While the promise of a Call of Duty game for the PlayStation Vita helped boost credibility for the handheld, Black Ops - Declassified will now omit the series's popular Zombies mode in favor of a more conventional eight-person multiplayer.

The move further distinguishes the Xbox 360, PC and PlayStation 3 game Call of Duty: Black Ops II from its portable counterpart Black Ops - Declassified, following on from a publicity campaign detailing changes and improvements made to the home console version's Zombies segment.

Initially presented as a secret easter egg reward for those who succesfully completed 2008's Call of Duty: World at War, and at a time when Gears of War 2 introduced a similar twist on conventional multiplayer, Zombies mode became a hallmark of even-yeared Call of Duty games thanks to its inclusion in Black Ops and the upcoming November 13 release Call of Duty: Black Ops II.

Activision blogger One of Swords pointed out that Black Ops - Declassified will instead include "a Hostiles Mode, which challenges you to defeat waves of enemies," though without the undead antagonists common to standard Zombies mode, emphasizing that "multiplayer gaming with twin-stick controls in a portable format" remained the priority for now.

More on the One of Swords site: oneofswords.com/2012/10/sorry-no-zombies-in-black-ops-declassified/