Highlights
- Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies will feature a connection to the divisive Exo Zombies mode within its open world map.
- The map will include Burger Town, which has had a mixed history within Zombies due to its disappointing appearance in the Infection map of Exo Zombies.
- While Burger Town's inclusion may raise concerns because of this, it's important to note that it has been involved in many more successes than failures within the franchise, making it little more than an interesting connection between two Sledgehammer Zombies modes.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is shaping up to be an interesting iteration of the mode. After an extremely rough version of Zombies with Call of Duty: Vanguard, the franchise took a year off from the concept with Modern Warfare 2. Now, the Sledgehammer-developed Modern Warfare 3 will take another shot at Zombies, marking the first time that the mode has appeared in the Modern Warfare subseries. Though fans only have one image to go off of thus far, and a small bit of info, it does reveal a few things - including a connection to the hugely divisive Exo Zombies mode.
The image in question features some random undead walking around what looks to be a city of some kind, with a Mimic featured in the center of the shot. This confirms that the mode will be reusing at least some assets and mechanics from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, which makes sense since it is confirmed to be part of the Dark Aether storyline. With an open world experience like Outbreak promised, too, the map will need to be full of memorable locations. Sure enough, fans can already see that one classic Call of Duty location will be present in the map: Burger Town. However, the eating establishment has a mixed history within Zombies.
Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare’s Usage of Burger Town Led to Infection
Debuting in the original Modern Warfare trilogy, Burger Town is a parody of the real life fast food joint Burger King, and has been featured in various ways throughout the franchise's releases. Its logo has been used as an emblem for player profiles, while gamers have been able to fight in and around the restaurant in campaign missions and multiplayer maps like Terminal. Unfortunately, it was also a massive focus of Exo Zombies’ worst map.
While Exo Zombies was divisive for several reasons, like EMP Zombies and a lack of side quests, it still had some decent moments. The storyline was serviceable despite not being nearly as good as Treyarch’s Aether narrative, Carrier had a fun main quest, and Descent was a legitimately good map. Unfortunately, there is very little to praise about Infection. Frustrating escort objectives, sections of the map being blocked off by gas, and a forgettable Wonder Weapon are just some of the issues.
Perhaps the biggest problem with Infection is the map design itself, as it far more boring aesthetically than the other Exo Zombies maps. Parking lots and sewer systems hardly make for engaging combat arenas, and the map’s centerpiece of Burger Town is little better. With Burger Town’s mascot Bubsy coming to life as a truly silly reward for completing the main quest, many longtime fans might not have fond memories of Burger Town within Zombies due to this map.
Why Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3’s Use of Burger Town is Not Too Concerning
However, Burger Town existing in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is not cause for concern, but rather just an odd connection between two Sledgehammer Games titles. With Exo Zombies failing to take off like Treyarch’s modes, and being over eight years old at this point, many gamers likely do not even know that Burger Town was a focal point in the most unpopular Zombies map ever made. Beyond that, Burger Town featured in the much better Call of DutyZombies map Forsaken, which released quite recently in Black Ops Cold War. With this in mind, Burger Town has been involved in one success and one failure, ensuring it is not inherently bad.
Ultimately, with Burger Town having such a prominent place within the Call of Duty franchise as a whole, it is unfair to permanently connect it to its first appearance in Zombies. There are reasons to be concerned about Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies, such as a likely lack of a round-based gameplay and a Warzone map potentially being reused for its setting. Still, fans will have to be patient for more details, as there is no point in being overly negative before the mode has been properly unveiled. The same goes for Burger Town, as gamers can only hope that this appearance of the diner will go better than its cameo in the Infection map.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 launches on November 10 for PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.
