Call of Duty: Online Has Been Overrun by Robot Zombies

[Josh Engen]

Call of Duty: Online Has Been Overrun by Robot Zombies


China's exclusive, free-to-play edition of Call of Duty has been invaded by the most terrifying enemies in history.

Call of Duty: Online is a free-to-play rendition of CoD that's exclusive to China and fueled by micro-transactions. There have been a number of rumors about the game making its way to the U.S., but I've never been particularly interested in playing this version of CoD. Until now, that is.

Over the weekend, CoD: Online developer Tencent released a trailer that shows off the game's new antagonists: a horde of robot zombies. The campaign isn't unlike Treyarch's zombie mode, but the zombies are mechanical for some reason.

Strangely, this isn't the first time that a robot zombie has shown up in a Call of Duty title. In Black Ops 2's "Apocalypse" DLC, a mechanical zombie called the 'Panzer Soldat' shows up on the "Origins" map. Though, it's difficult to say if he's a robot zombie or simply a zombie in a robot suit. Theologians and philosophers will be debating that question for decades to come.

Obviously, Activision hasn't mentioned wether or not the robot zombies from Call of Duty: Online will eventually make their way to western shores, but I'm thinking about starting a letter-writing campaign.

Source: Destructoid [http://www.destructoid.com/call-of-duty-online-throws-robot-zombies-into-the-mix-266752.phtml]

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[Nooners]

Okay, not gonna lie: that looks like fun. Stupid, but incredibly fun.

This gets me thinking on other ideas. What if the CoD campaign went supernatural? Gave the player all the usual overpowered toys, and then make them almost useless in the face of Cthuluoid abominations or super-advanced aliens? That could be seriously fun. Anyone else on board with this idea? It's not like the controls/gameplay for CoD are bad at all, it's just this overwhelming sameness that's boring us (I think).

 

[Slycne]

I wonder if this is their clever way of getting around China's previous regulations of having skeletons in games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90087-China-Blocks-WoW-Lich-King-Release].

No really, it's ok because they are robots!

 

[holographicman]

just reminding us all how long it's been since there was a good terminator game to play

 

[vxicepickxv]

By the first glance, I was thinking that bots had taken over all the Modern Warfare servers.

 

[momijirabbit]

This is the best thing ever.
And it is F2P! Win.

 

[CriticalMiss]

I'm glad to see that Zombots are wearing high-vis vests but they should have hardhats on too. Doubly useful for zombies I might add.

 

[laggyteabag]

It is pretty much a clone of the original Nazi zombies mode, just with a more modern setting and robot zombies. The more eagle eyed of you may have spotted that the map they were playing on was pretty much just a reskinned version of Nacht Der Untoten from World at War, which isnt to say that it is entirely a bad thing, I loved that map.

 

[WanderingFool]

I wonder if this is their clever way of getting around China's previous regulations of having skeletons in games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90087-China-Blocks-WoW-Lich-King-Release].

No really, it's ok because they are robots!

Actually, I was going to say that...

Also, if this game did come state side, it would be the LAST COD game I ever buy.

 

[mysecondlife]

Zombie robots? I guess you can't say they aren't trying.

 

[xyrafhoan]

I wonder if this is their clever way of getting around China's previous regulations of having skeletons in games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90087-China-Blocks-WoW-Lich-King-Release].

No really, it's ok because they are robots!

Actually, I was going to say that...

Also, if this game did come state side, it would be the LAST COD game I ever buy.

Yep, that was my first thought knowing that depicting skeletons, even partially, is banned in Chinese media. So instead of having crummy looking, fully fleshed zombies, they swapped the innards with robot parts instead of bones. Pretty clever. To be honest they should just roll that out worldwide.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Okay, not gonna lie: that looks like fun. Stupid, but incredibly fun.

This gets me thinking on other ideas. What if the CoD campaign went supernatural? Gave the player all the usual overpowered toys, and then make them almost useless in the face of Cthuluoid abominations or super-advanced aliens? That could be seriously fun. Anyone else on board with this idea? It's not like the controls/gameplay for CoD are bad at all, it's just this overwhelming sameness that's boring us (I think).

My friends and I have been saying that Treyarch should just make a full-blown zombie game instead of another CoD campaign, so no, you're not alone there.

My thoughts on this trailer: Maxis...what have you done? No, seriously. If you watch the ending video in Origins, the last line spoken is, "Don't worry...(he) has a plan." So, I'm assuming that the plan involved making those giant robots wandering around into small ones and just making a lot of them. That...apparently didn't go too well.

Strangely, this isn't the first time that a robot zombie has shown up in a Call of Duty title. In Black Ops 2's "Apocalypse" DLC, a mechanical zombie called the 'Panzer Soldat' shows up on the "Origins" map. Though, it's difficult to say if he's a robot zombie or simply a zombie in a robot suit. Theologians and philosophers will be debating that question for decades to come.

I say that it is a zombie inside a mechanical suit. All of the dialogue that characters say--when my friends and I aren't screaming in panic when that thing shows up--point to it being an infected human inside a drilling suit. I have cast the first strike in the debate! Mua ha ha ha!

 

[Moloch Sacrifice]

This gets me thinking on other ideas. What if the CoD campaign went supernatural? Gave the player all the usual overpowered toys, and then make them almost useless in the face of Cthuluoid abominations or super-advanced aliens? That could be seriously fun. Anyone else on board with this idea? It's not like the controls/gameplay for CoD are bad at all, it's just this overwhelming sameness that's boring us (I think).

That would be amazing. I can imagine our stereotypical CoD player getting into the swing of things, gunning down some mooks, maybe calling in an airstrike or two. He's fist pumping, probably shouting "Hoo-Ra!" every now and then. At this point, the odds are clearly in his favour, and he starts to feel pretty omnipotent.

Eventually, we get to the point where he's marking an enemy position for an airstrike, and he knows the drill; point laser, angry terrorist man goes boom. Except this time, some freakish Abomination pulls the jet out of the air like it was a toy. This Thing is a monstrosity; not even remotely humanoid, there are tentacles, eyes, spines and organic things that look like they should never have evolved. It's so large, and so horrifyingly alien, that the player can't even tell how much of it they can see, and it's already dominating the skyline.

The disciplined radio communication dissolves into panicked wailing and confusion the men around you are dissolved, impaled, and devoured as you watch, and your grizzled-white-man partner is crying on the floor screaming for his mother. CoD fanboy gets given all the toys: airstrikes, orbital weapons, maybe even a tactical nuclear strike. All the while, the thing continues to spread it's horrifying form without so much as a consideration to the firepower being levelled at it.

Eventually, and through his own reasoning, CoD boy realises that, for the first time in his gaming life, he has to run. So he runs. An officer orders him to stop, but he keeps going. Contact with this thing is instant death, and the player is chased and herded by the monstrous appendages growing and spreading around him. Eventually, he makes his way into a basement or subway, holes himself up as best he can, and waits in the darkness, hoping for a reprieve...

 

[ThunderCavalier]

Okay, not gonna lie: that looks like fun. Stupid, but incredibly fun.

This gets me thinking on other ideas. What if the CoD campaign went supernatural? Gave the player all the usual overpowered toys, and then make them almost useless in the face of Cthuluoid abominations or super-advanced aliens? That could be seriously fun. Anyone else on board with this idea? It's not like the controls/gameplay for CoD are bad at all, it's just this overwhelming sameness that's boring us (I think).

Oh my god... so much yes.

No offense, but CoD has managed to make the FPS genre far too... serious. It's all "terrorist plot" this and that, but quite honestly, I liked stuff like Timesplitters where it was like "And then there are zombies and time traveling and crap" and whatnot. I wouldn't mind if CoD became a bit more... mystical and non-serious. I mean, it's not like its fanbase is very mature.

 

[hutchy27]

So it's zombies reskinned a bit to look like robot zombies, how interesting ...

 

[Jandau]

Soooo... Husks? A CoD/ME crossover?

 

[NightHawk21]

I wonder if this is their clever way of getting around China's previous regulations of having skeletons in games [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/90087-China-Blocks-WoW-Lich-King-Release].

No really, it's ok because they are robots!

That's what I came here to say. It seems like the most likely case. I know in Dota 2 they had to change some of the heroes and icons to accomadate that too. So some heroes like lifesteal (pic below) got their more zombie like parts removed and replaced by metal.

Spoiler

Lifestealer (non-Chinese version):

Lifestealer (Chinese version):