Nothing Says 'Happy Holidays' Quite Like Black Ops - Cold War's Zombies
It's beginning to look a lot like zombies as Call of Duty: Black Ops – Cold War launches its first season. Season One has a number of exciting new features, including new maps, gear, weapons, and 1,000 season levels, all kicking off today, Dec. 16, for Cold War and Warzone. A video posted on Dec. 14 revealed what players can expect in the latest Zombie mode and more for the slightly-delayed Season One.
Zombies mode has been a staple of the franchise since it first featured in Call of Duty: World at War in 2008. While it diverges from Call of Duty's main campaign storylines, it has nonetheless become a fan favorite. The original mode featured Nazi Zombies, set to fit the World War II setting of World at War.
The new limited time mode is called Jingle Hells, and it features a number of various holiday themed gameplay available on the Die Maschine map. Die Maschine is the first zombie map introduced in Black Ops – Cold War, and follows a storyline concerning the mysterious Dark Aether. Kevin Drew, Lead Systems Designer for Treyarch, introduced fans to the new Zombie mode and answered questions about Jingle Hells in the video interview.
According to Drew, a Megaton dressed as Santa has stolen the Mystery Box and flown away in a sleigh. Snowballs found throughout the map can be thrown at zombies (sporting festive holiday hats) in order to freeze them. Presents will be dropped by undead enemies, and inside, players can find valuable weapons or disappointing letdowns, like coal. According to the official Call of Duty blog, players can also find a stocking power-up, and snowmen throughout the map will be hiding either more zombies or possible gear.
Drew also mentioned an upcoming "Cranked" mode to be released for Black Ops – Cold War in the future, in which a timer counts down and the player must kill as many zombies as possible before the timer reaches zero. Each time a zombie is killed, the timer resets, so it is a frantic race to stay alive. Cranked mode has also featured in previous Call of Duty games.
Zombies aren't the only thing coming to Season One. The newest Battle Pass features the story of Vikhor "Stitch" Kuzman, an escaped con and ex-KGB agent looking for revenge against American agent Russell Adler, who took Kuzman's eye during a violent interrogation. This new Operator comes with two missions and objectives for both Zombies mode and Multiplayer.