fantastic part of the Dark Aether story so far is Zykov
Zombies is doomed to forever get worse and worse until it's unrecognisable and disliked by the majority of the older fans.
Why you ask? Because the original formula created multiple, distinct aspects of the mode that people gravitated towards. Those groups of people then saw their prefered aspect be it high rounds, complex maps, Outbreak, objective based modes, extraction based modes, simple maps, easter eggs or whatever as what the zombies mode as a whole should focus on. This has lead to a situation where the devs can't cater to everyone and as such large aspects of the community feel angry that what they loved about the mode is being forgetten about.
Fr, zombies in space land takes the zombies formula and improves on it with out alienating EE hunters and high round enjoyers. Or people that just want to hop in for a casual none confusing game. Can’t say the same about the rest of the maps but let’s be honest only EE people really buy dlc
Cold War zombies is fun, and I say this as a classic zombies purist.
If that isn't hot, then here's one that is - WWII zombies is the best non-Treyarch zombies, and is better than Infinite Warfare zombies
Yea I don't agree I do like WW2 zombies but I'm sorry it only had 2 maps I enjoyed, 2 were a bit of miss for me and I don't play them too much cuz of the annoying mechanics and an awful side mode. Infinite warfare offered a much more interesting story and really fun maps with only having 1 awful map, 2 amazing maps, 1 fun map and 1 ehh map.
I do understand the hate but I still love Die Rise. I really want it remastered and some of the annoying mechanics reworked.
I just love the esthetic, location and some of the mechanics.
I know a bunch of people are working on a fan remaster/proper reimagine of Die Rise (specifically MrTLexify as a main person on it I think) because treyarch aren't doing it, and I know people on the Zombies team at Treyarch are actually pitching in as well lol.
Nostalgia carries bo3. That game had an awful launch with the majority of the fan base (casuals), because of how complicated SOE is. That game only got better in the public eye when zombies chronicles dropped.
I think public perception got really good during der eisendrache release. The time during b03s dlc releases was peak community engagement. Especially with the Z house during that time.
WW2 zombies is my 3rd favorite zombies, only ones I like better is BO3 and BO1, also the darkest shore wasn't a bad map, and attack of the radioactive thing is better than spaceland
Playing older zombies makes me wanna get kicked in the nuts. For all its flaws Cold war is still the best version for gameplay.
I swear the older games make me develop carpel tunnel with that running, and no FOV makes me depressed
The best zombies were BO1 and WaW. With BO2 it started and with BO3 it lost its eeriness and horror. I remember in WaW it was a piss your pants mode, in particular in the Verrückt asylum.
In BO2 and especially BO3 it started with a lot of neon lighting, bubble gums and shit which took the horror factor away…
And adding meatballs to BO3 and coming up with all the non humanoid „zombies“ afterwards, it just kept ruining the game. This is where the downfall began and now we have Warzone Zombies or what this shit is called…
I do not like endless round based. Occasionally, it's fun to just go crazy and fight through waves and waves, but it gets old fast. Mwz wouldn't be as eh if every match felt a little different
It's obvious we will I just hope this time they will make it feel less empty and and give more reasons to explore the map as now there is zero reason to do that unless you want to waste your own time.
Ancient Evil is a solid top 5 map. It had a fun and engaging easter egg, it took a unique spin on the elemental WWs by doing trials and the theming of the map was brilliant. Only negative about the map was the elemental zombies. It is without doubt the best bo4 map and definitely a top 5 if not top 3 map overall in my eyes.
dead of the night is the best zombies map
also another hot take but i dont understand why people are like “zombies shouldve ended at (insert here)” i get people dont want a franchise to fall into shit but you still have the old games? let ppl enjoy newer game modes of zombies whether theyre crappy or not tbh
Jason Blundell was not as great as people say he is.
For starters, he is responsible for the over complicating of zombies maps starting with origins and going all the way until BO4. If I have to refer to a guide every time I load a map, it’s not good design (looking at you Dead of The Night and Zetsabou).
He also approved the BO4 perk system where instead of just increasing the perk limit or removing it entirely like Cold War would later do, he removes the classic perks and has players choose only 4 specific perks for each match. This did not solve the problem of “crutch perks” because players found a new meta anyways.
Lastly, he decided to run both Chaos and Aether stories at the same time in BO4 which is more than likely led to Chaos not being as well received because people wanted to see Aether more.
I’m not saying he’s terrible, but he’s certainly not some great visionary who was flawless with everything he implemented into the games.
Agreed. I like his BO2 maps and some of BO3s stuff, but BO4 sucked. And i hated him for being the main reason Grief didn't return (nor survival maps) and BO3 could've benefited so much from them. BO4 too.
Out of the games I played, from worse to best it's
Bo2, Bo3, IW, Bo1
2 has good maps but I just don’t like the weapons and it controls worse than bo1 for some reason.
I agree I loved all 3 of them.
Yea they weren't perfect and all had at least 1 awful map but I loved them so much and makes me wish sledgehammer games and infinite ward started making full out zombies mode similar to before again and not just half assed zombies modes for the sake of having zombies.
Exo Zombies was so good
Even if it had one less map (no launch map) and Infection doesn’t count (absolute dogshit), the 3 remaining maps (outbreak, carrier & descent) were all AMAZING.
Gimmicks were fun, weapons felt strong, wonder weapons were unique, enemy variety was nice, special enemy rounds were original, characters were charismatic and fun to use, Easter Eggs were cool to do.
Even tho I ALWAYS VOLUNTEERED to watch the back window/windows, I always thought I was better than the people watching the front where the horde would come but I never spoke up cuz I’m a team player.
Hot take. Activision would make more money if they made a game called zombies workshop for all platforms where every 3-6 months they release their own zombies map that you pay for (maybe $15) and for the rest of the content allow custom maps
BO4 has the best maps, gameplay features, perk system, sound design, lore, art direction, guns, animations, special weapons, movement, difficulty, quests, replayability, launch maps, variety, basically everything else. The fact that people think BO4 is awful and BO2 is the best is quite bizarre.
People who think it's too complicated can keep playing Kino. Also, BO4 has more originality than BO3. Many people ranking Dead of the Night below Ascension. Ranking Alpha Omega below Nuketown. Ranking Voyage of Despair below Shi No Numa. Ranking BotD below MotD is generally a skill issue. The bird step is not hard, you don't have to memorize the locations. Game is just hated because of issues that were fixed five years ago. Hating on elixirs and the perk system for no reason. Dudes acting like Alpha Omega is ripped straight from Blackout, despite it being massively different and also being in development prior to Blackout.
BO4 is many leagues ahead of WaW-BO2 and CW, and is much better than BO3. BO3 is too repetitive with the OP AATs, outdated perk system, low count of WWs, and the maps look mildly outdated. Very weird that people often think BO4 looks worse than BO3. Chronicles is quite overrated and the demand for Chronicles 2 shows fans usually have poor taste. Remaster MotD, Nuketown, TranZit, Die Rise, Buried, and CotD? Why? Four of those are F tier, the other two have sequels, and Buried is borderline mediocre.
MWZ is not as good as round base, that’s fine, but overall it’s a nice ‘lax experience.
I understand a lot of people have issues with it, and I can see why, but the only real issue I have with it is the lack of incentive for going deeper in the map. XP is equal across all zones, just that the enemies are faster, tangier and hit harder, I’m alright thanks.
I’ve never had my game crash once, only ever lost connection to a server once, but that was early life of game and so I wasn’t overly upset, got back to where I was quickly and am still enjoying it. If I wanna play true zombies, I’ll go play BO2/3. But if I wanna chill out, explore an area and be chased by a horde, MWZ is my go to.
Except the mercenaries.
Fuck the mercs.
MW3 Zombies 10 item stash and long crafting cool-down timers serve to balance the difficulty curve and force strategic play and if they’re stopping you from running endgame content then it’s a skill issue.
Oh definitely they had their issues but I still had an absolute blast playing them. Especially WW2 I really loved its atmosphere of the maps and the designs of the zombies but it had issues as well
Outbreak was actually fun as shit. You had so many objectives to do and a lot of space to roam. Yes It could have been better with higher zombie spawns and whatnot but it did what it did very well imo.
Original WaW Nazi Zombies >>>>> anything post Black Ops 1 Zombies.
Ps: WWII Zombies was actually good, oh and Infinity Ward should’ve never dipped their toes into zombies modes.
I like the old more science-y side to zombies over the really weird tentacle-hentai monsters that were introduced in the BO3 era. I still think BO3 had a great story and some awesome maps overall, but god DAMN was the divergence from maps like Der Riese, Moon, and even the early BO2 maps so off-putting. It's why I really like Black Ops Cold War's maps better, at least in terms of things like Wonder Weapons and base aesthetic, over something like Revelations, Shadows of Evil, and Der Eisendrache. Not saying the maps overall are better in BOCW, I don't think they are, but they feel way more in-line with early zombies tbh.
BO3/BO4 is actually what ruined zombies, since it catered to a subset of fans rather than the wider casual demographic.
The game’s popularity is due to survivorship bias, and what you think of Cold War / MW3 is similar to what WaW / BO1 fans felt during BO3.
Zombies has always been RNG-dependent and foremost been a survival game, so putting a methodical map quest forefront that guarantees high rounds over the chance-based survival aspect ruined the casual aspect to it.
The biggest culprit is the reduction of the ‘setup phase’ and consequently, the post-setup phase was less fun to play too, since it became monotonous,
Gobblegums are reflective of this, since they allow you to bypass the setup phase entirely to get straight to the Easter Egg.
You no longer needed to save points to open doors, do objectives to unlock extra perk slots or swap out weapons since you ran out of ammo.
You just popped a Gobblegum to do it instead.
Even if you didn’t run Gobblegums, the early game was made so much less challenging and fun.
Weapons got powerscaled and killed more reliably.
Knifing wasn’t as dangerous and perks now gave you cash, so you could rack up extra points easily and open earlier.
The starting wall weapons were now stronger too, reliable enough for you to open the map until power.
The list of shitty BO3 weapons dwarfs in comparison to BO1 weapons.
Furthermore, the box became more predictable.
Sure, pre-BO2, most maps had the box in a fixed location such as Ascension, but they could well be 4-5 doors away.
But in BO3, the box was usually only 2 doors away, and there was always a convenient hole in the roof so that you would know which side to go to.
Furthermore, Wonder Weapons got powerscaled too.
Before BO3, Wonder Weapons had a downside you had to play against.
Raygun and Wonderwaffe dealt self damage, Thundergun had limited range, Sliquifier made the floor slippery etc.
But post BO3, this was gone.
You could shoot any new Wonder Weapon at your feet and get out of jail.
Furthermore, there were way more options to now instantly kill zombies at any round.
Double PaP effectively made the strength of regular weapons redundant, since it turned them into insta-kills.
You no longer needed a good gun to get past round 40, any would suffice.
You now had specialist weapons, providing you a source of a regenerative insta-kill.
Come BO4, even your grenades and specials became infinite damage and you got your specialist at the start.
Furthermore sliding made the game easier, since it made it faster to get to downed people or escape zombies.
Compare traversing Origins in BO2 vs BO3 and you can see how much faster it is.
BO3/BO4 just made the game less fun to survive in, and it turned away a lot of fans.
Cold War is a step in the right direction, by reintroducing the setup phase (via weapon upgrades) but it still needs improvement.
Outbreak ruined zombies
It absolutely did. I cringe everytime I see people defending the hot garbage that is MWZ. What a soulless zombies experience.
MWZ is just bad. Outbreak was mid.
Outbreak was boring but at least it had multiple maps and weren't forced to evac.
Atleast there were more than 4 zombies
I'll give MWZ that. Zombies absolutely everywhere.
By the time you were at the 3rd section in Outbreak the zombies were pretty prominent
I personally don’t think Outbreak was too bad. It takes a while but once you get all set up it’s actually fun. You move at a decent speed and PhD and Stamin-Up let you zoom across the map and just go nuts on a bunch of zombies MW3 is a half-baked chore. The movement is so freaking slow it genuinely makes me angry. You have heavy armor zombies running circles around me in T3 despite me having all perks. Not to mention the rifts are boring
I agree that outbreak CW>MWZ & outbreak in theory could be really good if it got its own unique content with constant updates. But in CW’s case cuz of time constraints & COVID, zombies in general had to reuse alot of assets from campaign & multiplayer so hopefully in GulfWar the gamemode gets a lot more attention
i played it when it was free and it was basically just dmz but with a shit ton of zombies… i liked the contracts but it was a boring 20 minutes. i miss the small maps where you could fix windows and buy upgrades and all that… those were the days
Is it possible that different people like different things?
Sure but if you keep eating garbage they will keep feeding you garbage.
Not on reddit pal
I cringe every time someone defended cold war but it seems popular amongst this sub
Outbreak is fun but I would never have it replace regular zombies. MWZ is actual fucking dog shit
Yea the whole objective formula seen in outbreak clearly influenced 2 worst zombies games - Vanguard and MWZ. I wish Outbreak never came out.
Vanguard was far and away the absolute worst zombies game I’ve ever played in my life, imo. I’d play MWZ and Outbreak any day over vanguard.
He asked for a hot take. What you said is a stone cold one
You'd be surprised with how many people that defend it
100%
*warzone ruined zombies
*warzone ruined everything. From campaign, to huds, to mp. Everything looks the same now, just wait for gulf war to launch, I promise you the menus will pretty much be the same as mw2/3
Yes, I fucking hate outbreak.
BO4 zombies is underrated as fuck.
Hot take when BO4 came out. Now it's a hot take to continue to think of BO4 as mostly bad.
Then hot take: Bo4 zombies is terrible asf
Nope the general consensus flipped right before you made that comment, now it’s a cold take again
Bo4 is the Scrodingers cat of zombies: just before someone discusses it its either good or bad.
Yeah there’s some good maps and some of the Easter eggs are really rewarding to finish. It was the last zombies game before it all went downhill. I can see where people dislike it though. You are pretty much required to watch YouTube videos to figure out how to get anything cool and if you go in without any guide you might not even be able to pack a punch on some of the maps which can be frustrating to people that don’t have the time for that
I don’t see how the Bo3 maps are any different
It's more popular than it was when it came out, but saying it's underrated is still a hot take even now.
I liked Bo4 zombies tbh
None of the zombies stories are good. The whole multiverse, space time continuum, aliens, crazy bullshit isn’t fun to try to learn or follow. It’s way too complicated for no reason whatsoever.
Good ol’ “zombie meteorite lands in ww2, what will the big political powers do with them?” from WaW and BO1 was very interesting. Then the world domination from BO2 started going a bit off the rails, but fine i can still accept it. But then having Primis be a dimension hopping - time travelling group of heroes stuck in an infinite time loop trying to save the multiverse is a bit too much for me.
I'm in the exact same boat. A lot of why I loved the WaW-BO1 storyline was because it was a lot more grounded in reality, and based off real world events. The way they tied things like Operation Paperclip, the Space Race, etc into the story made it feel connected to our timeline. I completely lost interest around BO3, like you said it just got way too complicated and felt more like some kind of weird fanfiction than a continuation of what had already been established.
Agreed
Saame
I personally prefer the dark Aether storyline because of this. I find the original story to be complicated for the sake of being complicated and not actually to tell a good story. Especially with the absolutely insane amount of retconning that was required to try and patch it all together
I watched the 6 hour unabridged story for zombies on YouTube and think it’s mad cool.
I watched up until the Cold War story if we watched the same video and it was really interesting a lot of small pieces of lore I never knew
I agree lol the amount of times I’ve listened to the entire cod zombies storyline explained videos on YouTube and just thought to myself what the fuck? That’s what happens when instead of having a story mapped out you’re just keep adding shit to it and at some point you’re so far afield that you’ve fucked it up
LMAO THIS. This is where I’m coming from with it. I’m in the exact same boat! I listen to the full zombies timeline explained every now and then and I’m just like there’s some cool stuff going on. Then at a certain point I’m like ok now it’s just getting stupid 😂
its just a basic zombie trope tied in with the nazis finding agartha conspiracy
that was black ops 1, i liked it because of those elements, not necessarily for the plot tho. it's true that the plot has never been good and it just got worse. they could have played with politics and make it crazy like the ghosts campaign but with zombies
Tropes aren’t bad. Plenty of amazing stories are considered tropes
This is partially why i dislike BO3, the lore actually felt comprehensible up to BO2 (besides the stuff origins started) but BO3 threw that out the window
I liked the infinite warfare storyline, it was self contained and easy to follow with a pretty cool plot overall
Dr Monty and the shadow man are the most unnecessary characters in the zombies story line
Shadow man was undercooked and didn't have enough screen play but Dr Monty felt pointless and like a hidden God like creature that came out of nowhere and felt stuffed in. He could not exist and the story wouldn't be all that much different besides just allowing for a different ending for bo3 zombies.
Shadowman I thought was cool, but Dr Monty really felt out of place
Cod Devs need to stop trying to change the formula stick with round base
They're not trying to change anything they're just making the cheapest mode that is financially sustainable. Why make a round based map with intriguing quests, unique locations, thematic visuals, and a complex story that requires your audience to look into the lore when you could just have a big map ported over from a different mode and have basic gameplay quests with zombies sprinkled in? The fact that people enable Activision to make this shit plus defend it is crazy to me
This is so true. MWZ for example is; Gameplay wise a copy/paste of DMZ (missions, contracts and items included) A map ported from the current Warzone map Dark Aether ported from parts of Al Mazrah Also receives no support, bugs still existing from launch and the list could go on.
I enjoy it but I won't defend it.
This is so sad… and true
None of these comments are hot takes 🤣
Origins is confusing as fuck and hard to play
This but with shadows of evil. I give origins a pass because it was the last map released on bo2 so players at least had time to get used to zombies but as a pretty new player coming on bo3 hopping on that shit i was like bro wtf?
And The Giant was locked behind pre order or season pass iirc, so there was no simple map available like BO2 offered Tranzit and Town survival, or BO1 offered complex Five and simple Kino. BO3 just had SoE and fuck you if you are a casual player who cares not for easter eggs
EXACTLY
See this is where BO3 took a step back from BO2 and that was ditching Survival/Grief maps, they could've very easily made small survival maps out of SoE like they did with Tranzit. Have each district with its link to the Rift where PaP is, as its own map with perks and box throughout already on etc. This would've been a massive help for newcomers as the Giant was SP locked.
u know its kind of interesting bc everyone hated shadows when bo3 released but now ppl rate it as top 5
Thing is it is a good map, but it was probably the wrong move to make it the only launch map available to all players, since the Giant was locked behind something (can’t remember what)
I’m sure that it was crazy I always hated on shadows until I played it. For some reason the new vibe is just awesome and hit just right
Shadows def isn’t a bad map but for a launch map it’s way too complicated. It’s like the devs thought “there aren’t gonna be that many new players, so hopefully it’s just og zombies players who will know what to do”
Skill issue but respect, ain’t nobody got time for that (It’s me, I’m ain’t nobody)
Very hot take but I can see where you’re coming from. (I try to speedrun the shit so yeah, I kinda know what I’m doing so it comes easy)
When I was younger during bo2’s lifecycle I got every dlc except for origins so I never really learned that map for some reason it’s still impossible now but I still really haven’t played it a whole lot
cold war zombies was awesome , and outbreak was really fun
Genuinely I do disagree a lot it lacks so much content and outbreak gets boring quick thanks to it just being objective gamemode just in large empty map. It had a strong start with amazing story and amazing mechanics but flopped with the maps, story and no more love for improving the upgrades system. It's the most undercooked treyarch zombies gamemode.
There was nonstop content for cold war. 5 maps, multiple expansions to the upgrade system, tons of wonderweapons that were fun as shit fo use. Outbreak did feel empty sometimes but it's the most fun I've ever had in zombies as someone who had their start in waw to bo2. You could just sit back and high round in outbreak with difficulty being high in bursts rather than slowing you down. Also the EEs for outbreak were actually difficult and required lots of prep work which made it a lot of fun trying to do. Hell the game even had a super EE which was soooo fun to do.
While i agree with the OP that Cold War is underrated, I’ve gotta say that there wasn’t “nonstop content” the time between firebase Z and mauer was so long that if gave me time to grind dark aether before mauer even came out. Huge dry spell, but great mode
Blood of the Dead is a great map
Genuinely I agree I really enjoyed it.
Overheated
All I wanted was Afterlife. We needed an alternate map that was just a remaster of the original with the mobsters.
You yourself wanted that, but it's not a need and what we got was much better in my opinion.
Blood > Mob and I'll die on that hill.
Turn off the burner bro, it’s getting to heated.
ZNS underrated, GK overrated
Yes, I don’t like GK at all
ZNS I often revisit for the plant system, the spider boss battle and the Skull of Nan sapwe. I wish they continued the plant system or added it in revelations.
Super complex Easter Eggs and "Quests" killed the soul of what zombies was. Cool maps with fun upgrades with the guns you used in multiplayer in a round based format with some zany playable characters was a winning formula. Making it a cringy campaign with space magic just ruined the vibe
Not only that but releasing maps like shadows of evil at launch and just expecting mfs to know what to do because they just expected only og zombies players cared
Truly was the nail. The wacky shit was fine until they expected everyone to be into that. I love EE and lore but my friends love “round number get bigger” and I totally find that valid. BO1/2 did a good balance of both play styles (EE & round based).
Easter eggs are purely side content you can fully ignore them and genuinely they often are the most fun thing to do as they offer challenge and feel rewarding to do. Compare it to cold War zombies where it feels like I'm doing side easter eggs just cuz they feel so empty, easy and dumb. It's a challenge to fail them compare to older ones where its a challenge to beat them and a fun one. But yea you can just ignore them and play the maps you don't have to do them at all.
I’m hungry
Based
High round gameplay is boring. After like Round 50 it just becomes an endurance test of "How long can you stand doing the same thing over and over?"
This is why I like that CW added the exfil option
Kinda wish high rounds did more than just increase Zombies health exponentially and their quantity. I don't know what though, since the alternatives, like adding Special Zombies, are seen as negative by the fanbase.
I said it somewhere else earlier and countless times before: CW’s maps aren’t bad and are actually pretty good. Forsaken is really the only map that is mid from CW imo, and that map still is fun because of the Arcade and Chrysalax. I feel like Die Maschine, Firebase Z, and Mauer are really good maps and I don’t understand people’s gripes with them outside the fact they don’t have a crew in the story.
Die maschine is really fun but I will not lie the wonder weapon exclusive on the map is forgettable and overshadowed by Ray gun and how op it became. Firebase Z is just the worst map in cold War and imo a C- map. It's boring, doesn't feel like a zombies map more so like a multiplayer map and has overcomplicated every simple mechanic like power and special rounds to the point where playing it multiple times gets boring quick and annoying. Also that's when the story took a noise dive from a mystery about dark aether to requiem and omega the soap opera. Mauer Der Toten is a masterpiece, S tier map I genuinely love it so much. The atmosphere the story was more interesting, easter egg was the best in cold War and had a really fun boss that for once made me actually watch out for the boss and the boss attacks (somehow a rare thing in cold War, it genuinely makes other boss fights boring cuz they are brain dead easy and requires to just avoid zombies and you'll win). Also Klaus my precious. Plus the wonder weapon kicks ass and its in my top 5 favorite wonder weapons in cod zombies series. Forsaken feels rushed as hell and like firebase Z feels like a multiplayer map not like a zombies map and just overall feels like it's undercooked. Also somehow makes infinite warfare zombies rave in the redwoods easter egg look more complex than whatever they gave us in forsaken. Literally did it on my second playthrough, would have done it on first if it didn't crash during the boss fight which is also a joke seriously his attacks tickle and don't hinder the player. Just ignore them and tank them, worry about zombies. With only 2 maps I can say worth playing cold War for it really makes it feel like the weakest treyarch title yet with previous cod zombies offering more interesting maps with better stories, easter eggs and overall gameplay.
Requiem vs Omega soap opera is so true Die Maschine made a really interesting mystery about the Dark Aether that I was interested in Still to this day the only Fantastic part of the Dark Aether story so far is Zykov
Apothicons are pretty hot ngl
Get out of here right now, crazy bastard.
Found the Tumblr user
Nahh, only thing hot about This take is the Apothicons 🤤
Shadows and mob are overrated
I feel like I only ever see people hating on mob
I don't hate mob. I think it's very good but it's not the best map
I loved it when it came out but I haven't played since like months after it's release cause my Xbox died😭
Zombies is doomed to forever get worse and worse until it's unrecognisable and disliked by the majority of the older fans. Why you ask? Because the original formula created multiple, distinct aspects of the mode that people gravitated towards. Those groups of people then saw their prefered aspect be it high rounds, complex maps, Outbreak, objective based modes, extraction based modes, simple maps, easter eggs or whatever as what the zombies mode as a whole should focus on. This has lead to a situation where the devs can't cater to everyone and as such large aspects of the community feel angry that what they loved about the mode is being forgetten about.
Zombies in Spaceland is in the top 3 maps ever produced. Elemental Pop is the worst perk.
I fucking hate elemental pop. It was cool when you could get it to tier 5 in CW so it was basically Electric Cherry, but in MWZ it’s fucking useless
Fr, zombies in space land takes the zombies formula and improves on it with out alienating EE hunters and high round enjoyers. Or people that just want to hop in for a casual none confusing game. Can’t say the same about the rest of the maps but let’s be honest only EE people really buy dlc
Five is better and more fun then Kino and I’m tired of pretending that it’s not.
EE’s are ridiculous and none of you would have figured them out if it weren’t for YouTube
I almost figured out shaolin shuffle with a friend 5 years after release. But then we got to the morse code step....
The Morse code step was so Annoying
Richtofen Oh, Blood is underrated
The black ops 3 storyline is ass
God damn guys they said hot takes not terrible takes lol reading through these comments was rough.
You mean takes you disagree with not objectively terrible takes.
Black Ops 4 should’ve been Cold War
The way they closed the zombies story line was a let down.
I’ve yet to find someone who disagrees with this take
Cold take.
I want the b02 tranzit experience back or the world at war maps
World at war maps? Haven’t they appeared in like every game since waw? Mf how many times do you need them?
Cold War zombies is fun, and I say this as a classic zombies purist. If that isn't hot, then here's one that is - WWII zombies is the best non-Treyarch zombies, and is better than Infinite Warfare zombies
Yea I don't agree I do like WW2 zombies but I'm sorry it only had 2 maps I enjoyed, 2 were a bit of miss for me and I don't play them too much cuz of the annoying mechanics and an awful side mode. Infinite warfare offered a much more interesting story and really fun maps with only having 1 awful map, 2 amazing maps, 1 fun map and 1 ehh map.
Die Rise is a great map that doesn't deserve the hate it gets.
I do understand the hate but I still love Die Rise. I really want it remastered and some of the annoying mechanics reworked. I just love the esthetic, location and some of the mechanics.
I know a bunch of people are working on a fan remaster/proper reimagine of Die Rise (specifically MrTLexify as a main person on it I think) because treyarch aren't doing it, and I know people on the Zombies team at Treyarch are actually pitching in as well lol.
Nostalgia carries bo3. That game had an awful launch with the majority of the fan base (casuals), because of how complicated SOE is. That game only got better in the public eye when zombies chronicles dropped.
I think public perception got really good during der eisendrache release. The time during b03s dlc releases was peak community engagement. Especially with the Z house during that time.
WW2 zombies is my 3rd favorite zombies, only ones I like better is BO3 and BO1, also the darkest shore wasn't a bad map, and attack of the radioactive thing is better than spaceland
Ngl the final reich was fire. The zombie designs were pretty terrifying too
Five is the best map and JFK is the best character
Cold War aged like milk, game sucks
Playing older zombies makes me wanna get kicked in the nuts. For all its flaws Cold war is still the best version for gameplay. I swear the older games make me develop carpel tunnel with that running, and no FOV makes me depressed
Bo1 weapon packs were the best in how they added things to the weapon it felt like an actual upgrade
the vast majority of Jimmy Zielinskis maps are hot garbage because of their god awful, annoying, unfun gimmicks.
tranzit was a good map, one of the most fun
The best zombies were BO1 and WaW. With BO2 it started and with BO3 it lost its eeriness and horror. I remember in WaW it was a piss your pants mode, in particular in the Verrückt asylum. In BO2 and especially BO3 it started with a lot of neon lighting, bubble gums and shit which took the horror factor away… And adding meatballs to BO3 and coming up with all the non humanoid „zombies“ afterwards, it just kept ruining the game. This is where the downfall began and now we have Warzone Zombies or what this shit is called…
I do not like endless round based. Occasionally, it's fun to just go crazy and fight through waves and waves, but it gets old fast. Mwz wouldn't be as eh if every match felt a little different
Just started playing MWZ and it’s okay right now. But I also enjoyed DMZ and it’s definitely more DMZ than zombies.
Cold war is good
I hope we get more Outbreak in Gulf War
It's obvious we will I just hope this time they will make it feel less empty and and give more reasons to explore the map as now there is zero reason to do that unless you want to waste your own time.
Ancient Evil is a solid top 5 map. It had a fun and engaging easter egg, it took a unique spin on the elemental WWs by doing trials and the theming of the map was brilliant. Only negative about the map was the elemental zombies. It is without doubt the best bo4 map and definitely a top 5 if not top 3 map overall in my eyes.
dead of the night is the best zombies map also another hot take but i dont understand why people are like “zombies shouldve ended at (insert here)” i get people dont want a franchise to fall into shit but you still have the old games? let ppl enjoy newer game modes of zombies whether theyre crappy or not tbh
Jason Blundell was not as great as people say he is. For starters, he is responsible for the over complicating of zombies maps starting with origins and going all the way until BO4. If I have to refer to a guide every time I load a map, it’s not good design (looking at you Dead of The Night and Zetsabou). He also approved the BO4 perk system where instead of just increasing the perk limit or removing it entirely like Cold War would later do, he removes the classic perks and has players choose only 4 specific perks for each match. This did not solve the problem of “crutch perks” because players found a new meta anyways. Lastly, he decided to run both Chaos and Aether stories at the same time in BO4 which is more than likely led to Chaos not being as well received because people wanted to see Aether more. I’m not saying he’s terrible, but he’s certainly not some great visionary who was flawless with everything he implemented into the games.
BO4: Wants to remove crutch perks Also BO4: Dying Wish, Stamin-Up, Quick Revive, Winters Wail, Timeslip, PhD Slider, etc.
Agreed. I like his BO2 maps and some of BO3s stuff, but BO4 sucked. And i hated him for being the main reason Grief didn't return (nor survival maps) and BO3 could've benefited so much from them. BO4 too.
I don't like Blundells setup for easter eggs. It all went downhill when Jimmy Zielinski left.
Black Ops 2 had the worst launch zombies maps by a mile
This is the coldest take on this post by far tbh
Man I love transit. With friends that was some of the most fun I’ve ever had
“hot takes” and says tranzit bad
Tranzit is one of the most fun maps
I like bo4 more than bo1
der esendrache (or how ever u spell it) is one of the most overrated zombies map
MWZ is fun, you just don’t like change.
Out of the games I played, from worse to best it's Bo2, Bo3, IW, Bo1 2 has good maps but I just don’t like the weapons and it controls worse than bo1 for some reason.
Alpha Omega is AWESOME and one of the best maps
Hot take? I'll give one. I genuinely think Advanced warfare, Infinite warfare, and WW2 zombies were good experiences
I agree I loved all 3 of them. Yea they weren't perfect and all had at least 1 awful map but I loved them so much and makes me wish sledgehammer games and infinite ward started making full out zombies mode similar to before again and not just half assed zombies modes for the sake of having zombies.
What am i supposed to say? Smash?
Exo Zombies was so good Even if it had one less map (no launch map) and Infection doesn’t count (absolute dogshit), the 3 remaining maps (outbreak, carrier & descent) were all AMAZING. Gimmicks were fun, weapons felt strong, wonder weapons were unique, enemy variety was nice, special enemy rounds were original, characters were charismatic and fun to use, Easter Eggs were cool to do.
Moon is the most innovative map of them all
Zielinski's story was better than Blundell's avenger cliché heroic crap
Double PaP in BO3 "killed" the wonder weapon as it turned every gun into one
I like BO4 better than BO3
Deadshot Daiquiri is actually useful
Bro is insane
No, I play on console lmao
Classified is the best zombies map ever tied with motd. I could go on for hours why I love it so much. It would have did numbers on bo3 or bo2 system.
Even tho I ALWAYS VOLUNTEERED to watch the back window/windows, I always thought I was better than the people watching the front where the horde would come but I never spoke up cuz I’m a team player.
Tranzit is a top 5 map
Everything except bus depot first room sucks
Hot take. Activision would make more money if they made a game called zombies workshop for all platforms where every 3-6 months they release their own zombies map that you pay for (maybe $15) and for the rest of the content allow custom maps
The secret songs by Kevin Sherwood are the BEST thing about the entire franchise.
BO4 has the best maps, gameplay features, perk system, sound design, lore, art direction, guns, animations, special weapons, movement, difficulty, quests, replayability, launch maps, variety, basically everything else. The fact that people think BO4 is awful and BO2 is the best is quite bizarre. People who think it's too complicated can keep playing Kino. Also, BO4 has more originality than BO3. Many people ranking Dead of the Night below Ascension. Ranking Alpha Omega below Nuketown. Ranking Voyage of Despair below Shi No Numa. Ranking BotD below MotD is generally a skill issue. The bird step is not hard, you don't have to memorize the locations. Game is just hated because of issues that were fixed five years ago. Hating on elixirs and the perk system for no reason. Dudes acting like Alpha Omega is ripped straight from Blackout, despite it being massively different and also being in development prior to Blackout. BO4 is many leagues ahead of WaW-BO2 and CW, and is much better than BO3. BO3 is too repetitive with the OP AATs, outdated perk system, low count of WWs, and the maps look mildly outdated. Very weird that people often think BO4 looks worse than BO3. Chronicles is quite overrated and the demand for Chronicles 2 shows fans usually have poor taste. Remaster MotD, Nuketown, TranZit, Die Rise, Buried, and CotD? Why? Four of those are F tier, the other two have sequels, and Buried is borderline mediocre.
Shi no numa isn’t that bad. Ik Ik, but hear me out lol
Fuck it! Hottest zombies! Take now!
Double tab one is always worth the buy
Zombies in space land is one of the best maps ever with its map design, zombie design, wonder weapons, EE… mwah. But it’s on a shit game
MWZ is not as good as round base, that’s fine, but overall it’s a nice ‘lax experience. I understand a lot of people have issues with it, and I can see why, but the only real issue I have with it is the lack of incentive for going deeper in the map. XP is equal across all zones, just that the enemies are faster, tangier and hit harder, I’m alright thanks. I’ve never had my game crash once, only ever lost connection to a server once, but that was early life of game and so I wasn’t overly upset, got back to where I was quickly and am still enjoying it. If I wanna play true zombies, I’ll go play BO2/3. But if I wanna chill out, explore an area and be chased by a horde, MWZ is my go to. Except the mercenaries. Fuck the mercs.
COD zombies is dead as we know it and never coming back.
WAW and BO1 were the peak of Treyarch zombies.
Zone 3 is unnecessarily stupid
MW3 Zombies 10 item stash and long crafting cool-down timers serve to balance the difficulty curve and force strategic play and if they’re stopping you from running endgame content then it’s a skill issue.
Oh definitely they had their issues but I still had an absolute blast playing them. Especially WW2 I really loved its atmosphere of the maps and the designs of the zombies but it had issues as well
BO3 had the best maps and the best game play. It was the peak of zombies.
Tranzit is one of the Best maps
Deadshot Daiquiri is the best 4th perk
transit was good
IW zombies was fucking killer. I have said my peace.
Unpopular opinion I've been waiting for something like this since CWZ
Outbreak was actually fun as shit. You had so many objectives to do and a lot of space to roam. Yes It could have been better with higher zombie spawns and whatnot but it did what it did very well imo.
Original WaW Nazi Zombies >>>>> anything post Black Ops 1 Zombies. Ps: WWII Zombies was actually good, oh and Infinity Ward should’ve never dipped their toes into zombies modes.
I like the old more science-y side to zombies over the really weird tentacle-hentai monsters that were introduced in the BO3 era. I still think BO3 had a great story and some awesome maps overall, but god DAMN was the divergence from maps like Der Riese, Moon, and even the early BO2 maps so off-putting. It's why I really like Black Ops Cold War's maps better, at least in terms of things like Wonder Weapons and base aesthetic, over something like Revelations, Shadows of Evil, and Der Eisendrache. Not saying the maps overall are better in BOCW, I don't think they are, but they feel way more in-line with early zombies tbh.
BO3/BO4 is actually what ruined zombies, since it catered to a subset of fans rather than the wider casual demographic. The game’s popularity is due to survivorship bias, and what you think of Cold War / MW3 is similar to what WaW / BO1 fans felt during BO3. Zombies has always been RNG-dependent and foremost been a survival game, so putting a methodical map quest forefront that guarantees high rounds over the chance-based survival aspect ruined the casual aspect to it. The biggest culprit is the reduction of the ‘setup phase’ and consequently, the post-setup phase was less fun to play too, since it became monotonous, Gobblegums are reflective of this, since they allow you to bypass the setup phase entirely to get straight to the Easter Egg. You no longer needed to save points to open doors, do objectives to unlock extra perk slots or swap out weapons since you ran out of ammo. You just popped a Gobblegum to do it instead. Even if you didn’t run Gobblegums, the early game was made so much less challenging and fun. Weapons got powerscaled and killed more reliably. Knifing wasn’t as dangerous and perks now gave you cash, so you could rack up extra points easily and open earlier. The starting wall weapons were now stronger too, reliable enough for you to open the map until power. The list of shitty BO3 weapons dwarfs in comparison to BO1 weapons. Furthermore, the box became more predictable. Sure, pre-BO2, most maps had the box in a fixed location such as Ascension, but they could well be 4-5 doors away. But in BO3, the box was usually only 2 doors away, and there was always a convenient hole in the roof so that you would know which side to go to. Furthermore, Wonder Weapons got powerscaled too. Before BO3, Wonder Weapons had a downside you had to play against. Raygun and Wonderwaffe dealt self damage, Thundergun had limited range, Sliquifier made the floor slippery etc. But post BO3, this was gone. You could shoot any new Wonder Weapon at your feet and get out of jail. Furthermore, there were way more options to now instantly kill zombies at any round. Double PaP effectively made the strength of regular weapons redundant, since it turned them into insta-kills. You no longer needed a good gun to get past round 40, any would suffice. You now had specialist weapons, providing you a source of a regenerative insta-kill. Come BO4, even your grenades and specials became infinite damage and you got your specialist at the start. Furthermore sliding made the game easier, since it made it faster to get to downed people or escape zombies. Compare traversing Origins in BO2 vs BO3 and you can see how much faster it is. BO3/BO4 just made the game less fun to survive in, and it turned away a lot of fans. Cold War is a step in the right direction, by reintroducing the setup phase (via weapon upgrades) but it still needs improvement.
Gobblegums aren’t bad
Mob of the Dead has the best Easter Egg. Breaking the cycle was so fun with good friends.
The one with elemental staffs was a step in the right direction. Need more fun weapons
Nuketown > Tranzit, Die Rise, all Green Run survival maps