Dead Ops Arcade is a game mode created by Treyarch. It first appeared as an Easter Egg within the computer terminal in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Dead Ops Arcade has subsequently returned in every odd-numbered Black Ops mainline release: Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, and Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Dead Ops Arcade is a twin-stick top-down shooter where the objective is to fight through as many rooms as possible, surviving against waves of increasingly difficult enemies. While Dead Ops Arcade plays significantly differently and is set in it's own continuity, it shares a lot of traits, including weapons and enemies, with Treyarch's Zombies mode, acting as a spin-off of it.
Currently, there are four Dead Ops Arcade maps; Dead Ops Arcade, Dead Ops Arcade II: Cyber's Avengening, Dead Ops Arcade 3: Rise of the Mamaback, and Dead Ops Arcade 4: Papaback in Black.
Call of Duty: Black Ops
Dead Ops Arcade plays much like a traditional twin stick top down arcade shooter, and leans in to that genre both in it's gameplay loop and presentation. Ammo is of no concern, as the player's main weapon has unlimited ammo and never needs to be reloaded. The player can also pick up a large number of weapons and power-ups in order to assist them throughout the levels.
Throughout the levels, the player will also be required to pick up treasure (which is marked by a gold or silver tint) to fill a bar at the top of the screen. When this bar fills up, the player's score multiplier goes up by one. This score multiplier is capped at 9 and reset upon death. Gems are especially useful in filling the multiplier bar but are uncommon. The bigger the gem, the bigger the multiplier boost.
The player begins the game with three lives and once the player loses all of their lives the game is over, though there are ways to gain extra lives. Players are particularly vulnerable in Dead Ops Arcade. They can die from one hit from all zombies, three hits from Hellhounds and explosives or instantly from other contextual factors such as Bulls or Electric Spikes. Whilst playing cooperatively, if a player loses all their lives they will enter revive mode; they will respawn in one minute and thirty seconds provided at least one other player is alive at the time. Any downed player timers will automatically expire when entering a new round. However, if another player on the team has at least one life then the player will automatically be gifted that life to be revived instantly. This grants the player who gave the life a random power-up (either a tank, a helicopter, three nukes or four lightning bolts) and this can be done multiple times per round provided the player waits 90 seconds in between lives stolen.
Most of the music in the maps are shared with the loading screen music of the Call of Duty: World at War maps, notably Shi No Numa's music being shared with the Room of Fate's. Others are played throughout gameplay.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III
In the following Dead Ops Arcade, Dead Ops Arcade II: Cyber's Avengening, the gameplay is mostly unchanged, although there are a few additions. Most notably, the player has access to a power-up that allows them to play the game in first-person view for a long period of time and several mini-games are present. They will also have access to Call of Duty: Black Ops III weapons, a Multiplayer Scorestreak, Specialist weapons, returning vehicles, and other power-ups.
Cybers Avenging has slightly more, but still little, emphasis on story than it's previous incarnation. The Cyber Silverback is the new antagonist of the mode, replacing the original Cosmic Silverback from the first game.
Every player starts the game with three lives, two dashes and one nuke, and will regain one dash at the beginning of each round (if the player has zero dashes). The player can earn extra nukes, dashes and lives by receiving them at random times as power ups; the player can also gain extra lives by reaching 200,000 points. Players can have a maximum of nine nukes, nine dashes, and nine lives.
Players have score multipliers they get from collecting coins and gems, however every time the player dies this multiplier resets.
If there is one player the game is over once they lose all of their lives. If there is more than one player in the game and someone loses all of their lives, one will be taken from another player to revive said player, granting the person whose life was taken with either three nukes, three dashes, a tank, a helicopter, an army of skeletons, or an army of robots. If all players have zero lives, the player who died will have to wait ninety seconds to be revived; other players can stand very close to the player to speed up reviving.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War
Dead Ops Arcade returned in Black Ops Cold War as Dead Ops Arcade 3: Rise of the Mamaback.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Dead Ops Arcade once again made its return in Black Ops 7 as Dead Ops Arcade 4: Papaback in Black.