Call of the Dead

"A shipwrecked crew of fearless explorers is hopelessly stranded in an abandoned Siberian outpost. Their dream of discovering the true origins of the Element 115 unravels into a hellish nightmare."

- Call of the Dead level description

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 map featured in the Zombie mode. 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. The map takes place on a ship and the land next to it.

Overview
"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 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, and 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 auto-focus on the head as opposed to center-of-mass, as well as having the effects of Steady Aim and its pro version. Also, when using a sniper rifle, there is no sway. 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 Scavenger that shoots explosive bolts, shares its bolt-action trait and its reload with the L96A1. There are five radios which feature Richtofen discussing various experiments. There are also 4 radios that if used in the correct order, once the controls next to the power switch are set correctly as well, will cause a submarine to rise out of the water between speed cola and the boat across from it.

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. However, if the Stand-in/Ensemble Cast acheivements have been completed, he will instead drop the Lightning Bolt perk rather than a death machine.

The map also features the original characters trapped in a small dark room, after 115 overdosed the Kassimer Mechanism and caused the four of them to teleport to the future. Freeing them serves as the maps major Easter egg and gives the Lightning Bolt Power-up, granting the player a Wunder-waffe DG2. Although it is a power-up, it will not disappear until you use up all the ammo, Max Ammos replenishing the Wunder-waffle DG2's ammo.

Opening Scene Transcript
The screen is black and you can hear 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 with 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 attempts to hit 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 takes one of Rooker's shotguns and 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 (boss), 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 roundhouse 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 ground, 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 "Maggot! Sack! 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.

Starting Weapons

 * M1911
 * Frag Grenades

Off-Wall Weapons

 * AK74u
 * Frag Grenades
 * M14
 * M16
 * MP5K
 * MP40
 * MPL
 * Olympia
 * PM63
 * Stakeout
 * Sickle
 * Semtex

Mystery Box Weapons

 * AUG w/ Swarovski Scope
 * Ballistic Knife
 * China Lake
 * Commando
 * Crossbow
 * CZ75 (with or without Dual Wield)
 * Dragunov
 * FN FAL
 * Famas
 * G11 w/ Low Power Scope
 * Galil
 * HK21
 * HS-10
 * L96A1
 * M72 LAW
 * Matryoshka Doll
 * Python
 * Ray Gun
 * RPK
 * Scavenger
 * SPAS-12
 * V-R11

Power-Up Weapons

 * Death Machine
 * Wunderwaffe DG-2

Security Dials
There are four security dials in the lighthouse. Each are color coded and imply that each player in a four-player party have to individually enter one of the numbers into their pre-colored 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. By the perk machines Juggernog, Stamin-Up and Double Tap Root Beer there is a small piece of paper with a colour that matches the colours of the dials in the lighthouse. There is also a number on each paper but only three have been found so far. It is unknown so far if these small pieces of paper have anything to do with the dials or whether it is a coincidence.

All Four Paper Pieces

From bottom to top Floors :: Purple Dial, Blue Dial, Orange Dial, Yellow Dial

The numbers for the dials, when finished, should read from botom to top as Purple Dial 6, Blue Dial 4, Orange Dial 7, Yellow Dial 2. Setting these dials will allow the green light to be shot from the submarine for getting the Stand-in/Ensemble Cast Achievements.

The dials seem a bit complex. Every level has one dial. It's apparent that when you turn the dial, the floor above and below the turned dial is affected, also turning once.

The security dials are also believed to be key parts to the Stand-in/Ensemble Cast Achievements.

Fog Horns
There are four fog horns near the base of the Light House near where the player can buy the AK74u. The first is located to the left of the door leading into the Light House's bottom floor, the second is located across from the door and near the edge of a small pool of water, the third is located just to the right of the slide exit (past the Speed Cola and Sickle) in a small cove and the final fog horn is located on the opposite side of the ice wall facing the slide exit. To use, press the action button (reload). The Fog Horns are meant to be used in the correct order, which varies per game what the correct order may be, according to the sounds the submarine makes when it first rises out of the water.

Unique Features

 * 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 until 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 flings 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.
 * On each floor of the lighthouse a color coded dial can be found on the wall. There are four dials in all. Each dial has a different color on it. The first floor is purple, the second floor is blue, the third floor is orange and the fourth floor is yellow. (Next to the original survivors is a color coded map that follows these same layouts). The dials can be rotated to display numbers 0-9 by pressing the action button. When turned, the floors above and/or below the turned dial will also spin one to the right as well. It is unknown if the top floor or the bottom floor is considered the first number in the combination.
 * 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. To the right of the navigation wheel are three pull levers, the two on the outside can be changed by pressing the action button, however the middle lever cannot be changed.
 * The weather occasionally changes from snowing hard to a light flurry. Whenever the weather changes, the player will make a comment on it.
 * A large lightning cluster will happen when the Pack-A-Punch Machine is leaving or entering a location.
 * You can have seven perks at a time on this map.

New Perk
Deadshot Daiquiri is a perk featured in Call of the Dead exclusively, so far. The perk's icon consists of a dark gray background color with the foreground being a head in front of a set of cross-hairs. The perk works in three different ways: it makes the crosshairs smaller identically as Steady Aim, making sniper rifles have no idle sway and it works as improved aim assist; when the player would aim down the sights while looking near the zombie, it would lock to the head of the zombie, instead of chest. It is unknown if the aim assist feature will exist on the PC, as it does not have the aim assist.

Trivia

 * There is a picture of the crashed boat and light house in Der Riese.
 * When Michael Rooker is taking out Zombies with his Double Barreled shotguns, he shoots all four shots and fires an impossible fifth into the camera.
 * On the loading screen, the "Poster" has two tears in the Upper left and right corners. The Left is an image of the scientist from the loading screen for Ascension while the right is an image of what looks to be a fern. The image appears to show some sort of temple in a jungle like area or, possibly, the "Paradise" the original four character are transported to once the player(s) complete the Stand-in/Ensemble Cast achievement(s).
 * In the intro Michael Rooker shoots the zombie actors. But later he shoots the true zombies with the same shotguns. Where he got the live shells from is unclear.
 * The same applies for Robert Englund using a pitchfork on the actors, but it is still effective on real Zombies.

Videos
Video:Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation - Call of the Dead|Call of the Dead 60'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 Video:Call of the Dead 7 Perks at Once|7 Perks on Call of the dead

Xbox 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 in front of him, there is a possibility that he can get stuck on the Zipline and then disappear from the game until the next game.
 * When you drop down from the ledge to the lake near the spawn, if George is following you he can sometimes get stuck under the ledge. He cannot be hit by any weapon and will remain there for the rest of the game.