George A. Romero

"Years ago, I did research for a World War II movie. I came across some old Nazi documents. I couldn't believe what I was reading. Element 115, necromancers, raising the dead, real creepy stuff. The coolest thing? Some of that crazy shit happened right here."

- George A. Romero

 stars as a special Zombie and the main antagonist in the Zombies map Call of the Dead. Romero was doing research for a World War II movie when he came across Nazi documents pertaining to Element 115.

Entrance
Romero appears via a lightning strike in the spawn area at the water to the front of the Quick Revive machine at the very beginning of the game and walks out of the steam and sea foam. He can be seen holding a giant knife if the player is quick enough to get to him, although this is only done through nocliping, as this becomes his stage light within about 2 seconds.

Origin
George was at first human while working on a zombie movie with Danny Trejo, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar and Michael Rooker. During one of the breaks due to a mistake by Michael, a real zombie crawls out of the window and snatches Romero away, later infecting him with Element 115.

"Calm State"
When first appearing, Romero is calmly walking around while groaning as a massive blue aura surrounds him. Sometimes when he is calmed down after attacking, he says in a scared voice "I'm okay, I'm okay", indicating he cannot control these fits of rage. He will sometimes roar, similar to his "berserk mode". This will make the Zombies nearby sprint towards the player. In this state, except for the blue aura and orange eyes, he looks fairly human.

"Berserk State"
If he is damaged or he hits a player while not in water, Romero transforms into his "Berserk State". This state involves chasing the players while swinging his broken Stagelight, roaring spontaneously, and distracting the player from the other Zombies until he is reverted to his usual state. In this state, his clothes are ripped, and the exposed flesh is rotten and decomposing. He also can electrify surrounding Zombies in this state by striking the ground with his Stagelight weapon, allowing the Zombies to give off an electric charge if they get too close. One way to calm him down is to lead him into water and he will return to his calm state or by shooting him with the V-R11. However, the latter one will only calm him down temporarily, and he will go berserk again after approximately 10 seconds.

Killing Romero
Romero has extremely high health and it takes a lot of time and ammunition to damage him enough to retreat. Pack-A-Punched Dragunov or L96A1 work best, as they will do 10,000 damage per shot (if every shot hits the head) respectively, being able to neutralize him in the matter of two/three magazines. The Death Machine can work effectively as well, although it will take several machines before enough damage is done. Upgraded Ray Guns and upgraded light machine guns work well together. Another good way of killing Romero is when the player has 15000-25000 points to go to the Mystery Box and lure Romero around. Once the player has exhausted their weapon's ammunition, using the Mystery Box again and repeating. This might take a while as some weapons are better than others. Another effective way to kill Romero is to get a Pack-a-Punched Scavenger, and use every shot they have to lower his health significantly, usually 24 body shots will cause him retreat. (Note: This weapon starts out with 6+30 rounds, so aim carefully) Another way of killing him is to shoot him with a Pack-a-Punched Scavenger while Romero is in the water, as he will enter his berserk state and will quickly change back to his calm state, making the job of killing him very much easier.

Obviously if player attacks Romero on land he will enter the berserk state, its a good idea to keep him in the water, no matter what weapon the player uses. He should constantly calm down.

As George takes more and more damage, the blue aura around his stage-light will start flicking, then if damaged more, it changes to orange. During this near-death state Romero's speed increases. (He will also begin to roar much more often). When finally damaged enough, he will retreat into the water, then return to the game after two rounds have passed, including the round when the player neutralized him (one full round and the current round).

Upon his retreat the Death Machine and a Random Perk Bottle power-up will spawn. Romero will drop a Lightning Bolt power-up Wunderwaffe DG-2 instead of a Death Machine if the player has the Stand-in achievement and is playing a solo game or if the player has the Ensemble Cast achievement. You also get the Wunderwaffe DG-2 if you are in co-op as long as you have Ensemble Cast or Stand-in achievement.

Romero's health does not increase throughout the higher rounds. His health is based on the number of players in the game; Romero has 250,000 health for every player in the game.

Getting Rid of Romero
George A. Romero can be made to retreat into the water for several Rounds. This is done by luring Romero into the water and then shooting him with the Pack-A-Punched V-R11. He will still utter phrases from underneath the island that Quick Revive is located on until he reemerges just as he does at the beginning of the match, minus the lightning effect.

Weapon
George A. Romero's weapon is a Stagelight with exposed wires protruding out of the end causing it to glow blue. The weapon takes two hits to down a player, or three hits with Juggernog, dealing a massive 90 damage per hit to the player, whereas a normal Zombie only does 50 damage per hit. One of his main attacks is to strike the ground to electrocute players (and Zombies alike), he can also use it to strike the player when close enough. (Note: Romero will only use his weapon when shot by the player or when a player comes within close range.)

Achievement/Trophy
Quiet on the Set (30 / Bronze Trophy ) - Cut the lights on the Director. (Kill George A. Romero.)

Trivia

 * Neither Insta-Kill or the Nuke will affect him.
 * When a Nuke has been activated, George will laugh.
 * Despite the fact that the Wunderwaffe DG-2 has infinite damage, it will do only one point of damage on George to prevent ease of killing him.
 * Sometimes, when he roars, the sound of rocks scraping can be heard.
 * When in beserk mode, if shot with the VR-11 he will give a quote mentioning that "this is who he is meant to be" after becoming calm.
 * If George strikes nearby a Zombie, that zombie will turn electric, and each time the player touches it, they will be electrocuted for a second. These zombies also cannot freeze in water, regardless of their health.
 * Sometimes after defeating George, the power-ups will spawn in another area of water in the map (usually the spawning area) instead of where George went away, much like the teleporters in Der Riese. When this happens, George will vanish when he is about to walk in the nearest pool of water and Samantha's giggle is heard.
 * His health will not change throughout the rounds.
 * His health goes up for every player, for example, if only one player is playing he has 250,000 health, if two players are playing he has 500,000 health, etc.
 * In Call of the Dead on iOS his hair is black.
 * He also does not have glasses in the iOS version.
 * According to some of his rare quotes, he may not be in control of his own actions. He also shows an apologetic side when he is defeated.
 * Interestingly he has anthropomorphism (having human characteristics) despite being zombified. He may be partially infected.
 * When you prone in front of George, he can be heard saying "I dont want to do this" and then he will freeze for 5 seconds, showing that he wants you to get away from him.
 * When on land, George seems to take more damage than when he is in water. This maybe due to the fact that in his berserk state, he already has many open wounds, which are easily exposed to gunfire. Using a full Death Machine against him while at full health on land can knock over 2/3 of his health down, where as in water, it can deal over 1/3 to half at the most.
 * Brutus, from Mob of the Dead, has the same yell as George.