One game mode I really liked from Cold War was Onslaught, since it gave Treyarch the opportunity to make a more casual mode for killing zombies with the minimal time they had to develop their modes that year. An aspect of the mode I didn’t like was the bubble, as it confined the player without an actual reason other than imposed difficulty.
I find the best version of this mode is Onslaught: Containment where you get to maneuver around the map as much as you wanted. In this post I want to list some pros & cons of Cold War’s version and create a version of the mode that could fit BO6’s new system.
Pros:
– Cold War’s overall Gameplay style in my opinion is pretty fluid so it felt nice to have more places to use that system.
– Cold War’s maps were also pretty fluid so they were fun to play in
– Onslaught offered a casual foil to what could be the usual complex maps like terminus
Cons:
– “Surges” in Onslaught felt redundant as the usual mode, which we’ll call “round based” because thats the direction Treyarch is going with their modes, it also felt pretty boring killing zombies to fill a bar, to then finish it just to move to a new location to do it again.
– Overall no zombies “aura” as it was really just multiplayer maps with a bubble on them.
– Progression in Onslaught never felt engaging as it was just beat boss to earn bundle of weapons, perks, and upgrades.
So with the mentioned Pros & Cons i believe Onslaught could work with a couple changes, In my opinion Onslaught’s “niche” is Zombies on Multiplayer maps, not Surges, Bubble, or Elite Bosses. I believe that Treyarch should zombiesify each MP map for the new Onslaught mode as well as adding most elements from non complex maps to these versions. When I say “zombiesify” I don’t exactly mean plaster hellfire onto the map like they did with quarry on MW3, where in that season they were obviously trying to cater to zombies fans, in the wrong way, with the multiplayer vortex mode and its maps. By zombiesify I mean adding buyable doors, ambience like on a map like gala maybe instead of broad daylight it was at sunset and the oranges of the sun hit the map from the side, or pit could be a pretty good place to do the Aetherium Crystal motif they like using where you have the map be effected by The Dark Aether. Blood splatter and maybe some of those real in game events they are gonna start doing could make these mp maps actual feel like Onslaught of Zombies in outbreak zones across the globe instead of bubble we placed in miami that our teams gonna die in.
Things Id add to Onslaught Maps:
- Perk Machines ( minimum 4 a map but bigger maps post launch could have 5 or 6)
- Wunderfizz ( but make it random so you’d have take a gamble on which perk you get, this is overall more an idea for the wunderfizz these days than an onslaught thing.
- Mystery Box ( 2 on regular maps but 1 on smaller maps where it could get locked by Mr. Peeks.)
- Wonder Weapons come from the box and could be Ray Gun (Duh), Wunderwaffe, and Thundergun.
- Pack a Punch quest (where you have to do something like get a part or open a door by hitting a lever)
- Buyable doors for a feeling of map progression.
- Wall buys (limited amount)
- New Arsenal machine
If Treyarch did bring back an Onslaught type mode this is probably how id want it to look with maybe like dog rounds to keep those in the game.
5 Comments
I like the RNG of onslaught, it made it unique.
There should be a wunderfizz that gives random perks but it gives jugg first.
Weapon drops that give you a random gun, risky but it can be literally any gun of any rarity, you have 20 seconds to pick it up before it disappears.
Red drops that curse the player, steals ammo perks etc.
Care package kill streak (temporary mystery box)
Field upgrade has to be found on the ground.
Last few years have been horrible for the zombies community. We need 100% focus on round based maps. Them trying to create a MP map side mode would just take more and more away from round based and create more issues with the atmosphere problems happening.
I mentioned before though, a pubs, zombies map, 20-25 round locked “frenzy” mode like they did in gears 4 would probably be a cool thing to potentially add, because you could bring back older bosses and zombies for fans, add much smaller zombies maps specifically for Holidays, and so on.
But no one liked that idea and it got massively downvoted. So, who knows. Things are still very hive minded sometimes.
They should make it to where there’s a baby easter egg in every onslaught map and you need to complete them all for a reward or a step for a super ee
I would love an entirely new slew of slightly customized mp maps into zombie experiences, but there’s a reason why the arena in which you fight zombies isn’t static like in a zombies map, because of the layout. Multiplayer maps have lots of open space for engagement between players, especially with omnimovement being a thing in this new one.
They would require a decent amount of resources to develop because they would really need to “zombify” the maps in order to make each “room”cramped enough so that you would be inclined to move to the next room for more space. Additionally they would need to thoughtfully plan out routes in order to prevent each map from feeling samey and cookie cutter quality.
I think somewhere down the line, and it probably comes near the top, that this takes development resources away from the zombies team who is dedicated to making the headlining zombies content. I totally think that they can craft some great experiences from these multiplayer arenas, but think of the outrage when they came out with the season 4 map and it turned out to be a really hacked up version of a multiplayer map.
I liked onslaught and think if they had the resources/a support team (E.G SHG, Raven etc.) working on it what you are describing could be really cool because it would essentially fill the role the Tranzit survival maps filled if you were to alter the maps correctly.
Even if they focused on less quantity and picked 3 or 4 maps to make survival maps would be enough imo, I think the current model is perfect for more outside of the 4-5 round based we a guaranteed to get so stuff like this and modes like grief/turned coming back are always cool to me if it doesn’t mean the quality in the main maps drop.