Summary
While the campaign and standard multiplayer ofCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3are set to feature a lot of ambitious changes, they pail in comparison to the unique approach that the game’s Zombie mode is set to implement. The way that Zombies will operate in the release is set to be practically unrecognizable to the original formula of the mode, though Treyarch still has control of the Zombies experience’s development.
Zombies inCall of Duty: Modern Warfare 3will be the mode’s first appearance within the widerMWfranchise, and it is borrowing a lot of its framework from the Outbreak mode seen in 2020’sBlack Ops Cold War. This means players should expect expansive open areas littered with objectives as opposed to the standard round-based gameplay of past Zombies. Interestingly, this could open up some opportunities for gameplay that the franchise never managed to get right in the past. In particular,MW3could take inspiration from theDying Lightfranchise by allowing players to become the infected themselves, opening up a whole other frontier of Zombies gameplay.
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Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Zombies: Becoming the Infected
The Zombies ofModern Warfare 3is set to be an unprecedented large-scale experience. For example, the main map of the mode is rumored to be the largest in Zombies history, and it will even allow multiple squads of players to fight alongside each other in-game. In this way, it seems thatMW3Zombies is taking a lot of mechanics fromWarzone, and the increased player count of games should give way to adversarial gameplay as well as friendly. What would be particularly interesting, though, is if actual players could control the undead.
It is true thatCall of Dutyhas explored this kind of game mode before withTurned, a mode exclusive toBlack Ops 2Zombies. While this offered fun fast-paced gameplay and allowed players to control zombies, it played more like a standard infection mode without any real nuance or variation. This is whereMW3should look towardDying Lightand its iconic “Be The Zombie” mode, which allowed players to take control of the powerful Night Hunter special infected.
Dying Light’s Be The Zombie gave the infected player objectivessuch as defending its nests, andMW3’s counterpart could see zombie players have similar objectives to complete before survivors do. This potential mode could also take inspiration from the popular Versus mode ofLeft 4 Dead, where the infected can choose where they spawn and take on a variety of roles to disorient and pounce on survivors in the most lethal way possible.
This would tie in perfectly to the mini-boss infected types that are set to feature inModern Warfare 3’s Zombies. Many of these are reoccurring enemy types fromCold War, withMW3already confirming the return of the Mimic. Having a range of unique special infected to take control of could be an excellent feature inMW3, meaning teams of zombies would have to work together to track survivors through large areas and synchronize their attacks.
IfMW3was to implement this kind of feature, it could either come through a dedicated humans vs zombies playlist, or through a feature that sees a dead teammate come back as a strong infected type in standard gameplay. WithWarzone’s Zombie Royale embracing a similar concept, Treyarch could reuse some of the technology to give dead players something to do beyond spectating. It is clear thatMW3’s Zombies will have to build upon the Outbreak formularather than just increasing the scale of its gameplay, and allowing players to become the infected could make the mode one of the most memorable inCoDhistory.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3launches on November 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
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