http://static.blogo.it/videojuegoblog/videojuegoblog_call_of_duty_zombies.jpg
You all have most probably taken this wrong, which is why I have such a snarky looking face right now. Just try to picture my snarky looking face, come on. Done with that? Good, let's talk german.
In lack of prior explanation, it will now be provided in two simple words: Nazi Zombies, the incredibly popular minigame inside the most times harshly critiziced game Call of Duty World at War. The game itself has been bashed, sledgehammered, ripped apart and disemboweled enough times for me to come around and deliver another blow, but I think not enough insight has gone into this delightfully stressful aspect of the game, so here I go. Bear with me and we might get somewere. Even if it's the frayed ends of sanity (cookie anyone?)
At first, the minigame nazi zombies consistes of a single level, named Nacht der Untoten (forgive the unappropiate accentuation, I cannot be arsed to look for it right now. Maybe sometime later), which placed you and three other unwillingly selected players (Both in the case you find them in real life or through matchmaking, they're probably not going to be wanting to play with you) in a rather familiar environment directly ripped from the main campaign, like almighty Call of Booty tradition ensures. Good thing, since you won't get lost easily, and getting lost is the single one thing you DON'T want to do in this nightmare.
[http://www.modojuegos.es/files/2009/01/call-of-duty-world-at-war-nazi-zombies.jpg]
Truly nightmarish, is it not?
Truly, the game can have some rather tense aspects, if you can surpass the initial giggles caused by the hilarious amount of political incorrectness in the game itself (I didn't and still haven't). First off, the game starts with some clashing music and a very high pitched snigger, which rapidly suits you for the incoming terror. But to enhance this terror even further, there's nothing to be seen. Be it because of the thick fog out of which sprawl monsterly creatures that rather have your brains for meal than mummy's spaghetti (anyone get the pun?) or because you are trapped in a room with no exits but with about five entrances, the game gets you into a different mindset from games like Left 4 Dead or even Counter Strike zombi bots. In those cases, you are forced to move forward, to reach a goal, an objective, and ultimately, victory. Not here, my delicious american meal. First timers to the game do not realize one very important aspect about it: it doesn't end. EVER. Don't believe the lies that claim round 50 is the blissful end, it is not so, I have friends that (through rather shady methods) have reached round 124 on their own. The game only ends when all the participants are biting the dust. And it makes sure that all the participants bite the dust, and they like it.
The game has a very simple progression: every round has a determined zombie count. Kill that determined zombie count, go on to the next round. But where it so simple, the game would just be an easy zombie kill-a-thon. Unfortunately for the poor, voiceless, abandoned marines, it isn't so simple. Zombies do not access the house you are trapped in directly. To do so, they must break through a series of planks that barr each window (and break apart the wall in the case of the wall) by attacking it. This means two things: a) that it takes the zombies a while to get to you and B that whilst they're busy hitting planks you can blow their heads off without so much a second thought, and it also poses the player with a choice: to stall the zombies by magically reconstructing the torn planks with the prolongated press of the mystical button X (Square on PS3) or to bottleneck them elsewhere. It surely depends on each players style, something that makes for interesting variation.
In the first round, zombies die from a couple of shots from your default Colt pistol or from a single knife stab (I take this chance to warn you players, knife kills are worth MUCH more points than headshots). But as the rounds increase in number, and consequently, the zombies, not only does their resistance to hot, drilling lead increase, but also their speed. They pass from being slow-moving cannon-fodder human targets with some special kind of retardation to some sort of marathonian super-men with a tendency for ***** slapping. Which is, of course, their only method of attack. The ***** slap. A zombie gets too close to you, it unleashd it's ***** slap fury. And if you are victim to this dreadful onslaught of unstoppable might twice, start hoping your assigned teammates aren't a bunch of sociopaths (which in my case usually are (I welcome any suggestions to possible game partners)) that would rather befriend the people that want to eat him than the people that want to stab them in the back and run away leaving him with the angry hordes to handle with.
http://images.eurogamer.net/tv/2/3/4/7/8/screengrab_480.jpg
Victim to the ***** slap once, you'd better start considering legging it the hell out of there.
But we have to bear in mind, there is usually a reason for said backstabing, even if it includes saving oneself. If of course the game didn't offer more armamentisitic options other than your initial Colt pistol, as effective as a water gun from round three up, 2 extra grenades per round, and the Kar98k rifle and the M1 Carbine that can be acquired from the mysterious shapes on the wall, it would be terribly unfair. So, once the game has progressed enough and the players are ready to force one of their teammates into paying the cost for opening either the Hell room (usually referred to as Help room by those naive and unexperienced enough to not see the obvious pun) or to go upstairs in the map. The choice, of course, isn't easy. Going up the stairs means you have access to many of the game's most powerful bullet spouters, amongst them the almighty pump action shotgun, and gives you the tactical option to defend staircases instead of breaks in the wall, a tactic that can be found more than effective. But doing so implies that you are missing on one of the games most cunning selling points: Pandora's box (or whatever you may call it, I'm just creative). This mysterious box lies in the basement of the building you are so irremediably trapped in and poses an interesting dilemma: pay a determined amount of points that could be spent on weapons, opening doors at crucial moments, or extra grenades for the passionate of the grenade button spamming (something some people need to refrain on) in exchange for a random weapon. Of course, at first play, a player might be unconfident, but the veterans know that this is worth the shot every time, since most of the times you'll earn a chainsaw equivalent in gun. But of course, you could be thrown with a shitty rifle, like the Springfield. It is completely random, and for those of you that Santa appreciates for fondling his scrotums, there is a surprise in store. The almighty ray gun! Yes, it does seem that, in WWII, aliens visited Earth and left behind a demonstration of their technology. This godly device is the most coveted weapon in the game for a few reasons: it is always a one hit kill, and has a considerable splash damage radius, meaning you can take out a small gang of zombies before they decide to wear their trousers low and say "homie" a lot. It's got a considerable amount of ammo per clip, close to infinite ammo reserves, high fire rate, scalpel-on-Doctor-Stiles-hands accuracy, and very short reload time. It only has one drawback: the splash damage can hurt you, and if used without care, incapacitate you. And if your teammates aren't willing to give you a friendly pat on the back, say goodbye to The Reaper (ahem, ray gun), since every time you respawn after bleeding out, you start off with only your faithful, but fairly useless Colt. The game also features a rather curious pick me up system, were every zombie you murder has the chance of dropping an object that will greatly benefit the team. These can range from an instant reposition of wasted ammo to a short period of insta kill, and they surely add spice to the game, granting the players periods of power over the zombies that are very much welcome.
As the game progresses through the stages, the players have to start thinking tactical if they want the game to go on for a while longer. Like mentioned before, the game, within it's obvious limitations makes the player think what strategies will be better with a wide array of possibilities, but always making sure that the players feel pressure somehow. Shotguns in front, machine guns on the back? Sure, but watch out for that window on our right or we could have trouble of the shitty kind. A member of the part has the flamethrower and is constantly flaming everything that climbs the staircase? Awesome titties, just make sure you run away or shoot the flaming zombies down before they decide to give you a very warm welcome to their arms. Got the perfect weapon combination and are surviving through wave after waver after wave of the national-socialists? Just you wait, clever guy. There comes a time were not even two barrels of the double barrel shotgun suffice to kill a single zombie, and those are the times you have to kneel and pray, because 2012 is nothing compared to what's about to swarm you. In short, the game ensures you always die, and that you always come back for more. This has got to be one of the most replayable games I've seen in decades. But the developers took it further. They saw the potential of it, and soon came the expansions.
http://www.juegos-para-gamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/call-of-duty-5-world-at-war_01.jpg
When you get this kind of people at your rock 'n roll show, you know you've hit rock bottom. HARD
The first expansion was called Zombi Verruckt, or Zombi asylum, for the non german speaking. Here, a couple of variations were included to the game. For instance, you're somewhere else (duh), somewhere dramatically more intimidating than a military base. When you start a four player game, you realize, to your dismay (or happiness in my case) that half the team is separated by a door, and that banging it and kifing it desperately whilst yelling through the microphone (which I swear occured in my first plays on the map) won't convince the stubborn door to let you have a last session of gay sex with your marine companions for the last time. The difference with Nacht der Untoten is that the characters would actually scream in pleasure here, for they're voiced, something that, even though not by much, enhances gameplay and atmosphere, making the characters somewhat more relatable to. Back on topic, the main gimmick on this map was activate the power or die. But what power? That is were improvisation comes into play. You must seek the instalation (I say seek, but there's really only one path to get there, so fuck all exploration involved) in searc of a switch that will turn on the power, and not only open the door that separates the marines which would lead to tearful re-encounters as well as healthy doses of marines gayness (Joke ends here I swear), but also turns on all different sorts of machines on the complex, such as the (Insert Legend of Zelda opening of chest fanfare here): THE PERK-A-COLAS! These dispenser machines serve very special kinds of beverage, which, for some reason, gives you superhuman capabilities. There are only four perks, and they are all retrieved from the perk system in the game's multiplayer, but be veeeeeeeeeery sure that you are going to need at least two or three. The list is as follows: Double tap, which allows the guns you are using to fire at twice the speed it was doing before the ingest of the drink, Juggernaut, which drastically increases your health above the two usual ***** slaps, Fast hand (or whatever, I can't remember the name) which allows for twice as fast reloads, and finally, Quick revive, which reduces the time of revival of a downed (and possibly syndrome of down sufferer) teammate twice as fast.
http://www.mapmodnews.com/images/library/image/Zombie-Island.jpg
Completely the wrong map, but don't tell me it isn't much better than an asylum
I can see where the developers are going here, since, as they have made the AI much more competent this time (Zombies spawn faster at the start of each round, they run faster, they can attack twice MUCH faster, they can attack you through the planks, etc...) the pace of the game increases accordingly, and the perks are there to make you keep up. Mind, however, that the perks disappear when you are downed by the zombies, so be very careful if you plan to not let your points go to waste. There are also many more strategic defense options. For example, for a certain price, you can acquire landmines (I refuse to call them by their name, they just sound stupid) that will definetly take out a few zombies, there are many more staircases here, as well as corners, closed rooms, etc... but most importantly, we get the electric barriers. For 1000 points, you can activate these god sent walls of doom, and ensure that anything that so much as tries to follow your track after activating them will have their brains fried out, allies included, so be careful when activating it, and when in its immediacies. However, the map also has a little bitching to it. When you open Pandora's box, you're putting yourself and all the other players at risk, because if the teddy bear shows up, get ready to cry. The box will disappear and reappear in a random emplacement (within 4 different emplacements) in the building, and trust me when I say reaching it will be a lot more of a *****. All in all, the map is much more challenging to play that its predecessor, and is a welcome addition to the game. But the sweetness does not end there!
http://www.nextgameday.com/~noticias/raikov/multi/codwaw/verruckt1.jpg
Sure does, as well as frying their brains out! Nothing works so well as frying their brains out!
Surely, a while after, the action comes back, this time translated into japanes with the appropiate name Shi No Numa (swamp of something, I can only figure out that). And this is a greatly refreshing addition, because it includes many more choices of tactic, as well as a few gimmicks that make the game even more enjoyable. The most immediately noticeable characteristic is the fact that, unlike in previous issues, the players don't all control the same idle faced marines as they did, but instead now control differently backgrounded characters which, aside of being stereotyped to the point of rhetoria and black humour, actually liven up the game with the American's incessant macho lines, the Russian's insane search for endless supplies of vodka, the Japanese' insistance on glory and honor on the battlefield and ultimately the Nazi commander's wish for all the creatures of God and Satan to find their untimely ends at his hands. I have to say, I still chuckle when I hear my character quote the Illuminati in completely the wrong context, or when I hear the ridiculously blatant communist joke that implies Nikolai asking for points when he lacks thereof to buy weapons and else. It's a refreshing addition, like said before.
The most interesting premise about this issue of the game is the fact that it makes you be on the move constantly. And I do mean it. The other two maps granted you enough points to buy anything you wished, but here you have to buy many more weapons, open up many more doors, activate many more, and altogether, waste an awful amount of points more than last time. The reason for this? First off, once you break the limits of the starting room, instead of being given only one room to crowd in or one path to follow, you are given 4 different locations: the storage, the doctors hut, the fishing hut and the comms room. Which one you choose, it bears little strategic difference, but bear in mind, once you open the doorway to one of them, be ready to FUCKIN LEG IT JOHNNY! because zombies spawn from under the waters of the swamp when you move past them, and whilst the swamp waters will slow you down in the non-shallow areas, it seems that the countless holes on the imperial army zombies allows for hydrodynamism, because they aren't slowed down in the slightest. In other words, choose the wrong path or th wrong time to cross, pretend you're Frodo in the Two Towers, because you're in for a similar situation, and this time, there's no Gollum around, regardless of how much Nikolai resmbles him. In the case you reach a hut before round five, hooray, you've reached a weapon and perk storage point. Each hut has its own perk-a-cola machine, chosen at random when the door to the hut opens, and every hut has a weapon assigned to it, which you can purchase off the wall, as usual.
Also, when Mr Teddy bear from Yu-Gi-Oh the abridged series shows up (watch it, it's brilliant), you have to search for the box in one of the four huts. Thankfully, the developers thought it was cruel to make you go searching for the box whilst being chased through the swamps by the japanese guys that only want to show you their anime and that making you face them in the first place or indeed any bullet absorbing zombies at all wasn't so. Therefore, finding the box isn't a matter of luck, but intuition. Or rather, cleverness. When you indeed break the status quo and summon mister adorable satan, be ready to look at the top of every hut, for the box gives off a green light that reveals its ubication. Chasing the box and the perks however isn't all this map has to offer gameplay wise. After a few rounds, usually around round 5-6, then every 5-6 rounds from then on, you get hellhound round, were instead of fighting zombies you fight huge zombie wolves. And the atmosphere in these moments is truly choking. The mist thickens, and you hear a voice saying "Feas on their souls" before the mayhem begins. The canines will spawn randomly on the map, but will immediately turn on their GPS systmes and launch themselves like tomahawk missiles in your direction, and you better pray you've dug in enough ammo and weapons. The dogs are incredibly resilient, every time more, and they always attack in big packs. If two or more decide Russian tastes better than Japanese, you are almost screwed. Regardless of the fact that they take three hits, not two, unlike their bipedal homologous to take you down, they're extremely vicious, and they don't stop for nothing. Thankfully enough, these round can be easily surpassed by bottlenecking them and shooting in one direction. But when the game stops liking that and throwing both hellhounds and zombies at the same time, you are going to need nerves of steel not to freak out, run off from the team and end up as dog chow faster than you would in my house. Before I forget, another interesting addition to fast escape techniques, an addition, that, like proven on the next map of the game, is going to stay for a while, is the zipline. Almost every hut has a zipline attached to it, that, when used in exchange of points (I swear these guys most be bloody rich if they can afford to pay to make a zipline move) will return you quickly back to the central building. Effective on the short run, but it could just mean you're leaving someone behind, and again, it forces you to ponder the implications of your actions whilst you have twice a dozen zombies trimming your hair with their teeth. I also have to add that the whole structure of the place is WAY more labyrinthical than that of the previous maps, making navigation a challenge to add to the existing ones. Altogether, it was the best addition to the game ever, and from there it could only get sweeter. And so it did.
http://gamersyndrome.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/call-of-duty-waw-zombies-shi-no-numa_hellhounds1.jpg
They probably just want to play. With your disemboweled corpse.
Der Riese, the latest addition to the game, was the ultimate improvement (so far) and it's the one I enjoy playing the most. This one does want you to separate from your teammates, and it tries to do so in every way it can. And it can, trust me. The gameplay gimmick here lies withtin the Pack-a-Punch machine. You start right next to it, and watch it as it deactivates itself in front of your confused eyes, as a voice claims that the energy levels are critical, and that you will also have to reconnect all teleporters to the mainframe. At first play, this is a major WTF, but after a while it is pretty self explanatory. Once you realize Colt=shit, Kar=not useful, Gehwer=your doom and break from the starting room, you also realize there's three main locations you can go to, each of which has a teleporter assigned. Once the power is restarted in the courtyard next to the room containing teleporter A, you can initiate the linking procedures of each of the teleporters. What this means is you have 25 seconds approximately to, whilst dodging zombies and finding your way through the doors you've forced your teammates to open, to reach the center of the map, AKA starting point, and link the teleporter to the mainframe. This has some benefits that really want to make you do it. For instance, anyone who is on the teleporter when it is linked to the mainframe will be teleported for free, and will come to your aid. Bear in mind that, from then on, the teleporter will require a fee of use, but it is almost always a welcome burden, since every teleport generates a pick me up which is always welcome. Finally, the door to the pack a punch machine will open in a third, meaning that when it is open, you will have access to it. And boy, will you thank Christ for it.
http://www.teknoconsolas.es/files/images/imagenes/Der%20Riese.jpg
The survivors look overwhelmed to you? Think twice. They're in possession of the almighty powered up weapons, hence the purple muzzle flash, and if they are the headshotty type, they'll get out of much worse than that.
It seems that, for all the addition of perks was worth, the zombies can still overwhelm the players pretty easily with their increasin resistance. Henceforth, the developers thought it would be good to give the players a little edge. If you are ready to pay the exhorbitating price that the pack a punch machine demands for its services, get ready to feel almighty, my friend, because you will get a much improved version of your weapon, deadlier and with more bullets per charger. The risks of losing such a valuable tool with the consequent death cause by overconfidence and stupid teammates are always implicit, but it's worth it every time, even if only for hearing the extremely surreal sound the guns make after being improved. And who knows? it might help you plow down enough unliving to get you out of fuck up.
All in all, this is the most anguishing map of all. It clearly want you to go to one point: the back of the map, where teleporter A is located (along with the Bowie knife, a surrealistically HUGE machete which will one hit kill zombies, thankfully more efficient than your standard melee knife), since the two wings of the factory (did I mention it's a factory?) only lead two ways: one is towards the other wing through an uncomfortably narrow tunnel were getting surrounded is extremely easy, and to a hole that leads to the courtyard just in front of the back room. When you are being chased by the undead, where do you go? That's it, the most closed off, lacking in routes of escaped place, were zombies are easily bottlenecked and which gives you the satisfaction of dying fighting them off, which is what the game's for, isn't it? Then do it.
http://gameunder.es/wp-content/uploads/call-of-duty-der-riese-2.jpg
Mor atmospheric than ever!
Altogether, Nazi Zombies is an extremely thrilling experience in every play, and having to plow through the first rounds of zombies is always acceptable when bearing in mind what comes next even after failing and retrying for eternity. My opinion is that, without realizing it, the developers have created a dignant rival of Left 4 Dead when we're speaking of survival and team techniques, as well as what they both are: pure adrenaline packd zombie fun. If they both continue to go on like this, Treyarch with their constant releases, and Valve with their upcoming sequel, I will be a happy stereotyped marine zombie killing machine for what's left of my gaming life. Final valuation, the minigame that has become not only a game, but an immense machine of popularity in itself, is worth taking a shot in each of it's forms, and risk getting addicted to it. Zombies were never this frustratingly fun, something the CoD games always manage to make: frustrating fun.
Antoni (yes, spelt with an "i", latin style homie) is a freestyle, freelance, tax-free, free soul that has been writing essays this awesome since he was 14, and that wasn't too long ago! Aside of videogaming and journalism he also loves taking part in airsoft competitions, criticizing everything he comes across, listening to old school metal and rocking REAL hard on his guitar. Wanna know him? Go on his profile page, man. He's a cool dude and listens to everyone that deserves his attention
And just to be purely confrontational...
See you next time!
You all have most probably taken this wrong, which is why I have such a snarky looking face right now. Just try to picture my snarky looking face, come on. Done with that? Good, let's talk german.
In lack of prior explanation, it will now be provided in two simple words: Nazi Zombies, the incredibly popular minigame inside the most times harshly critiziced game Call of Duty World at War. The game itself has been bashed, sledgehammered, ripped apart and disemboweled enough times for me to come around and deliver another blow, but I think not enough insight has gone into this delightfully stressful aspect of the game, so here I go. Bear with me and we might get somewere. Even if it's the frayed ends of sanity (cookie anyone?)
At first, the minigame nazi zombies consistes of a single level, named Nacht der Untoten (forgive the unappropiate accentuation, I cannot be arsed to look for it right now. Maybe sometime later), which placed you and three other unwillingly selected players (Both in the case you find them in real life or through matchmaking, they're probably not going to be wanting to play with you) in a rather familiar environment directly ripped from the main campaign, like almighty Call of Booty tradition ensures. Good thing, since you won't get lost easily, and getting lost is the single one thing you DON'T want to do in this nightmare.
[http://www.modojuegos.es/files/2009/01/call-of-duty-world-at-war-nazi-zombies.jpg]
Truly nightmarish, is it not?
Truly, the game can have some rather tense aspects, if you can surpass the initial giggles caused by the hilarious amount of political incorrectness in the game itself (I didn't and still haven't). First off, the game starts with some clashing music and a very high pitched snigger, which rapidly suits you for the incoming terror. But to enhance this terror even further, there's nothing to be seen. Be it because of the thick fog out of which sprawl monsterly creatures that rather have your brains for meal than mummy's spaghetti (anyone get the pun?) or because you are trapped in a room with no exits but with about five entrances, the game gets you into a different mindset from games like Left 4 Dead or even Counter Strike zombi bots. In those cases, you are forced to move forward, to reach a goal, an objective, and ultimately, victory. Not here, my delicious american meal. First timers to the game do not realize one very important aspect about it: it doesn't end. EVER. Don't believe the lies that claim round 50 is the blissful end, it is not so, I have friends that (through rather shady methods) have reached round 124 on their own. The game only ends when all the participants are biting the dust. And it makes sure that all the participants bite the dust, and they like it.
The game has a very simple progression: every round has a determined zombie count. Kill that determined zombie count, go on to the next round. But where it so simple, the game would just be an easy zombie kill-a-thon. Unfortunately for the poor, voiceless, abandoned marines, it isn't so simple. Zombies do not access the house you are trapped in directly. To do so, they must break through a series of planks that barr each window (and break apart the wall in the case of the wall) by attacking it. This means two things: a) that it takes the zombies a while to get to you and B that whilst they're busy hitting planks you can blow their heads off without so much a second thought, and it also poses the player with a choice: to stall the zombies by magically reconstructing the torn planks with the prolongated press of the mystical button X (Square on PS3) or to bottleneck them elsewhere. It surely depends on each players style, something that makes for interesting variation.
In the first round, zombies die from a couple of shots from your default Colt pistol or from a single knife stab (I take this chance to warn you players, knife kills are worth MUCH more points than headshots). But as the rounds increase in number, and consequently, the zombies, not only does their resistance to hot, drilling lead increase, but also their speed. They pass from being slow-moving cannon-fodder human targets with some special kind of retardation to some sort of marathonian super-men with a tendency for ***** slapping. Which is, of course, their only method of attack. The ***** slap. A zombie gets too close to you, it unleashd it's ***** slap fury. And if you are victim to this dreadful onslaught of unstoppable might twice, start hoping your assigned teammates aren't a bunch of sociopaths (which in my case usually are (I welcome any suggestions to possible game partners)) that would rather befriend the people that want to eat him than the people that want to stab them in the back and run away leaving him with the angry hordes to handle with.
http://images.eurogamer.net/tv/2/3/4/7/8/screengrab_480.jpg
Victim to the ***** slap once, you'd better start considering legging it the hell out of there.
But we have to bear in mind, there is usually a reason for said backstabing, even if it includes saving oneself. If of course the game didn't offer more armamentisitic options other than your initial Colt pistol, as effective as a water gun from round three up, 2 extra grenades per round, and the Kar98k rifle and the M1 Carbine that can be acquired from the mysterious shapes on the wall, it would be terribly unfair. So, once the game has progressed enough and the players are ready to force one of their teammates into paying the cost for opening either the Hell room (usually referred to as Help room by those naive and unexperienced enough to not see the obvious pun) or to go upstairs in the map. The choice, of course, isn't easy. Going up the stairs means you have access to many of the game's most powerful bullet spouters, amongst them the almighty pump action shotgun, and gives you the tactical option to defend staircases instead of breaks in the wall, a tactic that can be found more than effective. But doing so implies that you are missing on one of the games most cunning selling points: Pandora's box (or whatever you may call it, I'm just creative). This mysterious box lies in the basement of the building you are so irremediably trapped in and poses an interesting dilemma: pay a determined amount of points that could be spent on weapons, opening doors at crucial moments, or extra grenades for the passionate of the grenade button spamming (something some people need to refrain on) in exchange for a random weapon. Of course, at first play, a player might be unconfident, but the veterans know that this is worth the shot every time, since most of the times you'll earn a chainsaw equivalent in gun. But of course, you could be thrown with a shitty rifle, like the Springfield. It is completely random, and for those of you that Santa appreciates for fondling his scrotums, there is a surprise in store. The almighty ray gun! Yes, it does seem that, in WWII, aliens visited Earth and left behind a demonstration of their technology. This godly device is the most coveted weapon in the game for a few reasons: it is always a one hit kill, and has a considerable splash damage radius, meaning you can take out a small gang of zombies before they decide to wear their trousers low and say "homie" a lot. It's got a considerable amount of ammo per clip, close to infinite ammo reserves, high fire rate, scalpel-on-Doctor-Stiles-hands accuracy, and very short reload time. It only has one drawback: the splash damage can hurt you, and if used without care, incapacitate you. And if your teammates aren't willing to give you a friendly pat on the back, say goodbye to The Reaper (ahem, ray gun), since every time you respawn after bleeding out, you start off with only your faithful, but fairly useless Colt. The game also features a rather curious pick me up system, were every zombie you murder has the chance of dropping an object that will greatly benefit the team. These can range from an instant reposition of wasted ammo to a short period of insta kill, and they surely add spice to the game, granting the players periods of power over the zombies that are very much welcome.
As the game progresses through the stages, the players have to start thinking tactical if they want the game to go on for a while longer. Like mentioned before, the game, within it's obvious limitations makes the player think what strategies will be better with a wide array of possibilities, but always making sure that the players feel pressure somehow. Shotguns in front, machine guns on the back? Sure, but watch out for that window on our right or we could have trouble of the shitty kind. A member of the part has the flamethrower and is constantly flaming everything that climbs the staircase? Awesome titties, just make sure you run away or shoot the flaming zombies down before they decide to give you a very warm welcome to their arms. Got the perfect weapon combination and are surviving through wave after waver after wave of the national-socialists? Just you wait, clever guy. There comes a time were not even two barrels of the double barrel shotgun suffice to kill a single zombie, and those are the times you have to kneel and pray, because 2012 is nothing compared to what's about to swarm you. In short, the game ensures you always die, and that you always come back for more. This has got to be one of the most replayable games I've seen in decades. But the developers took it further. They saw the potential of it, and soon came the expansions.
http://www.juegos-para-gamers.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/03/call-of-duty-5-world-at-war_01.jpg
When you get this kind of people at your rock 'n roll show, you know you've hit rock bottom. HARD
The first expansion was called Zombi Verruckt, or Zombi asylum, for the non german speaking. Here, a couple of variations were included to the game. For instance, you're somewhere else (duh), somewhere dramatically more intimidating than a military base. When you start a four player game, you realize, to your dismay (or happiness in my case) that half the team is separated by a door, and that banging it and kifing it desperately whilst yelling through the microphone (which I swear occured in my first plays on the map) won't convince the stubborn door to let you have a last session of gay sex with your marine companions for the last time. The difference with Nacht der Untoten is that the characters would actually scream in pleasure here, for they're voiced, something that, even though not by much, enhances gameplay and atmosphere, making the characters somewhat more relatable to. Back on topic, the main gimmick on this map was activate the power or die. But what power? That is were improvisation comes into play. You must seek the instalation (I say seek, but there's really only one path to get there, so fuck all exploration involved) in searc of a switch that will turn on the power, and not only open the door that separates the marines which would lead to tearful re-encounters as well as healthy doses of marines gayness (Joke ends here I swear), but also turns on all different sorts of machines on the complex, such as the (Insert Legend of Zelda opening of chest fanfare here): THE PERK-A-COLAS! These dispenser machines serve very special kinds of beverage, which, for some reason, gives you superhuman capabilities. There are only four perks, and they are all retrieved from the perk system in the game's multiplayer, but be veeeeeeeeeery sure that you are going to need at least two or three. The list is as follows: Double tap, which allows the guns you are using to fire at twice the speed it was doing before the ingest of the drink, Juggernaut, which drastically increases your health above the two usual ***** slaps, Fast hand (or whatever, I can't remember the name) which allows for twice as fast reloads, and finally, Quick revive, which reduces the time of revival of a downed (and possibly syndrome of down sufferer) teammate twice as fast.
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Completely the wrong map, but don't tell me it isn't much better than an asylum
I can see where the developers are going here, since, as they have made the AI much more competent this time (Zombies spawn faster at the start of each round, they run faster, they can attack twice MUCH faster, they can attack you through the planks, etc...) the pace of the game increases accordingly, and the perks are there to make you keep up. Mind, however, that the perks disappear when you are downed by the zombies, so be very careful if you plan to not let your points go to waste. There are also many more strategic defense options. For example, for a certain price, you can acquire landmines (I refuse to call them by their name, they just sound stupid) that will definetly take out a few zombies, there are many more staircases here, as well as corners, closed rooms, etc... but most importantly, we get the electric barriers. For 1000 points, you can activate these god sent walls of doom, and ensure that anything that so much as tries to follow your track after activating them will have their brains fried out, allies included, so be careful when activating it, and when in its immediacies. However, the map also has a little bitching to it. When you open Pandora's box, you're putting yourself and all the other players at risk, because if the teddy bear shows up, get ready to cry. The box will disappear and reappear in a random emplacement (within 4 different emplacements) in the building, and trust me when I say reaching it will be a lot more of a *****. All in all, the map is much more challenging to play that its predecessor, and is a welcome addition to the game. But the sweetness does not end there!
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Sure does, as well as frying their brains out! Nothing works so well as frying their brains out!
Surely, a while after, the action comes back, this time translated into japanes with the appropiate name Shi No Numa (swamp of something, I can only figure out that). And this is a greatly refreshing addition, because it includes many more choices of tactic, as well as a few gimmicks that make the game even more enjoyable. The most immediately noticeable characteristic is the fact that, unlike in previous issues, the players don't all control the same idle faced marines as they did, but instead now control differently backgrounded characters which, aside of being stereotyped to the point of rhetoria and black humour, actually liven up the game with the American's incessant macho lines, the Russian's insane search for endless supplies of vodka, the Japanese' insistance on glory and honor on the battlefield and ultimately the Nazi commander's wish for all the creatures of God and Satan to find their untimely ends at his hands. I have to say, I still chuckle when I hear my character quote the Illuminati in completely the wrong context, or when I hear the ridiculously blatant communist joke that implies Nikolai asking for points when he lacks thereof to buy weapons and else. It's a refreshing addition, like said before.
The most interesting premise about this issue of the game is the fact that it makes you be on the move constantly. And I do mean it. The other two maps granted you enough points to buy anything you wished, but here you have to buy many more weapons, open up many more doors, activate many more, and altogether, waste an awful amount of points more than last time. The reason for this? First off, once you break the limits of the starting room, instead of being given only one room to crowd in or one path to follow, you are given 4 different locations: the storage, the doctors hut, the fishing hut and the comms room. Which one you choose, it bears little strategic difference, but bear in mind, once you open the doorway to one of them, be ready to FUCKIN LEG IT JOHNNY! because zombies spawn from under the waters of the swamp when you move past them, and whilst the swamp waters will slow you down in the non-shallow areas, it seems that the countless holes on the imperial army zombies allows for hydrodynamism, because they aren't slowed down in the slightest. In other words, choose the wrong path or th wrong time to cross, pretend you're Frodo in the Two Towers, because you're in for a similar situation, and this time, there's no Gollum around, regardless of how much Nikolai resmbles him. In the case you reach a hut before round five, hooray, you've reached a weapon and perk storage point. Each hut has its own perk-a-cola machine, chosen at random when the door to the hut opens, and every hut has a weapon assigned to it, which you can purchase off the wall, as usual.
Also, when Mr Teddy bear from Yu-Gi-Oh the abridged series shows up (watch it, it's brilliant), you have to search for the box in one of the four huts. Thankfully, the developers thought it was cruel to make you go searching for the box whilst being chased through the swamps by the japanese guys that only want to show you their anime and that making you face them in the first place or indeed any bullet absorbing zombies at all wasn't so. Therefore, finding the box isn't a matter of luck, but intuition. Or rather, cleverness. When you indeed break the status quo and summon mister adorable satan, be ready to look at the top of every hut, for the box gives off a green light that reveals its ubication. Chasing the box and the perks however isn't all this map has to offer gameplay wise. After a few rounds, usually around round 5-6, then every 5-6 rounds from then on, you get hellhound round, were instead of fighting zombies you fight huge zombie wolves. And the atmosphere in these moments is truly choking. The mist thickens, and you hear a voice saying "Feas on their souls" before the mayhem begins. The canines will spawn randomly on the map, but will immediately turn on their GPS systmes and launch themselves like tomahawk missiles in your direction, and you better pray you've dug in enough ammo and weapons. The dogs are incredibly resilient, every time more, and they always attack in big packs. If two or more decide Russian tastes better than Japanese, you are almost screwed. Regardless of the fact that they take three hits, not two, unlike their bipedal homologous to take you down, they're extremely vicious, and they don't stop for nothing. Thankfully enough, these round can be easily surpassed by bottlenecking them and shooting in one direction. But when the game stops liking that and throwing both hellhounds and zombies at the same time, you are going to need nerves of steel not to freak out, run off from the team and end up as dog chow faster than you would in my house. Before I forget, another interesting addition to fast escape techniques, an addition, that, like proven on the next map of the game, is going to stay for a while, is the zipline. Almost every hut has a zipline attached to it, that, when used in exchange of points (I swear these guys most be bloody rich if they can afford to pay to make a zipline move) will return you quickly back to the central building. Effective on the short run, but it could just mean you're leaving someone behind, and again, it forces you to ponder the implications of your actions whilst you have twice a dozen zombies trimming your hair with their teeth. I also have to add that the whole structure of the place is WAY more labyrinthical than that of the previous maps, making navigation a challenge to add to the existing ones. Altogether, it was the best addition to the game ever, and from there it could only get sweeter. And so it did.
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They probably just want to play. With your disemboweled corpse.
Der Riese, the latest addition to the game, was the ultimate improvement (so far) and it's the one I enjoy playing the most. This one does want you to separate from your teammates, and it tries to do so in every way it can. And it can, trust me. The gameplay gimmick here lies withtin the Pack-a-Punch machine. You start right next to it, and watch it as it deactivates itself in front of your confused eyes, as a voice claims that the energy levels are critical, and that you will also have to reconnect all teleporters to the mainframe. At first play, this is a major WTF, but after a while it is pretty self explanatory. Once you realize Colt=shit, Kar=not useful, Gehwer=your doom and break from the starting room, you also realize there's three main locations you can go to, each of which has a teleporter assigned. Once the power is restarted in the courtyard next to the room containing teleporter A, you can initiate the linking procedures of each of the teleporters. What this means is you have 25 seconds approximately to, whilst dodging zombies and finding your way through the doors you've forced your teammates to open, to reach the center of the map, AKA starting point, and link the teleporter to the mainframe. This has some benefits that really want to make you do it. For instance, anyone who is on the teleporter when it is linked to the mainframe will be teleported for free, and will come to your aid. Bear in mind that, from then on, the teleporter will require a fee of use, but it is almost always a welcome burden, since every teleport generates a pick me up which is always welcome. Finally, the door to the pack a punch machine will open in a third, meaning that when it is open, you will have access to it. And boy, will you thank Christ for it.
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The survivors look overwhelmed to you? Think twice. They're in possession of the almighty powered up weapons, hence the purple muzzle flash, and if they are the headshotty type, they'll get out of much worse than that.
It seems that, for all the addition of perks was worth, the zombies can still overwhelm the players pretty easily with their increasin resistance. Henceforth, the developers thought it would be good to give the players a little edge. If you are ready to pay the exhorbitating price that the pack a punch machine demands for its services, get ready to feel almighty, my friend, because you will get a much improved version of your weapon, deadlier and with more bullets per charger. The risks of losing such a valuable tool with the consequent death cause by overconfidence and stupid teammates are always implicit, but it's worth it every time, even if only for hearing the extremely surreal sound the guns make after being improved. And who knows? it might help you plow down enough unliving to get you out of fuck up.
All in all, this is the most anguishing map of all. It clearly want you to go to one point: the back of the map, where teleporter A is located (along with the Bowie knife, a surrealistically HUGE machete which will one hit kill zombies, thankfully more efficient than your standard melee knife), since the two wings of the factory (did I mention it's a factory?) only lead two ways: one is towards the other wing through an uncomfortably narrow tunnel were getting surrounded is extremely easy, and to a hole that leads to the courtyard just in front of the back room. When you are being chased by the undead, where do you go? That's it, the most closed off, lacking in routes of escaped place, were zombies are easily bottlenecked and which gives you the satisfaction of dying fighting them off, which is what the game's for, isn't it? Then do it.
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Mor atmospheric than ever!
Altogether, Nazi Zombies is an extremely thrilling experience in every play, and having to plow through the first rounds of zombies is always acceptable when bearing in mind what comes next even after failing and retrying for eternity. My opinion is that, without realizing it, the developers have created a dignant rival of Left 4 Dead when we're speaking of survival and team techniques, as well as what they both are: pure adrenaline packd zombie fun. If they both continue to go on like this, Treyarch with their constant releases, and Valve with their upcoming sequel, I will be a happy stereotyped marine zombie killing machine for what's left of my gaming life. Final valuation, the minigame that has become not only a game, but an immense machine of popularity in itself, is worth taking a shot in each of it's forms, and risk getting addicted to it. Zombies were never this frustratingly fun, something the CoD games always manage to make: frustrating fun.
Antoni (yes, spelt with an "i", latin style homie) is a freestyle, freelance, tax-free, free soul that has been writing essays this awesome since he was 14, and that wasn't too long ago! Aside of videogaming and journalism he also loves taking part in airsoft competitions, criticizing everything he comes across, listening to old school metal and rocking REAL hard on his guitar. Wanna know him? Go on his profile page, man. He's a cool dude and listens to everyone that deserves his attention
And just to be purely confrontational...
See you next time!
