CoD XP 2016: First Hands On With Zombies in Spaceland!
If you had asked me a few years ago if I thought my job at Dread Central would ever take me to the Call of Duty World Championship, I would have laughed. “The hyper-macho military shooter that the dudes at the frat play? Bah! I have no time for such shenanigans. I only like real hardcore games like Pokémon, Super Smash Brothers, World of Warcraft, or other such video games for children. The only way I could possibly ever care is if that zombie mini-game became a big deal or something. But that’ll never happen!”
Well, look at that. I guess me from the past would be wrong! Way to drop the ball, younger and thinner Ted. This is why you don’t get paid yet. Since it was introduced in Call of Duty: World at War, zombie mode has grown from bonus feature to major part of the package. It’s gained new mechanics, a unique cast of characters, its own story, and enough easter eggs to fill a thousand children’s baskets. As a fan, it’s been interesting to watch it grow by fan reaction alone. This wasn’t a heavily marketed stunt to try to appeal to a wider demographic. Zombies has always been an attempt to give the fans something special.
So when I arrived at The Forum for Call of Duty XP, naturally the first thing out of my lips was, “holy fuck it’s hot where is the water please oh god check me in faster.” Inglewood is hot, yo. The second thing was, “Nice to meet you friendly public relations representitive, can you direct me to the Zombies in Spaceland station, please?” As a world first chance to get a chance to preview the new Zombies campaign, it’s pretty much the only reason that I came. I mean, that and the free beer. I’ll go wherever the wind takes me for free beer.
To give you an idea of the scale of the event, they had repurposed the entire theater to function as a state for the Call of Duty World Championship. Outside, a number of tents were set up to showcase each of the main attractions: Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare, Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare Remastered, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, and Zombies in Spaceland. Tent doesn’t really do it justice, since inside the Zombies in Spaceland tent was at least two dozen 4 seater stations to play, a photo booth, a lego sculpture of the map, and an entire laser tag course. Outside, there was paintball course recreated from the Nuketown map, a number of presentation stages, and a zipline across the entire thing. Who knew Activision had so much money?
“Tent”
Being an uncompromising and exceptional journalist, I did my best to see all that the zombies area had to offer. It’s good that I did so during the designated press day, as the line every day after was several hours long. The day is not far off where zombies will rule the CoD. The setup was neat, with an 80’s theme that fits the new Zombies in Spaceland feel. The stations were set up to look like old arcade cabinets, with the dingy lighting and tech-disco mix giving it a new-retro vibe.
It even smelled like stale BO!
This took up about half of the tent, with the other being dedicated to the laser tag. The course was kind of small, but the cover was all cool stuff like air hockey tables, skeeball machines, some cutouts, a coin press machine, and even a trash can. It felt like the kind of stuff you would find in an amusement park. Being a fat nerd whose nearest cover was a crotch high traffic sign, I naturally got pwned. It ended pretty uniquely, with a number of previously hidden zombies shambling out to herd you towards the exit. I wish all buzzers were replaced with zombies.
I only got to see about 15 minutes of the demo, but saw a good amount in that time. Dropping into the familiar scenario of four people fighting off hordes of zombies, you are immediately tasked with restoring power to the park. The first switch is easy enough to find, unlocking a number of power up machines and interactable objects. From there, I spent some points to open a new path, and ran into a new unpowered area. Typical zombies stuff so far, fun and familiar.
As I explored more of the park, new features presented themselves gradually. Tokens would sometimes drop, which could be deposited in a machine for special powerups. New “Weapons from the Future” stations would ask for a number of tickets in exchange for more outlandish trinkets like a time rewinder. Tickets are a new form of currency, awarded for completing special tasks like “get 10 melee kills in 60 seconds.” There were also a number of features I couldn’t quite figure out, including a portal in the middle of the map and collectable robot pieces. I’m sure some of this might be linked to an overarching plot or unlockable collectables, but I couldn’t figure it out in my 15 minutes.
It simultaneously felt larger and more populated than previous maps. Each area had way more weird fun stuff to experiment with than new guns. At one point I opened up a pathway to a carnival games section, and found only a single new gun amongst what must have been half a dozen interactive games and stations. I unfortunately couldn’t figure out how to power this section, so could only interact with the DJ, David Hasselhoff. He spun some sick beats and gave me some hints as to how I might get out of this alive.
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- I can’t show you actual gameplay, so here’s the lego replica of the map.
It’s definitely a sillier affair than the previous installments in the franchise. I mean, I guess there was that one level where you could play as JFK shooting zombies on the moon, but even that didn’t have discoball lasers and exploding bumper cars. That doesn’t mean that the mode is nonsensical. I actually felt that it was significantly more thematically solid than Black Ops 3’s “Shadows of Evil” map. I never really got why I was using all of these futuristic space weapons in the 1940’s. With Zombies in Spaceland, the laser weapons from the future make sense. It’s all tongue and cheek, like a toy come to life, and fits the new more comedic tone.
Plus, wouldn’t you rather be blasting zombies with laser machine guns and SMGs than regular ones? Zombies in Spaceland will certainly piss off people looking for the darker tone of the Treyarch games, but I frankly don’t feel fragging zombies for maximum points has to be dark and gritty. There was always an air of humor to the series, and Zombies in Spaceland definitely chooses to focus on that aspect. If you’re a more casual player like me who has never really cared about unlocking every secret and cracking every cypher, it’s a welcome shift in tone.
It’s almost like it’s set in an 80’s amusement park or something…
I really respect what they have done with with the zombies franchise. They took a bonus feature, and used it to tell a complex and intricate otherworldly horror story. With the conclusion of that arc and the opening of Zombies in Spaceland, I’m really looking forward to just shooting some zombies with friends. I’m sure there will still be a ton of easter eggs, and hell, maybe the new goofier setting will compel me to find them all. I had a chance to talk to the director of Zombies in Spaceland, Brian Bright, so check back soon for his thoughts on what to expect from the new mode. In any case, I’ll be sure to have a full review for you when Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare drops on November 4th. So pick it up then, and I’ll see you in Spaceland.
Categorized:Editorials
