Vorkuta (level)

"He and us are not so different... We are all soldiers, without an army. Betrayed, forgotten, abandoned, in Vorkuta we ALL are brothers!"

- Reznov

"Vorkuta" is the second campaign level in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Taking place on October 6th, 1963 the player controls Alex Mason as he attempts to escape the Russian Gulag Vorkuta with Viktor Reznov and many other Russian prisoners.

Walkthrough
Mason starts off in a fight with Viktor Reznov to draw out a guard. This is a cutscene, so the player does not need to do anything here. They succeed in doing so, and a guard armed with a baton comes up to the two. After Reznov calls him svoloch (bastard), the guard starts to beat him with the baton, until Mason gets up and knocks the guard out with a single blow from a rock. He then helps Reznov up, and Reznov takes keys off the guard, completing Step one of their escape - "Secure the keys".

The band of prisoners proceed down a mine tunnel, and Mason is now armed with a unique prison knife. Reznov encourages the band of prisoners by asking what the steps to their escape are. The steps are:


 * 1) Secure the keys.
 * 2) Ascend from darkness.
 * 3) Rain fire.
 * 4) Unleash the horde.
 * 5) Skewer the winged beast.
 * 6) Wield a fist of iron.
 * 7) Raise Hell.
 * 8) Freedom.

Mason fights his way down the tunnel where he encounters a brute named Sergei. Fortunately, Sergei is on their side. At the end of the tunnel there is a lift which takes the band of prisoners out of the mine. In the lift, a prisoner questions whether Mason, an American, can be trusted or not. Reznov sticks up for him, stating he could trust him with his life.

Outside the lift, there are some unarmed prisoners surrounding a prison guard armed with a Makarov (with his back to the lift), who is shooting them as they try to take him down. Sergei exits the lift armed with an pick axe, and brutally kills the guard. The player can now pick up a Makarov to help him fight off any resistance. The prisoners then push open a large metal door which opens up into a coal truck yard, to complete step two of the escape, which has a guard tower with a machine gun turret overlooking it. This prompts Reznov, Mason and Sergei to run behind a coal truck and use it as moving cover as they push it along the track towards the tower. Mason must cover Reznov and Sergei as they push the cart by killing any resistance coming in on their sides.

The tower is then destroyed by an improvised incendiary device launched from a slingshot, which is Step 3 of the escape. The band of soldiers can now enter the military compound of the gulag. Mason goes to the top of the building they enter and uses a giant slingshot to destroy three targets. The slingshot works similarly to a grenade launcher and has the same aiming reticule. After destroying the three targets, Mason goes down and can now arm himself with a KS-23, and plenty of ammunition from an arms room which Sergei opened.

The prisoners exit the building and Mason shoots the lock to the gate. The prisoners go through this gate and engage the prison guards. The prison guards are armed with AK-47s. After proceeding to the objective, Mason picks up a harpoon-firing KS-23, and fires the harpoon at the Mi-8 Hip helicopter which had been keeping them pinned down with door machine gun, As the end of the rope was tied to a pipe, the helicopter cannot move and spins into some tanks and is destroyed. This completes step five of the escape, Skewer the winged beast.

thumb|300px|right|Start of "Vorkuta"The prisoners now enter a large building full of guards. The player can pick up an AK-47 with Grenade Launcher to take out soldiers who are using moving cover. Once the prisoners reach a closing door, Sergei rushes in to hold the door up. However, he is shot from a floor above and killed, letting the door close, but not before Mason slides under the door and to the other side. Mason then opens the door, and the prisoners need to fight their way to a garage, where Reznov finds a blowtorch which he will use to open the armory door. Mason then needs to cover Reznov as he does this. Once the door is open, Mason picks up a Death Machine, which is Step 6, Wield a fist of iron.

The prisoners now must fight their way to a warehouse where they can make their escape. Using the Death Machine, Mason can easily destroy incoming trucks of soldiers (Step 7, Raise Hell) Once near the warehouse, the guards will use tear gas on the band of prisoners, knocking out Mason who is dragged to safety by Reznov. Mason wakes up in the warehouse, where he and Reznov take some motorbikes in an attempt to accomplish step eight, Freedom. They then smash through a window, make a break for a train, while under fire from enemy soldiers. Mason has an auto-aiming, unlimited ammo Model 1887 which he can use to protect himself during the escape. Reznov and Mason then jump to a truck with a DShK machine gun on it, and Mason uses the machine gun to eliminate as many enemies as he can. They then come alongside the train, and Mason jumps for a ladder on the side of it. He exclaims to Reznov to jump, but Reznov replies that only freedom for Mason was intended, driving the truck away to distract the pursuing soldiers.

Reznov's Speech
When Mason must take out the towers with the slingshot, Reznov makes a speech to all of Vorkuta. As long as the player doesn't destroy all three, this entire speech can be heard:

"Brave comrades of Vorkuta, the time has come to rise against our oppressors! Today, we show them the hearts of true Russians! We have all given our blood for the Motherland. We have answered her calls without question. We gave our youth, our hearts, our very souls for her protection..As brothers, we fought side by side against the German fascists. We crawled through dirt and blood and sand to achieve our glorious victory..Not for medals, or glory...but for what was right. We fought for revenge...When Berlin fell, how did our leaders repay us? We returned not to the rapturous welcome...but to suspicion and persecution. In the eyes of our leaders we were already tainted by the capitalist West. Torn from the arms of our loved ones, we found ourselves here... this place... this, this terrible place. Here we have languished, with no hope for release... No hope for justice. We have toiled in Dragovich's mines until the flesh peeled from our bones... We have watched our comrades succumb to sickness and disease... We have been starved. We have been beaten. But we will not be broken! Today, we will send a message to our corrupt and arrogant leaders. Today, my comrades... Vorkuta - BURNS!!!"

Trivia

 * The player CANNOT make the motorcycle drive backwards while driving for the train.
 * When completing this mission, a strange song plays when Mason jumps onto the train. This may be because this is the last time Mason actually sees Reznov alive, and his hallucinations begin after this point.
 * It is possible to do the mission with only the prison knife (minus the slingshot and Death Machine)
 * After you have accomplished eliminating the three targets by means of an improvised slingshot, if you look at Reznov it seems that he wielded an AK-47 after his speech. The Arms Locker down the stairs, however, only contained KS-23 shotguns. It is possible that Reznov got the AK-47 from the dead guard on the floor next to the PA system.
 * At where the player uses the slingshot, a huge bucket-wheel excavator can be seen in the distance.
 * The player drives a motorcycle while armed with a Model 1887, a reference to Terminator 2: Judgment Day. He also reloads the shotgun with the flick of his wrist just like the Terminator.
 * The fight seen between Mason and Reznov might also be a reference to the movie Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country.
 * Mason uses the same first-person model as Nikolai Belinski in Black Ops Zombie Mode.
 * Parts of this level may be a reference to The Last Castle, taking place in a military prison, and using an incendiary slingshot to eliminate guard towers, and a harpoon to take out a helicopter.
 * The escape plan and how it is organized is an allusion to the 1967 war film The Dirty Dozen. In that film, the convict unit of Major Reisman prepares for their eventual commando mission by repeating each step of the operation in a lyrical fashion, much as the prisoners do here.
 * Step 2: "Ascend from darkness" is similar as one of the strange messages in Zombie Map "Nacht der Untoten".
 * Step 6: "Wield a fist of Iron" is buggy and in the 1.02 version can sometimes require a level restart to complete. Reznov fails to put on the backpack and open the sliding door in some instances.
 * Step 7: "Raise Hell" is similar of Reznov's quotes in World at War mission, Their Land, Their Blood.
 * The Model 1887 fires two shots before Mason must cycle the action. As it is not a double-barrel shotgun, this is inaccurate. It also is a lever action, so it must be re-cocked.
 * Although there's no limit of ammo with the slingshot nor there's a time limit in destroying the 3 guard positions, though if the player manages to hit them with one shot each, the "Slingshot Kid" achievement/trophy will be unlocked.
 * Reznov's rallying speech over the PA system ends once you destroy all 3 targets, so if the player lets this part drags on, he/she would be able to hear the full version of it.
 * The slingshot is a crossbow on the Wii version of the game. There are also 4 positions to destroy in the Wii version.
 * Once exiting the elevator, go to the desk near the gate, Look at the books on the floor. It will say Edward Richtofen on one of them.
 * It is unknown how Reznov manages to run through the tear gas without being affected by it, although it is possibly a reference to World at War, in the level Eviction, when Reznov gives advice on how to be unaffected by toxic smoke.
 * If the player triggers the tear gas while facing backwards (looking to were you came), one will notice that Reznov spawns out of nowhere to help Mason. This can't be seen while facing forward since Reznov's spawn will be inside the tear gas cloud.
 * The Prisoner talking to Reznov in the elevator will always have a randomly generated name, but will always have the same character model.
 * If you kill guards before they finish beating prisoners to death, the prisoners will "die", but their mouths will move and they will blink forever. Also, if you aim at certain parts of them, your reticle will turn green.
 * Although the guard that stood in front of the elevator fired two shots at the prisoners, when his Makarov is picked up, only one bullet is missing from the magazine.
 * When moving to the second floor of the room where Sergei is killed, you can see enemy troops sliding in through a glass ceiling via a rope, if you look up at the ropes, you will see that they are not from any type of aircraft, but are rather just attached to the ceiling.
 * If the player does not shoot the guard manning the machine gun on the truck, he will just fall off the truck when the player gets on.
 * If the player does not pick up the guard's Makarov, one will be on the ground behind the coal cart.
 * It's impossible to escape the tear gas near the end.
 * In the beginning of the level, Reznov uses the guard's baton like a knife to cut the keys off of his belt.
 * If the player has the subtitles on during the closing cutscene, Reznov's first name will be misspelled as "Victor" instead of "Viktor".
 * If the player misses the helicopter with the harpoon, he/she will not be able to go inside, which will result in their death.
 * If the player fails to follow the escape plan, Reznov will yell "NO!"
 * The word Reznov yells at the guard in the beginning of the level is a Russian word, "svoloch", which translates to "scum" or, in some cases, asshole. He uses the same word to refer to a sniper that almost hit him in the WaW mission Vendetta.
 * Mentioned above when Reznov calls the prison guard a "svoloch" it looks as if Reznov smiles a little.
 * If you try to head across the courtyard, when Reznov and Sergei are pushing the coal cart, you will die immediately about halfway across although it seems like the MG killed you.
 * Reznov does not wear prison garbs like the other inmates.
 * Some prison guards wear riot armors, allowing them to sustain more damage than normal enemies, especially from low penetration weapons such as Makarov or AK74u. They can easily be dispatched with a grenade launcher (grenade must detonate), a headshot, KS-23, or Death Machine.
 * Vorkuta was a real gulag built to hold German POWs from WW2.
 * There was a real uprising in Vorkuta in 1953. Inmates refused to work from July to August which ended in an estimated 66 killed.
 * Mason's role in Vorkuta could be based off of Homer Harold Cox, an American military policeman kidnapped and arrested by the Soviets in 1949.
 * In the Armory where the Death Machine is found, there are also AK-47's inside. These can't be picked up and appear to have every single attachment for the AK-47 on them. Some of the attachments overlap and are "inside" each other (like the red dot sight and reflex sight being covered by an IR scope)
 * There is a rare glitch that can occur in the armory where Reznov disappears and the objective indicator will go to the bottom of the screen.
 * If the player initiates friendly fire, he/she will get a message saying "You are a traitor to your brothers!". This is similar to the message the player gets in the Russian campaign in World at War should the player open fire on his/her comrades. This message also later appears in Project Nova aswell.
 * A Russian guard may use a AK-47 with a grenade launcher, sniper scope and a silencer, but it cannot be picked up.
 * After machine gun towers gets destroyed a guard will an AK-47 may fly out of the tower, you cannot pick up his gun and it will disappear soon afterwards.

Walkthrough Video
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