War...
gamesontheplanet.It is keptalivebya
goofy,tossed-offmultiplayermodule,added
last-minutebya developmentteamthatwas
nursinga heavyLeft4 Deadhabit.Thename,
ofcourse,wasNaziZombies,whichwasthen
limitedtoexactlyonemap.
Zombiesbecamea phenomenon,and
Treyarch’scallingcardeverytimeit releases
a newtitle.Thelatestincarnation,Black
Ops4, is a ridiculous,shockinglyverbose
blunderbussofnonsense.It featuresan
interlockingRPG-liteclasssystem,a boatload
oflore,aneyebrow-raisingalchemymechanic.
Andyet,there’sstillanobstinatefewwho
havedecided,in theirownprivatecanon,that
WorldatWaris a cutabovetherest.Thiswas
hammeredhometomewhenI stumbledintoa
Discordchannelandmetan11-year-oldanda
14-year-oldwhotoldmeasmuch.“Nostalgia,”
theyeachsaid,whenI askedwhytheyweren’t
playingsomethingelse.
“[WorldatWar]is whereit allstarted,”
saysanotherchannelregular,whogoesby
Carnage.“I thinkit’sthebestZombiesbecause
it’sthesimplest.Youcanjusthoponandplay
a match,whereasin theseothergames,they
haveaddedsomuchthatif youhopona
game,andyoudon’tknowhowtouseallthe
newstuff,you’redoomedtofailearlyon.”
Carnagereiteratesthatit’snotnecessarily
a badthingthatTreyarchhasiteratedonthat
originalZombiesmode,butthenagain,you
onlyhaveyourfirstloveonce.Healsocites
thecolorful,still-activemodscene,where
peoplecontinuetoimportcustommapsinto
thatdustyoldIW3engine.CallofDutywill
trudgeintoanendlesshorizon;hundredsof
developersona ceaselessquesttoimpress
newaudiences,toreinventthewheel.I wonder
howtheywouldfeeltoknowthatthereare
manywhoarecontent,andwillcontinue to be
content, with just the way things are.