Zombie

For the game mode, see Zombies (Mode). "I've always liked the "monster within" idea. I like the zombies being us. It's like zombies are the blue-collar monsters."

- George A. Romero.

Creation
Zombies are deceased humans reanimated by Element 115. Though the origin of the zombies remains mostly unclear, various incidents leading up to the creation of the zombies can be found via radio messages found in various maps. It would appear that Element 115, an element found in meteors and known to power Wonder Weapons, can reanimate dead cells. A meteor containing 115 is shown in the map Shi no Numa outside one of the swamp areas. Meteor fragments can be seen on Kino der Toten and Call of the Dead. Meteors can also be seen on the moon whenever it is visible. While working with Element 115 to power new weapons and the teleporters, Dr. Ludvig Maxis discovered it could also reanimate dead cells and created an undead army. Unfortunately, this army couldn't be controlled as the zombies would always go berserk when tested. Richtofen believed Maxis wasn't acting quick enough and decided to betray him to further the research. One day, Maxis used his daughter Samantha's dog, Fluffy (who was pregnant), as a test subject for his teleporter. Unfortunately something went horribly wrong and Fluffy transformed into the first Hellhound. After this event his assistant, Richtofen set his plan into motion when he locked Maxis and Samantha in the teleporter room with the mutated Fluffy, who then killed them. Later in both "Five" and Kino der Toten, a new zombie called the Crawler Zombie appeared. The Crawler Zombie explodes and emits Nova Gas (which is different from Nova 6, which is far more lethal) when it dies (unless it dies from a Ray Gun, Thunder Gun, explosives, or a knife attack). Richtofen says the Crawler Zombies were a failed experiment of Maxis'. The Space Monkeys are primates from the Soviet Space Program that came into contact with Element 115 when sent to the moon. It was later revealed that Richtofen used Samantha in some of his tests. In Call of the Dead, George A. Romero appears as some sort of boss-zombie after being kidnapped by a zombie during a movie shoot. He is very hard to kill and will go berserk when hit, causing him to sprint. He can also emit a special yell that causes all zombies in the vicinity to go into a very fast sprint. Zombies nearby can also absorb his lightning and stun the player.

Speeds
The Zombies have varying speeds and movements, one of which is exclusive to Ascension. These speeds are:


 * A very slow march.
 * A slow stumble with arms by their sides.
 * In Shi No Numa, occasionally zombies will walk slowly (the same speed as the "slow stumble" stated above) turning their body a little to the right with their left arm in front of them bending upwards and their legs will also be bent. Their right arm is also bent.
 * A normal walk with their arms waving in the air and their faces glancing upward at the sky.


 * A jog with arms straight out (like Frankenstein and in older classic Zombie films).


 * A fast run. Their arms move back and forth, similar to a human.


 * A sprint, with one arm in front of them pointing down and the other behind them in the air.


 * In Verrückt and Call of the Dead, some zombies have a human sprint-like speed with their shoulders forward and arms moving as a person would while running (although to less of an extent). These are considerably faster than any other speed, and run at roughly the same speed that the player does with a high-mobility weapon (without sprinting). Any other gun class requires the player to sprint in order to not get caught by them. In Call of the Dead, zombies are brought into this speed when George A. Romero emits a special yell.


 * In Ascension, on some occasions, zombies will crouch down and roll towards the player, or even sidestep to avoid getting hit.

Behavior
The zombies seem to have reverted to a primal cognitive state, as they will attempt to kill or incapacitate any player through melee attacks. They are unable to use any weapons. Even when both legs are blown off, the zombies will continue to attempt to kill the players. The zombies also show an odd behavioral characteristic in the sense that they will stop attacking a player when he's downed, instead going for the player(s) that are still alive. The reason behind this is unknown. Some believe it is to leave the downed player to an agonizing death and to use them as bait to distract the other players, since players cannot defend themselves while reviving teammates. With a zombie kidnapping George A. Romero instead of killing him, it is possible that the zombies know of element 115's effects and somehow use it to turn incapacitated people into zombies, thus explaining why they don't kill downed players. As shown by the secret Der Riese radio messages and Black Ops computer files, the zombies were meant to be controlled, but they would always end up going berserk, and not obey orders given to them.

Characteristics
Some zombies will die from only a few rounds from an M1911, while other zombies can withstand up to or exceed even a full magazine of a machine gun. This depends on the round as the zombies have more health in later rounds. The zombies also look different from each other. Some look as if they were burned to death, others look intimidating, while others are missing arms, or even have exposed bloody rib-cages. On Verrückt, zombies sometimes appear to have staples inserted into their head, giving the assumption they died during brain surgery inside the Asylum. Most of the zombies in Black Ops have decomposed faces and have a slight change in their speed than other zombies. On Ascension, the zombies faces seem to have been warped more than before. For instance, some zombies have a type of gas mask and their flesh seems to sag in many places on their face. In Call of the Dead, the Zombies are even more warped than the Ascension Zombies. Some have no jaw, and some spawn with missing limbs (without the player gibbing them), and they have either charred black or frozen white skin, ripped sailor uniforms, civilian attire, or burned scuba suits (though it could be that they were stuck under water for quite some time). On Ascension and Call of the Dead after killed the zombies eyes will turn normal as it was never zombified, unlike the earlier maps that the zombies eyes kept glowing yellow or orange. As in Black ops "Five" and Kino der Toten as their eyes glow blue or white in color upon death. On the DS version of Black Ops, the zombies in The Temple have a rifle through their bodies.

Intelligence
Over time, different maps feature zombies with different intelligence. They seem to be getting smarter. However, it could simply be the fact that the zombies' abilities have not been put to the test in previous maps.


 * Nacht Der Untoten - Zombies have very basic methods and aren't very smart. They cannot attack through windows, they can't double-swipe, and are much slower than their later counterparts. They also appear to frequently pause, then continue on with the onslaught. However, they are virtually just as dangerous, as there are no perks, traps, or the Pack-a-Punch machine.


 * Verrückt - Zombies can now reach through windows. They can also run and sprint, although in Black Ops (exept for Call of the Dead), zombies can no longer sprint. They also attack without pausing as much. Several zombies appear to have retained a past part of their lives, as some march in a typical Nazi-style. Zombies can now attack rapidly, but still maintain strength.


 * Shi No Numa - Zombies attack the player alongside Hellhounds. Some also appear to spawn from the water. Several have retained their past lives, and walk and stumble around in a kung-fu style.


 * Der Riese - Zombies appear to be able to fall large heights and vault themselves without losing momentum or injure themselves.


 * Kino Der Toten - Zombies attack with Gas Zombies. They now move through windows in accordance to their speed. They also seem to be able to survive being thrown into any surface, when a Thundergun blast collides with them but does not kill them.


 * "Five" - Zombies now appear to be able to use teleporters without dying on their own will. However, they appear to track a player's path, as a slow crawler would noticeably go into the last-used teleporter instead of chasing a closer player, even if they collide.


 * Ascension - Zombies now have the ability to jump large heights. Also, they appear to be able to dodge bullets, through their skills as Spetznaz operatives before they were zombified.


 * Call of the Dead - Zombies can appear to climb ropes and ziplines without much difficulty. However, they appear to be slowed down in the freezing water, unlike the swamps of Shi No Numa. They can now sprint again, although this only happens when George Romero electrifies them. Some already have missing limbs or exposed bones, but this does not affect their health or abilities.

Trivia

 * Some Zombies are seen marching in a Nazi goose step towards the windows in Verrückt, Der Riese and Kino der Toten.
 * In World at War, if a Grenade is thrown at a zombie about to come out the ground, it will go into a crouching stance, this crouching stance can be achieved in Black Ops, but only in extreme cases of lag as the zombie is coming out of the ground.
 * Technically, zombies are not unarmed. They are equipped with the weapon "BRAAAINS..." available through console commands. This, however, is only a Melee weapon, and if the zombies didn't have it, their attack would look like the standard melee attack for humans, without the knife in the hand.
 * The Zombie AI is programmed to follow and attack whichever player is closest to it. This is the most apparent when their head is shot off and they still move towards the player and attempt to attack them.
 * When in water, the Zombies lose very little of their speed.
 * Any headless Zombie will continue to take damage every second until they die, upon which the full 100 points for the headshot is awarded. On higher rounds, a headless zombie may still have enough health to survive low-damage attacks.
 * A rare glitch may occur with the Thundergun, the zombie will be blown into the ceiling and will be stuck there. (Confirmed on PS3 and Xbox 360).
 * There might be an occasional glitch on Verrückt where if a crawler goes down a flight of stairs, they will get stuck in the air and move as if they were crawling.
 * Very rarely, on Ascension, if a zombie is walking on the spot where the Lunar Lander is landing and it's crushed by the edge of the lander, the zombie's body and limbs will start to stretch to impossible lengths.(Confirmed on PS3, Xbox 360,and PC). This may also happen with the Thundergun.
 * Rarely on Der Riese and on "Five" a zombie can stay in the barrier zone, and not come out. It only stands there (presumably in a corner). However, after a few minutes, its head explodes and it dies. This has also been confirmed on Nacht der Untoten on PS3.
 * A rare glitch occurs on Ascension where a zombie can be seen attacking in a window, but not come out. (Confirmed on the PS3 and Xbox 360)
 * In Dead Ops Arcade, the zombies have eyes that glow red as opposed to the yellow glow in other levels. Gary Okeys (developer) stated that the reason for this is variation in the different zombies that the players will face.