The Call of Duty: Zombies Free Week Disaster

Ever since 2008 with the release of Call of Duty: World at War, Zombies has been an iconic game mode in the franchise. With in depth story lines and famous (sometimes presidential) characters, the game excels at creating a sense of chaos and fear as the horde of zombies slowly begins to overwhelm the player. Some versions of the mode have definitely been better than others, but all have been fun to play with friends screaming and crowding around the screen.

The newest instalment in the series comes in Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War. Before we even begin to talk about it, I really wish the series would rethink its naming conventions because it’s really becoming a mouthful. Regardless of the extra long name, the game has currently opened its doors to allow anyone who might want to check out the new zombies to play the game for free. I think free weeks and weekends are a wonderful addition to a games marketing, allowing players to enjoy the game and get hooked before buying the game. Sadly, this only works if players can enjoy the game in the first place.

The gameplay itself is just as fun and adrenaline fueled as ever. Waves of undead pour over walls and through windows, relentlessly chasing the player as they strive to survive. With a good range of weapons and upgrades, you can really think about how you want to play and tailor your zombies experience to suit you. The learning curve is a bit steep, but it is one of those games where you do better every time you play. Well, that’s what it should be in theory.

The issue with Cold War: Zombies isn’t the game itself but the huge struggle that it takes to even get into a game. Joining a friends game required more research and tutorials that playing the game ever has, and even then one of the best methods is simply ‘turn it off and on again’. Whatever potato-like servers the game is running off will continue to kick you out of your party at any point, be that in the first loading screen or at any point midway through a game. If you are kicked out, there’s no save point or anything. Potentially an hours worth of adrenaline and fun is ruined by the servers taking away the ending. It doesn’t matter that the ending is certainly death, because players want to know how long they can avoid it. Servers that kick players out mid game take away the entire potential of the game mode, and lead to a terrible gaming environment.

This free weeks was supposed to encourage new players, but I think the developers at Treyarch have managed to pull off the complete opposite. They are now under far more pressure to fix this mess of a game, and I’m sure many people won’t be purchasing it until they can prove that they have. It’s a shame, as this version of Zombies is actually very good and a huge amount of fun when it works, but I cannot recommend this game mode until the numerous connection issues have been resolved.