Call of Duty: World At War

Nazi Zombies Strategy Guide

Map: Verrückt

Number of Players: 2

Highest Level Achieved so far: 24

Done right the strategy will consistently take you to at least level 18 – 20 with only two players working together. It relies mostly on strategy, some skill, and some luck. I realize there are people out there who get to level 1000 or more by glitching or running the Zombies in circles. This strategy is not meant to break records its just a fun way for you and a couple friends to have some intense encounters and maybe progress a little further than the norm.

ALWAYS start on the American side; you’ll know it’s the American side because the chalk drawing of the M1 Garand will be in front of you. If the game starts you on the German side (Kar98 will be in front of you) just restart until the game gives you the other side.

DON’T BUY ANYTHING IN THE STARTING ROOM. Use your pistols. 4-5 shots into the oncoming Zombies followed by knifing them when they come close will net you the most points. Your goal is for one person to collect 1950 points and the other person to at least have 1200 points. The person with 1950 then opens the door to the next area, which I call the Thompson room for obvious reasons. Everyone buy a Thompson and start using it as soon as the door is open. Typically if playing with 2 people, this should happen no later than mid-way through round 3 and possibly by the end of round 2.

Hold the Thompson room. Stay in this room and rack up points. There are 2 windows facing the courtyard, a breakaway wall (around round 5 they start coming through here) and the doorway to the first area that you were in. Typically one guy covers windows and the other doorway and wall. Either way your goal is to accumulate points so let some Zombies in so they can drop things like 2x, max ammos, and insta kills. Only hit bombs at the end of rounds or if desperately needed. A nice feature is that the bomb always gives you 400 points as well. Move upstairs in the break between round 5 and 6 otherwise the running zombies will cause havoc in the downstairs.

BEFORE GOING UPSTAIRS CHECK YOUR THOMPSON AMMO IF IT’S LESS THAN 100 ROUNDS BUY SOME MORE

Once upstairs immediately progress through to the next room (determine door opening duties amongst partners so that you all have about the same amount of money). The room you are now holding is the one with the grenades on the wall and the unlit green (slight of hand) fast reload perk machine. You have two areas to watch, the window in the adjacent room and the hallway that leads to the main room with the stairs. Keep using the Thompson and grenades. Your goal is for you and your partner to accumulate around 6500 points. This should happen by the end of round 6 or 7. After which, the following sequence of events needs to occur:

Step 1. Acquire Points around 6500 (more is actually better but this will do)

Step 2. Leave a Zombie alive at end of round (should be 6 or 7), crawlers are preferable

Step 3. Someone opens door to kitchen area

Step 4. Someone opens door to power room (usually the other person however sometimes points are not distributed equally)

Step 5. Flip the power switch

Step 6. Grab Fast Reload/Slight of Hand Perk 3000 points (both players)

Step 7. Go back downstairs to Thompson room, back to starting room, through the now opened door to the German side.

Step 8. Grab Juggernaut Perk 2500 points (red machine with cross on it) Typically one person grabs this and the other opens the stairs. The one that opens the stairs will need to come back for it, usually in the lull between the next round.

Step 9. Open Stairs

Step 10. Kill Zombie that you have kept alive up until this point if you have not already done so

Step 11. Have the person with both Perks watching the long hallway that contains the Double Tap Perk and the person with the Slight of hand perk watching the window on the balcony.

Important thing to remember at this point is to keep an eye on ammo and funds. Once the Thompson runs out of ammo buy the MP-40 (1000 points) off the wall on the upstairs area (near Double Tap machine). The double barrel shotgun is also a good investment for the guy on windows as long as they have the quick reload perk. My friend and I have survived using just these 2 weapons up to round 20.

Hold these two positions until you are killed by an onslaught of the undead.

Some Tips for holding this area:

-       Make sure everyone gets the juggernaut perk as soon as possible

-       Grab MP-40, Double Tap perk, and Bouncing Betty’s as funds increase

-       Grab shotgun if needed

-       Around round 11 or 12 try to keep one Zombie alive at the window (constantly repairing the window so he doesn’t burst through) so that the other player can run back through the level to the power room to grab weapons from the mystery box. Hopefully by this point at least one player has a surplus of points. The following weapons are the most desired: Ray Gun, M1919 Browning Machine Gun, MG42 Machine Gun, and possibly the Ppsh and sawed off double barrel shotgun, but the first 3 are the main ones your aiming to get.

-       Also try to make the teddy bear appear. Why you ask? It refunds you the money and moves the box closer to your holding spot. The box will either move to the Thompson room in the dark corner, the juggernaut room, or to the left of the broken wall in your upstairs defense area (this is the closest most ideal place)

-       NEVER EVER OPEN THE OTHER DOOR IN THE POWER ROOM OR THE OTHER DOOR AT THE END OF THE DOUBLE TAP HALLWAY. Opening the other door in the power room isn’t the end of the world, but it will cause another random box location to occur and this one is even further than the electricity room. Opening the door at the end of Double Tap hallway is suicide because the Zombies will flank you

-       Past round 15 start using the electric fence traps located on the balcony. This gives you a rest and is a way to conserve ammo. Once triggered it lasts for one minute, it then must recharge before it can be retriggered (I believe 1 – 2 more minutes) it beeps when it can be retriggered.

-       On bouncing betty’s. Always place them behind you so that you can lead hordes of Zombies into them for maximum damage. Betty’s will not hurt you or other human players. Use them to create traps and fall back points. 

-       On Ray Guns. The Ray Gun is the most powerful weapon in the game especially in the realm of Nazi Zombies and it is almost a near necessity for one person on the team to have it, so that you can progress past round 20, as it’s the only weapon that still retains some semblance of stopping power at that level. However, it has a severe drawback: splash damage. If you shoot at a wall, window, or Zombie that is too close to you the splash back damage from the Ray Gun will kill you, causing you to go down and lose all of your perks. So be careful and try to shoot Zombies from a distance (shooting your partner with the Ray Gun has no effect).

If you have an iPod or a computer with iTunes (or another software that includes a means of downloading podcasts) I would highly suggest downloading and subscribing to some great video and radio podcasts that
deal directly with videogames.

Most of these podcasts are extremely informative and entertaining. Plus, they are a great way to pass the time while doing mundane office work or shopping in the supermarket. Some of the best and most reputable podcasts that deal directly with gaming are produced by IGN and 1up network. The 1up productions are especially good and they include: the 1up Show (a hilarious video podcast that also shows gaming videos), the 1UP Yours radio podcast, EGM live, and CGW Radio, they also produce a podcast in association with the Playstation magazine. The podcasts from IGN are also worth looking into.

Furthermore, as you are browsing through the podcasts in iTunes you may uncover other gaming podcasts that catch your fancy. Some are devoted to specific consoles and some are even game specific. Who knows, maybe one day soon the we here at the UBS team may get our own podcast up and running (not that we’re hinting it’s in the works or that beta testing is about to begin or anything like that). Until then look up some of these other shows. So if your looking for a new way to merge your iPod with gaming (besides playing parachute on it) or if you are just searching for some free entertainment and news, I implore you to take advantage of your resources and check out and subscribe some of these free podcasts.

On the last day of E3 LucasArts finally opened up their exclusive booth to the expo attendees, that did not have previous appointments, and after a short wait in line I was able to catch a glimpse of the new Indiana Jones title being developed for the Xbox 360.

The new Indiana Jones game (untitled as of yet) will be set in the 1930′s and will take place in San Francisco among other places around the world. Lucas himself is overseeing the story for the game. The crown jewel of the game though is its use of the euphoria behavioral-simulation engine, developed by NaturalMotion Ltd. Euphoria allows for interactive characters and unscripted events.

Enemies and characters will now work to protect, balance, and shield themselves depending on the situation. The environment in the game is also unscripted. In the playable demo, Indiana punched an enemy into a
wooden door and the planks broke individually and in different places. The game was then reloaded to show how the door broke differently the second time around. In another scene Indiana was riding on top of a
trolley car in one of the games several chase scenes. The LucasArts employee showed how the cars following him were not on tracks and that the AI was driving them in real time, swerving to avoid obstacles that
also presented themselves in real time. Bad guys atop the trolley would also try desperately not to get themselves thrown off and if they did happen to be tossed off by the illustrious Dr. Jones, they would either
tuck and roll to avoid injury, or they would grab on to the edges and rails of the trolley in a last ditch effort to survive and rejoin the fight.

The LucasArts team is able to incorporate all if these advances into their game because they are now working alongside both LucasFilm Ltd. and Industrial Light and Magic. Innovative technological advances that were developed in the film industry are now being put to use in this next-gen game. So, because of the collaborative efforts taking place, scenes and levels in the game that would take other developers months to render can now be done in just weeks or even days. Still, we will have to wait until the later half of 2007 before we can enjoy this new adventure. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed and I was happy to see that Nintendo isn’t the only company out there that is pushing the limits on gameplay and innovation.

During E3 I was fortunate enough to get my hands on the new Nintendo Wii in order to try out a game that just may be one of the system’s killer apps. Red Steel is a first person shooter set in modern day Tokyo; it is being developed by Ubisoft. The game makes excellent use of the system’s unique controller (affectionately referred to as the Wii-mote) for aiming, moving, and shooting.

The Wii-mote took a little getting used to, as it is extremely sensitive and responsive, but after a couple minutes it became very intuitive and natural to use. I was easily using the Wii-mote to aim and fire my gun onscreen. Also, at one point in the game I was able to use a Samurai sword to combat my enemies and again the controller performed flawlessly as the sword slashes on screen matched my hand and wrist movements.
The game itself played well and looked fantastic.

For being a Wii game, I was surprised with the amount of detail that went into the lighting, shading, explosions, and environment. Visually it looked about as good as Perfect Dark Zero for the Xbox 360. The Wii is certainly not as lacking in the graphical department as reports would lead you to believe, plus it looked fine on the HDTV that I was playing on. Overall, I was thoroughly impressed with both the game and the Wii in general and I had to keep reminding myself that what I was playing is only a demo of a game that is still months away from release. In closing, Nintendo is proving that they are still very much a force to be reckoned with and all I can say is that I can’t wait to buy my own Nintendo Wii so I can immerse myself in games like Red Steel.

r those of us still without an Xbox 360, Call of Duty 2: Big Red One provides some consolation for not being able to play Call of Duty 2 on the 360. Activision’s World War II shooter doesn’t stray far from earlier installments in terms of looks and game play but it does provide a more compelling story line. The game delivers exceptional visuals for an Xbox title and provides an entertaining experience of playing through a blockbuster Hollywood war movie and yes Mark Hamill is included.

In Big Red One you are thrust into action as part of a squad in the Army’s First Infantry division. The missions are fairly historically accurate and you follow the Big Red One’s campaign throughout the war from Africa to Italy and on into Germany. As with other Call of Duty games it changes up the missions adding tanks, half tracks, and airplanes for you to control, so you aren’t always the guy on the ground running everywhere. One mission in particular has your character controlling several stations within a B-24 bomber. The constant change of scenery was also a plus as the campaign takes you from the deserts of Africa to the snowy hillsides of France and Germany. A unique thing in Big Red One is the character development that takes place within your squad. Much like a movie there is the wise-guy New Yorker and the humble Sarge from a rural background, this all helps to deepen the playing experience by giving names and faces to your
teammates as opposed to them just being nameless and faceless bots.

The graphical presentation of this game is pretty outstanding. Coming at the end of the first Xbox’s lifetime it has the advantage of utilizing techniques already pioneered in order to push the system to its limits. The missions give a full sense of being in a war with all of the explosions, bullets, bodies, and Nazis to prove it. The action on screen is impressive as things explode and planes fly overhead. Even simple movements such as reloading and characters talking are executed well.

Call of Duty games are famous for immersing your senses into the feeling of being in a warfare environment and Big Red One does not disappoint. The sounds that the game produces are top notch. It is almost sensory overload as you try to listen to orders being shouted, explosions going off, people yelling and screaming, all on top of the sound of your own gun shooting. The music throughout the game and in the menu page also provides an accurate feeling of World War II-ness.

Game play is fairly fluid as the game easily directs you where to go (no choices here remember its like a
movie). However, it still is fun regardless. On the easier difficulties you can get by going in guns blazing, but on the harder difficulties you will need to utilize the crouch and cover techniques. Controls will take a slight bit of getting used to for those of us coming off Halo 2, however after a level or two of playing the controls become fairly intuitive.

After playing through an engaging single player, the multiplayer on Big Red One is kind of disappointing. First off there is no split screen multiplayer, just online and system link. The online multiplayer can be fun once a game is set up and people are actually joining but that is where problems arise. You will have to sort through many lists of games that seem hopeful in order to come upon one that is actually playable as there are problems with refreshing and availability. For those of us who have been spoiled with Halo 2’s ingenious system of organizing matches, this game will feel like a step back. The actual gameplay in multiplayer is
very straightforward there is deathmatch, team deathmatch, capture the flag, and domination game types. One cool feature is that you gain rank during the game in multiplayer. In each multiplayer game players have the opportunity to advance from private to sergeant depending on kills and accomplishments. The ranking system opens up features that allow players to carry more weapons and ammo and it also serves to show who the better players are. Unfortunately the ranks do not carry over from game to game; still I found this system very clever and intriguing.

Ever wanted to know more about the gun you were shooting? How about that tank you drove in mission 3? Well the extra content included in Call of Duty: Big Red One will tell you all about the weapons of war that were featured in the game. Granted this information is unlocked as you play through the game. I was glad to see this information available as it helps to teach people the history behind what they are playing. Players can also re-watch the historical clips that the game showed while loading between missions (Mark Hamill provides the voice of the narrator).

Overall the game was fun and enjoyable to play through. My only gripe was with the shoddy multiplayer. The
developers could have taken more time to expand upon it thus making this a truly great game. The in-game rank advancement was a nice novelty but it too could have been expanded and strengthened. It felt like the multiplayer was rushed or added in at the end; however I would rather have it over no multiplayer at all. Also, what happened to split screen? That was another of my major problems with the game.

Scoring

Graphics:                      5

Sound:                          5

Gameplay:                    4

Multiplayer:                  3

Extras:                          4

Dev. Perspective:          3

Overall:            4