Call of Duty Zombies Bracket Round 3!

[RadZakpak]

Hey everyone, this is Round 3 of the Call of Duty Zombies Map Tournament! For more info on the results of round 2, click here: 

 

So, time to vote on who proceeds through round 3! Just reply in this format:

1. [Your Pick]

2. [Your Pick]

3. [Your Pick]

...

15. [Your Pick]

 

On Friday April 19th at 11:59 AM CST, votes will not longer be accepted.

For those that can't view the image, here are the options: 

 

1. Shi No Numa vs Nuketown

2. Buried vs Moon

3. Kino der Toten vs Ascension

4. Der Riese vs Origins

 

The titans face off in round 3... who will see it through to the end?

[RadZakpak]

My picks: 

 

1. Shi No Numa: To be honest, I am surprised these two made it this far! But I have a special place in my heart for Shi No, so it gets my pick. Atmospheric as heck, and introduced four major components of the story and the game: Ultimis, 115, Wonder Weapons, and the Hellhound round.

2. Moon: An easy pick for me, Moon is unbeatable in my eyes. Great easter egg. Great lore. Great wonder weapon. Great layout. Great... everything. The Zombies Chronicles aesthetic? Mastah-piece!

3. Ascension: To be honest, I've thought about this matchup a lot before. My go to map of Black Ops was always Moon, but barring that, the two most popular picks among friends were Kino and Ascension. But which did I enjoy more? Honestly, Ascension. This map has the gall to add two new perks, and they are both extreme heavy hitters. Space monkeys? Perfectly fits the setting and the campy shark-jumpy tone of the Black Ops era. Gersch Device? Best equipment in the series. Just a very dynamic map and with a TON of good strategies to mix up your game. It could be argued it is too easy, but I think that accessibility is what made this one of the best maps for public matches and teaching friends to play zombies. It's where I started to get good at the game and got to my first high rounds.

4. Der Riese: This is a tough tough matchup. These two maps are the representatives of two different eras  of zombies. Der Riese: classic, scientific, mysterious, creepy. Origins: grand, epic in scale, ethereal, badass. It is a testimony to his talents that Jason Blundell was involved with both of these maps, and I can admire the major risks taken with them. They each had to keep the community satiated for at least a year past release before the next game in the franchise. Der Riese edges out because to me it was much more of a risk and much more of a triumph. The community was a fraction of the size it is now, but they were so passionate about the mode and this map that it has come back in every game since. Jason has discussed before the risk of the addition of teleporters. I think back then the idea of a teleporter in this very serious mode and game might have seemed pretty ludicrous. But it... just works. We take teleporters for granted now, but Treyarch's zombies team taking this risk is what has led to the many risk-taking maps to come after it, and Jason has said time and time again that he likes the idea that there are certain maps people like and dislike. He likes that not everyone loves the same five maps and that they don't just stick to a formula for every map. After Nacht der Untoten, Treyarch could have just stuck to what worked: a couple of rooms and some weapons. But they kept pushing the envelope with what they had. Again and again and again. Leaving us with this mastercraft of a map.

[Lenne]

Hellöööööööööööö

 

1. Nuketown I just really, really enjoyed this map for all it had to offer of course it could be annoying when Jug wasn't among the first things to drop, but that was part of the appeal, for me at least. Other than that it was basically a Der Riese clone without a wonder weapon, which I liked as well, cause it meant that no weapon could steal the spotlight from two of my best friends: Mustang & Sally.

2. Moon NML> ( I know, I know, next round I will explane it properly, why I pick Moon, but come on, you can't deny No man's Land. )

3. Kino der Toten I love both of these maps, but I'd say that Kino beats it just cause of how much better the map looks and feels. Now if we were to pick among the BO3 versions, then I'd say Ascension, just cause the zombies AI are a bit dumb on Kino.

 

4. Der Riese Look, if I just took into concideration what my heart tells me, I'd go with Origins, cause I will never forget the cool sessions I had with EJ and then of course grinding the map on my own, but Der Riese is so much easier to get into solo, with a friend and of course with randoms and that is what it comes down to. Fun in every way and not just under somewhat specific circumstances.

[jiipee95]

1. Shi No Numa - I just like the map better overall, the layout is more interesting, the random perks are made a lot better and you have some control over them with when you decide to open doors. Easy win.

 

2. Moon - it is still one of my favorites and THE EPIC map for me. Buried has always been kinda meh, but it does have interesting features. Just think it could have been done better.

 

3. Kino der Toten - Both easy maps, personally nostalgia points give this to Kino. I also find the space monkeys annoying, as defending perks get pretty tough once you have 3-4 in solo. Better map in multiplayer for sure. But I also think the whole zombies mode is better played with many people rather than solo.

 

4. Der Riese - The classic map wins this for me. A lot more enjoyable to play, but Origins is of course pretty epic and at the time of it's release a completely new experience. But Der Riese is just fun to play everytime, Origins I can't be bothered with all the time.

[anonymous]

1. Shi no Numa: Both SNN and Nuketown have a really unique atmosphere, not appearing in any other map, so concerning that they are equal. Story-wise, Shi no Numa gave us much more (the mystery of Nuketown gave that map it's charms, though), and also gameplay-wise, I am more fund on Shi no Numa. That map even started the very first zombie strategy: Training!

 

2. Moon: This map has everything that makes a map great: The story, the newly introduced game elements, Moon gravity, NML, fun character quotes, a great and logical Easter Egg, the list goes on. 

 

3. Ascension: I like playing this map more than Kino, and in terms of revolutionairy, it is just as important as Verruckt and Origins.

 

4. Origins: Actually, I can get enough of Der Riese. At least, faster than I can get enough of Origins. Concerning the story, however, Der Riese is the big winner, but hey, Origins started a whole new chapter as well.

 

Its a shame Tranzit is gone...

And @RadZakpak, your hate towards Die Rise is undeserved :p

 

[Schrödinger]

1. Nuketown

2. Moon

3. Kino Der Toten

4. Der Riese

[Electric Jesus]

1. Nuketown. Random perks on ‘Roids. 

2. Moon. This was a tough one, but come on. 

3. Oof. This is one of the hardest possible match-ups for me but I gotta go with Kino. It’s really, honestly like the perfect “baseline” map. Intuitive round-robin map layout, all the standard features, box, teleporter and PaP. If you wanna introduce a friend to zombies, and you’re trying to pick a first map to play, Kino is probably your best bet. You spend the greatest percentage of time on that map actually fighting for your life non-stop, as opposed to more in-depth scavenger hunt type stuff which is less noob-friendly. Having a special zombie come mixed in with the regular zombies, as opposed to having their own designated round, was also fun and a good precedent. Also I seem to remember the zombies on Ascension having crazy barrel-rolls and side step maneuvers. 

4. Another tough one, but gotta go with Origins personally. I regard it in the same category as Mob and Shadows in terms of being a movie-esque masterpiece. Of those 3, origins is definitely the most noob-friendly and epic in scale. (Did I mention the giant robots?) Der Riese is, like I said, the “Stairway to Heaven” of Zombies maps. Origins is the “Rap God.” 

 

See, on every map, you eventually reach your “plateau” of progress, where you settle on your final setup for the game. You reach that plateau at a different rate depending on what round you’re on. Play your cards right on Buried and you’re fully perked and packed with a paralyzer on round 2, ready for the long grind. Alternately, on Shadows of Evil, reaching the plateau of having all wonderweapons / swords, you’re already like 75% done the easter egg. Origins has a really great balance in this regard, because the 6 power generators kinda carry you through the map’s progression on the crest of a wave, with tons of divergent paths to get to that plateau, because at the end of the day, there’s just so much to do on origins. It’s the map that takes the absolute longest for you to run out of shit to do other than just slaying through the rounds. 

[ZombiesAteMyPizza!]

1. Shi No Numa - Nuketown was just really nothingy and the perk dropping system sucked. Here's to hoping we do get a really good remake, but for now, nah.

 

2. Moon, hands down, beats anything for me. Best EE of all time and it's IMO the perfect zombies map.

 

3. Ascension, just. Just has a few more fun features going for it than Kino and the atmosphere is a bit more exciting.

 

4. Der Riese. One of my favourite maps, it's a tad dated these days but in its day it was considered the perfect zombies map by many, and it's still better than Origins which I hate.

[RadZakpak]

It's getting closer to the end now. Let's see where the maps stand!

 

1. Shi No Numa (4) vs Nuketown (3): Edge goes to Shi No Numa, the World at War classic!

2. Buried (0) vs  Moon (7): Moon takes it in a landslide victory!

3. Kino der Toten (4) vs Ascension (3): The launch map for Black Ops, Kino der Toten, triumphs again.

4. Der Riese (5) vs Origins (2): Despite Origins' massive scale and replayability, Der Riese simply changed the game.

 

I will post the next round shortly!