Summary
Treyarch struck a careful balance between the modern technology and weapons featured inCall of Duty 4: Modern Warfareand ahistorical setting for its story, likeCall of Duty: World at War, when working onCall of Duty: Black Ops. This was the title that also introduced bigger, better, and more complex maps for the iconic Zombies survival mode. Overall, it was a fantastic shooter.
A lot of concepts and ideas went into creating this title, though some of them ended up on Treyarch’scutting room floor. This included a lot of content for the Zombies mode, along with scrapped levels that never got finished for multiplayer, and so many more inclusions that most players may not have even known were being considered for the game.
7Zombies Maps
Three Scrapped Levels And A Trip To Paris
Zombies mode inCall of Duty: Black Opshad some absolute gems. One of them was the fan-favorite level set in a German theater, ‘Kino Der Toten.’ This was actually carried over from the fifth game’s canceled Map Pack 4. Another map was code-named ‘Temple of Doom’ in the files, which was repurposed into ‘Shangri-La’ for theBlack Ops:EscalationDLC. A Raven Software developer also uploaded concept art for a Vietnam-themed stage nicknamed ‘Viet Cong.’
That’s not all, though. There were hints inCall of Duty: World at War’s ‘Der Riese’ map,with photos of the undead in front of the Eiffel Tower. Indeed, there was a level that wouldtake place in Paris, before it was redesigned to become the final survival map for the game: ‘Moon.’ This ended up being part of theRezurrectionDLC.
6Multiplayer Maps
Fourteen Maps Never Made The Cut
There is a significant number of maps for the game’s multiplayer mode that can beplayed with other playersor against bots. Quite a lot of them never actually made it to the base game or any of the respective map packs, but pieces of information about them do very much exist in the game’s code and are also strewn around the internet.
Some of them have self-explanatory names, like ‘Shipyard,’ ‘Snow Mine,’ and ‘War Museum.’ ‘Landing’ was to take place around a landing strip, while there were two underwater facilities that were planned as well. ‘Airbase’ is perhaps the only “playable” map, though it is missing significant amounts of textures. Still, it’s interesting to think about what could’ve become of all of these if they were ever finished and released.
5Zombie Variants
Raven Software reportedly pitched different enemy concepts for the aforementioned Vietnam map to Treyarch, yet they were never used. All that exists is the concept art and descriptions. For example, the Smoke Screen Zombie would spew Agent Orange-like fog around survivors if they got too close, all the while indirectly heading to other players to mask his undead brethren.
There was also a Thuat Zombie (also dubbed ‘Martial Arts Zombie’) who would use his speed, strength, and agilityto punish playersand dodge their gunfire, encouraging the use of explosives or backing into a corner and attacking. The final known concept is the Zombie Oxen, which may have been a hazard to avoid.
4Wonder Weapons
Chainsaws And Shrink Ray Variants
The 31-79 JGb215- informally known as the ‘Shrink Ray’ - was introduced in the ‘Shangri-La’ map as part of the Annihilation map pack forCall of Duty: Black Ops. This Wonder Weapon shrinks down zombies to the size of an action figure, rendering them easy to be rammed and instantly killed. According to the concept art, there were ideas like the weapon being powered by a village bell, being shaped like a dragon, having makeshift bayonets to recharge it, slowly recharging on its own, and so on.
On top of that, there seems to be a chainsaw called the ‘Sabertooth’ in the game’s files. It lacks textures, though it allegedly would’ve been called the ‘Sabertooth 360’ when Pack-A-Punched. As cool as it would’ve been to saw through rotting flesh like timber, perhaps it would’ve been too overpowered.
3Perk-A-Colas
Perks That Were Not To Be
Perk-A-Colasare what help players survive against the increasingly difficult waves of the undead in Zombies mode. Quite a few of them were planned to be added. ‘BoomJuice’ was going to be on the ‘Ascension’ map, but it was replaced with the explosive PhD Flopper. Meanwhile, how ‘DTPBoom’ and ‘DamageAde’ were supposed to work is anyone’s guess.
‘Candolier,’ no doubt, would’ve offered extra ammo reserves like the Bandolier perk, while fans assume that ‘Boom Juice’ and ‘Pronaide’ might’ve had some kind of bonus effect when combined (lines for Richtofen allege that the latter had something to do with diving and laying down much quicker, maybe offering an effect similar to PhD Flopper). Other voice lines mention a ‘Tufbrew’ perk, yet its function is up for debate.
2Campaign Co-Op
Teamwork Sounds Like Too Much Effort
Call of Duty: World at Warwas unique in the series for having a co-op mode that fans could play online competitively for scores or just cooperatively. It even had mutators to shake up the gameplay a bit. It seems that Treyarch was eager to implement exactly that for their next big hit so that players could work together to take onthe villains of the game.
This would, of course, never happen. The campaign forCall of Duty: Black Opswas worked on to be solely available for single-player, while multiplayer and Zombies were available for offline and online play. In the game’s coding, however, there are stillreferences to co-opexisting. One can only speculate how it would’ve functioned with two people running around and progressing through the story.
1Scrapped Kill-Streaks And Weaponry
Airstrike The Zombies
It seems that Treyarch had additional ideas for kill streaks. This included drops for MP40s (voice lines indicating this are left in the game’s files) and an Ammo Station. What’s humorous is that fans considered the MP40 inCall of Duty: World at Warto be overpowered due to its high damage output paired with its rate of fire.
Not only do some weapons like the AK-47 and WA2000 have Pack-A-Punch variants for Zombies mode, despite not being available at all, but there are even scripts of unfinished code for kill-streaks in said wave mode. Calling in attack dogs, air strikes, and attack helicopters were all considered. The latter were likely to be purchased from the walls, much likemost weapons and equipment. One can only speculate how effective they would’ve been if they were ever implemented.
