Black Ops II Zombies mode debuts in new video

One of the biggest talking points about the original Black Ops was Zombies mode. When Activision and Treyarch announced Call of Duty: Black Ops II, footage from the game's Zombies mode was surprisingly absent, but that all changed today. After teasing the mode last week, Activision has released a new trailer for Zombies, and a new write-up from Polygon gives us an idea of what we can expect to find when we delve into Zombies mode once more.

As it turns out, Zombies mode will be a little deeper than just "shoot all the zombies" this time around. The traditional game mode where players team up to take on wave after wave of zombies is still there, rest assured, but Zombies in Black Ops II will feature two additional modes: Tranzit and Grief. If you're a Zombies fan, you might want to brace yourself before reading on, because both modes sound excellent.

In Tranzit, players will work cooperatively to make it through a zombie-based story mode. Treyarch studio head Mark Lamia says players will have a "massive world" to explore, and there will be items to collect and defenses to build as well. Did we mention that there's a bus to use for transportation? There is, and though it provides some degree of shelter, it like like zombies can also board the bus, leading to a potentially sticky situation. Tranzit mode will apparently have ties to the story behind the Moon map that released for the original Black Ops, though Lamia didn't get into specifics when talking about how the two are related.

Changing gears completely, we come to Grief mode. This is a competitive survival mode that pits two teams of varying sizes against groups of zombies. The teams will compete to be the last team standing, though here's the twist: you can't shoot players on the other team. You'll have plenty of ways to screw them over though, hence the name. It should give us an interesting spin on the played out team deathmatch mode, and that is definitely something to look forward to.

All in all, these new modes sound great, especially Tranzit mode, which immediately reminds us of the Arma II mod DayZ. We're told to expect more information on Black Ops II's multiplayer modes later on this week, so you can bet we'll be keeping an eye out for those. In the meantime, let us know what you think of Tranzit and Grief modes – have they managed to pique your interest?