Summary
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3Zombies took its fair share of risks, and for the most part, those risks have paid off. The open-world format may not be what round-based fans are looking for, but casual players are loving theDMZstyle of gameplay the mode provides, with random interactions and the ability to team up with other groups providing a lot of entertainment. Contracts are fun and quick, loot is fun to hunt for, and killing the undead feels as satisfying as ever. Unfortunately, the storytelling of the mode leaves lots to be desired, which is a shame given how popularCoDZombies’ story used to be.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warmarked the beginning of the Dark Aether story, which attempted to merge Cold War era intrigue with Zombies’ fantastical elements to mixed results. Still, characters like Maxis were handled well, and the teaser for Eddie’s return was promising, giving fans something to look forward to. Unfortunately,Call of Duty: Vanguard’s introduction of demons made for a strange prologue, and nowCall of Duty:Modern Warfare 3Zombies’ story is proving to be a forgettable epilogue. Given how beloved the story once was when characters like Primis and Ultimis were around, it is hard not to notice the difference.
How Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies’ Story Continues a Downward Trend
Call of Duty’s New Style Does Not Benefit CoD Zombies
Considering the limitations Treyarch has to work around, it is not necessarily surprising thatModern Warfare 3Zombies’ story is lacking. The mode is set long afterBlack Ops Cold War, meaning that characters fans know from that game are dead. Additionally, it being set betweenModern Warfare 2andModern Warfare 3lowers the stakes drastically, as players know thatcharacters like Soapare in no real danger and that the outbreak has to be stopped before it spreads too far. However, the bigger issue is one shared byBlack Ops Cold WarandVanguardZombies: Operators.
In an effort to unify all ofCall of Duty’s modesand encourage Zombies fans to buy cosmetics, the mode has shifted to include Operators where players can wear any skins they have acquired in multiplayer orWarzone, but this comes at the cost of a major storytelling method. Conversations between characters like Nikolai and Dempsey used to go a long way to making fans invested in the story and who they were playing as, as they highlighted their development or made the protagonists endearing by providing some laughs. In MWZ, though, players are controlling Operators who lack personality and feel out of place in a Zombies setting. It feels like they have no impact on the story since they do not talk about what is happening and cinematics focus on the characters telling them what to do, yet since most of those characters are either brand-new or campaign figures with plot armor, it is hard to get invested.
The storytelling issue is not helped by a lack of story-focused Easter egg quests, no newCoDZombies songsto analyze, and lackluster radios. The radios in particular are a big blow, as the ones found in maps like Der Riese are iconic and really helped get Zombies’ story going, yet in MWZ they either feel like vague teasers for future seasons or boring info on the human Mercenaries.
Call of Duty Zombies’ Environmental Storytelling is At Its Lowest Point in MW3 Zombies
However, whileModern Warfare 3Zombies is simply continuing an unfortunate trend of Operators replacing voiced protagonists, it is also suffering from a painfully boring setting. The best Zombies maps thrived by having stunning scenery that was packed with small details to theorize about, whether it was Der Eisendrache’s beautiful castle locale that featured a young Sam’s room or the striking Morg City included a massive Apothicon in the sky. In MWZ, players are just walking around theWarzonemap Urizkstan, with minimal changes like an Aether storm and some crystals in the Holdout contract. Considering how Zombies maps in beloved modes likeBlack Ops 3used to tell a story and offer unique settings not seen elsewhere inCall of Duty, this is undeniably a big downgrade.
Ultimately,Treyarchlikely has little say in the things that are holding back the mode’s storytelling. With only a year of development time, a fully original open-world map just does not seem viable, meaning Urzikstan’s reuse was essential. Similarly, Activision is unlikely to budge on Operators since they areCall of Duty’s cash cow at the moment, even if they greatly limit storytelling opportunities. Though Treyarch can obviously be criticized for the uninspired radios and new characters like Barrera and Kapoor being introduced with no buildup, the biggest issues with the story are a result ofCall of Duty’s monetization, resource allotment, and a tight development schedule. While there is still some hope, as the return of Sam and Jansen’s new Aether abilities are intriguing, until Operators leave Zombies and reused maps are abandoned, the story won’t come close to anything from the mode’s glory days.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023)
WHERE TO PLAY
The war has changed. Call of Duty returns with an all-new campaign, modernized versions of classic Multiplayer maps and an open-world PvE Zombies experience. The campaign, a direct sequel to the record-breaking Call of Duty: Modern Warfare II, sees Captain Price and Task Force 141 face off against ultranationalist war criminal Vladimir Makarov as he extends his grasp across the world. In Multiplayer, the 16 maps that launched with Modern Warfare 2 in 2009 return with upgraded graphics, new modes and innovative gameplay features. In Modern Warfare Zombies, team up with other squads for the first time ever as you work together to survive in the largest Zombies map yet
