Highlights
- The storytelling in Modern Warfare 3 Zombies falls short compared to the beloved CoD Zombies' story of the past, with forgettable characters and boring playable Operators. Classic storytelling tricks like radios are also lacking.
- The great environmental storytelling Call of Duty Zombies was known for is nowhere to be seen, either, as the playable map is essentially just the same version of Urzikstan from Warzone.
- The introduction of Operators and reused maps in Modern Warfare 3 Zombies hampers the storytelling potential, and until both are abandoned, the mode cannot reach the heights of its original narrative.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 Zombies took its fair share of risks, and for the most part, those risks have paid off. The open-world format may not be what round-based fans are looking for, but casual players are loving the DMZ style of gameplay the mode provides, with random interactions and the ability to team up with other groups providing a lot of entertainment. Contracts are fun and quick, loot is fun to hunt for, and killing the undead feels as satisfying as ever. Unfortunately, the storytelling of the mode leaves lots to be desired, which is a shame given how popular CoD Zombies’ story used to be.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War marked the beginning of the Dark Aether story, which attempted to merge Cold War era intrigue with Zombies’ fantastical elements to mixed results. Still, characters like Maxis were handled well, and the teaser for Eddie’s return was promising, giving fans something to look forward to. Unfortunately, Call of Duty: Vanguard’s introduction of demons made for a strange prologue, and now Call of Duty:Modern Warfare 3 Zombies’ story is proving to be a forgettable epilogue. Given how beloved the story once was when characters like Primis and Ultimis were around, it is hard not to notice the difference.
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Considering the limitations Treyarch has to work around, it is not necessarily surprising that Modern Warfare 3 Zombies’ story is lacking. The mode is set long after Black Ops Cold War, meaning that characters fans know from that game are dead. Additionally, it being set between Modern Warfare 2 and Modern Warfare 3 lowers the stakes drastically, as players know that characters like Soap are in no real danger and that the outbreak has to be stopped before it spreads too far. However, the bigger issue is one shared by Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard Zombies: Operators.
In an effort to unify all of Call of Duty’s modes and encourage Zombies fans to buy cosmetics, the mode has shifted to include Operators where players can wear any skins they have acquired in multiplayer or Warzone, but this comes at the cost of a major storytelling method. Conversations between characters like Nikolai and Dempsey used to go a long way to making fans invested in the story and who they were playing as, as they highlighted their development or made the protagonists endearing by providing some laughs. In MWZ, though, players are controlling Operators who lack personality and feel out of place in a Zombies setting. It feels like they have no impact on the story since they do not talk about what is happening and cinematics focus on the characters telling them what to do, yet since most of those characters are either brand-new or campaign figures with plot armor, it is hard to get invested.
The storytelling issue is not helped by a lack of story-focused Easter egg quests, no new CoD Zombies songs to analyze, and lackluster radios. The radios in particular are a big blow, as the ones found in maps like Der Riese are iconic and really helped get Zombies’ story going, yet in MWZ they either feel like vague teasers for future seasons or boring info on the human Mercenaries.
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However, while Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is simply continuing an unfortunate trend of Operators replacing voiced protagonists, it is also suffering from a painfully boring setting. The best Zombies maps thrived by having stunning scenery that was packed with small details to theorize about, whether it was Der Eisendrache’s beautiful castle locale that featured a young Sam’s room or the striking Morg City included a massive Apothicon in the sky. In MWZ, players are just walking around the Warzone map Urizkstan, with minimal changes like an Aether storm and some crystals in the Holdout contract. Considering how Zombies maps in beloved modes like Black Ops 3 used to tell a story and offer unique settings not seen elsewhere in Call of Duty, this is undeniably a big downgrade.
Ultimately, Treyarch likely has little say in the things that are holding back the mode’s storytelling. With only a year of development time, a fully original open-world map just does not seem viable, meaning Urzikstan’s reuse was essential. Similarly, Activision is unlikely to budge on Operators since they are Call of Duty’s cash cow at the moment, even if they greatly limit storytelling opportunities. Though Treyarch can obviously be criticized for the uninspired radios and new characters like Barrera and Kapoor being introduced with no buildup, the biggest issues with the story are a result of Call of Duty’s monetization, resource allotment, and a tight development schedule. While there is still some hope, as the return of Sam and Jansen’s new Aether abilities are intriguing, until Operators leave Zombies and reused maps are abandoned, the story won’t come close to anything from the mode’s glory days.
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Released in November of 2023, Activision's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 (2023) continues Captain Price's story from the 2019 and 2022 games.
