Call of the Dead

Okay; here is my first notes on latest Zombies map: Call of the Dead.
*This thing took a while to download, and I had to make some space on my PS3-fat (the original model I think, not the newer, slim one).

I just had a go on CotD in solo mode. All I had read about it was that the heroes and heroine from horror flicks feature as the cast, and that the four guys from KDT are somehow trapped and need to be freed. There is some kind of fuse wire to find in order to start the power...

And that George Romero is some kind of boss; the director of the original zombies in shopping malls film.

Having had a first go - about 30 mins - I had to look up this George boss - see here for future reference http://callofduty.wikia.com/wiki/George_A._Romero
Some notes on handling George: he is calm until you hit at him - straight or collaterally - in which case he chases at you and a few hits of his electric-thing will take you down.
He is walks more slowly while wading in water.


Anyhow, I did notice that the Quick Revive drink machine is a little past the frigid water. You can reach it by wading into the water. This seems  to slow George down, and - like homage to the PS2 Prince of Persia titles - the water has a calming effect, on George in this instance.
Actually the frigid water also causes injured zombies to freeze up like a popsicle, just like two shots of the Winter's Howl gun from the zombie map Five.
It also causes your HUD to frost up from the sides, so I am guessing that it weakens the players in it, as well as slowing movement.

The map itself is big, and seems to have a few circles to it, and it looks a bit confusing; so this is going to take some time to work out. The frigid water features in different parts of the circuits, so I think that the intention is for you to run away from George and rely on the water to calm him. The doors and debris seem to be all either 750 points or 1000 points, so I have no clue as to how to find the fuse wire or the Mystery Box.

Also, I didn't immediately find either an active Mystery Box, or the fuse wire and power switch. Anyhow, there are map components to be activated by the trap, including a flying fox / zipline, and a daiquiri drink machine. hmmmm wonder what perk that gives you.

Getting started seems to follow the usual formula. The zombies spawn from the ground and a few walls and windows in the first area.Round 1 - just slash all the zombies and save your M1911 bullets until round 2 or 3, then line up multiple zombies to get 20-30 points per bullet - it seems that the Max Ammo doesn't drop that readily; we may want to see if the original glitch still works.

For the first few rounds, I found some success (100 kills and died at round 7 after 2 revives) by doing this:
a. running in partial circles around the 'iceberg tip' to your right from when you start; basically going from 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock, then back again.
b. the first zombies break through the ground after George has enough time to walk up to you, so run 10 o'clock to 2 o'clock a few times; be sure that George is basically wading and wading through the frigid water.
c. buy the M14.  I recommend getting the M14 since you can get more points using it than the Olympia, and the tight spaces and slow reload make the Olympia less useful. M14 is one shot per round to kill a zombie, so in round 3 use two shots then slash for maximum points.
d. buy as many doors as you can.

I'm still working this thing out, but I managed to accumulate 11000 points in 6 or so rounds buying just one 'door' = the debris on the 'right' of the start, then managed to open up a lot more doors, found a slide that took me to a high ledge that I couldn't reach from the bottom.

Also, I managed to get George very angry and, literally, in flames by using the Mustang&Sally each time I fell down, and a combination of death machine+Insta-kill (picked them up at the same time!); this didn't actually kill him though, but I'm guessing it got him part-way to 'solved'.

:-)

How to annoy noobs

Sometimes, when I don't have a lot of time to game in KDT, I don't mind joining a lobby full of noobs.

Some noobs can be annoying, especially when they do all the things that shorten their game, and expect l33t players like us to make up for their slack, and their flawed tactics.

Actually, it is kinda funny to game with noobs, because they are either in awe of gaming with someone who has reached Round 30+, or they get annoyed at how cool they are not and being reminded of it when you:

1. are getting more points per kill than them;
2. are getting more kills than them;
3. repeatedly keep reviving them, rather than them reviving you;
4. get revived as a priority, even though someone else is closer to the brink;
5. flick the power switch ASAP, instead of waiting to Round 8 like some older internet tips suggest;
6. get these really cool 'pistols that shoot grenades';
7. have 5-digit (10,000+) points and repeatedly buy things from the Mystery Box, especially while they looking for windows to fix just to get the points for one more go at the Mystery Box;
8. kill the zombie that they are shooting by slashing it with your Bowie Knife, then the smarter noobs wonder why their knife is not as good;
9. play a game of chicken for buying the next door;
10. are not spamming grenades from the projector room like everyone else;
11. not bothering to always try to make a crawler every single time...;
12. when everyone is at the teleporter, you start the teleporter rather than wait for more zombies to crowd around so that you 'kill more zombies with the teleporter';
13. have spare ammo while they are waiting for a Max Ammo for their upgraded guns;
14. open two Mystery Boxes during the Fire Sale;
15. don't buy traps when they ask you to;
16. do buy traps after they suggest it, but not hang around to help (read DIE) for when the zombies close in on that trap's position;
17. put a big stack of claymores in one spot; [sometimes they think there is something significant about this, other than to bank some claymores in Round 10 for use in Round 20+];
18. are close to them and obviously trying to revive them when you finish killing all the zombies around them, but because there are so many, you may never get a chance to help them and it is obviously not your fault...   because there are so many zombies around, and it is not like you could probably lead the zombies away on a circuit and then sprinted to revive the noob just in time;
19. survive to be the last man alive;