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I love Zombies as much as the next geek, but it seems just about every major video game is offering a Zombie mode or Zombie DLC. There are other alternatives to Zombies that shooter games can employ to shake things up.

Hands-down my dream DLC would be a recreation of the firefight from the opening scene of T2: Judgment Day. Not only would you have a faction of gun-toting robots, but also giant mech vehicles and laser rifles; all in a post-apocalyptic setting. That’s the kind of DLC that would drive game sales, instead of the other way around!

You don’t even need the Terminator license to make this a reality. Just create a faction of evil robots that players can use for their match games. Team Fortress 2 did something like this recently, for their Mann Vs. Machine mode (though the machines are non-playable). The Battlestar Galactica license would also be ideal in the form of a Cylons vs. Colonial Marines match.

Besides robots you can also enlist aliens to guest-star for DLC. I’m talking about the kind of humans vs. aliens warfare you’d see in District 9 or Battle Los Angeles. Having humanoid aliens that are in scale with humans make them ideal for gameplay balancing, and they are also easier to implement into games as well. If you’d like to take it a step further and use larger aliens (say, the Arachnids from Starship Troopers), that is also d0-able, as long as the odds are even for all players in the game.

Robots and Aliens are the more obvious replacements for Zombies. G.I. Joe Vs. Cobra is something that might do-able for Call of Duty as Activision and Hasbro are in cahoots these days. How about a Planet of the Apes deathmatch featuring simians vs. humans? Maybe an army of time-traveling steampunk warriors? Or those leather-wearing armored-vehicle-driving crazies from the Mad Max films? Maybe a bunch of tattooed/pierced cannibals like those from Doomsday?

Something other than Zombies now and then. Please?