Black Ops 6 is finally out, letting players enjoy a new iteration of the Zombies mode Treyarch is known and loved for. Even though Vanguard and Modern Warfare 3 featured their version, under Treyarch's supervision, this is the first Zombies mode completely developed by said studio since the release of Black Ops Cold War.
If you want to know if their magic is present in this new installment or if this iteration of Zombies is the one you're looking for, I have gathered my thoughts in this compact review.
The mechanics
We will start by talking about the in-game mechanics. Round-based gameplay is back with Black Ops 6, with both launch maps featuring the traditional format.
Although Vanguard did implement this format, Modern Warfare 3 Zombies strayed away from it and had an open-world Zombies mode. This marks the return of round-based goodness since 2021.
You can see right away that the game does not stem from a blank canvas, instead, it builds upon what was learned with the Zombies mode from Black Ops Cold War.
The in-game cinematics feels smoother, boss fights are back and more dynamic than what we saw in Cold War maps, and new quality-of-life additions improve the overall experience.
One QoL feature is the voting system when playing coop. When a player wants to trigger a certain event, like the start of a boss fight or when triggering the Rampage Inducer to increase the zombies' difficulty.
Another feature we would to point out, and probably one that many users are super happy about, is the option to save solo games. This is the first game in the franchise's history that allows players to save their matches and resume them at a later date.
This feature alone raises the game's value so much and allows players who don't have that many free consecutive hours to reach higher rounds. Saving is not available in co-op, which is a shame, but you can't have everything, right?
The experience for co-op not only lacks the saving feature but also the ability to pause matches. This is also a letdown considering that pausing was a thing back in Black Ops Cold War, for both solo and co-op matches.
In other words, even though the solo experience was improved in this area, the co-op side remains the same. We don't know the reasoning behind not including all this in co-op or if Treyarch can still implement these features during the post-launch cycle.
The game also brings back all the mechanics that originated from Warzone, like the armor plates, ground loot, scorestreaks, and more. Just as it happened since Cold War, I feel these do not take away from the arcade experience that is Zombies.
Zombies still feel pretty much like an arcade mode and all these mechanics just add more ways to survive and interact, without making the game feel like the open-world mode we saw in MW3. However, the maps also have a huge part in this.
I would also like to highlight the Wonder Weapon's pool at launch because it's enough for a good start. The Ray Gun is here but we also have a brand-new weapon, the Beamsmasher, and the return of the Jet Gun, under a different name.
The Beamsmasher is completely different from what we have seen before, filling up the need for something new. On the other hand, it is a relief to see the Jet Gun finally being useful.
For those who don't know, the Jet Gun was available in the Black Ops 2 map Tranzit. The gun was crucial for the easter egg, however, it would overheat super quickly and was pretty much useless to survive against zombies. So it is awesome to see that Treyarch has finally redeemed this former piece of junk.
The Gobblegums, one of my favorites from Black Ops 3, is another welcomed return. The simplicity and the charm of the original Gobblegums are there, and we expect the number of Gobblegums to increase during the next seasons to add more gameplay dynamism.
Maps
Black Ops 6 launched with two maps, Terminus and Liberty Falls. The latter was heavily criticized after its reveal on COD Next 2024, with many saying it doesn't feel like Zombies.
Although it's true that the map's color scheme is not as crazy as the one seen in Revelations, Shadows of Evil, or Der Eisendrache, that is not a negative aspect.
The map does feel like zombies when you consider it's an abandoned town plagued by the undead. The outbreak happened not long ago in the story, so it would make sense that the whole place doesn't look like it's inside the Dark Aether... yet.
However, we do see Aether storms, wrecked buildings, zombie traps, Aether portals, an area inside the Dark Aether (the church), and more things that help the map feel unique and not a Warzone map adjusted for Zombies. The map has a similar feeling to Die Maschine, the first Black Ops Cold War Zombies map.
On the other hand, we have Terminus. With its nighttime setting and the fact that it takes place in an abandoned facility on an island, this will probably be the favorite of those who love classic maps like Shi No Numa, Ascension, or even Zetsubou No Shima.
Liberty Falls is also supposed to be a research facility, but Terminus is where the real experiments are happening as you might find out during the main easter egg quest.
It would be hard for me to pick one map over the other since both have their own stuff going. Maybe recency bias is kicking in as it's only been two weeks since the game launched, but I would pick Terminus simply because I find its easter egg quest more entertaining.
The maps are filled with smaller secrets and easter eggs all over the place, so uncovering the main quest is not the only thing players can look forward to.
The Dark Aether storyline continues
I can't forget about the story, which is one of the essential parts of Treyarch's Zombies mode. However, I will avoid mentioning any spoilers from the easter egg's cinematics in case you still don't have the game or if you want to experience the story on your own once you play it.
Having two maps at launch greatly benefits the story because the events in both maps happens at the same. The story picks up almost five years after the ending of Black Ops Cold War, where we saw Samantha sacrifice herself to save everyone from The Forsaken.
Now the ex-Requiem crew plus Dr. Peck and Maya discover the horrible experiments conducted on Terminus island, while a group of soldiers investigates the zombie outbreak in Liberty Falls.
The story on both maps is easy to comprehend but it has the Treyarch signature, with a bunch of mysteries to uncover, characters not appearing what they seem to be, and what happened in the past being as important as ever.
I believe the Zombies storyline is one of the most interesting parts of every Treyarch title, however, newcomers might find it difficult to get into. This part of the lore has always been more for the dedicated fans, but Treyarch opened the gates to new players in Black Ops Cold War by starting from scratch after the finale in Black Ops 4.
As revealed by the final cutscenes, a new arch has been set in motion after the events of these two maps. This story will likely develop over the post-launch cycle of Black Ops 6 with the release of new maps.
The story traps you immediately, especially because the audience is aware of some facts that the protagonist don't and we already saw some interesting twists in it.
If you are someone who follows closely the Zombies story and this new Dark Aether storyline, you won't be disappointed with the events set in motion. And if you are a newbie in this world, the story has the potential to pick your interest and make you go down into the rabbit hole of researching what has happened before.
Final thoughts
Overall, this is a great start for Black Ops 6 Zombies, offering two maps at launch, an interesting continuation to the Dark Aether storyline, improving on what was built from Cold War, and staying true to what makes Zombies a great experience.
There are some negatives, like missing key features that could improve the user's experience but that doesn't take away from the fact that this mode delivers positively.
Final rating: 8 out of 10.
The game was reviewed on PC using a code provided by CDKeys. Get your Black Ops 6 copy here!
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