I have been a huge fan of the Zombie mode in Call of Duty since the first instalment back in World at War now we have its with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3. Over the years we have had highs and lows with this mode. The last time I truly enjoyed Zombies was in Call of Duty: WWII.
This was done by Sledgehammer Games so I had high hopes for this instalment. After a bit of digging, it turns out that Treyarch was pulled in to make this addition of Zombies which was super confusing and should have started alarm bells. When it first got advertised it did look fantastic and seeing as they were going down the open-world route with Zombies, it piqued my interest. If they were able to do this right they could be onto a winner.
I did originally hope that it was still going to be round base and have a solid storyline but to my disappointment, this wasn’t the case with the first Zombies installment for the Modern Warfare series.
As mentioned above, zombies were my jam. It was enough in the past to get me hyped and even purchase a Call of Duty game. I have fond memories of the OG maps and even the cool additions that World War II gave us with huge actors playing the characters in the story.
So, my hype for this Zombies was justified because past Zombie modes have been fantastic and tunes of fun. Fast forward to release day and after completing the campaign the worry for this year’s instalment for COD started to hit home more. What if the reviewers, content creators, and media were right? What if this was just a rush piece game that through nothing into it and just tweaked bits and threw a £70+ price tag on it? Well, I’m here to tell you after playing the campaign and it feeling very average it was no surprise that Zombies was again an average experience.
One that does offer moments of enjoyment when playing with friends but one that doesn’t stand anywhere near its predecessors as a successful mode. Mainly because this mode is just DMZ from Modern Warfare II with hordes of Zombies thrown in so that they can call it a Zombies Mode.
This all-new open-world experience in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 was probably meant to be a defining point for the Zombies mode as it’s the first time you can team up with other squads and fight massive hordes of the undead. Not to mention that it offers the largest Call of Duty zombie map ever but when you are let loose with this mode. The other squad team-ups are few and far between as everyone is just doing their own thing or XP exploiting or grinding to get weapons levelled up or unlocked for Multiplayer.
The contracts and mini-missions in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 get repetitive and lack anything exciting and the only real selling point I have with Zombies is when playing with a pre-made squad you just get to mess around and take a break from the sweats that are currently making Multiplayer a cesspit right now.
The premise for this addition to the zombies series is that Ultranationalist arms dealer Viktor Zakhaev (who I thought was dead, thanks to the events of Modern Warfare (2019)) was pillaging the area for resources and stumbled across some Dark Aether that he released and make Urzikstan ground zero. This adds more lore and narrative to the Dark Aether storyline but not enough to hype me up for wanting to find the easter eggs and grinding the story.
Act progression in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 is boring as it just gets you to complete certain missions to be able to move on to the next storyline and like mentioned above it is just DMZ recycled. There are some good elements like the gunplay, different types of zombies, and the freedom to go where you want but this formula isn’t what made/makes zombies great and I hope they learn from this quickly and try to fix it or learn for future instalments that you know aren’t far away.
We do get some features in Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 from previous instalments like the pack-a-punch machine, perks, and the return of fan-favourite guns like the Ray-Gun and Wunderwaffe DG-2 but this can’t rescue this mode to the point of making it great again.
Due to the lack of rounds, you find yourself repeating the same small contracts, levelling yourself up to be able to go into the harder zones. This can get boring when playing solo but can become more enjoyable when with others. When you first get onto the map you start in the low-level threat zone which means there isn’t a threat to you.
You’ll quickly want to level up your gear if you want to progress into the other two areas as these are quite a big jump in terms of difficulty and if you don’t have the right gear you won’t last very long at all. The red zone is stupidly crazy and quite chaotic which does lead to some fun moments but the grind to get to the point of venturing into the harder zones is frustrating and takes time if you don’t load it with gear that you might have extracted with in previous outings.
Conclusion Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Zombies provides an average experience if that is for players wanting to make the most out of this £70+ DLC package. A half-arsed story narrative, recycled gameplay mechanics from DMZ, graphical issues, and disappointing gameplay choices lead to the butchering of a once stapled game mode in the Call of Duty Franchise. Round-based zombies will always be the way to go in my opinion.
This felt like an insult as they advertised it as an open-world zombie chaos experience but in real terms, it’s just DMZ with zombies in it. It feels like a Halloween update for DMZ rather than a classic Zombies mode and for these reasons I’m giving Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 (2023) Zombie mode a 5 out of 10.
Call of Duty Modern Warfare 3 Trailer
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