For as long as Call of Duty Zombies has been around, the mode has always been played from the first-person perspective. Every now and then, CoD will work in a third-person mode, but it’s not something that is entirely common. With that said, the Modern Warfare games do like to include third-person gameplay, and Zombies gets to take advantage of that. Here is how to play Modern Warfare 3 Zombies in third-person.
How to switch to third-person in MW3 Zombies
Switching to play in the third-person view in Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is incredibly simple. On PlayStation and Xbox, all you need to do is hold down on the d-pad. After a second or two, the camera will pull out behind your operator. For PC, press Escape to bring up the menu and select Switch to third-person at the top of the screen.

Of course, if you ever want to switch back to first-person, all you have to do is hold down on the d-pad again or enter the menu like before. While most people will probably stick with the standard view, there is a group of players that like to have a wider view. Playing in the third-person will give you a much better chance to see things that are happening on your side, allowing you to react quicker than before. Instead of taking a hit to learn that a zombie is on you, you could just see them on your screen and react accordingly.
We don’t expect the third-person view to move forward with Zombies in Treyarc’s next Call of Duty entry. We expect that it is only here because Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is so similar to DMZ from MW2. With such a wide-open map, it could definitely be more beneficial to play in the third-person here. Doing that on a smaller enclosed map like traditional Zombies has wouldn’t make too much sense.