Why IW / IW Zombies is dead.

[ZombiesIsKey]

We all knew it would happen. We knew Call of Duty would take a step too far and cause the community to collapse. It's been like a ticking time bomb waiting to explode. On the run up to Infinite Warfare, the community took to social media to express their feelings about the whole "futuristic" Call of Duty and how they didn't like it. But by the time BO3 was finishing the game was already made and ready to be put into BETA. Now don't get me know, IW as a whole is a good game in my opinion. I feel like the whole community voice is what makes others dislike the game as they feel like they have to be part of the group. Infinite Warfare is by far not my favourite Call of Duty game but I do enjoy it and I really cant complain about the zombie mode either.

 

Speaking about zombies - It's not Treyarch so I wasn't expecting an amazing zombie mode but I was expecting something better than AW's zombies and they have definitely done that. Lee Ross, one of the main peeps for IW Zombies, is constantly active on social media and replying to people in regards to things zombie related. He isn't just replying to YouTubers but also the small part of the community who don't do YouTube and who just take to Twitter / Facebook to post things about the mode. Really, I couldn't ask for more. Sure, the mode is sort of cartoonish and doesn't have that much of a scary feel but again its different developers with their first try at this. The mode has zombies, easter eggs, WW's and so much more extra things such as the arcade and it is its own little thing. I played a lot of Zombies when the game first released and I really didn't find much of a problem with it.

 

To be honest, the game still has enough players to fill the servers but no where near what BO3 still has active playing the game. Especially on PC it can be super hard to find people sometimes.

 

Without the community, COD would break apart and that is why both sides must meet in the middle. It's hard to reach everyone's expectations but I think so many people don't give things a chance. But everyone is entitled to their own opinion of course.

 

My final opinion is the heart of zombies lies with Treyarch. I am happy to play any other Call of Duty Zombie modes to certainly give it a try but I don't see anything breaking Treyarchs mode.

 

When IW released it's trailer, the community went ballistic and as you probably know the video got more dislikes than likes. I think also this eruption of disappointment before the game was even released led to a lot of people not buying the game or giving it a try.

 

So in conclusion - Fan disappointment, opinion and not enough communication led to the low player count and quiet servers on a game with good potential.

 

Everyone is entitled to their own opinion and I have nothing against that. This is just how I feel IW is so quiet and why a lot of people seem to dislike the game.

 

On the plus side of things, if you do enjoy IW Zombies - DLC 2 will be out soon!

[Spider]

I have the Digital Deluxe Versions on both PS4 and Xbox One, I haven't really tried Zombies yet, Only played MWR Story on both so far, Haven't even touched IW Story or MP.

[anonymous]

Although I do not have the game, I am interested in the easter eggs, secrets and story of it. Are there already theorists who have worked on the story? A great disadvantage for IW would be the lack of theorists and storytellers. Without the story, Treyarch Zombies would not even be half as much fun as I find it today.

And that while I'm sure IW has put a lot of story stuff in the game, yet to be found by hunters. Its a whole new game. A whole new story to uncover and theorize about!

[The_Giant_935]

I totally agree, IW is not a bad game. I mean I am a fan of the old Call of duty without futuristic stuff but I still can enjoy IW,

I think that some futuristic games were needed bcs I am sure we would have been tried to play always the same thing, even if I am not a fan

of them they were good and will make us appreciate more the games when they will back in our days or past time. 

 

About zombie I think their zombie is a good product but they maybe chosen not the best moment to launch it, we are in the conclusion (or so)

of the main zombies by treyarch so the community is too focused on that one, ppl still waiting a dlc 5 or they are in the hope 

so is normal that a product who had us play for 10yrs will always come before. But I still consider IW a good game and I will always keep 

a positive memory of it. 

[InfestLithium]

I think people bash on IW's Zombies too harshly. It's the same reason why Exo-Zombies was mostly disliked: because it's not Treyarch.

 

People can try and say that's not the case, but you can't deny the reality of it all. The Zombies community started with Treyarch Zombies fans, and I'd say takes up about a solid 95% of the entire undead community with 5% being fresh-blood from Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare. When you take dedicated fans of one game and attempt to make them enjoy another game with an identical gameplay structure minus some creative liberty, you're gonna have a bad time.

 

And I think that's just unfair to IW. Lee Ross is an excellent Zombies director who really enjoys communicating with the entire community unlike a certain individual whose name rhymes with Dundell. He knows that the community thrives on secrets and story, hence all the insane mini-easter Eggs (Ghost N' Skulls) and character developement for the main antagonist Wyler (charms in Rave in the Redwoods). At the same time, IW Zombies is designed to be visually entrancing and unrealistic comapred to the enriching yet serious nature which is Treyarch Zombies.

 

I heard a few people even arguing that if Lee Ross knows what the players want, then he should be able to replicate Treyarch's success. But they also forget that there's no realistic way Lee Ross can turn 2 maps into 8 years worth of climatic storytelling - it's just not possible. And in all fairness, when Treyarch release the World at War maps, Zombies was still a brand new mode so of fucking course they'd get new fans on the edge of their seats.

 

The Call of Duty franchise is so saturated with Zombies that every rendition of the mode, whether from Treyarch or another developer, just looks watered down until people get bored of it. That's why Black Ops 3 looked so lackluster compared to Black Ops for Zombies, yet BO3 had the most updates and new mechanics to give players near full control over their slaying experience. But it was just a little too late...people grew bored and just wanted answers instead of actually searching for the clues. I'm not saying it's entirely the fans' fault, but it certainly can't all be on the developer either.

 

The paradox must be resolved.

[NaBrZHunter]

I loved IW. The multiplayer beat out BO3 multiplayer 10 to 1, IMO, except for the lack of an arena/league/competitive playlist, no matter how many times they claimed it was "coming soon." That was one of the biggest factors in chasing me off. 

On the other hand, the campain...ah, that campain. To die for (no pun intended) and so well done. The characters were very well developed and by the end, the attachment was solid. 

Zombies, however...I don't even know. I hardly played. I am the epitome of a Treyarch zombies fan, and not even that! If the story isn't hooking me, I don't even play Treyarch zombies. I'm a good slayer, and I can run circles around trains, but that's only because I was always in pursuit of the story and no zombie was gonna stop me. For me, then...I'm not sure if COD will ruin zombies as in "burn me out." What I am concerned about is that because of so much usage of the zombie concept, future Treyarch zombies will be forced to use extremes in gameplay that they wouldn't otherwise. For me, for instance, I love dynamic maps. Lots of radios, buttons to punch, equipment to use, switches to flip...but I don't want to be amazed by OP weapons and wild escape routes. My guns don't need to shoot slime or summon demons or self-animate and my escape routes don't need to fling me into the stratosphere or through a swirling portal for me to decide a game is good. And honestly, I don't need fancy cutscenes that tell me exactly what is going on. I just want a survival game with guns and a few little cool, story-related boosts and hidden pieces of the story to hunt for with plenty of gaps for us, the community, to fill. Unfortunately, the overproduction of COD Zombies games and the gaming community's obsession with customized features and clear cut heroes is rapidly making such simplicity obsolete in the world of marketing.

[koolaidude]

Yeah I loved it in the beginning and now I'm bored until Dlc 2. Playing the hell outta bo3 rn

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[RadZakpak]

To me Spaceland wasn't that bad, but it didn't blow me away or make me want to buy any DLC. It's enjoyable for what it is, and looking at it from an objective point of view, it's not bad. But that's the thing, it's not great either. The story and the characters lack any sort of soul, similar to Exo-Zombies for me.

 

If you ask me, celebrity appearances only really work when they are not playing themselves. And while the actors don't play themselves in IW Zombies, their characters are not interesting whatsoever, besides Willard Wyler I suppose, but a villain character is much easier to make interesting. Sure, the original characters from Shi No Numa were stereotypes too with little in the ways of actual substance. But they were charming, and you developed a sense of who they are as an actual person through gameplay, not to mention the little story snippets added into World at War, and the future development through Der Riese and Black Ops. All I think when I hear Poindexter in Spaceland is "Hey that's Seth Green acting like a nerd", for every single line. I see no motivation behind anyone's actions besides Willard Wyler's. Now, to be fair, character development is something that can be improved upon in the future, but I'm not invested enough right from the start to care.

 

To me it seems like IW Zombies has fallen into the "gimmicky" territory that CoD has been falling into over a long amount of time. In my opinion it started with some of Black Ops II's multiplayer DLC maps, where certain maps had some strange gimmick that was supposed to make them interesting, rather than just having them be well-designed. Then Ghosts multiplayer was full of it, especially the DLC with the Snoop Dogg voice pack, playing as Michael Myers, some maps having different killstreaks, that strange Shipment remake (What the hell?), etc. For what it's worth, Extinction avoided this barrage of gimmicks meant to sell the maps. Then Exo-Zombies also managed to avoid the gimmicks, apart from the celebrity cast, though they did not play themselves, which is a positive. Black Ops III Zombies also managed to avoid the gimmicks, with the maps being unique but also derivative, instead of cramming in as many "new" things to catch the eye as possible. But IW Zombies seems corrupted right from the get-go, with a pointless cast of stars as the main characters, and now we've realized each map will follow the formula of: One mystery celebrity guest, a whole new era full of stereotypes to exploit, and little in the ways of substance or progression. It's just throwing every idea out there trying to appeal to someone. Hey, not a fan of the 80's or David Hasselhoff? But hey, Kevin Smith is in this new 90's horror themed map! You'll like it!

 

Anyway, that was quite the rant. I don't hate the mode, I'm actually pretty indifferent towards it and wish I did enjoy it more. Also there's three more DLCs to come, so it could definitely get better. I'm sad there is no hype for it, but when you build your mode around gimmicks to attract every demographic possible, you lose the appeal of hardcore fans who want something of more substance and value in their game. It's why Treyarch zombies works, the maps sell themselves by being part of some larger experience that you know will be unique but familiar all the same, without much added nonsense. I just hope Treyarch can keep it up in their next title.