Call of Duty Zombies: A First Time Player's Analysis

[@DavidOZ]

Here is the official "Complain About David's Map Ranking" chat room. Don't be civil.

[@Chuked]

Ok

[@Chuked]

Best map is downright Shadows And numa

[@mikedrop4421]

It seems like only yesterday that zombies had one map

[@platypus5146]

Why u gotta do my boy Numa like that? Nah seriously i was confused by your criticism that there werent enough zombies. Is it a problem with only 2 players? Ive always played it with 3 and while its easier than say veruckkt the lack of pack of punch and swamp slowing the movements does balance it out for me. But yeah Mob of the Dead slaps will not argue with that and its my favourite zombie map ever by a good margin. Good video

[@tjs.5044]

Dude Cold War is absolute garbage so its more likely that you were experiencing burnout from playing so much and attributed your Cold War experience to that rather than the truth of it being awful. The mechanics, the unrewarding tedium and minutia. I hated it so much.

[@Haydon.F.]

Such a breath of fresh air. Anyone that talks about zombies nowadays has been there from the beginning, or later, and is just, so done, tired and not passionate about the mode. Another great analysis.

[@Chuked]

Yessir

[@ellewoodford262]

been here since kino and still love it

[@lastofanancientbreed8616]

Nacht der untoten checking in

[@Chuked]

@@lastofanancientbreed8616 nacht is a disappointing foundation

[@dylhas1]

“Been there from the beginning, or later…” What?!? Yeah you have to either have been playing since the beginning OR any time after the beginning. Idk wtf you mean dude haha. You might wanna reword

[@Ryan-sf8nf]

You really hit the nail on the head in your analysis of why WaW and Black Ops players have trouble connecting with the newer stuff. Getting home after school and loading up a 4 man zombies squad on Nacht, before any other maps were released, is truly one of my fondest of childhood. It was just an easter egg, a simple horde mode to have fun with friends when you got bored of the standard multiplayer. Nowadays, while I can appreciate the creativity and passion involved in creating these new maps, there's entire questlines you have to complete and boss zombies you have to contend with. I remember just getting a Ray gun from the box was like winning the lottery. Simpler times.

[@nickpeitchev7763]

Facts. Well said.

[@rileyrose5166]

I feel this so deeply. For me especially, when Black Ops 2 came out I pre-ordered it, but my dad's PS3 crashed every time I tried to play it for longer than 10 minutes. We sure as hell weren't getting a new one, so I kinda had no choice in ending my zombies experience with 15 minutes of Transit. When I went to my friend's house a year later, he was excited to show me Buried and Origins, but while he knew the maps like the back of his hand I was completely lost. We were going straight to the center of the map on round 3 and I was wondering just where the hell everything was.

[@catalyst1641]

You killed it with this video essay. This is, without a doubt, the best comprehension of a beginner's experiences from Treyarch Zombies I've seen on KZbin. Complex, yet clear explanations and statements all written incredibly well. Well done!

[@vMicmic]

beginners don’t solo grind every single easter egg…

[@catalyst1641]

@@vMicmic Why? He probably spent time learning all of the Easter eggs before sharing his experience. Being a beginner doesn't mean anything.

[@spectre5039]

You almost brought me to tears when you said “I’m done with this mode” I realized that I hadn’t really enjoyed my time nor have I had any interest since chronicles and it just hit me hard considering how much time I invested into the mode and how many fond memories I had. I really wasn’t considering subscribing and watching this just out of curiosity until you went off script, you are just a wholesome and fantastic person… genuinely, never lose that please, it was because of that off script ramble that I subscribed. Hope your new job is going fantastic and wish you all the best (: You have an amazing day/evening/night, now drop the chips and get me some ammo.

[@andrewballard8898]

It makes me cry that this is so true to me I’ve gone back to the old games and while there was an initial nostalgia wave after that I realized oh I might just be done with this mode which was so much of my childhood

[@yessir2033]

I called it quits too for this mode. But everytime I go back it’s like I’m in that year. 2008 still making fond memories

[@ViltrumiteIsRite99]

Guys… All I would say is moderation. Ice cream is great, but will it be the same, when you eat it 5x a week with your friend, never trying any other desserts or foods? You gotta take a week or 2 tolerance break from everything!

[@JB2FROSTY]

I jumped back into Blops3 and did the shadows of evil Easter egg literally my first try back on in almost 9 years with 3 complete randoms. We had a blast man there is still a great community on the older zombies because it's all the people who feel the same way we do.

[@AVGNROCKS1996]

It’s funny how opinions really differ in the “community”. There is a staunch “originals” camp that like WaW-BO1 and that’s it, hating the story and complexity of the later maps, then there’s the newer BO2/BO3 camp that loves those games and the community they created. Personally, I feel Zombies hit it’s peak with BO3, and has been on a downward spiral ever since the troubled development of BO4. Cold War is fun, but the charm is gone. But hey, the good will always be good and the memories will always be there.

[@jiggleburger]

very good takes. i started playing in bo3 and i love the story and the over the top nature of it. bocw is well made but you’re right it has no charm.

[@davidsplooge14]

cold war has the basic and potential to be better, more than bo4, but the effort put into the maps are just so much lower than before

[@yessir2033]

@@davidsplooge14 true I did like Firebase tho. Very fun layout

[@knowtheplan472]

Even though it’s only been like 10 mins into the video I really gotta say holy shit this is crazy well written and delivered. You really got talent bro

[@Chuked]

He is a natural

[@MisterSolitude]

You should see his gta 5 one

[@mikedrop4421]

Seriously.. His use of language is masterful. His storytelling is engaging and his view count is criminal. I feel like we all are part of some secret club where nobody else knows how much they are missing.

[@Chuked]

@@mikedrop4421 yesss

[@lucas169]

1:22:53 the point you made here really hit home, I feel the exact same. Though I would say that part of that is because I don't really enjoy CW Zombies that much. Also your videos deserve way more views and support.

[@cool-wf9cr]

Buried is underrated imo, so much fun with the buildable camping spots, and just the uniqueness. Always will remember from my early cod years

[@cameronryan5932]

i watched the cod analysis yesterday when you talked about doing the zombies series maybe and I thought you may have done it but I'm so happy that you actually made it!!

[@Chuked]

Mmmhh

[@Chuked]

Guys get the popcorn this is gonna be another banger

[@arbiter-]

Thank you for putting in words exactly how I feel about Zombies. For me, the series peaked at BO1. That was the cream of the crop, where everything lined up perfectly. It had the perfect ratio of weird, hard maps and basic (in comparison to newer maps) but clever maps that hit all the foundational elements of Zombies. When BO2 came out, I kind of felt alienated, like the series had left me behind already. Tranzit was too hard and I never had fun with it, Buried was cool, but the setup was just too much. Mob of the Dead was the only map that really resonated with me in BO2, then Origins left me completely in the dust. I tried to do the easter egg quest for Origins, but after so many attempts I knew that type of gameplay just wasn't for me. I preferred the simple survival with pack a punch being the ultimate goal, that's the mode I fell in love with. I appreciate how you talked about the game design and how well it worked, I don't think they got nearly enough recognition for Zombies. A side mode filled with charm and passion, something that seems rarer and rarer the further we go.

[@austinhopkins4191]

You can do simple survival on origins lol

[@jhoops-i9m]

Damn bro you really missed out on an amazing bo3 zombies experience that was when the community was at its highest

[@davidmesquita1047]

@@austinhopkins4191 Fr shit ain’t that hard lol, Easter egg is optional.

[@dracvich]

@@jhoops-i9m bo3 really was the golden era, shit was peak Especially if you're on PC with all the custom campaigns that to this day are still being created

[@Zumi909]

​​@@jhoops-i9m Hell nah the zombies experience peaked with bo1 and bo2. bo3 just ruined that with awful plot holes characters and a complicated story with boring and dumb easter eggs shoot this wall 3 times shoot a zombie 2 times collect this doll from this window shit was not fun

[@nana-cq9mn]

It's interesting seeing your opinions. I myself was introduced in black ops one as a child, terrified of kino to the point I couldn't play. I got bo2 for Christmas and loved playing transit because it was the only map I could play and I was an ignorantly bliss child. My father let me choose 2 dlc maps and I got mob and buried, some of my favorite maps of all time. Sometime my sophomore year, I believe when zombies chronicles released I got bo3 and played SoE at its most basic form, like 10 times. When bo4 released I game shared with my uncle and played Nine plenty but again, at its most basic form. Throughout recounting it all, I realize that for me, I never stayed consistent because there was never any depth to it (I never knew there were easter eggs and WW upgrades). Around February this year, my friend convinced me to buy bo3 on PC with all the maps and reluctantly I did. He was the one who wanted to do the easter eggs and play. And guess what, after completing SoE with him guiding me, I was the one begging to play and complete the Eggs. Every map after that I was the one with the guide. The depth I thought was never there found me, and now I'm obsessed. To the point that, and this is going to rile some feathers, I prefer playing bo4 to bo1 or WaW simply due to the fact that bo4 rewards you for learning the maps, understanding them. I heavily enjoy playing bo4 zombies. I think I enjoy completing bo4s EE's more than bo3s due to the complexity and effort required without being much more difficult. So it's very interesting to see the contrast between opinions throughout the community. And for those who might be interested in my game rankings: 1) bo3 (mods, chronicles, peak of popularity. It's the goat.) 2) Bo2 (nostalgia, MoTD, Origins, Buried. Just mwah, perfect) 3) bo4 (In my opinion, DotN, Classified, TDT, and Nine are some of the best maps ever created and would be so much more appreciated if it wasn't in the bo4 engine.) 4) Cold War (just simply fun. No perk limit, you can make the game a struggle or you can become a zombie slaying god. It's your choice. DM and MDT are phenomenal maps) 5) BO1 (perfectly fine, so many good memories, just lacks depth to keep me entertained. After 25-30 rounds, I'm extremely bored) 6) WaW (suffers simply from being the first.)

[@Nostolic]

3:54 I felt that on a spiritual level. Been watching your cod analysis, your really good and deserve more views/subs. You got yourself another sub/like.

[@Weighty68]

Captivated the whole way through! I think you completely nailed that weird, abstract, overly esoteric yet entrancing feel of playing Zombies that so many of us have encountered in or youth or even now. It’s interesting to see how well the mode has retained its mystique and excitement way past its initial zeitgeist that someone can play through and experience these maps in the present day and still derive the same enjoyment I did upon playing Ascension on launch day in 2011. Very much agreed about your rankings and overall analysis and particularly liked how much you stressed the difficulty of analyzing these maps since everyone can derive such contrasting levels of quality from them. The maps blend all its player audiences together in a way no other game truly has ever captured even in something as closely resembling as Killing Floor might be. Anyway, awesome work and now I’m gonna stomach some Activision Steam prices and try to play these again on PC with the Reimagined mods!

[@ThePieManLikesPie]

I'm so fucking prepared for this video, thank you for doing what you do

[@Chuked]

He is…. exceptionally good

[@thicboibigsmoke7220]

The dot dash dot theory kinda explains why Cold War feels so easy. Even the dash points are…open. For example die machines dot is the spawn, the dash is nacht, yet nacht is still plenty wide enough to zip past singular zombies, and even if you get caught on the stairway, you can just mount over the railing and escape. granted, the maps are still very fun and very great for learning the basics of training and my personal favourites

[@FormallyInsane]

Not 2 months ago I redownloaded BO3 and picked up the season pass and Chronicles, and it's definitely a finite feeling of nostalgia and exploration that I can see myself coming back to every few years. Loved the video, keep it up 😊

[@aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaa]

I randomly stumbled upon this and I just have to say this was incredibly refreshing to watch. I'm a huge zombies fan and hearing such well articulated and unique takes on levels I've overanalyzed for years was thoroughly enjoyable. The "morse code" analogy was especially interesting, and that entire segment serves as a great frame of reference for someone who wants to design custom maps. It's a shame this video does not have as much attention as some of the more derivative takes on zombies essays, but I loved every second of this. Great work!

[@mikedrop4421]

Thanks for making this video. Your pen game is so much stronger than your analytics would suggest. I have to believe you're gonna blow up once the word gets out that you're putting out such high quality content served up in XXL sizes.

[@Minnevan]

Right? Absolute hidden gem of a channel

[@MamagomasGoodness]

Honestly I loved Exo Zombies cause it’s challenging and always trying to have you alert and stay on your feet at all times

[@MG-fv4oj]

Besides burger town exo wasn’t bad.

[@yessir2033]

It really wasn’t. I’m wondering if it was a product of the experimentation of pace for the 3rd mode. Extinction from ghosts has a similar tempo in gameplay and pace, it doesn’t have the aerial aspect of things but even still. Infinite warfare always had me on my 10 too.

[@MamagomasGoodness]

@@MG-fv4oj I didn’t see this reply but deadass that was the worst map

[@KJKLKL4ever]

I love the fact that you willingly included the games where you got downed. It shows progress, and as someone who was once in the same position as you it feels oddly wholesome

[@legochickenguy4938]

This is probably the best zombies map tierlist i've ever seen. My only disagreements are that Buried and Gorod are way too low in my opinion. I see Buried as all the ideas that Tranzit and Die Rise experimented with to their fullest potential and enjoyability. There's just so much to do and all of it is fun or at least interesting; it's the closest zombies ever got in its era to being a sandbox game. I still discover or try out new things on it every time I play it, and more than any other map on this list I would encourage you to revisit it; the amazing level of depth in it takes a number of plays to fully appreciate, but it eventually gets you hooked, at least it did for me. With Gorod, I don't understand the complaint about its complexity; mechanically it's actually quite old-school, which it was praised for pretty much universally on release. Aesthetically and story-wise I totally understand your complaints of it going too far, but I don't think that extends to the gameplay other than how it looks and sounds, and I think your dislike for those things bled into your perceptions about the gameplay, and I think you overemphasized these problems compared to its many other achievements. I agree that it's really starting to show the problems with identity the series was starting to have, but all of BO3 is a steady incline on that slope, and it doesn't fall over the edge until after Gorod, in my opinion.

[@DavidOZ]

Great comment, tbh

[@legochickenguy4938]

@@DavidOZ thanks, fantastic video on your part

[@The_Spogg]

god i love analytical videos like this. what you said about how the series was tired and overdone by the end really resonates with me. i’ve been playing zombies since bo1 and I feel exactly the same. bo4 just felt like they had completely run out of ideas and were just making every single wrong move. even the UI looks like a plain and simple downgrade from bo3 makes me sad since i hold so much nostalgia and past love for the series, and everything said here I believe could be said for the cod franchise as a whole. That’s really tragic, in my opinion

[@connorshaw216]

Your intro section was a really unique take on zombies. The whole video was extremely thoughtful and well written. Some of the ideas you talked about in the intro was actually kind of moving as a long time fan of zombies

[@Buns-w1q]

I loved Zombies when the story was secret. It made you feel like you were in this exclusive club of nerds who knew Zombies was deeper than surface level. Now it’s a part of the mode itself and as cool as that is, it’s sad they made it for warzone fans these days with mini maps, objective markers, and compasses. Easter eggs used to feel like a reward for dedicating time to finish this hidden quest and solving puzzles, now it’s just the mission of the map.

[@D34DParadise]

Great job with the vid! I never thought I'd see a tier list in a davidoz video but I'm glad it happened. I would love to relive the days of 2010/2011 where I used to come home from school and play kino der toten with friends until it was time to go to bed. Good times.

[@143__rd3]

I do wonder where the Zombie Genre at large would've been without the initial Zombies mode.

[@Chuked]

Dead

[@ThePsychoRenegade]

Same place it's at now, dead. Zombies as a mode was really only influential for a few niche games like Killing Floor. Left 4 Dead and The Walking Dead are the real giants of the genre.

[@Chuked]

@@ThePsychoRenegade the walking dead is not even a zombies game lmao, left 4 dead hasn’t had a game in foking YEARS and killing floor ain’t that popular The giant is zombies and everyone knows except your 2010 arse

[@knowtheplan472]

@@Chuked I think he means telltale walking dead but that ended a while ago

[@Chuked]

@@knowtheplan472 yeah that doesn’t exist anymore and it was more of a walking simulator than anything else abeit the story is good and the characters are good but those count more as interactive movies than games tbh

[@Sevenizer1]

Even though I’ve been with the series myself since WAW, I never fully got into Zombies as a mode and story until recently, as a Junior in college with a roommate who also happens to love the mode too. Something about Zombies just clicks with me as a person. I tend to enjoy cyclical, rhythmic gameplay. Playing the map over and over again, figuring out the best and optimal path, learning what each weapon does and using them to their advantage, and then facing the challenge presented before me. Town introduced me to the concept itself, though Nacht Der Untoten was technically my first one, and although it was fun, I was always left wanting more. It wasn’t until recently that I actually played Origins for the first time, and then I was hooked. I figured out the best paths, mapped out where each of the staff parts were, trying to figure out the best cycle to use each game. To this day, I’ve still only completed a basic setup on the map. Nevertheless, the game had me hooked, and it still does to this day as I’m rediscovering everything the community has loved about Zombies for years, playing through maps that are old to some, but new to me. It’s an amazing experience personally, and although I’ll probably never have the desire to play BO4 or Cold War zombies or any Infinity Ward zombies mode, I still can’t help but enjoy the first four Treyarch games that brought Zombies to us. I’ll keep exploring, pathing out the best paths for success, learning and understanding each map’s core mechanics, and eventually bringing my roommate on each map with me for a fun zombies experience.

[@connortollit6120]

I only have one thing to say because I think you nailed pretty much everything but one thing about any older games that are looked at fondly today is our age when we all first played it and the progression of the mode. My best example is personal to me but I’m sure anyone can apply this way of thinking about it. I remember going to my friends house around my first year of college, we’d been playing zombies together since waw before we even had Xbox live. (I still remember vividly waw didn’t split the screen in half and had a background overlay) When they announced AW me and my friend where hyped because the idea sounded new and fun, and when they eventually announced the zombies mode we where even more excited. Me an my friend still look back fondly on AW and when I started watching zombies KZbinrs I was really surprised that they didn’t like it. Interest dropped off hard for me after BO3, IW was intriguing and I did get ww2 and played the first map a few times but I was overall so unimpressed that when bo4 came out I only kept up with it to see where the story would go.

[@ZombieBacon1337]

As someone who started playing Zombies back at the beginning of Black Ops 1, and has followed the franchise to this day, this is easily one of the best videos about the franchise I've ever seen. Your biases all feel entirely justified, and you felt super accurate. That Immense slowdown as you got to the apex of the series felt so grand and amazing, then the rush through the rest, how the later the games go, and the faster you blow through them, and the moree bland they feel, just hit my core. This was a wonderful video, and while I came for the zombies content, I'll stick around and see what else you can blow me away with. Thank you. ^-^

[@catalyst1641]

In full agreement with you.

[@ZombieBacon1337]

I came back to the video because the Dot Dash map formula this video mentions stuck with me, and I thought at the very least, the video deserved a full rewatch. So thanks again.

[@shardell]

Crazy. I’ve played zombies almost religiously since basically the beginning, and yet this video made me realise and appreciate more about zombies than I ever had before. Incredibly refreshing. I disagree with a few of your opinions but I can definitely understand your perspective and see how you’d arrive to them. Cold War was my favourite, but you’re absolutely right, it lost the charm. I think it’s because previously zombies innovated it’s mechanics through new maps, but once they hit revelations they kinda ran out of ways to innovate like that without making it tedious and bloated. Cold War took a step back and realised they needed a different approach, so they innovated the core mechanics, and made the maps just different ways to facilitate said core mechanics. The mechanics are excellent as a result, and it is by far the most replayable and deep zombies experience, finally feeling like a game instead of just a gamemode, but unfortunately the charm of zombies was lost in the process. A sad, but probably necessary cost.

[@HeatSeeker19]

Indeed, thank you zombies for all of the memories, I personally played the shit out of tranzit with my sister and bo4 zombies (DOTD, VOTD, and BOTD in particular) with my gf so i love those maps for those memories, Kino got me into zombies in gr8, so that's also a favorite, and I'm really grateful for those memories

[@rydandraco2260]

This was a very insightful essay. I was just listening to it while I was putting together some drawers for under my bed. I enjoyed it a lot, though it got depressing when you said you wouldn't be playing zombies anymore and that you got burnout from it, though I understand completely why since burnout is very common. Everything in moderation, that is a virtue I try to live by when it comes to games, even more so with food lol. I would binge a game for days, not even finishing them due to burn out, which sucks a lot, but that's why I've started playing games on and off, watching youtube, going for drives(not as often as I used too but still), etc...

[@dmdudes2]

the shadows of evil easter egg is surprisingly a really simple ee 1. is pap 2. is the sword 3. is sword upgrade 4. hold interact button on the book (hardest step to figure out unless you knew the story and the books importance prior) 5. is the flag step which is clearly marked by the flag spawn and electricity 6. is just the boss fight most of the difficulty comes from multiplayer bc u each have to get the sword and upgrade it one at a time

[@salazar27]

They’re a few things that Treyarch does in zombies that they didn’t have to put in this mode like producing amazing secret music in all of their maps and theme songs for all the perks Showing us that they have amazing talent people in this mode

[@treegreen4752]

I loved the video it was great seeing zombies from a new players point of view I grew up playing all of the map from world at war tell now as soon as they came out so this was very interesting to hear your perspective

[@aeioushi]

Genuinely such a phenomenal video. You’ve put into words what I’ve been unable to for years.

[@KevinOhSeven0]

I only just stumbled upon this video, from a long time fan of zombies seeing someone look at the mode from outside the community really makes me appreciate your perspectives and not just harp on about the regular takes/opinions all in all thoroughly enjoyed every minute

[@abdur-rahmanhucks1660]

I didn’t think a video about call of duty zombies could be this very well articulated. When I clicked on it I didn’t plan on watching the entire video.

[@jeppab5145]

the timing of this couldn't be more perfect. just finished your cod video

[@neokim5492]

I now understand why a mode that has been there for over a decade is still not popular. I like solving puzzles and Easter eggs by myself without looking for guides on the internet. But you cannot do that in Treyarch zombies. Because how would you possibly know that the start of a main storyline Easter egg is placed out of the map without looking for guides? I could put myself in DMZ for 20 days just to figure out all the secrets and Easter eggs in Koschei Complex without any help from others, while 2 hours in Treyarch zombies I’m falling asleep already.

[@jinglebo]

I’m seriously loving having discovered your channel I’m having such a content binge, please keep doing what you’re doing man

[@Yahyahyeetyah]

Just found this video, watched the whole thing and found it as such a refreshing, unbiased take, keep up the good work man

[@Ilshatey]

As someone who only player WaW, a little bit of BO1 and a some amount of BO2 zombies, doesn't know the lore well and completed maybe 2 Easter Eggs, I really like the idea and content of this video.

[@TheStag2013]

It’s refreshing to see such a perspective for a zombies tier list. I’d encourage any big zombies YT to watch this as I find often their opinions for a tier list can be prone to content creator biases. As opposed to yourself who takes a more personal perspective. I like that you rated Verruckt so highly as its a great map due to the way it makes you feel.

[@logancota4325]

this mode is what made me fall in love with video games... i was addicted to the zombie killing in bo2 then i got addicted to the lore and easter eggs in bo3.

[@XxTheBeastLilLxX]

Origins reminds me of what RE4 did for Resident Evil. Both amazing, but the games after suffered for it.

[@sweetcolt6856]

Been waiting for this vid since the Cod analysis and it was well worth it keep it up man. ;)

[@jasonroblow5162]

im glad you got the experience we all got to grow up with i was a mp guy as well but zombies

[@freddywondercat1362]

This video is genuinely top tier. As someone who has been playing this mode for quite a while at this point, you have BY FAR the most similar tier list to my own personal one, with few exception. I can tell that so much effort went into this video and I just want to say thank you for making it.

[@acrawford01]

Wait until he finds out about custom zombies

[@belinskiparadox7687]

"Don't be the person who gatekeeps obscurity" I kinda love that line.

[@dhoom-z7221]

Really amazing video 🔥🔥🔥 played an entire franchise for one video, what a legend. Great opinions and nice to highlight how certain things reflect off a newer fan that doesn't have biases

[@zombiejanitor]

As someone who was into zombies from day one. I would be honored to slaughter those undead flesh addicts with you any day.

[@Deathwarrior115]

Another vid for custom zombies please ? WAW , BO1 and BO3 customs , they really are better than the actual maps no joke lol

[@ahhaha8422]

hurt my soul when I saw that you had opened the door of death in kino

[@Iejoshy]

One of the best zombies videos I've ever watched, if not the single best. I've played zombies since Der Riese's original release and am a far more hardcore player than you appear to be but you make fantastic and understandable yet also completely respectable points across every single map and game even if they're points I don't agree with or opinions I don't share. Though channeling my old casual self and looking through the lens of someone less experienced, you practically nail every single explanation and have basically flawless arguments to explain your feelings as a part of that demographic. I guess I'm just very lucky and should be thankful it's a mode I get still enjoyment out of to this very moment, and enjoyment in every single game it's in... except Exo Zombies, fuck Exo Zombies. Absolutely incredible once again, I'm now off to go watch your 3-and-a-half hour Call of Duty retrospective.

[@MacDaddySam]

Origins literally broke my Xbox 360. B02 was just too massive for its own good and I love it for that.

[@TheZjc30]

The quality of this video is fantastic. You earned yourself a subscriber.

[@samuelmcclamrock162]

Love this mans channel so much

[@troy3137]

So glad to see a new fans perspective, all you ever see are people that have been in the community since WaW. Both of your COD videos are superb btw and i cant wait to watch more of your essays. Subbing for sure

[@jakerudolph7937]

I can already tell these zombie retrospectives are going to be way better then the smith plays

[@Mixu.]

I was a bit wary of watching this video, because I have sour experiences of listening to new people talk about zombies, who have no idea what they're talking about, and it just gets frustrating. Fortunately for me, you actually found ideas and points of conversation that I somehow never thought enough to put to words, and this fresh view ended up being very welcome. Even if the vast majority of information was still stuff I already knew from well over a decade of deep involvement with the mode and its community, the small bits of new stuff definitely make this video worthwhile.

[@MrTomWaffles]

Its crazy how people think CoD is copy and pasted every year, nevermind MP and CP but Zombies takes so much work, it combines so many disiplines and it all comes out as one smooth package. bad design sticks out like a sore thumb but great design should go unnoticed

[@Jloadiing]

You’re a very smart person. I appreciate your analysis. Keep making more videos man you earned a new sub! Also I agree with most of your tier list.

[@Al3ksandrOrlov]

Nice to see some positivity, subbed btw. SOE and MOTD are the two best maps imo.

[@Novagats]

I just finished watching your COD video a few days ago and I’m very glad you did this, now

[@Twister-gq4kt]

Hey man i just found your channel but ive just from the couple videos ive watched ive been entrapped by your voice. You are a really good narrator. If i may suggest maybe try reading some scary stories or creepypastas or even conspiracy type videos? I would loooove to hear you read through some of those i think you have the perfect voice and just style of putting emotions into things

[@Twister-gq4kt]

Either way keep up what your doing its great

[@absentzz347]

The way Easter Eggs work in these maps remind me a lot of a puzzle game called The Witness. In the game, you're dropped off on an island and simply solve puzzles. The game has no dialogue whatsoever, so it's up to the puzzles themselves to teach you the mechanics, and since the puzzles are fairly similar in nature (all being convoluted line puzzles), it is fairly easy to add new mechanics to these puzzles and to find clues on how to conquer their mechanics. The problem with Zombies is that by the time of Black Ops 4, the developers have obscured these clues beyond recognition, and made the easter egg quests more of a chore to do rather than a pleasure. It is also very evident that in Black Ops 4, Treyarch tipped the scale way too much in one direction. They clearly had no real foothold on casual gameplay and held a great focus on appealing to the more hardcore playerbase, even including high round players. Thankfully they remedied this by making the easter egg quests much more bearable in Cold War while still retaining a somewhat enjoyable gameplay loop. But now it looks like they're tipping the scale all the way in the other direction with the inclusion of no easter egg at all in Vanguard. In essence, zombies at its current state is in a constant state of unbalanced and I don't think we'll ever have zombies games like BO2 or BO3 anymore because now that the scales are tipped, it will be really really difficult to reobtain that balance again.

[@StimmBehr]

I’m also relatively new so someone sharing a similar perspective to me in the midst of all these OG KZbinrs is very nice.

[@belinskiparadox7687]

honestly, as someone who absolutely adored Cold War, it made me a little sad to hear that you had basically been so burnt out on zombies that you just didn't care at that point. Great video regardless, and it was nice to hear what someone who didn't really initially care about the mode thought about its progression after taking a deep dive into the series

[@Kriois]

Amazing video, and as a long-time zombies player it is interesting to see your perspective, I've wondered what a non-bias, new zombies member would have to say from game to game and map to map. I wish you could've gone into deeper detail in everything because I was so intrigued. With that said I can't imagine the work you've put in already with this video, amazing amazing stuff.

[@BlueJayz474]

What sucks to me is that AW zombies had such potential with its concept of a futuristic virus that broke out and is spreading around the world. If only they focused more on gameplay then trying to make a complexing story. The maps could’ve been better too. I LOVE the design concept of Outbreak and Infection, but I HATE Carrier and Descent’s departure from the “quarantine” aesthetic and going down the more sci-fi path. It should’ve just been a side mode that focused on gameplay than story, cause it tied in with the campaign and mp so well if the story wasn’t so damn confusing.

[@joeykeilholz925]

41:00 not mustang and Sally in waw. It's just a single pistol and has a weird name When you have the context that kino originally was intended for waw, the simplicity makes more sense. My only issue with the map is the nova crawlers' effect being a bit more annoying than it needed to be. In bo3 it's not as bad. I enjoyed training forever with whatever guns I found.

[@lorenzovanvlaanderen9518]

I myself have been playing zombies since late black ops 1/beginning black ops 2 (Can't really remember). At first i knew absolutely nothing about lore, story and Easter Eggs. I just killed zombies with some weapon i got from the box and made some fun. At the end of Black Ops 2 when Origins came around, i suddenly got really interested in the story and i found out about the easter eggs, depth and main quest. That made me fall in love even more, ever since that moment i completed every single easter egg and even now that Cold War season is over. I am still very interested in the story and potential map locations. I have the best memories with Black Ops 3, imo BO3 had the best overall maps, easter eggs and storytelling. Even with all the time winding stuff(I absolutely loved that tbh). Maybe i just like it when it's kinda complicated. That makes me want to figure out why the things are the way they are. I even liked almost everything about Black Ops 4 Zombies. I don't actually know what i want to say really. I think Treyarch Zombies will forever be in my heart and i will forever be interested regardless of how messy the story or how crazy the maps get. I just love Treyarch Zombies :)!

[@Vazel]

My origins for the love of zombies is exactly the same as yours. Started at bo1 knowing nothing and rn I can completely explain you all the different timelines and loops without even thinking about it

[@lorenzovanvlaanderen9518]

That's so cool honestly! What do you think about Vanguard Zombies though? I think the gameplay of Vanguard Zombies is absolutely dogshit atm. But i'm still very hooked on the story actually. The story is the only reason i'm still watching video's. I'm very interested in what Treyarch will do with their own game in 2023! I wonder what Dr. Peck is up to!

[@Vazel]

@@lorenzovanvlaanderen9518 The dorection they took with the story is ok if you consider the fact that the aether story is done but I never played cold war or vanguard, I'm just up to date with the story

[@Scarecrowbooger]

I get how you felt at the end of the series. It's funny you got burnt out of COD Zombies in a year to what took me nearly 11 years to reach. 😂 I remember it as if it was yesterday the utter disappointment with BO4 made me fall out of love with the series. It got me to branch out to different games like Bioshock, Red Dead Redemption 2, Dead Space, Amnesia and my new love Resident Evil! It's not that the new games are bad, or that I just over played the game that I hate it, but it's more so that the newer games are just not made for me anymore. I agreed with how you viewed Cold War Zombies. Cold War Zombies is well designed, and according to Treyarch it's the most populated that the Zombies mode has ever been, but I just don't care. I don't feel anything when I play it or have any desire to. I've played the new map: Maur Der Totten a total of three times got Pack a Punch, got all the perks and made it to round 40. It's far from a bad map, but when I see people say that Cold War Zombies is trash I can only feel like they too are just burnt out or in my case, yeah done with the mode. When it comes to COD Zombies I find more fun to play the WaW, BO1 and BO2 maps or even Custom Zombies, hell I have a lot of ideas for custom maps too! Overall I think Cold War Zombies is good, but it's the next-generation and it's just not for an old boomer like me :)

[@mackapearson]

Loved this video man, love the concept and execution. I was blown away by your diction until you mentioned you taught English lol

[@jamilosan]

This is like exactly What I wanted to hear about cod zombies, I agree with you most of the time but not always, which is great. I was a zombies player that started playing zombies just before bo3 came out so I had a lot of the hype, but that al died in bo4. This video was very entertaining keep doing what you do!!

[@joshuasouthern1486]

Cold war zombies was surprisingly my favorite next to infinite warfare zombies. Cause i play the mode as candy or how far i can get before i goto bed..which those two made it easier to reach high levels solo. I had alot of fun with them all tho..great video

[@cheeseburger7788]

the shot at 26:17 physically pained me. especially knowing you can just shoot it out the window instead of walking all the way down

[@formarkv]

It's really cool to see a non-biased person give a fair shake to the third party zombie studios. Your point about all the discourse being in a handful of spaces online is painfully accurate. If you were there in 2016-2017 you know exactly what I mean. "IW just isn't it! WW2 is boring!" *Cough lex, rabbit, noahj, smithplays, Tim Hansen cough* What you said at the end was so existential. I feel empty with cold war too but I'm a modder of zombies so where does that leave me? Everyone seems to be moving on from the mode and here is my childhood slowly fading away. It's a hard reality to face.

[@jdwoodard8802]

I’m just nick picking but every time I see him do a map that has a shield and have two pieces on round 27 makes me feel weird for it’s just a must that when there’s a shield you get the shield

[@jamesbrincefield9879]

I was never a Call of Duty guy but my little brother was so I had access to them. I played the original Modern Warfare when it came out but never got into World at War. At least not until I saw my brother playing Zombies one day after school. Like it or not, Call of Duty has some of the best-feeling gameplay mechanics in video games and if I’m not mistaken I had also recently found out about Spelunky (the original free version) around the same time and it introduced me and endeared me to the concept of roguelikes, which I still love to this day. So once my brother explained how Zombies worked I was sold by the roguelike mechanics despite having practically zero interest in either Call of Duty or zombies. It was a ton of fun and I probably put like 100 hours into it on weekends over the next year before moving on to other things. I never had any interest in playing the next iteration of it and haven’t played any of them since but I’ll never forget that first game. It was a really simple but super unique idea that I can’t believe took so long to come to fruition. It’s kind of crazy that such a large franchise within such a large company took a chance like that. It felt like something special. At the time I never thought it would turn into something as big as the _real_ multiplayer despite how good it was.

[@Deceiver935]

I’m here because of Lex, I love the way you’ve talked about everything! I don’t completely agree with every point you’ve made but most things are pretty dead on!

[@kevins7974]

Awesome video thanks, hope to see more analysis in the future

[@TheDavidmorsa]

I like to think that COD Zombies has the same design as a pinball table: -Look soo simple from the outside and even boring -Adictive when playing for the first time -The discovering of "There is something more than this" -The way that you can "beat it" with a easter egg or completing the missions" -The need to surpass the highscore

[@toysanta8673]

Nice job man. Love the perspective

[@cakes9962]

longitude and latitude are used to describe the angular cordinates in a spheric system. longitude = phi, latitude = thata. For carthesic coordinates you use height, width and length.

[@Winasaurus]

As much as I've loved zombies as a whole (been playing since WAW came out and my friend got the DLC maps and Der Reise blew me away), I've really taken a strong dislike to the "Everything must be explained" mentality. It's clear the characters were picked as blatant stereotypes because that's what was funny to cod kids back then. A hard headed american, a drunk russian, a japanese guy obsessed with honor and battle, and a mad nazi scientist. But even this became something that had to be overexplained, that this was caused due to overexposure to 115, and the experiments done on them by richtofen. You can see the moment of "Oh this is becoming a real thing, maybe we should make the characters a little less cliche", but even THAT became something that had to be overexplained, them being alternate dimensions of themselves pre-115 experiments meaning they had a more full backstory and personality. They could have just had them be less cliche with 0 explanation. I highly doubt the teens playing origins would go "Man this game sucks, I thought Nikolai only talked about Vodka and women!". Nikolai's vodka could just be vodka, russians do indeed drink it unironically. But nope, that has to be some meaningful coping mechanism to deal with his dark past and yada yada. Richtofen could just be a genuinely awful nazi but no that's just primis richtofen and 115, REAL richtofen didn't like the nazis getting in the way of his experiments, and only hates americans so far as saying "Baseball and apple pie bad!" I'm not suggesting they should be stereotypical but they don't need to be picked apart like I'm reading a harry potter fanfic that needs to go into great detail about why Takeo is a hufflepuff. I think the most blatant and annoying example of it being maybe Peter McCain. He goes from just leaving a hand in verruckt and being an ambiance building corpse in Shi No Numa to being partially responsible for Avogadro, and therefore the complete destruction of the earth, as part of avogadro was used as the power needed by Maxis in the Victis story, plus single handedly saving the ultimis crew by sheer happenstance, and eventually having his soul enter an elemental orb to free him from possessing a robot. He could have just been some dude. But nope every single individual in zombies must apparently be written into the ground, to the point that even the corpses must be critical to the story.

[@v7Silent1]

I'm loading this video up for the third or fourth time now, and I wanted to let you know that this is perhaps one of the best analysis videos I have seen on game design thus far and I am shocked that, a year later, this video is still below 100k views. You deserve far more recognition for the level of quality and effort put into this video.

[@DavidOZ]

Thank you. 🥹

[@Gwilliker178]

I really wish he’d see this comment but if he understood the different development teams that took turns on zombies he’d have a way better understanding of a through line for thought and focus of certain map designs. Great video.

[@DavidOZ]

Hey! I see the comment. I talk a little about that in the unscripted section at the end of the video

[@donaldtheduck6073]

You make some really quality essays man hopefully this channel gains some more traction. I'd love to hear your thoughts on Outer Wilds, it's a really special game that I can't recommend enough if you haven't played it. You gotta go in blind though don't learn anything about it just play it.

[@trevormccarron4451]

big counterpoint to your thoughts on revelations- the story ending absolutely does fit the definition of a revelation, and at this point the zombies maps were very story focused

[@connorodum6710]

I still boot up WaW or Black Ops to this day whenever I’m feeling particularly nostalgic

[@SheolAbaddonus666]

In Dark Souls and Elden Ring, the game may be somewhat cryptic, but it's easy to find out because you are supposed to beat the game. A lot of the new zombies maps, like Der Eisendrache, Mob Of The Dead, Revelations and origins are too full of busywork for me to be able to play them. I've been playing zombies since 2014, with black ops 1, and the maps I hate the most are the convoluted ones that prioritize an Easter Egg in order to be able to get supplies you need to survive. I just want to kill zombies, but the easter eggs always get in the way. I've never cared about story in zombies, and until about 2 years ago, didn't even know there was one. Cold War zombies, even though there are only 4 maps, is my favorite, because you are aware of what you have to do to unlock the ending, however it's not prioritized. Firebase Z, Unforsaken, Mauer Der Toten and to a lesser extent Die Maschine are all maps that don't require you to do any bullshit easter egg nonsense. Easter eggs are not fun, and whenever finding a bitch ass secret is prioritized over a fun game, you get these shitty black ops 3 maps that don't need to exist.

[@PurpleColonel]

Me before the ranking: Yeah ok, maybe he won't see it all the way I do but that's ok. Me midway through the Shi No Numa slander: FUMING. Me seeing it at the bottom of the list for the rest of the video: Dead. You've broken my spirit. #FreeShiNo (It's better in BO3)

[@IgonDrakeWarrior]

26:38 you can buy the door while you have the bow pulled back

[@reidye]

As a zombies fan since 2010 I found this video great. I never agreed with the fan base on its 2 most “certain” points. Origins is not my favorite map, and tranzit is definitely not my least favorite map. Is it good? Heavens no. But it’s not the worst zombies map. And origins I find to be extremely tedious and the ee is just not worth it to me. I know that’s unpopular.

[@qwertyasdfgzx]

One of the reasons I love Origins to your point is to the exact opposite. There are no certains in zombie community. Every person I have engaged with has their own favorite map and their own reason why. I think it’s beautiful that Mob of the Dead and Origins are constantly argued about being the best map. It provides this sense of non-finality that shows good art.

[@weaverproject]

This is an amazing video and great point of view as zombies as a whole from not a diehard zombies player