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Hey! Welcome back to Zombies Retrospective! Today we’re going to be doing a shorter episode looking at Nuketown Zombies and map complexity. If you’re new around here please consider subscribing and help us reach 3 million subs, now let's get into it! One of the biggest complaints seen among casual players throughout the expansion of zombies was the growing complexity of maps. While Black Ops 1 is most noted for seeing this through an increase in map size, after this the zombies series experienced a filling out phase where the content rose to match the size of the maps. The first time we see this is on Tranzit, which we’ll be covering next week, but it would go on to be a staple feature of Black Ops 2, with maps like Mob of the Dead and Origins often being both praised and criticized or their high complexity. But unlike Black Ops 3, BO2 did in fact make simple maps to appeal to the casual player. Bus Depot, Farm, and Town were cut down, world at war sized zombies maps which allowed casuals to hop straight into a match and just play classic zombies survival. Town especially was a straightforward hot classic amongst many. But Treyarch also released a seemingly evil counterpart to that simple and easy map: NukeTown Zombies. And while this is one of the most detested zombie maps of all time, for understandable reasons, I actually aim to make a case for this map today.
So today we don’t need to talk about innovation or really a whole lot of explaining at all. Nuketown Zombies is a tiny map, weighing in at around 2 and a half Nacht der Untotens, with the same amount of features as Kino and Der Riese. On paper it’s a plain and simple survival map. But that doesn’t mean it’s boring. It’s quite easily the most condensed, and potent dose of chaos you’ll ever get from a zombies map. A lot of people dislike Nuketown Zombies because of this, but it’s also what makes it unique. There is no order to this map, and nothing is guaranteed. For the first time in zombies, there is not a single boarded window to exist on the map. Spawns are numerous with every single nook and corner seemingly having one. Perks are not set, but rather fall from the sky every 3-6 rounds in a random order and some players will not get jugg until round 22. Oh and I did I mention it’s one of the tightest maps to train on of all time?
So, that’s Nuketown, simple, but not easy. A huge portion of the zombies community dislike Nuketown because of the perk drop system, and it’s overall difficulty. It also doesn’t have a lot of content, and many find there isn’t much replay value. It’s a map that is overlooked and often entirely forgot about, stuck in the shadow of tranzit and town. And yet despite this, there actually is a group of people who like Nuketown Zombies. And these people aren’t crazy, there is some real value in this map, and hopefully I can shine a light on it.
As a standalone map, Nuketown is quite forgettable, and its only when you add it to the entire Black Ops 2 lineup, where it not only begins to shine, but also brings up the overall quality of Black Ops 2 zombies. This is because Nuketown adds range - depth. I’ve often said that BO2 zombies is the best overall game, because it provides players with the most unique number of experiences. So let’s look at BO3 to contrast this. Gorod Krovi, Der Eisendrache, Shadows of Evil and Zetsubou no Shima all exist on the same frequency. They’re storyline based maps, with deep levels of complexity and relatively similar difficulties. While visually and thematically VERY different, they all play similarly. They have an underlying similar energy to them, and you’ve played a lot of Black Ops 3, you know what I mean. You can just play any one of them, and you’ll get an idea of what EVERY BO3 zombies maps is like. I would make a similar case for Black Ops 1 DLC, but BO1 does have some range especially when you contrast the DLCs to five and kino. Black Ops 2 zombies, however, does this the best, and we’ll be exploring this idea a lot throughout Black Ops 2 zombies. No two BO2 maps are the same, and Nuketown is part of this. Nuketown Zombies is unique. And there is nothing in the entire zombies catalogue that can come remotely close to providing you with such an experience.
So how does this map actually play? Well it should come without saying that this map isn’t for the Timmy’s out there. With no jugg, a power wonder weapon, and tight trains, you gotta put the big boy pants on for this guy. Nuketown Zombies is a ruthless map and even small distractions will result in a down. I would describe single player nuketown zombies as Ordered Evil.