Warning: minor spoilers for RE 6 and massive speculation for Black Ops II!
Recently there has been a barrage of little news snippets for Resident Evil 6, including confirmation of an Ada Wong campaign, details of a Agent Hunt mode where players could become infected creatures, a leaked Achievements list and some videos on YouTube showing Mercenaries mode game play. Conversely almost no information has been leaked about fan favourite Zombies mode for Black Ops II. Let’s take a quick look at that.
Considering how Cod: Black Ops was one of the biggest selling games this generation, it makes complete sense for developers Treyarch to expand their horizons, showcasing for us a more graphically beautiful game and all that other stuff in the trailer. But they’ve also been thinking about Zombies, a favourite game mode that has received almost a cult following. On YouTube there is a vast range of videos based around this game mode. So naturally Treyarch’s decision to include Zombies as part of the multiplayer engine, meaning it can support more players and hopefully won’t take so damn long to find a match, is very exciting news.
Very little information has officially been revealed about this mode in Black Ops II, other than the multiplayer engine and the promise that eight players can play together at once. That obviously surpasses the four player limit in World At War and the original Black Ops in their rendition of Zombies. Provocatively, this hints at a game mode grander in scale than previous attempts. After all, more players means there has to be more zombies on screen to kill. This is very exciting, as part of the subtle horror in Zombies was when, in a high round, you became swamped by a hoard of the undead who take a consistent stream of gunfire to bring down. Needless to say; more ghouls, more tension. Also more players means more competition! Really, this game mode is about who is the better survivor. If you kill less, you can’t afford desperately needed upgrades and new weapons that are essential for surviving past wave 25. Are you excited about these battles yet?
Rumours, rumours and more rumours
Although that is all the official information Treyarch have released, there are still a few bits from the main game’s trailer we can extrapolate and apply to this game mode. For instance, the setting. Black Ops II is set mainly in the not-too-distant future where war is aided by sophisticated technology, such as flying things that look cool and walking things that may have been ripped off from Aliens. Uh… anyway, the point is some of this future technology will undoubtedly leak into Zombies.
We can assume that from how some of the original Black Ops campaign elements were leaked into the game mode; notably weapons and of course the level featuring Nixon, Kennedy, McNamara and Castro. We all want to play with those new toys, those futuristic weapons that look perfect for blowing holes in cadavers. Additionally, Zombies has always featured the element of time travel, so classic weapons will probably make a return.
Official information isn’t, of course, as imaginative as supposedly leaked information. Recently rumours that a developer, who is conveniently unnamed, blurted out some exciting news that players can become zombies during the wave based mode. Whether this is a selectable option like Beast mode from Gears of War 3 hasn’t been confirmed, but then again since none of that information is confirmed anyway why shouldn’t we speculate?
This game will be released in November, after Resident Evil 6, which also gives players the option of playing as infected creatures online. Apparently, as a zombie in Black Ops II you can use your arms as weapons, which is melee game play. Well, if this is true, it seems that the days of sitting and waiting after being killed is all over. Another school of thought is that perhaps players, shall we say a maximum of four, can play as zombies from the go. That would be tense for obvious reasons that you’re probably already thinking about.
Regardless whether this rumour is true or not, Treyarch are certainly keeping information close to their chest about Zombies, either as a way to surprise gamers or because there are no new changes. Well, groundbreaking new changes. We’ll just have to wait.
Elsewhere, Capcom has released so much information about Resident Evil 6 that there are few surprises left. Except of course for the story, which remains a mystery. Is this really enough to buy a game? Probably, but that’s up to you. New videos are being released every few days, and for those who are observant, pausing the videos when the inventory is open allows you to see all those new weapons.
Personally, I think new guns were always exciting in this franchise; it meant you were a little less underpowered, and guns result in violence. A lot of content is exposed in these videos. This is actually a problem being raised by many game journalists who feel that companies release too much or too little information about games; they can’t find a nice balance. I guess it depends on how into games you are; loyal fans love more information, people wanting a surprise tend to avoid searching on the internet for news. It is a difficult decision; I myself have ruined many games by following their development too closely…
