Nazi Zombies!
I first off must admit that if this bonus game mode did not exist, I would have sold my copy of Call of Duty: World at War yonks ago. The game itself isn’t something I enjoyed playing – the online annoys me so much and the campaign missions are almost impossible to complete on Veteran… however the bonus Nazi Zombies game mode is so addictive to play that it has effectively saved my copy of the game from being on Game’s pre-owned shelf.
The game mode itself is simple: you’re stranded in a building and you need to stop the zombies from getting in. If they kill you, you can be revived. If you’re all killed, the game ends. However, you can earn points by killing zombies, which you must spend on new weapons, perks and rooms to keep yourself alive and see whether you can get to the next level. The game never ends, it becomes harder each level and soon you’ll find that the zombies quadruple in number and gradually become immune to your weapons.
I really don’t know why it’s so addictive, but it is. My highscore on the original map is to level 14, however I’m sure with a bit of effort I can beat that! Treyarch, the makers of the game (not to be confused with Infinity Ward, who make its predecessor Call of Duty 4 and the upcoming Modern Warfare 2), realised that the mode was taking the gaming world by storm, and so they made it available to everyone – previously you could only play it if you completed the game. They also added a new zombie map called Verrukt, an abandoned German asylum, as part of their best-selling Map Pack 1. Nazi Zombies must be now one of the most popular online co-op game modes of any Xbox 360 game.
Building on the success of the first map pack, the recently-released Map Pack 2 came with it a third zombie map – Shi No Numa. This is set in Japan, where Imperial Zombies try to attack the swamp (suitably translated as the ‘Swamp of Death’). Despite the change of Zombie nationality, the game mode still keeps its original name. The map comes with an awesome song sang by one of the game’s producers Elena Siegman with guitar by the audio team’s Kevin Sherwood.
Amazingly, some eagle-eyed fans of the game have discovered a series of easter eggs which they claim shows Treyarch is building a back-story to the whole Nazi Zombie game mode and they’ve found links to the Tunguska event, Area 51, ‘The Bell’ experiment and more. I find it amazing how well their ideas have come together and how they are all backed up in both Verrukt and the new map. I also find it superb that one of the audio producers on the Treyarch team, Brian Tuey, has supported the efforts of these fans all the way and even provided interviews with the two singers.
Doesn’t it make all the difference when there’s a lot better things to find in the game than just glitches? Despite not being a member of the team researching these easter eggs, I’m intrigued when I look around the map (accompanied by zombies) and find all these references in person. I think Treyarch have done a great thing here by subtly hinting towards a mystery we are now frantically trying to piece together.
One thing I would like to see in the future would be a Nazi Zombies arcade game on Xbox LIVE. I think this would sell like hot cakes for Treyarch, and I do think that the inclusion of a similar mode in their next CoD game is crucial to it’s success, if their current release is anything to go by (but I’m quite willing to be surprised!). What is absolutely certain is that they’ve hit on a great idea which has gone down well with the gamers, and as the zombie genre is booming at the moment, it has an awful lot of potential. Great work Treyarch!
Jordan