Activision and Infinity Ward have gone old-school with their latest take on the zombies craze. Following in the footsteps of Treyarch’s popular zombie modes in World At War and the Black Ops series, Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare will take gamers to Zombies in Spaceland map themed after a 1980s amusement park.
Instantly, the cinematography, the sounds, the character designs… it reminds me of a mish-mash of Ghostbusters, Killer Clowns from Outer Space and Back to the Future all rolled into one. The trailer is surprisingly well cut for the mode, but then again Call of Duty games are usually known for their immaculate trailers. You can check it out below.
Four 1980s themed characters are put into the palms of gamers’ hands, as they attempt to navigate the night time, thriller-filled theme park packed to the brim with the horrors of the undead. As depicted in the trailer, there are some mini-games scattered about as the four protagonists attempt to complete the objectives and escape alive.
The weapons are both modern and sci-fi, with an obvious nod to the Ghostbusters’ proton pack making an appearance in the video above.
In the press release, Brian Bright, the project director at Infinity Ward, commented about the new direction that the studio has taken with the add-on mode for Infinite Warfare, saying…
“Call of Duty and zombies in particular has such an incredible history with passionate fans, which inspired us to take all the co-op action that has made the series so great and fuse it with one of our favorite decades in pop culture: the ’80s,”
“Zombies in Spaceland is an all-new zombies experience where day-glow meets fright nights. It’s accessible for new players, but also has a deep layer of progression, brimming with easter eggs and various game features that will be a blast for hardcore zombies fans. We can’t wait for fans to go hands-on this fall.”
An “enigmatic” DJ voiced and modeled after David Hasselhoff will also appear in the level, which should prove to be fun.
I can’t help but think that Activision has seen all the hype and popularity of 80’s themed pop-culture like Kung Fury and Hotline Miami and the resurgence of retrowave and decided to jump in on the bandwagon, combining the likes of Treyarch’s popular zombie mode with the nostalgia of the 1980s. The new map will even feature a soundtrack with music from the era.
I don’t know if this will pay off but they’re desperate to keep Call of Duty relevant this year as EA preps to take massive amounts of market share away with Titanfall 2 and Battlefield 1 this fall.
They’ll have a lot to prove as they head toward the early November release on home consoles and PC. Gamers curious about the Zombies in Spaceland map will be able to see more of it in action during a live-stream of Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare at this year’s GamesCom in Cologne, Germany, tomorrow on August 17th at 9:00am PST.
For more info you can check out the Twitch channel or the official Call of Duty website.
