MeinMMO author Maik Schneider believes that Modern Warfare was a good Call of Duty game. However, Black Ops Cold War has something crucial over the 2019 CoD – an awesome co-op mode.
The “Call of Duty” series has been with me for ages, now even professionally here at MeinMMO. I really got into multiplayer with Call of Duty: World at War, the CoD from 2008. That was also the first CoD with a zombie mode.
At that time, co-op was not just a nice addition to a strong multiplayer shooter for me, but also a significant reason to buy in the following CoD parts. And I don’t just mean the zombie mode.
For example, Modern Warfare 2 from 2009 had smaller co-op missions where you had to find the fastest route to the objective. This path usually revealed itself only after several dozen runs and was still difficult to master even then. Back then, it was a fantastic mode for split-screen evenings.
And although the Modern Warfare from 2019 came with a large co-op mode, the “Spec Ops” missions, these shared adventures could not match the fun of the earlier co-op modes. With the zombie mode from Cold War, I realized again how great a Call of Duty with a good PvE co-op mode is.
Spec Ops can never compete with Cold War’s Zombie mode
What is the zombie mode? In this mode, you can go solo or team up with up to 3 other players to hunt for the secrets of an old Nazi facility. However, you will be disturbed by countless hordes of undead, which become stronger and more annoying with each wave.
The appeal of the mode is not only to survive as long as possible. But also to solve Easter eggs, learn the crazy story behind the bunker, and upgrade your anti-zombie equipment with interdimensional enhancements to a maximum level of lethality. Each match plays out a bit differently, and no quest voice tells you how to correctly uncover all the hidden secrets.
The endless shooting is extremely demanding, and it’s a blast to advance the story a bit further with each match or to discover new secrets that you want to take a closer look at in the next match. The zombie mode brings along its own mechanics and is basically a complete game within a game, even having its own CoD community that became fans of the CoD series solely because of the zombies.
What did Modern Warfare have instead? CoD MW gathered known mechanics from the campaign and multiplayer mode, mixed them with the Warzone map, which back then no one knew was the Warzone map, and served that in its Special Operations mode.
Here you can complete various missions, which could also be quite fun and offered a decent difficulty level. However, the mode failed to spark excitement in me and many other players.
It was really only a nice addition, but hardly anyone would have said, “I’ll buy CoD MW for the Spec-Ops mode, it’s fantastic”. Too hard, poorly balanced, hardly playable – those were the first comments on a mode that offers a lot of content, but hardly anyone appreciated it properly.
With Cold War, the co-op feeling returns
The new CoD finally has a really strong co-op mode again and can almost seamlessly connect to its former strength. It has shown me how important the balance of content in Call of Duty is for me. This includes:
- A campaign full of exaggerated action
- The multiplayer mode for hours of sweating
- A hearty co-op mode that demands and encourages teamwork
Of the three points, I can most easily do without a campaign. The 4 hours of action of the current CoD are sufficient for me. But the co-op mode is a must. CoD MW could ultimately only hold me for as long as the Warzone was an absolute hit and exactly the battle royale I had been searching for since my botched PUBG excursions.
Why is the zombie mode so good? In Cold War, I believe the developers from Treyarch managed to pack the continuous action of the multiplayer mode into a refined and gripping co-op adventure.
The first rounds proceed quite calmly. But as soon as the storm in the facility on the release map “Die Maschine” starts, little of this calm remains. Especially at first. Before a certain routine in upgrading equipment sets in, you fight more against stress than against the pesky undead.
Once you have your upgrades and a certain calm in the game, you can either play it as a horde mode or delve into the story mode and the Easter eggs. This adds significant replay value, and the one map at release sounds like little, but can provide fun for a long time. Add to that the strong gunplay of Call of Duty and the good graphics that make the zombies look frighteningly good. In their own, decaying way.
Unfortunately, there are sometimes some bugs and glitches that hinder the fun, which can sometimes ruin a record attempt for a streamer.
A PvE game that also brings its teammates along
Why is a CoD with a strong co-op mode so good? My first point of call in a CoD is always the multiplayer mode. But if you have a CoD with a good co-op mode, you can be sure that all the CoD buddies with whom you usually rage and cheer in multiplayer also own this large and refined co-op game.
This mode not only brings a game within a game, but also brings teammates along. And because the core mechanics remain the same, they can even play the game quite well. It would probably be significantly harder to get your PvP teammates into a PvE game if they had to pay money for it.
Dead Ops Arcade 3 – This takes the zombie mode to a new level
As the cherry on top, the zombie mode also offers a twin-stick shooter. A rampaging gorilla challenges me and my team to a round of arcade action, which again fries thousands of zombies in our hail of bullets.
This crazy mode brings another challenge that you can spontaneously tackle when nothing else is going on. Here too, the CoD creators have come up with crazy mechanics and offer players yet another game within a game, which also promises many hours of fun co-op action.
Okay, the multiplayer mode was quite small at the release this year. Season 1 couldn’t change much about that with 2 6vs6 maps at the start. However, for me, the large and good co-op mode makes up for it. “Zombies” turned out really good. You can relatively easily get to the Pack-a-Punch weapons to grill zombies in masses, and the Easter eggs are numerous and crazy.
Such an experience was missing for me in Modern Warfare. Especially before Warzone was released. As a PvP experience, the battle royale even superseded multiplayer. Even now, the question often arises – Warzone or Cold War multiplayer.
The zombie mode has its own distinct flavor and competes less with the PvP content. On the one hand, it serves as a filler for those “What do we do now?” moments when opponents once again unnaturally evade bullets. On the other hand, the mode is also compelling enough for a casual PvE session. A really successful mode that is supposed to grow larger with each season.
What do you think of co-op modes in CoDs? Do you also think that something like this is important for a CoD to endure long? Or is it really just a nice addition to the main game – the multiplayer?
