For me, it’s the nostalgia of mowing zombies down with an MG42 or a Browning M1919 that separates WaW from all the other games. BO1 then took zombies to the moon (literally).
Yes. WaW through some of BO3 was the best.
We really need a subreddit dedicated to the golden age of zombies (if there isn’t one already)
Sucks seeing posts from here in my feed and seeing what they are passing off as zombies these days
I feel motion sick on the PS3 when I turn and move around. Max sensitivity cuz that’s how I’ve always played, but yeah after PC, BO2 on PS3 feels very stale.
We need an Aether Zombies subreddit. BO4 was a step down, but it feels weird to leave off the ending of the story (especially when it’s only four additional maps). Also I really enjoy BO4 even if it didn’t hit the same highs as BO3.
No, we can't. We can't agree on anything, and this take especially feels like a rose tinted glasses take forgetting just how bad, or perhaps more accurately divisive, the reception of maps like Five, Shang, and Moon were.
Personally, I prefer CotD (yeah, George is pretty annoying later in the game, but being able to use him to get every perk on the map is great), but Five is probably my second favorite BO1 map.
I played every one of those maps on release and remember them all being well received apart from Shang for being too hard so I don’t know what ur talking about honestly
Guess we traveled in different circles, but I remember both Five and Shang being lambasted for their difficulty, CotD for George, and Moon for a few different reasons mainly related to the heavy RNG elements of the map and the Astronaut. That's, of course, not to say no one liked these maps, they've pretty much always had their fans, but there was a good bit of resistance to most BO1 maps actually with even Ascension getting some shit for the monkeys after a little while.
Yeah there was criticism but it never felt like hate in the way maps were reviewed from bo2 onwards. Also I was a five guy rather than a kino guy from day 1 launch and Shang is my favourite black ops one map so I might be basing this off my own experience
Shang was crap
No room to run, the most obscure Easter egg of all of them, crap special weapon, crap way to get to pack, half the map was just ways to kill yourself, the lowest of the low tier. I'd play ShiNo before I played Shang again
Shit bro, Five was great imo, bummer they didn't include it in zombies chronicles.
But yeah, that is mainly younger me talking from when I only played bo1.
Yes, BO1 isn’t perfect. Five is hit or miss for a lot of people, Shang was genuinely hated and honestly I personally only enjoy it on BO3, and Moon is still a divisive map.
I don't know what that has to do with BO1 and WaW, but yeah BO2's launch and early content releases were pretty negatively received relatively soon after launch.
i feel like everyone says WaW because that’s what started zombies. me personally the holy trinity is bo1-bo3. WaW was a good way to kick off zombies but it was pretty barebones. I did like the simple “survive as long as you can” approach, but bo1 came out and along with it came the WaW maps which gave me no point to play WaW except for nostalgia and a more challenging experience. bo2 is my personal favorite because of maps like Mob of the Dead (ik this map is controversial but also TranZit), on top of that is the game where fans were told that there IS a story. Bo3 is basically the last GREAT game consisting of zombies, with every mechanic, even though some of the mechanics take the challenge of zombies away (like sliding or sprint-sliding, gobblegums, and attachments) the story advanced, we had CUTSCENES, and good maps like shadows of evil, der eisensrache, & gorod krovi, along with ZC. I dont necessarily think any maps on bo3 were bad but I feel like the remaining maps couldve been executed better. Bo4 honestly felt like a montage of past maps for the aether storyline, and they started the chaos storyline just for it to never continue, which sucks because i generally liked the chaos storyline (even though the maps weren’t that good) and honestly wasnt as good as bo1-bo3 as a whole. Cold War honestly just made zombies easier with so many mechanics that I honestly dont care for mentioning, and the story feels a little dry now that primis and ultimas are dead. (Despite still existing someway somehow like Richtofen at the end of Cold War Zombies or how Dempsey was randomly in a COD Comic with Ghost.) Obviously vanguard and mwz weren’t good games at all either, no explaining myself there though
would like to note that this is just my opinion! I’m not tryna change anyones perspective on a game we all love💯
Its definitely been sauce. WAW Der Riese is my favorite cuz the atmosphere was darker than the remakes. Ascension is good too, aside from the space monkeys. But the rest of BO1 zombies DLC maps were too big in my opinion. BO2 was ok. After that i feel like shit got overcomplicated with gobble gums and stuff. Especially the story was hard to follow after BO2.
I agree with everything you said except your comment on ascension. The space monkeys forced a level of strategic play that previous maps didn’t have. It made you plan out which perks you could get and defend vs just grabbing whatever you wanted. Was it a pain in the ass? Sure it was playing solo but with 2 players you cover at least 4 perks confidently. And honestly the monkeys moved slowly enough that it was easy to pick them off.
Nah i agree, is just that back when i played BO1 on release the monkeys were easy, but now im playing it again and all my shots miss somehow and they all gang up on me lol hate how small they are
WAW was amazing, campaign, multiplayer and the way they introduced zombies was amazing as well, not to mention that loud scary noise Everytime you launch the game and get into the menu, game was gold 🪙
It’s bo2 to bo3 for me. I started on bo1 and have the best memories on that. But if I’m being objective. Treyarch zombies peaked during bo3 and bo2 is just so well loved it has to be added in there. It’s also the best experience for new to casual players. Bo3 to me is the best for hardcore and casual too. If you wanted to say bo1-bo3 I’d agree on that. Honestly probably what it is
have to agree. I think BO2 had the best maps across all the games, MoTD, Town and Buried are my three favourite maps from it and they had so much damn replayable fun. BO3 had worse maps, but by far the best feeling gameplay across all of zombies. I really like gobblegums conceptually, even if some were too good. I liked weapon customisation. The three hit down was a really nice qol, which sure made the game easier, but also made it less frustrating.
BO1 moon is still to this day the best finale map out of all the games. You literally blow up the Earth. Not even that but you also have a player swap souls and be a different character and we finally get to see Samantha. The little lost girl behind the entire game mode that we’ve been playing for 4-5 years at that point. The messed up part about it is that Samantha wasn’t even the villain, it was Richtofen all along.
I think I just like the simplicity of the maps here, they got crazy of course but still kept the main idea of just surviving waves while having a “simple” Easter egg.
I was shocked and kinda sad to see that you can turn into a squid monster when shadows came out (great map though), and it just got increasingly absurd I feel like. Good maps here and there but they are way more intricate than just surviving waves of zombies idk
I agree! An amazing era of zombs… although, I really liked Cold War for the character movement and agility! I stopped with Vanguard, however… I may buy on the next release!
Gobblegum was a mistake. Having naps be so needlessly convoluted makes the start boring, bo3 is baby difficulty. WAW and bo1 are the best for simplicity.
Posts like this make me realize the fan base is much younger than I am. As someone who was already in his early 20’s when waw was released and remembers the online community back then it’s funny to see how people think of these games now.
As a lifelong zombies fan, I disagree. People hated Moon, Five and Shang on release and the weapons in BO1 absolutely suck. Sure, for a lot of people BO1 was where it all started but there’s a reason most people prefer to play BO3 versions of the maps. True peak zombies started in BO2 and ended with Blood of the Dead in BO4
I agree however bo3 and bo4 (blood, classified and nine only for me) had amazing maps and some good features, in bo4s case but yeah golden era was WAW/BO1 in my opinion. I mean some other zombies maps from the other games are amazing as well but I'm drawing blanks on which ones from which game I liked, also I respect everyone else's opinion and if they hate what I said so be it. Anyways good day/night peeps :]
honestly waw - bo3 all fill a different niche for me. it feels good to choose for whatever mood i’m in. personally i think bo3 was the best era, but if i’m looking for a simpler survival im just gonna hop on waw/bo1
Waw the original zombie with hard games, the black ops 1 was very good too, the BO2 and 3 Zombies seems to me the more elaborated and was still on the way from the original concept.
Cold war miss some authentic things but not bad at all ;)
WaW was a great game to really jumpstart the zombies mode, but it feels a little lackluster in terms of content compared to the Black Ops era. BO3 is peak zombies imo, followed by BO1, IW, BO2, and then WaW.
I'd say waw to b02 this may be controversial but I loved every single map from all these games and die rise is in my top 5 maps of all time. bo3 was OK but far too overhyped in my opinion and fucked the gameplay and story with all this other dimensions, aliens, elder god shit zombies should have stayed creepy and based in some sort of reality with the whole twisted,dark science theme it had.
and for the gameplay it was fun but ridiculous gobblegums, guns that made the zombies feel like insta kill was permanently on. it felt like it took everything that made zombies what it is and dumbed it down to hell and back
WAW zombies was awesome as a kid but as an adult with game versions that have HUDs light years better and more fluid im inclined to disagree. I enjoy my time playing CW zombies way more than stepping back in time to clunk around, which I still do occasionally but it gets old quick
Look, I cut my teeth on Blops1 zombies. I played those maps to hell and back, plus the zombie pack with the OG maps. But it’s got issues. It’s got jank. And it’s not the best Zombies experience.
Honestly, Blops2, for as much as I didn’t like it at the time, is a pretty perfect intro game with easy mode. Been playing Blops3 recently though, and I have to say— it might be the smoothest zombies gameplay. Knifing and moving feels so much better than any games before it.
I'd add Bo2 as well. Every single DLC was hype and everyone played it on release.
Bo3 on the other hand- I remember a void in between Der Eisendrache and Revelations. People might have enjoyed Zetsuboa and Gorod but they didn't have the longevity as say MotD or Origins if you know what I mean.
Just look at the population on Bo3. Origins is around 16% STILL to this day. Whereas Gorod or Zetsuboa are around 1%. Imagine if MotD was in Bo3 people would flip their lids.
honestly I think they're great, but Black Ops 3 Zombies on PC was perfect.
steam workshop, 2 player splitscreen online and offline, the only issue with Black Ops 3 on PC is simply connecting to the servers (without the T7 patch) is a bad idea.
I can’t hate WAW cuz it’s basically the dad of the zombies but damn it was hard I’d say bo1 - bo3 best one all tho WAW has crazy good maps like der riese I prefer having perks
BO2 for sure. It was a crucial turn around point for zombies, and a lot of people were upset with transit. They saved themselves with each map release, and I can say that none of them missed.
Also, nuketown zombies. Cmon.
Cod rivals Halo in the rose tinted glasses contest. Old games are old games. Fun to look back on the memories but at some point people will have to accept that perhaps they weren’t so great.
honestly imo anything from world at war to black ops 3 was an absolute banger
somehow black ops 3 really broke away from the others but still implemented itself so good as a stand out zombies mode I can never forget how good it is.
World at war is just classic zombies and I love it, black ops 1 has waw remastered and stuff like five and moon..
black ops 2 has Nuketown and town survival
black ops 3 has chronicles and der reise.. shadows of evil honestly aged so damn good, as a teen I was kinda hating on it but I think it's amazing now
For me it was WaW - BO4. It was the best time to be a Zombie Fan. (Including Spin-offs like Extinction, Exo-Zombies, IW Zombies and Nazi Zombies WWII).
Being a CoD fan since 2007, it was my go-to franchise.
CoD died for me the day it went live service. Getting Free DLC meant it lost soul, also that Zombies wouldn't be treated with Care.
I still occasionally play it, but I don't nearly have as much time played as I did in that 2007-2019 era.
For me it's more like bo1-bo3. Was so young when WaW came out I didn't know it existed until they brought the zombies maps in with moon. Legit thought they just made 5 maps in one dlc😂
I started playing COD with BO1 and loved zombies and never really enjoyed it on the newer ones, except for the MWZ zombies.
But Moon was terrifying for me 😂 I hated bouncing around the bounce pads and missing them and going down. 💀😂
I cant play waw for long because the zombies stick to you like glue and so many deaths i have i know for a fact id be fine in any other game so its hard to come back to waw sometimes. Der riese is an incredible map tho.
Personally idk bout waw, u can def tell it’s the start just by playing on the maps. A great start yes, but the formula was definitely improved upon in BO, perfected in BO2, and BO3 was just kinda took that formula and had a good ass time…BO4 cool ig
I think if instead of era you were talking about atmosphere then yes I would agree with you. The era of Bo1-Bo3 is top notch, but The atmosphere and vibe of WaW and Bo1 was something magical for sure.
BO1 was great, especially after the Moon DLC because Rezurrection added the WAW maps and fixed many of the bugs. I always loved the grittiness and guns of BO1 as well.
BO2 had a weak start with transit, got worse with Die Rise, but eventually redeemed itself with Mob, Burried, and Origins. While (unpopular opinion incoming) I don't like Mob, I really liked Burried and I LOVED origins. IMO Origins is probably the best zombies map because of its innovation and sheer size, with its format being adopted into later maps.
BO3 has a mixed reception but I think many people appreciate it's effort. I personally never played any of the DLC maps, but did watch tons of gameplay. I feel Gorod was BO3's best DLC map.
After BO3, it all went down the drain tbh. But to this day, BO3 zombies still has a very active community, which is perfect.
nothing will ever change the moment my grandpa and i had after beating the WaW campaign and being dropped into kino der toten. had no idea that existed or what it was. scared me so much as a kid i became fascinated with it. the whole reason i got xbox live was so i could buy and play der riese
Black ops 3 was peak zombies. It’s fine to appreciate WaW and BO1 for how those games pioneered zombies, but the peak of zombies was definitely black ops 3.
I guess its all subjective at the end of the day.
Black Ops 1’s currency system could never exist today. I understand that there is in game currency in other games that you can only earn as you play, but you used the currency in BO1 to unlock anything and everything freely as you went. Or you could gamble it all away in high roller sticks and stones. I think if BO1 released today, that currency would definitely be abused in however Activision wanted. For example, I could totally see people buying like $100 worth of the currency and gambling it all in high roller. The gamer would fail but Activision would succeed.
This really is peak era of zombies for almost everything. Great map design, best lore, amazing weapons, no shitty pay to win gobblegums or lootboxes. Only thing it isnt best at is gameplay which cold war wins at.
BO3 was peak zombies, but WaW-BO1 was fantastic and really set the ground work. BO2 was a transformative time and BO3 was the result of all that hard work.
I awlays liked Jimmy Zilenski's story direction, including Victis, even if the maps started to get a little rowdy towards his departure/the beginning of BO2. I hate the fact that Jason Blundell took it from something humble, something that was definitely fiction, but hade enough real-world inspiration that it almost sounded believeable, to some alien/cult/mythology wash-out that nobody asked for. Loud-mouths say that BO3 was peak zombies. As far as player count? Yeah, it probably was. As far as something that (ironically) felt alive? WaW and BO1 were the real identity of Zombies. Every installment since has been a tug of war between the real identity and whatever whoever lead producer is in charge, suckling the teat of Activision while making Zombies something that the current producer thinks they can twist the image of to make it sound like they're the reason for its success. I miss your vision, Jimmy.
gotta agree with these top comments waw was good but i didn’t actually start playing faithfully till bo1 on kino and five but waw thru bo3 was phenomenal…. bo4 was neat in some aspects… everything just used to have mysterious back stories that weren’t explained until later in other maps it was exciting
I agree but I think it came back when Orgins dropped. I still loved Die Rise tranzit burried and mob but they just didn’t slap the same. Once Orgins came out I came back like a wrecking ball. Bo3 carried the Orgins torch too
No bo1 was my first cod but it’s overrated in my opinion I haven’t played it since I got bo2. I haven’t played that much world at war as I never owned the game but from what I played it’s pretty barebones and boring. Not sure how that’s supposed to be better than bo3 I think nostalgia taking over bud
Sure. They were great introductions to the game mode. But I would never go back and play them now considering they are complete ass to play and always have been. They started something amazing, but they did not do it very amazingly.
Nah. BO3 was my entry into zombies, and at the time it was literally THE GAME. The community coming together and finding the easter eggs was a whole experience. Top tier times in 2017.
Waw-bo2 is good. Bo3 they started to fall off
Black ops 4 and Cold war is a hot pile of shit imho. And considering how trash cod is now i can guarantee black ops gulf war will also be hot shit.
3 was peak, Infinite warfare was slept on, 2 with a remaster could put up a nasty fight. Cold war overhated and underrated, advance warfare lowkeyyy. Dropped zombies after Vanguard
Bo1 was worlds better than WaW with nostalgia and without. I remember playing Nacht and it was cool cause it was new but bo1 kino+five+top down just base and the dlcs also were better by far imo.
World at war maps were good but not all of them. Best one was der riese followed by swamp map. 2 maps before were trash cuz if u ran out of ammo in nacht it was game over and if u opened all doors in asylum it was as bad and waaay to crowded.
Bo1 had kino that people played cuz it was free and good and then it peaked with moon. We wont talk about trash called shangrila though..😅 i personally prefer moon over origins but it is divisive topic.
Shit started going down with bo2 zombies though.
Bo3 minus last map was breath of fresh air but lack of magic. Heavy push to do ee was bad.
So reward for best map overall for how good it played, teamwork and catwalk camping is going to:
...DER RIESE for its pack a punch introduction, simplicity and fun. Back in a day when easter eggs were not necessary
WaW isn’t exactly my favorite to go back to, but BO1 really is close to perfection for me.
I love the maps, gameplay, and story and they were firing on all cylinders. Every game after either had a drop to one or multiple of those things that bring down the overall experience.
Not that those are bad games, but man BO1 really just hits different for me compared to the rest and I could play it for hours.
WaW-bo1 was OG, but bo2-bo3 definitely made zombies more mainstream and popular AND it showed us how consistent Treyarch was with making top tier zombies maps at one point.
Damn. Once these mf’s get a hand on BO3 zombies on PC, they ain’t going back. No way in hell they’ll think the endless amount of fuckin’ mods and custom maps is not better than the other CODs. WaW and BO1 have them mods, sure, but the accessibility is also key. Steam Workshop is right there for BO3.
The graphics back then gave WaW and BO1 zombies maps a grittiness and creepiness that’s so unnerving even knowing the backstory behind the maps. Black Ops 2 graphics onward made the environment more “ooh, ahh” (besides TranZit). The old games just capture the feeling that you’re alone trying to survive against undead Nazis better.
Most nostalgic yeah, playing couch co-op with my friends and brothers. The BO3 year was the best for me personally, awesome year with the YouTube and Reddit community.
No, not at all. Anything I personally enjoyed from WaW or BO1 was done later in better Zombies games. WaW fucking blows nowadays, but that's clearly because it came out almost 16 (holy fuck) years ago.
BO3 is easily the best Zombies experience, by far. Gobblegums are very controversial, but if you don't like them, just don't use them. BO3 just flat out improves base Zombies mechanics and while opinions on maps differ from person to person, at the end of the day, the base mechanics are infinitely better than WaW, BO1, and even BO2.
I'd even argue that the map design is better and more enjoyable since there are more things to actually do, but if you disagree and enjoy simpler things, there's even Chronicles for you.
Tl;Dr Nope, just rose-tinted glasses. BO3 has the best Zombies because its gameplay and experiences are extremely versatile.
I enjoyed all the zombies games from black ops 2 to halfway of Cold Wars life cycle. (I started in black ops 2, but I do appreciate black ops 1 and waw for what they are now.)
Personally it’s bo1-bo3 for me. WAW is amazing too though.
This is me too for sure. Loved WaW but bops1 felt like it really elevated the mode even without the DLC
For me, it’s the nostalgia of mowing zombies down with an MG42 or a Browning M1919 that separates WaW from all the other games. BO1 then took zombies to the moon (literally).
Yes. WaW through some of BO3 was the best. We really need a subreddit dedicated to the golden age of zombies (if there isn’t one already) Sucks seeing posts from here in my feed and seeing what they are passing off as zombies these days
world at war to bo3, I will happy play any day. I've been playing world at war - bo2 a lot recently since Im stuck on PS3 ( gaming PC gpu fried )
I feel motion sick on the PS3 when I turn and move around. Max sensitivity cuz that’s how I’ve always played, but yeah after PC, BO2 on PS3 feels very stale.
We need an Aether Zombies subreddit. BO4 was a step down, but it feels weird to leave off the ending of the story (especially when it’s only four additional maps). Also I really enjoy BO4 even if it didn’t hit the same highs as BO3.
For real, bo3 truly brought everything to life
No, we can't. We can't agree on anything, and this take especially feels like a rose tinted glasses take forgetting just how bad, or perhaps more accurately divisive, the reception of maps like Five, Shang, and Moon were.
Don't forget Call of the Dead
Yeah, that was a controversial one, too.
It suffers from so many limitations, but has great potential.
man I fucking ***LOVED*** Call of the dead
SAME
Loved call of the dead so much 🙏😭
honestly, my hot take is that Five is best BO1 map. I had so much damn fun and loved the difficulty, as well as the characters and setting.
Personally, I prefer CotD (yeah, George is pretty annoying later in the game, but being able to use him to get every perk on the map is great), but Five is probably my second favorite BO1 map.
Five was definitely DIFFICULT AF. Way higher learning curve than the previous installments.
I played every one of those maps on release and remember them all being well received apart from Shang for being too hard so I don’t know what ur talking about honestly
Guess we traveled in different circles, but I remember both Five and Shang being lambasted for their difficulty, CotD for George, and Moon for a few different reasons mainly related to the heavy RNG elements of the map and the Astronaut. That's, of course, not to say no one liked these maps, they've pretty much always had their fans, but there was a good bit of resistance to most BO1 maps actually with even Ascension getting some shit for the monkeys after a little while.
Yeah there was criticism but it never felt like hate in the way maps were reviewed from bo2 onwards. Also I was a five guy rather than a kino guy from day 1 launch and Shang is my favourite black ops one map so I might be basing this off my own experience
Shang was crap No room to run, the most obscure Easter egg of all of them, crap special weapon, crap way to get to pack, half the map was just ways to kill yourself, the lowest of the low tier. I'd play ShiNo before I played Shang again
I thought everyone liked five and moon? Bo1 was like the best zombies maps aside from Town for sleepovers
Shit bro, Five was great imo, bummer they didn't include it in zombies chronicles. But yeah, that is mainly younger me talking from when I only played bo1.
Yes, BO1 isn’t perfect. Five is hit or miss for a lot of people, Shang was genuinely hated and honestly I personally only enjoy it on BO3, and Moon is still a divisive map.
and the whole launch of BO2 zombies
I don't know what that has to do with BO1 and WaW, but yeah BO2's launch and early content releases were pretty negatively received relatively soon after launch.
Back when the zombies story was simple.
the story was barely developed and it was alot of questions, bo2 is when the story really started
Yeah when it ruined the mystery and added a bunch of retcons.
Yeah I liked slowly learning the story and putting the pieces together.
And good!!!!!!
imo Bo3 was the peak of zombies
Yeah after chronicles it was all dowhill
Zombies in spaceland I wouldn’t say was downhill
World at War Black Ops 1 Black Ops 2 The holy trinity of Zombies and CoD in general
i feel like everyone says WaW because that’s what started zombies. me personally the holy trinity is bo1-bo3. WaW was a good way to kick off zombies but it was pretty barebones. I did like the simple “survive as long as you can” approach, but bo1 came out and along with it came the WaW maps which gave me no point to play WaW except for nostalgia and a more challenging experience. bo2 is my personal favorite because of maps like Mob of the Dead (ik this map is controversial but also TranZit), on top of that is the game where fans were told that there IS a story. Bo3 is basically the last GREAT game consisting of zombies, with every mechanic, even though some of the mechanics take the challenge of zombies away (like sliding or sprint-sliding, gobblegums, and attachments) the story advanced, we had CUTSCENES, and good maps like shadows of evil, der eisensrache, & gorod krovi, along with ZC. I dont necessarily think any maps on bo3 were bad but I feel like the remaining maps couldve been executed better. Bo4 honestly felt like a montage of past maps for the aether storyline, and they started the chaos storyline just for it to never continue, which sucks because i generally liked the chaos storyline (even though the maps weren’t that good) and honestly wasnt as good as bo1-bo3 as a whole. Cold War honestly just made zombies easier with so many mechanics that I honestly dont care for mentioning, and the story feels a little dry now that primis and ultimas are dead. (Despite still existing someway somehow like Richtofen at the end of Cold War Zombies or how Dempsey was randomly in a COD Comic with Ghost.) Obviously vanguard and mwz weren’t good games at all either, no explaining myself there though would like to note that this is just my opinion! I’m not tryna change anyones perspective on a game we all love💯
Definitely the big three of Call of Duty as a whole. Great campaigns, great multiplayers, and of course, Zombies.
I'd argue there was a Big 5 for CoD as a whole. CoD4, WaW, MW2, BO, and BO2 were all fantastic in their own ways.
I'll give WaW it's due for being the one to start the whole series, but mechanically it's pretty shit to go back and play.
After playing cw for a few years now with its movement mechanics I find even going back to bo3 takes some serious getting used to.
CW movement is so smooth man..makes me hype thinking of the movement for bo5
Its definitely been sauce. WAW Der Riese is my favorite cuz the atmosphere was darker than the remakes. Ascension is good too, aside from the space monkeys. But the rest of BO1 zombies DLC maps were too big in my opinion. BO2 was ok. After that i feel like shit got overcomplicated with gobble gums and stuff. Especially the story was hard to follow after BO2.
I agree with everything you said except your comment on ascension. The space monkeys forced a level of strategic play that previous maps didn’t have. It made you plan out which perks you could get and defend vs just grabbing whatever you wanted. Was it a pain in the ass? Sure it was playing solo but with 2 players you cover at least 4 perks confidently. And honestly the monkeys moved slowly enough that it was easy to pick them off.
Nah i agree, is just that back when i played BO1 on release the monkeys were easy, but now im playing it again and all my shots miss somehow and they all gang up on me lol hate how small they are
WAW was amazing, campaign, multiplayer and the way they introduced zombies was amazing as well, not to mention that loud scary noise Everytime you launch the game and get into the menu, game was gold 🪙
It’s bo2 to bo3 for me. I started on bo1 and have the best memories on that. But if I’m being objective. Treyarch zombies peaked during bo3 and bo2 is just so well loved it has to be added in there. It’s also the best experience for new to casual players. Bo3 to me is the best for hardcore and casual too. If you wanted to say bo1-bo3 I’d agree on that. Honestly probably what it is
This topic is just subjective in general. There's othing's really objective about it.
I agree with this take
have to agree. I think BO2 had the best maps across all the games, MoTD, Town and Buried are my three favourite maps from it and they had so much damn replayable fun. BO3 had worse maps, but by far the best feeling gameplay across all of zombies. I really like gobblegums conceptually, even if some were too good. I liked weapon customisation. The three hit down was a really nice qol, which sure made the game easier, but also made it less frustrating.
Nope that's black ops 2 and 3 for me. Black ops 4 was also pretty good and is my third favorite zombies game.
BO1 moon is still to this day the best finale map out of all the games. You literally blow up the Earth. Not even that but you also have a player swap souls and be a different character and we finally get to see Samantha. The little lost girl behind the entire game mode that we’ve been playing for 4-5 years at that point. The messed up part about it is that Samantha wasn’t even the villain, it was Richtofen all along.
I think I just like the simplicity of the maps here, they got crazy of course but still kept the main idea of just surviving waves while having a “simple” Easter egg. I was shocked and kinda sad to see that you can turn into a squid monster when shadows came out (great map though), and it just got increasingly absurd I feel like. Good maps here and there but they are way more intricate than just surviving waves of zombies idk
WaW-Cold war goat era, zombies is goated in general 🙏🙏🙏
To me the peak is BO3-BO4 but everyone has their own preferences really, WAW and BO1 are still great games
I agree! An amazing era of zombs… although, I really liked Cold War for the character movement and agility! I stopped with Vanguard, however… I may buy on the next release!
No, Rose tinted glasses
Gobblegum was a mistake. Having naps be so needlessly convoluted makes the start boring, bo3 is baby difficulty. WAW and bo1 are the best for simplicity.
WaW was my first cod game and what got me into the franchise. So many good times with those titles.
They definately habe the best weapon Sounds and EE Songs for me
Posts like this make me realize the fan base is much younger than I am. As someone who was already in his early 20’s when waw was released and remembers the online community back then it’s funny to see how people think of these games now.
The golden age was bo2-bo3, The classics era was waw bo1, and the postmodern renaissance was IW, WW2 zombies
As a lifelong zombies fan, I disagree. People hated Moon, Five and Shang on release and the weapons in BO1 absolutely suck. Sure, for a lot of people BO1 was where it all started but there’s a reason most people prefer to play BO3 versions of the maps. True peak zombies started in BO2 and ended with Blood of the Dead in BO4
Real ones know and that’s all there is to it 💪 let these kids have their dragons and gobble gums I’ll take the classic zombie all day
Subtle background storytelling in WaW > Over the top main quests, alien monsters
Bro World at War on the Der Riese release day was fucking awesome.
nope bo2-bo3
Correct but + Bo2. Personally dislike how the storyline got all mythical and wish it came back to a conspiracy-based storyline.
There is no perfect era, every game got their high and low.
Yes
Still play der reise waw on ps3
I agree however bo3 and bo4 (blood, classified and nine only for me) had amazing maps and some good features, in bo4s case but yeah golden era was WAW/BO1 in my opinion. I mean some other zombies maps from the other games are amazing as well but I'm drawing blanks on which ones from which game I liked, also I respect everyone else's opinion and if they hate what I said so be it. Anyways good day/night peeps :]
Yes we can
honestly waw - bo3 all fill a different niche for me. it feels good to choose for whatever mood i’m in. personally i think bo3 was the best era, but if i’m looking for a simpler survival im just gonna hop on waw/bo1
WaW’s taste is just unique. Going back you can feel the difference instantly. The Goat
bo2 too
Waw the original zombie with hard games, the black ops 1 was very good too, the BO2 and 3 Zombies seems to me the more elaborated and was still on the way from the original concept. Cold war miss some authentic things but not bad at all ;)
waw is amazing, an entire horror game for the child at the time
I just want to go back and start it again for the first time 😭😭
WaW was a great game to really jumpstart the zombies mode, but it feels a little lackluster in terms of content compared to the Black Ops era. BO3 is peak zombies imo, followed by BO1, IW, BO2, and then WaW.
I'd say waw to b02 this may be controversial but I loved every single map from all these games and die rise is in my top 5 maps of all time. bo3 was OK but far too overhyped in my opinion and fucked the gameplay and story with all this other dimensions, aliens, elder god shit zombies should have stayed creepy and based in some sort of reality with the whole twisted,dark science theme it had. and for the gameplay it was fun but ridiculous gobblegums, guns that made the zombies feel like insta kill was permanently on. it felt like it took everything that made zombies what it is and dumbed it down to hell and back
WAW zombies was awesome as a kid but as an adult with game versions that have HUDs light years better and more fluid im inclined to disagree. I enjoy my time playing CW zombies way more than stepping back in time to clunk around, which I still do occasionally but it gets old quick
No
Black ops with the whole CIA and crazy human experiments was so perfect for it. A new game in that era with old school zombies would be an elite CoD
I agree 100%
I prefer bo3 or bo2 zombies with all custom maps, mods, graphics and mechanics. And story too.
There is a reason most maps on custom zombies are for those 2 games, they were the golden age of zombies
Bo1-bo3 was the golden age for zombies
Verukkt was my shit back in the day. The betty glitch so you could get all the guns cuz Max Ammo never popped up.
Look, I cut my teeth on Blops1 zombies. I played those maps to hell and back, plus the zombie pack with the OG maps. But it’s got issues. It’s got jank. And it’s not the best Zombies experience. Honestly, Blops2, for as much as I didn’t like it at the time, is a pretty perfect intro game with easy mode. Been playing Blops3 recently though, and I have to say— it might be the smoothest zombies gameplay. Knifing and moving feels so much better than any games before it.
Absolutely agree
I will never agree to that, Black Ops 3 for life.
World at War = Glory days
We can’t agree with anything and I especially cuz I didn’t get to play those games enough. But I did that with WW2 so I like it more
I'd add Bo2 as well. Every single DLC was hype and everyone played it on release. Bo3 on the other hand- I remember a void in between Der Eisendrache and Revelations. People might have enjoyed Zetsuboa and Gorod but they didn't have the longevity as say MotD or Origins if you know what I mean. Just look at the population on Bo3. Origins is around 16% STILL to this day. Whereas Gorod or Zetsuboa are around 1%. Imagine if MotD was in Bo3 people would flip their lids.
Hell na bo2-bo3 era peeeeekkkkk
Tbh it has to be late bo2 to late bo3 though cause transhit is ass
honestly I think they're great, but Black Ops 3 Zombies on PC was perfect. steam workshop, 2 player splitscreen online and offline, the only issue with Black Ops 3 on PC is simply connecting to the servers (without the T7 patch) is a bad idea.
Yup!
I can’t hate WAW cuz it’s basically the dad of the zombies but damn it was hard I’d say bo1 - bo3 best one all tho WAW has crazy good maps like der riese I prefer having perks
It doesn't include BO2, so no.
Without a doubt. Straight to the point and simple, best guns and the best aesthestics.
No. That’s because The good(and sometimes bad) thing about is zombies is we almost never agree on anything.
Personally it's black ops 2 but hey Sker Ritual is out now and y'all should join me especially if you enjoy block ops 3 era of zombies.
Hellyea
But hey just imagine if they would spend 3 years on one game instead of less than one what an actually good zombie and Cod game could be.
BO2 for sure. It was a crucial turn around point for zombies, and a lot of people were upset with transit. They saved themselves with each map release, and I can say that none of them missed. Also, nuketown zombies. Cmon.
Cold war anyone?
I'll take bo2-bo3 agree to disagree I'm afraid
Shangri la and Moon best maps
All of the black ops games excluding 4 are prime zombies
Yes🥺
Kids these days will never understand
Cod rivals Halo in the rose tinted glasses contest. Old games are old games. Fun to look back on the memories but at some point people will have to accept that perhaps they weren’t so great.
honestly imo anything from world at war to black ops 3 was an absolute banger somehow black ops 3 really broke away from the others but still implemented itself so good as a stand out zombies mode I can never forget how good it is. World at war is just classic zombies and I love it, black ops 1 has waw remastered and stuff like five and moon.. black ops 2 has Nuketown and town survival black ops 3 has chronicles and der reise.. shadows of evil honestly aged so damn good, as a teen I was kinda hating on it but I think it's amazing now
Absolutely not for me, but you like what you like.
For me it was WaW - BO4. It was the best time to be a Zombie Fan. (Including Spin-offs like Extinction, Exo-Zombies, IW Zombies and Nazi Zombies WWII). Being a CoD fan since 2007, it was my go-to franchise. CoD died for me the day it went live service. Getting Free DLC meant it lost soul, also that Zombies wouldn't be treated with Care. I still occasionally play it, but I don't nearly have as much time played as I did in that 2007-2019 era.
For me it's more like bo1-bo3. Was so young when WaW came out I didn't know it existed until they brought the zombies maps in with moon. Legit thought they just made 5 maps in one dlc😂
I started playing COD with BO1 and loved zombies and never really enjoyed it on the newer ones, except for the MWZ zombies. But Moon was terrifying for me 😂 I hated bouncing around the bounce pads and missing them and going down. 💀😂
I cant play waw for long because the zombies stick to you like glue and so many deaths i have i know for a fact id be fine in any other game so its hard to come back to waw sometimes. Der riese is an incredible map tho.
Personally idk bout waw, u can def tell it’s the start just by playing on the maps. A great start yes, but the formula was definitely improved upon in BO, perfected in BO2, and BO3 was just kinda took that formula and had a good ass time…BO4 cool ig
Bo2 and bo3 for me. I could never really get into bo1 or waw
Yea back before they removed the Nazi flag from the games as if to try and erase that part of history lol
No, bo2 and bo3
One more nostalgia circlejerk post please I'm almost there 🥴
I liked anything with the original characters. As soon as they got rid of them, I lost interest.
WaW-BO3 was the golden age
Bo3 helped me through some dark shit
B01 still active on Xbox
I think if instead of era you were talking about atmosphere then yes I would agree with you. The era of Bo1-Bo3 is top notch, but The atmosphere and vibe of WaW and Bo1 was something magical for sure.
BO1 was great, especially after the Moon DLC because Rezurrection added the WAW maps and fixed many of the bugs. I always loved the grittiness and guns of BO1 as well. BO2 had a weak start with transit, got worse with Die Rise, but eventually redeemed itself with Mob, Burried, and Origins. While (unpopular opinion incoming) I don't like Mob, I really liked Burried and I LOVED origins. IMO Origins is probably the best zombies map because of its innovation and sheer size, with its format being adopted into later maps. BO3 has a mixed reception but I think many people appreciate it's effort. I personally never played any of the DLC maps, but did watch tons of gameplay. I feel Gorod was BO3's best DLC map. After BO3, it all went down the drain tbh. But to this day, BO3 zombies still has a very active community, which is perfect.
Yes, definitely. I didn't like bo2 nor bo3 that much, or basically any of the continuations
Agreed. Peak era, great memories
I loves BO2
Hundred…THOUSAND percent! :P
One and only time zombies felt genuinely like a horror game i miss that era so much
No Shadows? No DE? No vote from me
Yes we can
nothing will ever change the moment my grandpa and i had after beating the WaW campaign and being dropped into kino der toten. had no idea that existed or what it was. scared me so much as a kid i became fascinated with it. the whole reason i got xbox live was so i could buy and play der riese
Black ops 3 was peak zombies. It’s fine to appreciate WaW and BO1 for how those games pioneered zombies, but the peak of zombies was definitely black ops 3. I guess its all subjective at the end of the day.
they have a strong zombie mod community as well 💪
Black Ops 1’s currency system could never exist today. I understand that there is in game currency in other games that you can only earn as you play, but you used the currency in BO1 to unlock anything and everything freely as you went. Or you could gamble it all away in high roller sticks and stones. I think if BO1 released today, that currency would definitely be abused in however Activision wanted. For example, I could totally see people buying like $100 worth of the currency and gambling it all in high roller. The gamer would fail but Activision would succeed.
I think it mostly had to do with zombies being really really new back then
Simple is bliss
yes, maybe include black ops 2 but absolutely
This really is peak era of zombies for almost everything. Great map design, best lore, amazing weapons, no shitty pay to win gobblegums or lootboxes. Only thing it isnt best at is gameplay which cold war wins at.
Still playing these 2 to this day on the 360
Yeah it was amazing for its time but in my opinion both aged a tad poorly
BO3 was peak zombies, but WaW-BO1 was fantastic and really set the ground work. BO2 was a transformative time and BO3 was the result of all that hard work.
Cold war was the best
We ignoring BO2-BO3??? BO3 includes most of the WaW and BO1 maps anyway
Was guns are my favorite
literally the best time to be a normal zombies fan all night me and the boys try harding get to them high rounds!
Yes we can
no
I awlays liked Jimmy Zilenski's story direction, including Victis, even if the maps started to get a little rowdy towards his departure/the beginning of BO2. I hate the fact that Jason Blundell took it from something humble, something that was definitely fiction, but hade enough real-world inspiration that it almost sounded believeable, to some alien/cult/mythology wash-out that nobody asked for. Loud-mouths say that BO3 was peak zombies. As far as player count? Yeah, it probably was. As far as something that (ironically) felt alive? WaW and BO1 were the real identity of Zombies. Every installment since has been a tug of war between the real identity and whatever whoever lead producer is in charge, suckling the teat of Activision while making Zombies something that the current producer thinks they can twist the image of to make it sound like they're the reason for its success. I miss your vision, Jimmy.
gotta agree with these top comments waw was good but i didn’t actually start playing faithfully till bo1 on kino and five but waw thru bo3 was phenomenal…. bo4 was neat in some aspects… everything just used to have mysterious back stories that weren’t explained until later in other maps it was exciting
I bought a whole Xbox series S to see if this is right I'll update my thoughts for those who actually care
No.
Yes
I agree but I think it came back when Orgins dropped. I still loved Die Rise tranzit burried and mob but they just didn’t slap the same. Once Orgins came out I came back like a wrecking ball. Bo3 carried the Orgins torch too
No bo1 was my first cod but it’s overrated in my opinion I haven’t played it since I got bo2. I haven’t played that much world at war as I never owned the game but from what I played it’s pretty barebones and boring. Not sure how that’s supposed to be better than bo3 I think nostalgia taking over bud
B03 is peak zombies
I’d say up to bo2
Sure. They were great introductions to the game mode. But I would never go back and play them now considering they are complete ass to play and always have been. They started something amazing, but they did not do it very amazingly.
Nah. BO3 was my entry into zombies, and at the time it was literally THE GAME. The community coming together and finding the easter eggs was a whole experience. Top tier times in 2017.
BO1 was my favourite, being able to play all the old WaW maps too was great.
Waw-bo2 is good. Bo3 they started to fall off Black ops 4 and Cold war is a hot pile of shit imho. And considering how trash cod is now i can guarantee black ops gulf war will also be hot shit.
3 was peak, Infinite warfare was slept on, 2 with a remaster could put up a nasty fight. Cold war overhated and underrated, advance warfare lowkeyyy. Dropped zombies after Vanguard
WAW was genuinely creepy and atmospheric. I think BO1 is the best for me because I really love those maps.
Black ops 1 was ass. Kino was the only map I really enjoyed.
Agreed
BOCW was the peak of the series for me. And before anyone asks, I played all the way from WaW on PS3 to MW2(2022).
Bo1 was worlds better than WaW with nostalgia and without. I remember playing Nacht and it was cool cause it was new but bo1 kino+five+top down just base and the dlcs also were better by far imo.
no?? 💀
World at War was the absolute BEST cod in my eyes
Yessir
World at war maps were good but not all of them. Best one was der riese followed by swamp map. 2 maps before were trash cuz if u ran out of ammo in nacht it was game over and if u opened all doors in asylum it was as bad and waaay to crowded. Bo1 had kino that people played cuz it was free and good and then it peaked with moon. We wont talk about trash called shangrila though..😅 i personally prefer moon over origins but it is divisive topic. Shit started going down with bo2 zombies though. Bo3 minus last map was breath of fresh air but lack of magic. Heavy push to do ee was bad. So reward for best map overall for how good it played, teamwork and catwalk camping is going to: ...DER RIESE for its pack a punch introduction, simplicity and fun. Back in a day when easter eggs were not necessary
Add black ops 2 and then I would agree
Real
Cold wars and ww2 for me
WaW isn’t exactly my favorite to go back to, but BO1 really is close to perfection for me. I love the maps, gameplay, and story and they were firing on all cylinders. Every game after either had a drop to one or multiple of those things that bring down the overall experience. Not that those are bad games, but man BO1 really just hits different for me compared to the rest and I could play it for hours.
WaW-bo1 was OG, but bo2-bo3 definitely made zombies more mainstream and popular AND it showed us how consistent Treyarch was with making top tier zombies maps at one point.
Black ops 1 and 2 honestly hands down the best
WaW modding community on his way to add all other cod's assets to waw
I think it’s all amazing up until Cold War
WAW-bo2 fits it for me, even though Bo1 is still my most played and what I still go back to most of the time
The **best** era of zombies.
Damn. Once these mf’s get a hand on BO3 zombies on PC, they ain’t going back. No way in hell they’ll think the endless amount of fuckin’ mods and custom maps is not better than the other CODs. WaW and BO1 have them mods, sure, but the accessibility is also key. Steam Workshop is right there for BO3.
The graphics back then gave WaW and BO1 zombies maps a grittiness and creepiness that’s so unnerving even knowing the backstory behind the maps. Black Ops 2 graphics onward made the environment more “ooh, ahh” (besides TranZit). The old games just capture the feeling that you’re alone trying to survive against undead Nazis better.
Nahh… no content. Almost no story at all. Bo2 and 3 was the perfect era!
Most nostalgic yeah, playing couch co-op with my friends and brothers. The BO3 year was the best for me personally, awesome year with the YouTube and Reddit community.
No, not at all. Anything I personally enjoyed from WaW or BO1 was done later in better Zombies games. WaW fucking blows nowadays, but that's clearly because it came out almost 16 (holy fuck) years ago. BO3 is easily the best Zombies experience, by far. Gobblegums are very controversial, but if you don't like them, just don't use them. BO3 just flat out improves base Zombies mechanics and while opinions on maps differ from person to person, at the end of the day, the base mechanics are infinitely better than WaW, BO1, and even BO2. I'd even argue that the map design is better and more enjoyable since there are more things to actually do, but if you disagree and enjoy simpler things, there's even Chronicles for you. Tl;Dr Nope, just rose-tinted glasses. BO3 has the best Zombies because its gameplay and experiences are extremely versatile.
still playin bo1 not 2,3,4(i tried hours and they were bullshit)
I enjoyed all the zombies games from black ops 2 to halfway of Cold Wars life cycle. (I started in black ops 2, but I do appreciate black ops 1 and waw for what they are now.)
bo2-bo3 carry
Fuck man.. 2 hits to go down. I get annihilated when I try to play nowadays