Mob of the Dead
There's a conspiracy theory/angry rant on Call of Duty forums that Treyarch put a rubbish Zombies map on the vanilla disc, and made everyone pay for the good ones. Of course, that's not true... but it does describe the quality of Black Ops 2's Zombie maps fairly well. TranZit was a great idea on paper but failed because it wasn't actually a big map - it was a small map that pretended to be big because it had enormous foggy areas populated by flying Gollum clones, and Die Rise was a satisfying return to form, with an utterly bonkers map design, and jumping Gollum clones (note the astounding difference!) that gave you free perks if you knifed them. So, how does the latest offering, Mob of the Dead fare? Mob of the Dead leaves the Black Ops 2 Zombies quartet and travels back to Alcatraz Island, circa 1933. It was in the second map pack where a 'celebrity' Zombies map was introduced, Call of the Dead, and Mob of the Dead follows in the footsteps of its similarly named brother by including an all-star cast of mobster actors Ray Liotta, Joe Pantoliano, Chazz Palmentari and Michael Madsen, playing a quartet of Alcatraz inmates who've broken out of jail only to find that their prison has been invaded by the living dead. Mob introduces a core new game mechanic to replace mainstay perk Quick Revive - Afterlife Mode. Think Die Rise perk Who's Who coupled with the ability to shoot lightning bolts, and that just about describes Afterlife. You're given a new Afterlife every few rounds (you can have three max), and it's a state you enter when you either go down... or down yourself at power stations located throughout the map. Yep, Mob of the Dead also does away with the usual power switch by forcing you to activate each power-activated door/perk in Afterlife mode. It's a clever little game mechanic and genuinely changes the tactics of the game. I'm certainly not missing Quick Revive - frying zombies (it's worth nothing that the frying only teleports the zombies about ten feet) then reviving yourself is far more fun. It's a great looking map - and with plenty to explore, new recipes for crafting (one of which includes a plane. Yes, a plane, and yes, you can fly it, and yes, you then crash into the Golden Gate Bridge), and the best selection of weapons in Black Ops 2 to date - the mighty Death Machine returns to the mystery box, alongside the Blundergat, a shotgun/Gatling gun hybrid that can be upgraded to shoot explosive acid at zombies, Mob of the Dead is probably the most complete Zombies map to date - and while there's a million bells and whistles that have been added, the sheer fun of shooting the undead is completely intact. Oh - and it's probably worth mentioning that the usual Easter Egg is absolutely bonkers - I won't spoil it for you, but it does something extremely major that no Zombies map has ever done before.
Overall
Uprising is a great addition to Black Ops 2 - the multiplayer maps are great fun, and the Zombies map is excellent, if a little on the tricky side. Just a little more polish and innovation, and it could have been essential. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Uprising DLC is available now on Xbox 360 for 1200 Microsoft Points, and will be available in about four weeks on PC & PS3.