Since the dawn of video games, gamers have been fascinated with the concept of a seemingly “infinite” experience – a game that had no end. Some accepted the concept that classics like Robotron could not be beaten. However, some brave souls defied the odds, spent small fortunes in quarters, and discovered something called a “killscreen“. Once gaming became more and more mainstream, and eventually, into people’s homes, the concept of creating an unbeatable game to eat up giant stacks of quarters was over, and titles like Smash TV started the trend of horde shooters that had an actual ending. As time passed however, the focus again shifted to mystifying “unending” horde modes.
Gears of War 2 (which was released just days before World at War oddly enough and included a very small zombie level that hadn’t taken off yet) championed modern day horde modes, and introduced the concept of an infinite cycle of death shared traditionally by four players. Despite the fact that you couldn’t really “win”, modern day gamers eat these modes up with the same fervor that Steve Wiebe has whenever he reaches Donkey Kong’s killscreen. Recently, developer Treyarch has managed to top every horde mode on the market: read on to find out why.
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