A lot of players are already considering the Zombies experience of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 as a true return to form for the franchise's longstanding survival mode, with its launch content and fast pace of updates being a real breath of fresh air. While the mode is still rough around the edges in some areas, its two launch maps and its focus on mechanics and storytelling devices from past Zombies portrayals have created an excellent start that Treyarch can hopefully maintain over the coming months.
A lot of new content was introduced to Zombies with the recent launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops 6's first in-game season, with other things like a brand-new map being set to launch over the coming weeks. Some of these recent changes offered some shake-ups to how the Gobblegum system of Black Ops 6 Zombies works, with Gobblegum as a mechanic having gone through many different tweaks and iterations over the years. 2015's Black Ops 3, as the first game to introduce Gobblegum to Zombies, had one of the most in-depth portrayals of the system, and Black Ops 6 should adopt something similar to BO3's Newton's Cookbook to give much more freedom and personal choice to the player.
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Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Zombies' Gobblegum System Can Be Taken to the Next Level
The addition of Gobblegums to CoD Zombies through Black Ops 3 marked a huge change in the core experience of the mode, seeming like a logical evolution of the randomized power-ups and perks that remain as Zombies staples to this day. Gobblegums act as largely temporary power-ups that players can unlock and use in-game, with the single-time use and differing rarity of the many Gobblegums making them a fascinating and complex addition to the iconic survival mode.
Despite garnering quite a positive reception through Black Ops 3, Gobblegums would not appear again directly in Call of Duty until the recent release of Black Ops 6, with there being some key distinctions between these two iterations of the mechanic. For example, Gobblegums are earned naturally through survival in Black Ops 6, whereas Black Ops 3 saw players have to exchange the Liquid Divinium in-game currency for certain Gobblegums.
The natural acquisition of Gobblegums in Black Ops 6 seems to make the mechanic much more accessible, with the title also allowing players to hold up to three Gobblegums at once compared to the singular Gobblegum slot of Black Ops 3. Despite these stark changes, Black Ops 6 recently introduced the option to purchase Gobblegum packs through microtransactions, emulating one of the most controversial aspects of Black Ops 3's approach to the Gobblegum system.
Newton's Cookbook Would Make Black Ops 6 Zombies' Gobblegum System Much More Rewarding
With this still not allowing players to purchase the most sought-after Gobblegums directly, it only seems fair that Black Ops 6 adopts the same Newton's Cookbook system from Black Ops 3. Newton's Cookbook was the saving grace of BO3's microtransaction approach to Gobblegums, primarily by allowing players to exchange the large quantities of lower-tiered Gobblegums that they had amassed for much more powerful ones.
The requirements and recipes of these potential Gobblegum exchanges would change every day, being another incentive for players to consistently check in on Black Ops 3's Zombies experience, and this itself could prove to be very valuable to Black Ops 6 if the game chooses to adopt its own Newton's Cookbook. It seems unlikely that every in-game season of BO6 will feature massive Zombies updates like new maps, and the introduction of the Newton's Cookbook feature could maintain player retention during this down-time, while crucially allowing fans to get more value out of Gobblegums earned either naturally or through microtransaction bundles.
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OpenCritic Reviews
- Top Critic Avg: 83 /100 Critics Rec: 91%
- Released
- October 25, 2024
- ESRB
- Mature 17+ // Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Suggestive Themes, Strong Language, Use of Drugs
- Developer(s)
- Treyarch, Raven Software
- Publisher(s)
- Activision
- Engine
- IW 9.0
- Multiplayer
- Online Multiplayer, Online Co-Op
- Cross-Platform Play
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
WHERE TO PLAY
- Cross Save
- Yes - PlayStation, Xbox, PC
- Prequel(s)
- Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Call of Duty: Black Ops 4, Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Call of Duty: Black Ops, Call of Duty: World at War
- Franchise
- Call of Duty
- Number of Players
- 1-4
- Split Screen Orientation
- Vertical or Horizontal
- Steam Deck Compatibility
- Unknown
- PC Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Xbox Series X|S Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- PS5 Release Date
- October 25, 2024
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Xbox One, PC
- Genre(s)
- FPS
- How Long To Beat
- 8 Hours
- X|S Optimized
- Yes
- PS Plus Availability
- N/A
- File Size Xbox Series
- 216 GB (October 2024)
- Local Co-Op Support
- 1-2 Players
- OpenCritic Rating
- Strong
