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This is developer Infinity Ward’s first foray into Zombies (a mode pioneered by CoD: Black Ops developer Treyarch), and it’s seeking to differentiate itself. As far as gameplay goes it follows in previous versions’ footsteps, but it’s a big thematic leap from anything we’ve seen before. It’s not creepy, it’s campy, even more so than the Jeff Goldblum-powered mode in Black Ops 3. And so far, that ‘80s horror-movie feel works in Zombies in Spaceland’s favor.

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The 20-minute round we played was pretty easy (that might have been for demo purposes) so it wasn’t as tense as Zombies can sometimes be. I didn’t have to watch entry points or even set up barriers, really, which was actually a good opportunity to mess around with different weapons and not worry too much about picking a bad one.

I was a little disappointed that the weapons I saw weren’t tied to the setting much, and instead the guns I picked up were mostly the same ones from Infinite Warfare’s multiplayer. There’s a reason for that — Infinity Ward has said that weapon XP gained in Zombies will carry over to regular multiplayer and vice versa — but the future-inspired weapons still felt out of place among retro funhouse-like halls overflowing with clown zombies. There’s a promise of more creative weapons (including one involving a boombox, as we saw in the trailer), but I sadly didn’t get to play with any of those.

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The fun, at least in the demo, came from cheesy, tongue-in-cheek humor and totally over-the-top amusement park theme. I played as the Revenge of the Nerds-like poindexter character, one of four ‘80s movie stereotypes to choose from. At one point the person playing the valley girl revived me, prompting my nerd to quip, “I could kiss you! …But I won’t.” A lot of the dialogue is corny like that, and the voice cast, which includes Seth Green, SNL alum Jay Pharoah, and SNL cast member Sasheer Zamata, seems to totally get the tone Zombies in Spaceland is going for.

Because I wasn’t too busy fighting off the more than manageable zombie horde, I was taking in the amusement park setting. Most of what I saw is tied into the theme well, from the music to the outfits to the currency, even. You can use tickets to unlock certain things, for example, and you earn those tickets in an actual in-game arcade (featuring real-life old Activision games). You could wait until you die to entertain yourself there, or you could risk death to play while zombies roam about and your team carries you.

I was really happy with all the exaggerated ‘80s camp, but I definitely need to see actual progression and more intense combat next. I’m not sure how long the humor and neon-bathed everything will keep me entertained if the weapons are just okay, but I’m at least hooked enough to want to play more and find out.

Kallie Plagge is a host of IGN Anime Club and is IGN's resident Poké Kid. Follow her on Twitter @inkydojikko for cute things, FPS adventures, and more.