I’m currently working on my Black Ops 7 Zombies video review, but I’ve been beaten to the punch by IGN. If you’ve read or watched the review, you’ll know it hasn’t gone down particularly well with the Zombies Community. I’ve read a lot of Black Ops 7 bashing these past few weeks, and even I had to pause at some of the takes in this review.
I can accept someone glossing over Zombies if they’re reviewing Black Ops 7 as a whole (we’re used to that anyway). However, if an outlet chooses to split the game’s modes into separate reviews, there’s an expectation that each one will be thorough and more in-depth than a general review would allow. Unfortunately, the IGN review of Black Ops 7 Zombies doesn’t really do that, so I figured I’d go through it and push back where I disagree.
Before I begin, I cannot be any clearer: this isn’t sour grapes because “IGN gave Zombies a 6”. I think review scores can be helpful for a quick read of the tea leaves, but I’m more interested in the meat of the matter. I’ll also be referring to the reviewer as IGN, despite knowing that IGN isn’t an all-consuming entity that reviews everything itself, because I don’t believe the writer deserves any malice. Please don’t be a dick. I disagree with their review—that’s all. This is purely a response to criticism, and I want to be as fair as possible while explaining why hardcore Zombies fans are upset.
In typical Zombies fashion, I need to start at the end. Here’s the final line of the verdict, which pulls the review together:
I can’t call this iteration of Zombies bad, but it feels like a remnant of something greater, a shambling corpse that reminds us of the person it used to be.
From that, you might assume the reviewer is not a fan of Modern Zombies and prefers the old-school tendencies of earlier Black Ops games. I’d have thought the same, but we’ll get to that.
First, we always try to learn the map and discover the process for ourselves, because that is how the average person will do it; second, because our failure mirrors what I feel many other teams will experience playing Ashes of the Damned, making it a crucial part of both this year’s game and this review.
Discovery is a crucial part of the Zombies experience; however, I don’t think it’s wise to attempt to discover the main quest by yourself. It’s a bit like someone saying they’re going to learn a Destiny Raid themselves without looking anything up. Sure, you could, but you’d be playing for a very long time. The main quest of a Zombies map has always been hidden from players, and so it should be.
The average player will explore and learn the map themselves, yes, but they won’t try to figure out the main quest. Some may not even realise it exists! The majority will turn to YouTube or Reddit, as they always have. Entire careers have been made from Easter Egg Guide videos, after all.
The Zombies Community swelled during the Jason Blundell era (Black Ops 2 through Black Ops 4) because of the excitement around solving the mysteries in (and out) of the game. Yet the Zombies team was only doubling down on what had always been there. Players had been testing, theorising and experimenting to uncover the mode’s cryptic secrets since World at War. As the main quests became more defined, a sense of competitiveness also emerged, with everyone racing to be the first in the world to complete them.
After Black Ops 4 and Blundell’s departure, the complexity of the main quest dipped severely. It wasn’t until Black Ops 6 that we began to see signs of a resurgence, and we’re now at a healthy place where Ashes of the Damned’s main quest took the community roughly 12 hours to solve, with other oddities still a mystery two weeks after release.
Those returning strengths don’t shine this year in the way they usually do, with an Easter Egg hunt that’s too big, too time-consuming, and too unwieldy to wholeheartedly recommend.
I disagree with this, but it’s a fair opinion for someone who isn’t a fan of hardcore Zombies experiences. What confuses me is how this take relates to the final line of the review. The Ashes of the Damned main quest is a clear return to the Black Ops 3 era of Easter Egg hunts—the most popular period in Zombies history. If that isn’t “something greater”, I don’t know what is.
After our best run, where we got really close to the end before someone screwed up and it all came crashing down, one of our best guys just refused to play anymore. “I already have a job and it’s really stressful,” he told me afterwards. “The last thing I need is to come home and have to deal with this nonsense.” I wonder how many people are going to try Ashes of the Damned and come to a similar conclusion.
Barrier to entry is certainly an issue for newcomers or casual Zombies players, but Treyarch has made strides in recent years with the introduction of Directed Mode. I’m a big advocate for it because it allows players to learn the main quest without compromising the standard Zombies experience that long-term fans desire. We’re more than happy for more players to jump aboard, but it shouldn’t come at the expense of one of the fundamentals of Zombies: big, time-consuming quests.
Unfortunately, the review doesn’t explain that Directed Mode for Ashes of the Damned is coming to Black Ops 7 in Season 1, nor does it provide context for why it isn’t in the game at launch. To protect the sanctity of the main quest hunt, Treyarch always staggers the release of Directed Mode. If your biggest takeaway from this year’s instalment is that players may struggle with the challenge and complexity of the main quest, it would have made sense to mention Directed Mode.
Once again, I’m left confused about which period of Zombies IGN is clamouring to return to. Back in 2008, the very existence of the mode was hearsay unless you were extremely online. If anything, the modern era of Call of Duty has sought to sand off as many rough edges as possible.
I have seen damn near everything the mode has to offer except the finale itself.
I take issue with this because Cursed Mode is a significant component of Zombies this year, yet its coverage in IGN’s review may as well have been lifted from the back of the box.
Vandorn Farm is there for your classic, round-based survival attempts on a smaller map, Dead Ops Arcade for something a bit more ridiculous, and Cursed for the ultra hardcore (there’s no guidance here, loadouts and your HUD are limited, and you can equip Relics for additional difficulty).
Survival Mode is easy enough to explain, but Cursed Mode deserves far more attention in a review of Black Ops 7 Zombies. If the main quest is the campaign, then Cursed Mode is the endgame. It extends the hunt with nine Relics to track down (one still eludes players at the time of writing) and introduces a system to modify Zombies gameplay in a way that hasn’t been attempted since Black Ops 4’s Custom Mutations.
Skipping Dead Ops Arcade 4 also rubbed me the wrong way. The mode is more substantial than ever and is absolutely part of the Zombies suite, so it deserves more than nine words in a review dedicated specifically to Zombies.
…because you forgot what to do for step 227 and had to look it up; and on and on and on. You will have to start over again, and remember, a full run takes hours and must be done in a single sitting.
That’s not strictly true for solo players, since save-and-quit exists, but if you’re in a co-op match, sure. I’d argue the main quest taking a few hours has been part of Zombies since Black Ops 1.
Most players want a long quest they can gradually cut down through repeat playthroughs. The most rewarding part of the Ashes quest is that the game constantly offers ways to optimise your run (the side EE that spawns in a Zursa early is a godsend). Speedrunners have managed to get their runs down to roughly 30 minutes, and while 99% of players won’t be able to do that, I think 60-75 minutes is doable for the majority of skill levels.
Many of the pain points from last year remain early on – for instance, you can’t make your loadout until you hit level four, which means if Zombies is all you want to do in Black Ops 7 (and for me, it is), you’re stuck with a pistol and whatever you can earn by buying stuff on the walls after you’ve dispatched enough undead. Remember when games just let you have fun from the outset instead of unlocking it?
I also remember when Zombies forced you to start with a pistol and earn points to buy stuff on the walls. Many fans preferred that approach and demanded a return to those days, which is part of the reason Cursed Mode exists.
You’re likely to reach Level 4 after just one or two games. I’m confused why it’s such a big deal that Zombies has progression in line with the rest of Call of Duty. It’s something that has been in the mode to some extent since Black Ops 3. If we’re talking about preventing players from buying Perks or Weapons on the map, I’d understand, but that’s not the case.
There’s something inherently scummy in locking the ability to do basic things like craft a throwing axe at a workbench behind a level requirement when you need one to perform part of the Easter Egg.
You’re going to die because someone forgot to get an item you needed and you weren’t high enough level to craft it at the bench (this, for the record, is extremely dumb; just let me make a throwing axe! Yes, you can find one on the map if you know where to look; that isn’t the point).
This is by far the biggest head-scratcher in the review because there are multiple ways to equip a throwing axe that don’t require the crafting table. Everything needed to complete the main quest is available on the map. This rewards map knowledge and gives players multiple ways to tackle the quest. I’ll always opt for picking up the throwing axe over wasting salvage.
While the main body of the review does mention this, the way it’s framed in the verdict section is incredibly frustrating, since some readers will skip straight to the end and walk away with a false impression of the game.
I fail to see what makes this “scummy”. Locking items at the crafting table behind progression helps ensure the game remains balanced. The crafting table itself has been a pain point for many Zombies players, as it allows access to powerful weaponry and equipment on demand rather than relying on luck at the mystery box. If items were available willy-nilly, it would be an even bigger issue. It isn’t “extremely dumb”; it’s an intentional design choice meant to encourage players to explore the map.
It also feels more than a little pay-to-win with the Gobblegum situation, and with how much simply grinding levels improves your chances because you have better stuff.
Naturally, you can buy Gobblegum packs for real money, because of course, right? But the whole thing feels exploitative, like it’s hard because it wants you to give in and open your wallet and just buy the stuff that will make it easier.
I thought the “Gobblegum is pay-to-win” argument had been left behind in 2015, but unfortunately, I was wrong. Gobblegums are not required for the core Zombies experience. They are additional consumables used to mix up gameplay or give players a helping hand if they choose to use them.
Yes, they can be purchased with real money. No, they are not mandatory. The insinuation that Zombies is deliberately difficult to force players into buying Gobblegums is absurd when you track the last five years of the mode. Players criticised Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard for being a walk in the park. Hell, some even felt Black Ops 6 was too easy. Treyarch course-corrected, and Black Ops 7 is a better game because of it.
There are plenty of valid reasons to slam Call of Duty for questionable practices, but I don’t believe Gobblegums are worth mentioning — especially when you consider their previous iteration in Black Ops 3: Dr. Monty’s Factory. Players earned Liquid Divinium, which was a currency they could spend at the factory to spin for random Gobblegums. They could also spend real money on the currency, but not specific Gobblegums. It was basically a Zombified slot machine.
In Black Ops 6 and 7, players earn Gobblegums directly, without the middleman of Liquid Divinium. The earn rate is fair, and while some gums are rarer than others, it ultimately comes down to the player if and when they are used. It’s worth noting that completing the more difficult Rituals in Cursed Mode rewards players with ultra-rate Gobblegums.
I’ll concede that the Vaytharion boss fight in Ashes of the Damned was brutal before Treyarch nerfed it earlier this week. However, many players still managed to complete it solo or in squads without using any Gobblegums. I needed one or two to get over the line, but that was due to impatience, not because the game forced me to pony up. Post-patch, the boss fight is in a much healthier place, to the point where I feel confident tackling it in the first tier of Cursed Mode without relying on Gobblegums at all.
So we return to the line I keep bringing up, and it’s ultimately the reason I felt so frustrated after reading the review:
The review is at odds with itself. It claims that Zombies is a shadow of its former self, yet criticises most of the changes Treyarch has made—changes driven by player feedback—to restore Zombies to its former glory. The Zombies community has fought long and hard for this mode, and it does not want to concede ground now.
Whatever you think of IGN, it remains one of the most notable video game outlets on the planet. Its influence is undeniable, and I can see why fans might be worried that a negative review could shift the mode’s direction. I’d like to believe the Zombies Team is made of stronger stuff than that. This won’t be the first negative review they’ve ever read, and I doubt it’ll be the last. Of course, there’s always the concern that poor optics might make the suits nervous, but if that happens, it’s beyond our control. It’s beyond IGN’s control too, if I’m honest.
Which brings me to my final point. Although I’ve spent the past few hours typing away, it doesn’t really matter what I think, what the reviewer thinks, or even what a washed-up YouTuber thinks. As the old saying goes, “Opinions are like arseholes; everybody has one”. It’s nice to see something you enjoy getting its flowers, but as long as you’re enjoying yourself, that’s all that matters. In fact, someone marking Zombies down for being too difficult and obtuse actually means Treyarch has succeeded in bringing challenge back to the mode!
Black Ops 7 Zombies is much more than just Ashes of the Damned, and while I wish IGN’s review had highlighted that, it’s whatever. Real ones know how strong a launch this is for Zombies. Let’s hope Treyarch can keep it up.
Anyway, back to writing my video review. I can’t guarantee you’ll agree with it, but I promise it will cover every last corner of the Dark Aether, because that’s what Zombies deserves.
