For the long-time Call of Duty Zombies fan, the core experience of the mode is where you have to kill all enemies on screen before the game turns to the next round. As you continue, the undead enemies continually get stronger until you can no longer withstand them or you complete the main Easter egg quest. However, in recent years, Treyarch has shown a tendency to test new ways to play Zombies. Is Modern Warfare 3 Zombies round-based?
Does MW3 Zombies have rounds?
No, Modern Warfare 3 Zombies is not round-based. Instead, you and everyone else in your lobby are given an hour to infiltrate the map, gather loot, and escape. This experience is much closer to DMZ than the classic Zombies experience.
Your location on the map will always decide the zombie enemies’ difficulty. When you start the game, you are on the outskirts, and as you move closer to the center, zombies will be faster and hit harder. There will also be stronger mini-bosses alongside them as you work inward. You and your team must decide if exfilling is the best option for you at that moment or if you can fight for more loot further inward.
We don’t blame any Zombies fan for feeling a little uneasy about trying a new non-round-based Zombies. The last time Treyarch did something like this in Vanguard, we had unquestionably the worst take on the series so far. With that in mind, if you are only considering buying Modern Warfare 3 based on the Zombies, you might want to wait for a sale or a free weekend to try it out and see if you like it.
Given that Treyarch is most likely highly focused on developing their next Call of Duty game, which will have the next true iteration of Zombies, we don’t expect Modern Warfare 3 Zombies ever to have a round-based mode. It’s disappointing, but we are forced to wait a bit longer for that.
