Call of Duty's Zombies mode has enjoyed wild popularity among the series' fans ever since its introduction in 2008's World at War. Understandably, after the release of Call of Duty Mobile, players were very outspoken about the need to include Zombies in the pocket version of Call of Duty, as well.
Activision responded with the inclusion of time-limited Zombie mode events, which allowed players to experience the traditional Zombies mode action on classic maps from games like Call of Duty: Black Ops II, as well as other COD titles that included the fan-favorite mode. After a long period of absence, Zombies have finally returned to COD Mobile, although in a different format than what we've grown accustomed to over the years.
9 It's Nothing Like The Classic COD Zombies Modes
Players looking for the traditional Zombie experience in Undead Siege (which is what the new, revamped Zombies mode is called), might end up slightly disappointed, as it is nothing like the zombie action known from the Black Ops titles or even the previous COD Mobile updates.
Instead of fast-paced, action-packed gameplay on a tight map that's filled with various secret passages and entryways, Undead Siege takes place on the Battle Royale map, giving the Zombies mode an open-world twist. Certain elements from the classic Zombies mode remained, such as Perk-a-Cola machines and Mystery Boxes.
8 It Takes Place On Isolated
As opposed to the regular Zombie mode present in Treyarch's entries to the Call of Duty franchise, Undead Siege does not feature map choice and plays out on one, huge map instead. The map in question is "Isolated", known from COD Mobile's Battle Royale mode.
Despite using mostly the same locations, textures, and assets, the Undead Siege version of Isolated looks completely different than what players are used to from Battle Royale. The portion of the map that the mode is played out on has been heavily affected by the Aether, the element that caused the zombie plague in the first place. This makes the map a whole lot darker and emptier, lending the well-known locations a fresh look and atmosphere.
7 The Night And Day Cycle Plays A Key Role
Undead Siege is a mode based around one primary goal: survival. There are two game modes: Casual and Hard. In the Casual one, players are tasked with surviving 3 days and nights in the zombie-infested rendition of Isolated, whereas the Hard mode requires 5 days and nights of preserving their base.
Days should be mostly spent on gathering loot and valuable resources, such as the Aether Essence, in order to make the nights as easy to get through as possible. While enemies can be found on the map during the day, going after them may actually work to the players' detriment, as when the night falls, every bullet will be worth its weight in gold, given the need to protect the base from hordes of the undead without the possibility to venture out and seek out more ammo.
6 It Prioritizes Cooperative Play
Teamwork has always been a key aspect of the Zombies mode in the Call of Duty games of the past, but it was largely limited to helping each other kill zombies and reviving fallen party members. For the most part, though, players had to fend for themselves. Cooperative gameplay is a little different in Undead Siege. With the main goal of the game is protecting the teams' base for three to five nights in a row, all party members have a vested interest in helping each other out and improving their base's material condition.
This includes building turrets, having each other's back when one or more teammates are preoccupied with a task such as fixing or replacing turrets. There is a greater feeling of mutual interdependence in Undead Siege, which is a much-welcome change to the rather individualistic game modes featured in COD Mobile.
5 There Is A (Highly Vulnerable) Base
One might argue that base-building elements have been present in the COD Zombies modes ever since Black Ops, with the boarding up windows and doors to make it more difficult for zombies to enter an area. In COD Mobile's Undead Siege, however, there is a distinct base that lays at the core of the entire mode.
Twenty seconds before each nightfall, all players automatically get teleported to their home base, which soon enough gets attacked by swarms of the undead. Preserving the base by building turrets, strategic cooperative play, and hoarding as much ammunition during the day is the only way players can come out of Undead Siege on top, as the game is over as soon as the base gets overrun and destroyed by zombies.
4 Ammo Is Scarce At Night
Ammo scarcity has never been a real issue in any of the previous Call of Duty games, so this aspect of Undead Siege's gameplay may take some getting used to for seasoned COD enthusiasts.
As the game teleports players back to their home base just before nightfall, hoarding ammo during the day should be the main task of each party member. Back at base, the only way to get more ammo (aside from picking up what's dropped by some of the fallen zombies), is buying it at the incubator, which may prove very costly in the long run.
3 Undead Siege Is Time Limited (For Now)
Upon its release, the developers of COD Mobile have announced that the Undead Siege mode is a time-limited game mode. This announcement was met with a lot of anger and disappointment from the players, who had hoped for a more permanent inclusion of Zombies to the game.
It was later clarified by Activision that while Undead Siege would remain classified as time-limited for the time being, it has the option of becoming a permanent part of the game, as long as it is met with enough positive reception from the players. In other words, it is the gamers who will verify if the mode is good enough to see it improved and developed in the upcoming updates.
2 Familiar Loot System
The loot-collecting part of Undead Siege is a combination of what players are familiar with from the COD Mobile's Battle Royale gameplay, as well as the classic Zombies mode loot mechanics, such as Perk-a-Colas, and Mystery Boxes. Both of these can greatly increase one's chances of preserving their base.
For those who have not played too much of the Zombies mode earlier, Mystery Boxes are basically random weapon generators that give players the chance of landing some extremely powerful weapons very early on in the game. Perk-a-Colas, on the other hand, are consumables that grant users random perks, based on those present in the multiplayer mode.
1 Some Zombies Have Armor
The various zombie types in Undead Siege might take some getting used to. The early in-game nights will largely involve the lowest-tier monsters invading the player base, but as time goes on, tougher enemies will enter the map.
There are the quick and agile Hounds, which are slightly more dangerous than regular zombies. The real challenge, however, is posed by the Wardens. They are huge, armored zombies, and it usually takes a couple of clips emptied into their torso to bring them down. The best way to survive Warden encounters is to stick to the age-old zombie genre cliche, which is that aiming for the head is the most effective way to bring down the undead. Frag grenades can come in handy, too.