Okay, i'm going to admit, this ones going to be a tough one. Five is, for lack of a better word, a diverse map. It features aspects that will amaze you, and ones that will drive you insane. We are going to find out in this review, were going to defcon 5 for this review of zombie map "Five".
Review
On the surface, Five appears to be a fun idea. You are playing as three major figures during the Cold wars Cuban Missile crisis, John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro. You also can play as Richard Nixon, for god knows what reason. The map is set in the pentagon and is entirely indoors. It has a unique layout in that its has three floors, The Offices, War Room, and Labs. The floors can only be traveled to by using elevators or a confusing teleporter system. This makes movement around the level much more difficult.
The big kicker in the movement department is the lack of any real room. All the areas of the map feel incredibly claustrophobic and you'll have trouble moving around zombies on any of the floors. Each floor has some way you can counteract this, The offices have multiple doorways and traps, the War room has two floors and is circular, and the labs allow you to dive into and out of rooms through circular windows. However, all three of these have negative aspects. The office traps can be walked around by players and zombies alike, not necessarily being placed in choke points, the war room has two levels to it, the upper catwalk is narrow and you can get easily trapped there, and the lower area has multiple zombie entry points and clutter to block your path. The labs window diving trick is almost impossible on the fly, and normally leaves you getting rushed by zombies from two different doors.
Coupled with this difficult movement is the difficult to master teleporter system. Instead of having a set location to go to, the teleporter will randomly send you to another one. This could send you from one teleporter, to another across the hall, or from the labs, three floors up to the offices.
One saving grace for this map is the panic room. After flipping five "Defcon" switches in the war room, all teleporters will show a picture of a pack-a-punch machine. Entering it will bring players to the campers dream room. One door, two windows. with four players, this is an easily defendable position.
In Depth Look: Pentagon Thief
Five is also the first map to feature a new type of special round. The area will become draped in a blue fog and a mad scientist, known as the Pentagon Thief, will start running around.
He moves faster than the player, and can be a sight to see the first time you see him. If he manages to get to you, he takes your gun. If he leaves without you killing him, he will drop a max ammo, kill him he drops a max ammo, fire sale, and gives you back your weapon. If you kill him and he hasn't taken anyones weapon, you will receive a Max ammo and a Bonfire sale. Bonfire sales link all teleporters to the pack a punch machine and make it cost only 1000 points to pack a punch, a huge benefit in later rounds.
In Depth Look: Winters Howl
The New wonder weapon on this map, the Winters Howl is a freeze ray. Its not the best wonder weapon, it takes a couple shots to kill the zombies and thus it runs out of ammo fast. To make up for this, the winters howl can slow down running zombies to a shamble, and can take out hordes with two shots.
Final Verdict
Five has its problems. It feels rushed and trying to hard, though it plays with some good ideas. Overall, it gets a 6.9/10