Call of DutyZombiesfans are hoping that Treyarch is able to right the ship with its next release, as the past few modes have had issues. WhileCall of Duty: Black Ops Cold Warhad a solid gameplay loop, most of its maps lacked interesting settings and the overall round-based map count was very low.Call of Duty: Vanguard’s departure from Survival gameplay guaranteed it was dead on arrival, with the post-launch content doing little to address the complaints. ThoughVanguardZombies was far worse thanBlack Ops Cold WarZombies, both shared one key flaw: a lack of a Zombies-exclusive cast.
In recent years, theCall of Dutyfranchise has fully embraced the concept of integration. Activision wants all the cosmetic bundles players purchase to be usable anywhere, whether that beWarzoneand multiplayer or Spec Ops and Zombies. Unfortunately, that means that the distinct casts seen in Treyarch’s older Zombies modes are nowhere to be found, as players are stuck with the Operators that are used in all the other modes. With the dialogue for these characters being severely lacking, Treyarch and Activision should consider a return to form, bringing back dedicated Zombies casts.
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Why The Next Call of Duty Zombies Mode Needs a Unique Cast
Though the Dark Aether story has had a few interesting concepts, many players have struggled to get invested since they play as random campaign and multiplayer characters as opposed to a cast of Zombies icons.Characters like Richtofenand Dempsey became beloved, and their dynamic ensured that players were laughing while they slaughtered hordes of the undead. However, while the added humor was nice, it was the more serious dialogue that made an original cast so important.
Having Zombies-exclusive characters with hundreds of lines of dialogue ensured that each map felt special, and it gaveTreyarchanother way to tell its story. If a big event happened in an Easter egg or cinematic, players could hear two of the characters sharing their feelings and having a conversation about what took place in-game. When exploring a creepy new location, Takeo and Nikolai could comment on their surroundings, allowing it to feel like players were controlling real people. For fans ofCall of DutyZombies’ lore, the dialogue became one of the most exciting parts of each new map, as fans could not wait to hear how their favorite characters were evolving.
With the Operator system, this storytelling method has gone out the window. Characters are mostly silent, occasionally commenting when an item is pinged or they get a multi-kill. Considering how large the Operator roster is, and how many potential pairings there can be, it is no surprise that proper conversations between Operators are not present. Still, it becomes a lot harder to get invested inCall of DutyZombies’ main questswhen there is little reason to care about the Operators players are controlling, especially since some are campaign characters with plot armor since they appear later in the timeline.
Ultimately, Zombies has lost part of its personality because of basic map settings, but the other downside has been the introduction of Operators. ThoughVanguardused Dark Aether entities to try adding some interesting dialogue, it was a far cry from the conversations in older games. In order forCall of DutyZombies to feel special once again, a cast of characters handcrafted for the mode is a must. It may be impossible to recapture the magic of the Primis/Ultimis crews, but even something like Victis or theChaos characterswould be a step-up. Alternatively, a stacked celebrity cast would be fun to see again and would be a welcome change of pace.
Much oftheCall of Dutycommunitywill talk about how detrimentalWarzoneintegration has been for the series, but of all the modes that have been negatively impacted, Zombies ranks near the top. Activision’s main concern with going back to unique Zombies casts will likely be less microtransaction sales, but a separate cosmetic store for Zombies would be a simple solution to that problem. This way, players could buy skins and items for their favorite Zombies character, with their personalities and relationships still shining through since there would only be a few characters to choose from. Hopefully,Call of DutyZombieswill start feeling special again soon, as the last few entries have felt far less inspired than what came before. Getting rid of Operators and bringing back the concept of a Zombies-specific cast would be a very good starting point.
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