Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies fans have had no shortage of criticism for the latest version of Treyarch’s classic co-op mode. While a step away from the round-based style was always going to be controversial, the lack of personality in Call of Duty: Vanguard’s version of Zombies has been especially troublesome. Without easter eggs to work on or Wonder Weapons to hunt down, players have little to do as they go from one objective to the next.
However, Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies is suffering from more than just gameplay issues. The mode’s story feels like a massive letdown in comparison to what has come before, abandoning welcome Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War features that made the story easier to digest. Limited in-game dialogue has made the new characters unlikable, too, and the Dark Aether entities that talk to the player lack depth as well.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies’ Limited Dialogue
Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies players have been quick to make a meme out of Von List, the mode’s main antagonist. While he is meant to be an intimidating figure due to his partnership with Kortifex, as the entity allows him to raise the dead, the fact that he repeats the same line of dialogue every few seconds has made him more annoying than anything else. When players look up discussion on the latest version of Zombies, it will not take long to find someone poking fun at the line “Professor, it is time to bid your toy soldiers auf wiedersehen.”
For whatever reason, the game is programmed to play this same line of dialogue whenever more Zombies spawn into the Stalingrad hub area. As such, players hear it around a dozen times a match, making the mode’s main villain annoying instead of a genuine threat. Considering how dialogue-heavy Zombies has always been, the fact that one single line dominates the conversation around the mode’s characters is concerning. As such, most Call of Duty Zombies fans will likely agree that one of the things Vanguard is in desperate need of is more dialogue.
While some additional lines will surely be heard alongside the main quest, the comments made during regular gameplay need to be much more varied. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War had several different bits of dialogue that could play each time players loaded up a map. As such, someone playing Forsaken twice in a row is highly unlikely to hear the same discussions throughout their match if they play it twice in a row. With several characters involved in the story, players could get one match where Dr. Grey is guiding them and another where it is Carver who is speaking. Call of Duty: Vanguard does not have the luxury of characters that can be swapped out, so the few figures that are guiding the player need to have several lines they can say as opposed to the same exact ones.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies’ Lack Of Replayable Intel
Another big issue with Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies is the approach to intel. Zombies has always featured tons of hidden audio logs and radios, with players being told huge chunks of the story via these recordings. One issue with past games was that players had to stand right up against them when listening in, meaning that they had to walk a zombie around while they tried to take in the lore. With the undead always moaning and roaring in Call of Duty Zombies, this made hearing the audio clearly an issue - and that problem has unfortunately returned in the latest iteration.
While there are numerous recordings that explain Von List’s bond with Kortifex and the backstory of Gabriel Kraft, players can only listen to these during the match. This is a huge step back from what was seen with Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies’ intel. While that game boasted hundreds of documents and recordings, they could all be viewed from the main menu. This meant that players could take in the story at their leisure, going through the collected items whenever they want instead of sitting still for 30 seconds in what should be an intense match of Zombies.
With Call of Duty Zombies’ easter eggs made simpler so that more gamers could experience the story, it makes sense for the intel to be easily accessible as well. Unfortunately, Call of Duty: Vanguard feels like a huge step back in this regard. Instead of improving the experience through new intel types or making the items easier to acquire, Treyarch went back to the outdated form of storytelling the mode had finally started to move away from. In doing so, one of Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War Zombies’ best innovations was taken away, with players better off using YouTube videos to keep up with the story once again.
Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies’ Disappointing Demons
While the constantly repeated dialogue is painful and the lack of an intel menu is a strange step back, it is Call of Duty: Vanguard Zombies’ Demons that are the biggest letdown. Before the game released, Treyarch hyped up how these Dark Aether entities would communicate with players as the match progressed. While it is fun to hear them guide players through certain objectives or warn gamers that one of their friends is being attacked, the lack of meaningful information when it comes to the story itself is strange.
Despite the most interesting thing Call of Duty: Vanguard has going for it being the demonic Dark Aether Entities, fans have not been given much insight into their reasons for hating Kortifex. They all boast unique designs and voices, and entities like Saraxis have clear personalities, but players should be getting so much more from these powerful characters than what the game is currently providing. Learning more about their backstories would be a lot of fun, as would individual conversations with the different Call of Duty: Vanguard Operators.
It is easy to think back to classic Zombies maps like Buried where Richtofen was in Stuhlinger’s head, talking directly to the Victis member. Likewise, Samantha’s discussions with every member of the Primis crew in Origins kept things interesting. On top of this, the Dark Aether entities could be an encyclopedia of knowledge on the Dark Aether itself, giving players more insight into the creatures of the dimension and what it is like to live there. As of now, they simply feel like wasted potential, and Treyarch needs to work on fleshing them out more if it wants players to care about this part of the storyline.
Call of Duty: Vanguard is available now on PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One, and Xbox Series X.