The Nazi Zombie mode in 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War was a surprising Easter egg to find tucked away after the credits in what had traditionally been, at least up to this point, a fairly po-faced series.
The genesis of Call of Duty’s Zombies mode, however, was simple; the team just wanted to build an arcade-style component into Call of Duty: World at War. It was “a little something extra for the die-hard fans,” explains Jimmy Zielinski, design director on Zombies for developer Treyarch’s Call of Duty instalments.
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[I]t rolled out to the team in a fairly unofficial manor.
“The idea of Nazi Zombies went through many iterations and ideas before landing squarely on Nazis and zombies,” he continues. “As it rolled out to the team in a fairly unofficial manor for play testing, it spread throughout the team and beyond like wild fire. We were then convinced of its fun factor and it officially became the game’s co-op Zombies offering.”
Nazi Zombies seemed like the first sign of the series ‘letting its hair down’ (so to speak) but if there was any resistance to the mode, Zielinski isn’t mentioning it.
“For the studio, Nazi Zombies was a direction that was equally risky and thrilling,” he says. “I believe it all came down to how fun Zombies was to play, that earned its way onto the disc.”
Zombies players have gone from WWII to the moon with characters ranging from JFK to Danny Trejo; now they’re in prohibition-era Alcatraz with some of the cream of crime movie character actors.
“Mob of the Dead was first and foremost a map driven by the creative passion to create a horror experience akin to some of the great horror movies from the ’90s,” says Jason Blundell, executive producer for Mob of the Dead. “We really wanted to hone in on the techniques that thrillers use to create tension.”
“With this in mind, we quickly arrived at the famous phrase, ‘location, location, location!’, and what better location can you pick to draw on a creepy environment with history and a claustrophobic feel than the iconic Alcatraz?”
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Mob of the Dead was first and foremost a map driven by the creative passion to create a horror experience akin to some of the great horror movies from the ’90s.
The team realised the famous prison was perfect for their needs after touring the facility, but it was only after hearing The Rock’s incredible cellhouse audio tour – a must if you ever visit Alcatraz Island – that they settled on the characters.
“Early on we had discussed which characters should be caught in this facility,” says Blundell. “But only after listening to the amazing audio tour at the prison did we lock in on the idea of hardened criminals inspired by the inmates which had been held there.”
“We instantly knew that true horror and tension is driven by the players being invested in the characters trapped in the predicament and hence we started the casting process to get iconic Hollywood actors who could convey the range and intensity of personalities we would need.”
That process led them to Ray Liotta, Michael Madsen, Chazz Palminteri, and Joe Pantoliano. But recognisable Hollywood actors is territory Zombies has tackled in the past; the real change here would come under the hood.
“At the very beginning of the development cycle, we had collectively decided that we wanted to mix the Zombies formula up a little and not only create the standard multi-level depth for the different skills of the players, but also give the players a more overt mission to the map: escape!” says Blundell. “We also decided to invest on a story and narrative that would allow us change the way that players normally strategise and play the map.”
“We arrived at the idea of afterlife and allowing the players to keep on playing even in death, which tied in to our overall concept of the characters being punished by being trapped in purgatory. This was inspired by watching how our community and internal dev team would continually play Zombies until death and then start over again at the beginning, we thought that this fit with concept of purgatory and hence you play over and over again until a given goal or realisation is reached.”
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There are no shortages of ideas and ways to conceive a Zombies map.
“This is where the Treyarch team really shines,” interjects Zielinski. “There are no shortages of ideas and ways to conceive a Zombies map or, for that matter, universes the Zombies game can live in and really nothing is ever off the table for consideration. This keeps the fans on their toes guessing what to expect next.”
“Not to give any of the hidden elements of the Mob of the Dead story away,” Blundell adds, “but if the characters except their fate and hence if the players start the map and don’t touch any of the controls, a slightly different ending camera is triggered.”
This increasing culture of studios re-purposing and augmenting already functioning video games and creating these entirely separate sorts of experiences is something that’s resonating well with gamers. In this case, Treyarch takes a combat shooter and twists it into a zombie survival side-dish. Far Cry 3: Blood Dragon is another excellent example of a great game being built on the bones of an existing one. Personally, I’m a fan of this approach. I adored Red Dead Redemption: Undead Nightmare, for instance. Zielinski agrees.
“I really like these additions to games,” he says. “For Treyarch it has allowed the team to break the mold a bit, while offering a nice compliment to the core Call of Duty experience. I have always been a fan of flipping expectations in games – this is fun!”
So, broadly speaking, where does Call of Duty Zombies evolve from here?
“It gets better,” says Zielinski. “I know that seems obvious, but I have never worked on a team more committed to constant improvement, progressing the art of making games, and in general, thinking of the players out there and our desire to put something we as a team are proud of, in their hands to play. Zombies provides the opportunity for an endless tapestry of fiction. I think the question is, where doesn’t it evolve?”
Uprising (featuring Mob of the Dead) is the second DLC pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. It's available now on PC, PS3, and Xbox 360.
Luke is Games Editor at IGN AU. You can find him on IGN here or on Twitter @MrLukeReilly, or chat with him and the rest of the Australian team by joining the IGN Australia Facebook community.
