I was about 8 years old visiting my aunt and uncle with my parents when my mother said "Why don’t you go sit with Tony in the living room?"
Tony was my older cousin and like all little boys around older family members I thought he was cool and wanted to be his best friend, and like all older boys around younger family members(especially snotty nosed cousins) I was but a nuisance.
Upon entering said living room Tony exclaimed “Shut up Ben! I’m watching a film, okay?! You can watch too, just be quiet!”
I said nothing, sat next to him and looked at the screen, and what I saw was my first glimpse of my favourite film of all time - The original George A. Romero classic ‘Dawn of the Dead’ from 1978.
I sat down just in time to watch a zombie clambering on top of some boxes only to get the top of its head lopped off by the rotating blades of a helicopter, I was hooked.
Since then I’ve consumed every type of zombie lore going; films, TV, comics, toys and of course: video games.
Anyone who’s listened to The Unashamed Gamers Podcast (available on YouTube) will know me and Paul are huge zombie fans, especially Dead Rising and the State of Decay franchises but my journey with Call of Duty’s zombie mode has been a troublesome one.
I loved Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, as did just about every console gamer with eyes and opposable thumbs but it was Treyarch’s follow up ‘Call of Duty: World at War’ that really showed me what CoD could be; visceral, precise, unforgiving and a fuck tonne of fun.
I, like many others was oblivious to the end game easter egg ‘Nacht Der Untoten’ (German for ‘Night of the Undead’) and more commonly referred to as ‘Nazi Zombies!’
There was and still is a beauty in that first maps simplicity; 4 men fending off waves of ever strengthening zombies whilst fruitlessly trying to board up all the windows lest they breach and claw your friends to death with their filthy undead mitts!
I spent countless nights holding doorways and windows with friends, hoping for the perfect gun in the 'mystery box’, a well, mysterious box that randomly chose which gun you would receive to help you fend off the walkers.
When Treyarch’s next Call of Duty arrived; 2010’s Black Ops, you best believe we wanted more Nazi Zombies, and the first map 'Kino Der Toten' AKA 'Theatre of the Dead’ did not disappoint, giving the right amount of variety and challenge. It was around then when I lost interest in the series, the maps became too elaborate, too silly and this is coming from a man who insists on Frank West wearing a dress in Dead Rising. Somewhere along the way, the fun was lost. It may have been our trip to the moon, it may have been my hero George A. Romero being a giant villain, it certainly didn’t help that to get the latest zombies maps you have to buy the multiplayer maps too and there’s a lot of us who just don’t want that. Are we to blame for continuing to purchase them? I think probably so, if you always sell millions why would you think anything is wrong?! If everyone is smiling to your face, you’re not going to presume they’re crying behind your back.
The last map I played had a dragon flying around, burning zombies now and again, it sounds like it should be fun, but alas it was not, I played 2 rounds and will comfortably never touch it again.
My vote will be with my wallet this year, I didn’t want zombies in space and I certainly don’t want zombies in 'spaceland!’
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