Nazi Zombies started as a mini game on Call of Duty: World at War, and was meant to be a simple amusing extra. However, its enormous success has led to a spawn of new maps and variations to the game that has made it more than just a simple mini game. A masterpiece that has developed a mind of its own, with an intricate story that rivals that of the COD series it originated from.
Nacht Der Untoten: The Beginning
This is the first Nazi Zombies map and it is unlocked upon completing the campaign on any difficulty. It brings forth the main character of the entire series, Edward Richtofen, Nikolai Belinski, Tank Dempsey, and Takeo Masaki. Richtofen, my favorite character to date, is a Nazi that is behind most of the
happenings in the game. Nikolai is a soldier in the Red Army and a borderline psychopath who always cracks lovely jokes about his wives and vodka. Dempsey is an American soldier, and although not much can be said about him he reeks of manliness. Takeo is in the Imperial Japanese Army and has an unhealthy obsession about his honor. The group is very interesting to say the least. They’re all men from all the major armies that have fought in WWII grouping together to survive the unending hordes of the living dead they have to face.
The game is simple, but surprisingly satisfying. You’re put into an abandoned barricaded building in the middle of nowhere with a simple gun that becomes useless as the hordes become stronger. The zombies approach from the horizon, and once they reach a barricaded window they start ripping the boards until
they can enter the room. Every time you try to kill a zombie by stabbing, shooting, or throwing grenades at them or barricade openings you gain points, which you can us to buy new and better weapons, ammo, and open doors but keep in mind that you can only carry two weapons and must choose them carefully. You can access weapons hanging on the wall or try your luck at the mystery box in the room accessed by the first door. However, it’s a cruel or merciful item that can give you an amazing weapon or a terrible one pending on your luck. The zombies you kill can also give power ups that can save your life like Insta-Kill, which means one shot or stab and a zombie is dead, Nuke, which wipes out all the zombies in the map, Double Points, doubles your points and awesome when paired up with Insta-Kill, and Max Ammo, which gives you more grenades if you’ve used them and completely reloads all of your guns, really useful considering some guns from the Mystery Box can’t have ammo bought for them. Be careful not to have zombies hit you too many times or you’ll be down and your friends will have to save you and if you’re playing alone it’s game over. It’s a fun time killer to play with all your friends to see just how many rounds you can last, and it can go on for very long periods of time because when everyone has what they consider to be the best weapons in the game and lots of ammo, we all camp out in one corner and shoot without budging at all the zombies coming, occasionally venturing for the power ups and crippling the last zombies in a horde to buy new weapons, ammo, or barricade. I’ve played this game so many times I’ve had crazy glitches occur like the floor turning on fire, so if you’re one of those gamers who likes glitches, I highly recommend this game. My point is, it’s hardly a perfect game, but its simple yet strategic gameplay and overall, just how awesome zombie apocalypses are created a positive response from many gamers, demanding more.
Verrückt
The first DLC for World at War featured this new Nazi Zombies map. Set in an abandoned insane asylum, the main characters have to get ready for a new onslaught of the undead. The map is the scariest in
World at War and introduces the Easter eggs many fans hunt for and start revealing more on the storyline as the games go on. This game has set new precedents for the upcoming Nazi Zombie games as they feature new content that became staples in the later games. The most important precedent was the
addition of Perk-a-Cola machines, soda machines that give players an upper-hand by giving them special abilities for a set amount of points. Speed Cola gives you the ability to load faster, a real perk considering some of the better guns take about 5 seconds to load, which may seem like little, but is enough for zombies to corner you and take you out. Quick Revive speeds up the time needed to revive a team member that’s down. Juggernog doubles your health, which means it will take more hits for zombies to take you out, and it is the cola that every player should get first. Double Tap Root Beer makes you shoot faster, which is a great advantage but can quickly drain your ammo if you’re not careful with weapons that already shoot fast. The game also introduces power, which makes the game somewhat prettier and more colorful. Verrückt is one of the hardest maps in the game as you are strictly confined to the asylum, not giving you much space to roam about and it doesn’t have any good camping spots as zombies are coming at you from all directions and require you to move constantly around the map. It’s good if a player needs a challenge, but I don’t recommend it to beginners who’ll probably rage quit by the fifth time they’re killed.
Shi No Numa
This map takes place in Japanese swamp land, and brings a nice change of scenery as you now have to fight Japanese zombies. But it also brings a new breed of enemies, introduced when the surroundings turn foggy and you hear a terrifying voice whispering: “Fetch me their souls!” Then come in the Hellhounds, whom Richtofen often tenderly ask if they’re Fluffy.
Shin No Numa is also the first map you can openly roam outside, once you open a door that is, and you can go all over the swamp and open cabins scattered throughout the map. It also has a zip line that transports you from the building you spawn to a cabin, although you must open the cabin first. When you open a cabin you get a random Perk-a-Cola machine, requiring you to find new ones because you might not get the one you want. And cabins aren’t very good camping spots as they have openings zombies can break out of and kill you while you’re shooting at zombies coming from the entrance. You have to constantly move around as zombies appear from all directions, and I don’t kid as many rise from the murky waters of the swamp. However it presents less of a challenge than in Verrückt as you can navigate more freely on open land.
Der Riese
My favorite map, and the last Nazi Zombies map from the World at War map packs takes place in an abandoned facility where you have to fight Nazi Zombies again. It introduces my favorite grenade, the Monkey Bomb, which completely distracts zombies as they swarm around it until it explodes, usually killing most of them. You can only get it in the Mystery Box and is extremely useful when you’re completely cornered or have to save a teammate. Another exciting new addition is the Pack-a-Punch Machine which upgrades your weapon for a mere 5000 points and teleporters that teleport you to the pad appropiately named the mainframe near the Pack-a-Punch. To use the Pack-a-Punch you first have to link all the teleporters in different rooms to the mainframe by standing on the teleporting pads linking them, and making it to the mainframe in a certain period of time to lower the door blocking the machine until you’ve linked all the teleportation pads to the mainframe. The game also adds on a new power up called the Carpenter that barricades all the openings, deterring zombies for a short period of time.
Dead Ops Arcade
Three new Nazi Zombies games appear in Call of Duty: World at War. This first one is completely different from what players have come to expect of traditional Nazi Zombies games as it tries to give off an old school arcade game vibe and is played with an overhead view. The objective remains the same, last as many zombie waves as possible. You have unlimited ammo and no need to reload so it’s better played trigger happy. You get power ups similar to those in the traditional games as well as ones only available in the arcade one such as one that gives you a force field. It also has a power up called Death Machine which is a gun with unlimited ammo and no need for reload that instantly kills zombies with one shot available in the remaining Nazi Zombie games. You also get the Hellhounds and a brand new enemy. A gorilla on a jetpack. A homage to Donkey Kong? Maybe. But the game is amusing and well done for a company that usually makes first person shooters.
“Five”
A normal Nazi Zombies game that takes place in the Pentagon where you’re attacked by American zombies. For the first time ever you’re not playing as the typical main characters, but instead become historical figures John F. Kennedy, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon, and Robert McNamara. You can move by using the elevators or teleporters but are confined to the Pentagon. As you move around you fall into what appears to be some form of laboratory, and what makes this the most disturbing map in Black Ops, what appears to be a horrible experiment on what is now a human corpse amongst a bunch of other carcasses. An enemy exclusive to the map, the Pentagon Thief, appears during certain rounds, and steals your
weapons. He only appears after he’s stolen your weapons and can only be seen beforehand as a bunch of red number. You can kill him while he’s after weapons, and must do so to prevent him from stealing everyone’s second weapon. If you kill him before he gets anyone’s weapons a power up exclusive to Five called Bonfire Sale appears. It links all the teleporters to the location of the Pack-a-Punch Machine and lowers the price to 1000 points. Another power-up seen in the remaining games is the Bonfire Sale, which makes the price of the Mystery Box 10 points for a limited time and makes it spawn at every possible point. In conclusion, the map is very well done, involves strategic thinking and the comments made by each character is as interesting as those of the original ones. Plus, how many zombie games are made where you can play as Kennedy?
Kino Der Toten
This game takes place in what appears to be an abandoned theater with your original characters. You begin in a hall with a grand staircase and a teleporting pad. As you unlock doors you reach the theater, with rows of empty seats, a grand stage, and a movie screen. The only teleporter is on the stage, and it’s usually a last ditch effort by me and my teammates to escape the inescapable hordes of zombies that engulf the theater. You teleport to the projector room where you can throw grenades and shoot at zombies without risking getting killed. The projector room also has the only Pack-a-Punch Machine in the game where you can upgrade your weapons without risking an attack. Then after a while you’re transported back to the hall you began or if you’re lucky, in a random room related to the story of the game where you can get a movie reel you can play in the projector in the projector room that shows up on the movie screen.
Ascension
This time you’re fighting Russian zombies in a Russian space station. You get a new enemy, Space Monkeys, that steal from Perk-a-Cola Machines, but if you successfully kill all of them without them touching a Perk-a-Cola Machine you get the Random Perk Bottle power-up which gives you a random perk, easy enough because they only go to machines players are stationed at. There are also new Perk-a-Cola Machines, the Stammin-Up, which gives players a sprint that’s twice as long as normal, and the PhD Flopper, which allows players to “explode” upon jumping from high places, killing and damaging zombies as effectively as a bomb. You also have Lunar Landers which transport you to other points in the map, performing the function of teleporters without the drawback that it has to cool and needs to be used later and zombies can use it too.
Call of the Dead
Now this map is seriously cool. Why? Because George Romero, the creator of the zombie movie genre, is the main zombie in this game! Not to mention you play as four other movie legends. Sarah Michelle Gellar, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Danny Trejo, starred in many movies but I mostly remember him from Spy Kids, Michael Rooker, who worked for George Romero, and a pop culture icon, Robert Englund, the guy that plays Freddy Krueger.
The game starts with George Romero directing a zombie movie with the four actors of the game. He calls cut because Rooker didn’t hit a zombie extra like he was supposed to. But either way a real zombie comes up from one of the barricades, when George makes one of the most ironic statements ever: “Go back to hair and makeup, you don’t look dead enough.” At which point, the zombie realizes his creator is standing right in front of him and takes him away, then the game starts. You begin in front of a lake in a very snowy landscape and George Romero is standing in the middle of it. Against my will I had to shoot him because the other zombies don’t come out until you do so, and his painful cry brings the zombies forth from the ground and barricades. It seems Treyarch had realized many people breezed through their games by camping in one spot and so decided to create characters that make the action nearly impossible, and I consider George Romero to be the first of those characters. George Romero goes after you with a giant stage light, but you can be on good terms with him. He walks very slowly compared to other zombies so you can leave a spot rather fast if you spot him, if you’re very close to him you’ll only get hit if you stand still. But whatever you do, please don’t shoot him, he flies into a rage and starts running and swinging at you and can only be kept cool by cooling down at a water source like the lake.
However, it’s easier said than done, as I’ve accidentaly shot George Romero many times. It has led to many jokes about George Romero and it’s worth it. It’s also funny to say George Romero over and over again. You can kill him, but it’s such an arduous and time consuming process it’s hardly worth it. Also it’s George Romero. As for the other aspects of the game there are many locations like lighthouses, sunken submarines, and caves. You also have ziplines to escape from those pesky hordes, however, they know how to use it too. You also have a new Perk-a-Cola Machine called Deadshot Daiquiri, which automatically makes you aim for the head, so you always get a perfect headshot.
Shangri-La
Set in a jungle like place with temples, traps, underground caves, and other intricacies you’re playing with your original characters once again. Despite being in an environment one supposes should be large it’s quite small compared to previous maps and it is wise to run around. Also anti-camper zombies are back, except now you have two of them that you can never get rid of. Shrieker Zombies, which yell at you and blind you. I don’t know how that works either. Then you have Napalm Zombies who are so hot you can’t get near them. You also have some form of water spout that gets you from underground to land. This is also the first game that has female zombies, which makes me happy, knowing that the creators of this game acknowledge the fact that males and females have equal rights to be shot. However it also makes sense because until now, the player was being confined to areas where only males were allowed to work. Which brings us to the last games.
Moon: The Last Map?
Moon was featured in the Rezurrection map pack, and was the only new map available, as the other four maps are just remade verions of the first four maps the games offered. Good remakes in my opinion. However you begin this game on Earth. You kill time by killing zombies, but when the teleporter activates, you better make it there because the zombies start to run after and Hellhounds appear out of nowhere. Once you and your fellow survivors are one the pad, you are sent into a base on the Moon, and immediately put on space suits and turn on the air lest you pass out, because humans must breathe. So you now have to fight Astronaut Zombies while dealing with faster Crawler Zombies, those pesky things in Five and Kino Der Toten that look like they came from Silent Hill.
You have a new Perk-a-Cola called Mule Kick, which allows you to carry a third weapon and was so popular they decided to add it to all other maps. However some prefer to not have it because they find it frustrating to switch back and forth weapons, and having played TF2 I know where they’re coming from,
but I find Nazi Zombie to be no problem, because the remote makes it easier and I usually only pick automatic weapons that spit out bullets. The game also gives you the chance blow up the Earth, but somehow you can come back to the area you were in the beggining, on Earth. The game play itself is interesting, with an environment I feel is just right, not too large and not too small. Also you must keep on your feet because Astronaut Zombies will steal your perks and teleport you. So this game might be the last Nazi Zombie game ever, because it is not clear wether Infinity Ward or Treyarch will be making the upcoming COD game. Modern Warfare 3 was made by Infinity Ward and to my dismay, didn’t include the zombie mode, so no one bothered buying it, because to us, it was just another shooter. COD without Nazi Zombies feels wrong, kind of like Christmas without presents, a christmas tree, or holiday cheer. I’m not criticizing COD calling it a bad game, it’s just I’ve fallen so in love with the zombie mode it entirely engulfs the rest of the game for me. So if you love zombies or have COD already but haven’t tried out zombie mode play it, you won’t regret it. I’m gonna play Nazi Zombies now.