Call of the Dead

"It's anchors away for mayhem! In this epic tale of survival inspired by legendary writer and director George A. Romero, a group of four fearless explorers fight for their lives amidst an army of bloodthirsty Russian zombies. The story begins with our heroes stranded in the frozen wastelands of a forgotten Siberian outpost. On the hunt for the origins of the enigmatic Element 115, they head for the site of an ancient meteorite impact crater but their ship mysteriously runs aground. In the midst of a horrific snowstorm, our intrepid adventurers inadvertently unleash an unearthly horde of ravenous Zombies. From the island's deserted lighthouse to a shipwrecked ocean liner and a precarious zip-line in between, it's kill or be killed. And with shiploads of zombie Russian soldiers, scuba divers and sailors that rise out of the frozen ground and icy waters it's not going to be easy, especially considering the deadly surprise that one particular (and somewhat notable) Zombie has in mind."

- Call of the Dead Plot Summary

Call of the Dead is a new Zombies map in the Escalation map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. Call of the dead is the ninth Nazi Zombies map made. Treyarch says it will offer "a unique Zombies experience" and is "a very special creation for all Zombie fans. The level is the first to feature actual celebrities fighting the zombies and features a celebrity as one of the zombies. Gameplay takes place on a ship and the land next to it.

Overview
Call of the Dead is the largest zombie map yet, with multiple areas. Players spawn on the shore with up to three other teammates, as soon as the players spawn George Romero spawns out of a lighting bolt in a nearby pool. There are two chalk weapon outlines there, as with the last three Black Ops zombie maps, the Olympia and the M14. Players can open either one of two different boats one leads to the lighthouse the other leads to the ship. The Power switch is located at the top of the ship, which has the Flinger on its side.

The new perk, Deadshot Daiquiri, is located at the top of the lighthouse, with a price of 1500 points. It causes the aim-assist when entering ADS to autofocus on the head as opposed to center-of-mass. The new Wonder Weapon, the V-R11 makes its debut in this map, with the ability to transform Zombies back into humans, them running away in fear and getting killed afterward by other zombies. Another new weapon is a sniper that shoots rockets, is bolt action and has the same reload animation as an empty L96 reload.

When George A. Romero appears at the first round he appears in a "Calm State", him slowly walking towards you while shouting threats. He also appears to be invincible, damage seeming to trigger his "Berserk Mode". Attacking him will send him into a "Berserk Mode", causing him to run at the nearest person and wildly attacking and spontaneously roaring and growling. Note the fact that you do not get points for shooting at him. Contrary to popular belief, the V-R11 does not turn George A. Romero back into a human, only managing to turn him back into his calm state. Luring him into the icy waters also "calms" him down. Defeating George A. Romero in his calm state will give the player a free perk bottle and a Death Machine.

Opening Scene Transcript
The screen is black and you can here George A. Romero speaking.

Romero: I've always liked the "monster within" idea. I like the zombies being us. It's like zombies are the blue-collar monsters.

''The lighthouse appears on the screen with a flash of lightning behind it. Zombies start to attack Danny Trejo and Robert Englund and both of them try to fight them off.''

Trejo: We're completely surrounded!

Englund: We're completely fucked!

Michael Rooker is then seen killing zombies wtih two shotguns.

Rooker: Are you girls kidding me? I've been praying for this shit! Come on!

''A door to the lighthouse opens behind Rooker, and Sarah Michelle Gellar kicks a zombie corpse down the stairs that lead to the door. ''

Gellar: Boys... let's get to work.

''Action music starts playing and all four characters continue killing zombies. A zombie comes to attack Rooker from behind. Rooker turns around and hits the zombie on the shoulder. The zombie stops attacking, looks at the camera, and starts talking. ''

Fake Zombie: For god sakes he missed me again!

Romero: CUT! Are you blind man?

Romero goes to Englund to demonstrate how Rooker was supposed to knock out the zombie for the movie.

Romero: Like this.

Romero whacks Englund in the face with the back of the shotgun.

Englund: OOOWWWW!

Romero: See?

Trejo: No jefe, I do it like this.

''Trejo bunts the bottom of his machete on top of Englund's head. ''

Englund: DANNY!

Gellar: I do it like this.

''Gellar spins around and kicks Englund in the chest, knocking him on his back. A zombie then comes out of a window prop. ''

Romero: Get back to hair and make-up. You don't look dead enough!

The fake zombie then takes the real zombie by the shoulder to escort it to hair and make-up.

Fake Zombie: Come on, let's go.

''The real zombie throws the fake one to the floor, picks up Romero and runs away with him. ''

Rooker: That ain't in the script.

Trejo: We're writing a new one! It's called "Slash! Slash! Massacre!"

Englund: This is a real nightmare!

Gellar: Let's slay some stiffs!

All four characters then engage in combat with real zombies.

Ending Scene Transcript
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, raising from the dead, real creepy stuff. The coolest thing... some of that crazy shit happened right here.

Weapons

 * AK74u
 * AUG w/ Swarovski Scope
 * Ballistic Knife
 * China Lake
 * Commando
 * Crossbow
 * CZ75 (with or without Dual Wield)
 * Death Machine (power-up)
 * FN FAL
 * Famas
 * G11 w/ Low Power Scope
 * Galil
 * HK21
 * HS-10
 * L96A1
 * M72 LAW
 * M14
 * M16
 * M1911
 * MP-40
 * MP5K
 * Matryoshka Doll
 * MPL
 * Olympia
 * PM-63
 * Ray Gun
 * RPK
 * Scavenger
 * Semtex
 * SPAS-12
 * Stakeout
 * V-R11

Secret Song
Just like in Kino der Toten, there are three "Element 115" meteorites spread across the map. Once all the meteors have activated, the song "Not Ready to Die" by Avenged Sevenfold plays.

1st Meteor : On the left of the spawn area on a steel barrel you can hear the weird alien sound it emits.

2nd Meteor : In the room with the PhD Flopper room just laying underneath the old night stand with the clock on it.

3rd Meteor : On ship in the dinner room on one of the booth chairs.

Security Dials
There are four security dials in the lighthouse. Each are colour coded and imply that each player in a four-player party have to individually enter one of the numbers into their precoloured dial from the required code, which can be found on the top of the lighthouse balcony by activating the radio in front of the barrels at the end. It is unknown at the moment the correct method to proceed with this easter egg.

Original Characters Trapped
Original Characters Trapped is an easter egg in the new Nazi Zombie map, Call of the Dead. It is similar to the Kassimir Mechanism of Ascension.

To help the characters, you can find a fuse in one of the rooms in the house next to the lighthouse, pick up the fuse by pressing the use button, and put it on the fuse box next to the door by holding the use button. Then they, you must destroy four generators that blink red. You can destroy these by cooking grenades and throw them on the generators, or throwing semtex on them, or using the Scavenger sniper rifle. The first generator is opposite the sealed door, the second one is in the water between the 2 parts of the ship, the third one is near the Double Tap perk, in the water next to the ship, and the last one can be seen from the top of the lighthouse, where the random box can be, it is down on the ground, and can be shot with the Scavenger. The third step in this easter egg, is to get them some Vodka, which can be found embeded in ice and hanging from a railing in the vicinity of PHD or on the front half of the boat (The half that is adjacent to the spawn). 2 people are required. The first person needs to position themselves under the vodka bottle ready to catch it when the second person kinfes it. Then bring it next to the sealed door, where there is a pipe that you should put the vodka in. The next step is to bring a golden rod to Ricthofen, but it is unknown where it is.

Unique Features

 * At least four radios which feature Richtofen disscusing various experiments.
 * A chain which the zombies can use to get to the back of the ship. (Bypasses windows)
 * Two Ziplines: One goes from the ship to the coast and the other goes from the lighthouse to the ship.
 * George A. Romero guest stars as a boss but instead of having his own round, he will appear at Round 1 and will follow the player untill he is dealt with.
 * Call of the Dead features the first female playable character in Nazi Zombies and the second playable female character in the Call of Duty Series.
 * All of the Perk-a-Cola machines and a new one called Deadshot Daiquiri are available on this map
 * The Flinger flips players off the ship and onto the coast
 * A new Wonder Weapon called the V-R11 which reverts a zombie back to it's human state.
 * Water on the map will cause frost to accumulate on the player's screen, blinding and eventually freezing the player. It also over time will act on Zombies much in the same way as the Winter's Howl freezing them in blocks of ice allowing them to be easily shattered.
 * The Lighthouse's beam will showcase where the Pack-A-Punch Machine is on the map.
 * In the top and mid level of the Light house, there are two dials that can be rotated to numbers 0-9 using the action button.
 * Once the power is on, directly opposite the power switch is the Navigation wheel of the ship, pressing the action button can move this clockwise and counterclockwise.
 * The weather occasionally changes from snowing hard to a light flurry. Whenever the weather changes, the player will make a comment on it.

New Perk
Deadshot Daiquiri is a perk featured in the new Zombie map, Call of the Dead, that comes with the Escalation map pack. The perk's icon consists of a dark grey background color with the foreground being a head in front of a set of cross-hairs.

Videos
Video:Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation - Call of the Dead|Call of the Dead 80's style trailer.

Video:Inside Xbox: Featured Video: Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation Zombie Map Pack: Call of the Dead|Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation Zombie Map Pack: Call of the Dead

Video:Call of Duty Black Ops Call of The Dead Easter Egg Song 'Not Ready to Die'|"Not Ready to Die", the musical easter egg

Video:Call Of The Dead : Opening Scene|Opening cutscene

Trivia

 * Considering what the zombies look like when turned back into humans using the V-R11, it may have been possible Treyarch originally intended this weapon for "Five", meaning that Winter's Howl would have been for Call of the Dead.


 * This would also imply that Call of the Dead was in development during some point in the actual game's development.
 * When playing co-op, if you look at the top left-hand corner of the loading screen, part of the Ascension loading screen can be seen. Also, in the top right-hand corner, what looks like another loading screen is actually the loading screen for Kino. it shows the part from Shi No Numa.
 * George A. Romero can be killed, though this is best left till later rounds. When he is killed, he drops a Random Perk Bottle and a Death Machine.
 * George A. Romero can also be removed from the map without actually killing him. By shooting him with the upgraded V-R11 when he is in the icy water, he will sink back in to the ice. He does not respawn. He also does not drop anything.
 * There is a picture of the crashed boat and light house in der reise, possibly meaning this map has been in development since the beginning.

Glitches

 * X-box 360: On the Zipline connecting from the spawn point to the top of the ship, if George A. Romero is about to jump on the Zipline and you jump on, if you end up infront of him, there is a possiblility that he can get stuck on the Zipline and then dissappear from the game until the next game.