Call of Duty WaW — Shi No Numa

They keep doing it, I don't know how

So Treyarch gives us Map Pack 2 with a third game type of Zombie Mode. Once again different, and once again a success.

What is remarkable to me is the different style of play in each of the three Zombie modes. Nacht de Untoten was a bonus throw in. Still a full game mode and still a blast to play but a very simple survive the zombies style of gameplay. Four rooms, no perks, and the Mystery box stuck around forever. Verrückt added a larger game map, the separate location start with the players split into two groups, electric fences, perks, and a moving Mystery Box (damn you Treyarch). Distinctly different from Nacht de Untoten mode.

And now Shi No Numa. Another totally different Zombie killing experience. The map is huge. Huge, a central hub with four spoke areas. Still perks, but they are at the end of each spoke so you have to travel and they randomize as you get there the first time. Still electric fences but in a much more usable placement. A flogger trap (you have to see it). Personality and achievements. Yes, achievements. And so far we (Coxxorz and I) earned 120g. Oh, and flaming hell hounds.

Weapon of Minor Destruction – 20g

We started with just the two of us so we could explore. And it sort of worked. Coxxorz earned the Minor Destruction achievement when he used the "Ka-Boom" to wipe out one Zombie. Yes, only one. That's the trick. And it is a trick. Took us another hour before we managed to arrange for me to earn the same achievement. It requires very frenzied counting. "It's here, how many zombies do you have?" "Two, should I kill them," "yes, I have one still," "not yet I have another one," kill him, it's starting to disappear," "you sure you have one?" "yes! kill yours!" And then it got exciting.

We discovered the weapon locations, the zip line ($1500 but we still went joyriding), the possible mystery box locations, and where to run from place to place (swamp paths vs above ground paths). The possible mystery box locations are well marked with ammo crates and a teddy bear.

Perk-a-Holic – 20g

Buy them, you will need them. Particularly Juggernaut as Coxxorz discovered the hard way, multiple times. When you open a door to one of the spoke buildings (Storage, Comm Room, Doctor's Quarter's, Fishing Hut) the perk vending machine appears and cycles between the remaining perk machines, similar to the weapons in the mystery box. Once its there, its there for the rest of the round but initially you don't know which one you are ending up with.

The zombies hurt. They seem to do much more damage in the new mode. Much more. In the later levels Coxxorz went down and lost his perks. Each time we revived him he almost went down again immediately. No juggernaut made him the perfect Zombie victim. They hit him and he was down. Fortunately we holed up in the building that had juggernaut so all he had to do was grab a quick drink. Getting him to the vending machine was not as easy as you would think.

Soul Survivor – 50g

We had one great game. We joined up with another party of two. Also in their own party chat so we played as two separate incommunicado units. This system improved as the game went on. We reached past the 15th level (I don't remember our final level number) and reached level 15 without getting revived (50g). We visited all four buildings, learned more about how the swamp slowed us down, how zombies appeared from the water and from nowhere out of the tall grass. And worse, learned about the cooperation required to survive the flaming hell hound attacks. Let me repeat that with the appropriate emphasis: FLAMING HELL HOUND ATTACKS!!!!!!!!. Every 5 waves (or so) the zombies would hold back and flaming hell hounds would teleport in with bursts of electricity and then charge your characters. They went down relatively easily but they come fast and in numbers so if you take too long killing the first hound you are then being attacked by two. Or three. Back into a corner, stay together (all four of you), go for a crossfire and use better weapons. Shotgun or machine gun. A wave of FLAMING HELL HOUND ATTACKS!!!!!!!! ended our game as they caught us on the move from one location to another. It was bad. Very bad.

Fertilizer Man – 30g

Personality. For the first time you play as specific characters, (Tank Dempsey (USA), Nikolai Belinski (RUS), Takeo Masaki (JAP), Doctor Richtofen (GER)), each from a different country each with their own dialog (the Zombies are also from multiple nationalities). They talk, a lot, and you hear your character and the others around you. "Hey you dropped something," "I'm quick, I'm deadly... ...and I'm drunk," "beautiful (as a zombie head pops off)." This may get old after a while but initially it was entertaining and unique for this mode.

Coxxorz identified with Doctor Richtofen. If you read his bio it seems obvious why:

To Richtofen, their [Nazi] values were too moral, too liberal for his liking. He joined the army so he could satisfy his need to watch people die, slowly.

As I said, personality.

Achievement unlocked

What can I say. It's a new Zombie Mode and it isn't just a clone of previous Zombie Modes. This will have to keep us happy until Call of Duty: Zombies is released. I am sure it's coming. Why wouldn't it? Treyarch keeps release Zombie Modes and we keep buying them. Map Pack #1 sold over two million copies and I expect Map Pack #2 to do just the same.