Treyarch evolves zombies game, basic survival to complex puzzles

Hayden Seay, Chattanooga, Tenn., — You wake up in front of a crashed plane in a dark misty field. You stumble in and out of consciousness as figures emerge in the distance. You continue stumbling in and out until a zombie charges at you.

“Nazi Zombies” appears on the screen, and you assume control of an unnamed soldier in a dilapidated com- plex, armed only with a

Photo from Google Images
Photo from Google Images

Colt 1911. This is how it all began.

Treyarch caught many gamers who had just finished the Call of Duty: World at War campaign by surprise when the “Nacht der Untoten” began, German for night of the dead.

The objective is simple: Survive against hordes of undead Nazis with an arsenal of weapons available for purchase from the walls and the mystery box, which randomly gives you a weapon, or a demonic teddy bear that laughs at you.

Since “World at War’s” launch in 2008, the mini-game has expanded into some- thing that is much bigger and complex. Instead of following the formula of the first map, the four downloadable con- tents, or DLCs, added more elements.

Consumable sodas called perks were added, the first four being Juggernog, Speed Cola, Quick Revive and Double Tap, with each granting enhanced stats such as more health and faster reloading.

In addition to the first wonder weap- on, the futuristic Ray Gun, the Wunder- waffe DG-2, which arcs electricity from zombie to zombie when fired and the Monkey Bomb, a wind up monkey doll strapped with dynamite, were added.


By the time “Black Ops” released, the

game follows the same basic formula of survival, but Treyarch began adding more and more.

The game initially included two maps, “Kino der Untoten,” German for theater of the undead, and “Five, which featured John Fitzgerald Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Secretary of Defense Robert McNamara and Fidel Castro fighting the undead in depths of the Pentagon.

With the release of the DLCs, every- thing was flipped on its head. In addition to the introduction of actors such as Mi- chael Rooker and Sarah Michelle Geller as the characters of each map, tasks called easter eggs were included.

Serving as a way to tell the story of each DLC, easter eggs are multilayered processes that involve completing tasks of varying difficulty while surviving.

These range from being simple, such as playing Simon Says while on the Moon, to having to shift back and forth between the present to the past in Shangri-La.


The next installation of Treyarch’s series, “Black Ops II,” further changed the mode, placing you in the aftermath of the Moon’s easter egg.

The first map, TranZit , shows the ruins of America and added more su- pernatural elements, including the in- troduction of a being called Avogadro, a being made of electricity and a part of the map’s easter egg.

In the DLCs, the game showed the ruins of skyscrapers in China, prisoners trying to escape from Alcatraz, a long-for- gotten old western town and a reimagined World War I battlefield with giant robots.

From being able to transport from one realm to another in the halls of Alcatraz in “Mob of the Dead” to being chased by a ghost through a mansion in the old West, many things were added to change the way the game played.


With the latest installment of Tre- yarch’s series release earlier this month, zombies have been changed once again.

The first map, “Shadows of Evil,” features Morg City, the locations of a futuristic imagining of the 1940s, incor- porating characters, posters, vehicles, architecture and music that are reminis- cent of the decade.

The four main characters, all of whom are involved in things such as murder and bribery, are gathered in one place by the Shadow Man, who transports them to a hellish realm filled with zombies and other creatures.

Since the “World at War,” the formula has been refined and redesigned with each new title.

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