Hello everyone, Legos here with another blog. As some of you may remember, a little over a month ago I had a blog pointing out every mistake with a CoD related video by WatchMojo. I'd recommend you check out that blog, it's very disappointing how many errors were made.
Anyways, IGN, one of gaming's most highly regarded critics, recently posted a video with their list of the Top 10 Call of Duty Zombies Maps. The video actually has more dislikes than likes right now. I'll say this much before I begin - the mistakes in this video are nearly as atrocious as WatchMojo's. Now, without further ado, let's get right into this.
General Errors[]
Remember how with WatchMojo's video, they misspelled "TheRelaxingEnd" as the "TheRelaxingEn" when citing one of the videos. Well it turns out that clip wasn't even from him, and was instead a completely different channel. Well IGN didn't even make cite some its clips. It can be assumed it was recorded by them, but still, they should've said that.
Next off, right at the start of the video, the commentator says that zombies "has become one of Call of Duty's most popular features". Ironically, it's only been Treyarch zombies the fans have really loved; other than that, the majority of the community did not seem to like Exo Zombies, and it is doubtful that many will play Infinite Warfare's zombies.
Next off, they state that there has been "twenty-three original maps" in the zombies franchise. This is not at all correct. This means they are not counting the Black Ops DS maps, any submaps in Black Ops II, or Dead Ops Arcade and its sequel, which while I understand are not necessarily from the main games or are main maps, are still maps nonetheless. Furthermore, they state this has been over the course of five games, completely excluding the DS and iOS games as a result.
#10 - #8[]
Remember how I said the majority of the community hated Exo Zombies? Almost no one liked Descent. While I personally haven't played it, I've heard enough feedback from players that they did not enjoy the map all that well. I cannot say whether the boss battle with Oz (who they decide to simply refer to as John Malkovich, the character's VA) is a difficult one or not. But something somewhat amusing is how they mention the Blunderbuss as a weapon, but not the KL03-Trident, which is supposed to be the "wonder weapon" for this map.
At number 9, they listed Shadows of Evil. I would disagree that SOE is one of the best maps. While I have only played it on last-gen (which is very difficult to play, and not at all a "visual treat from start to finish"), I did not enjoy the amount of complexity the map had. At least with Origins I was able to figure out how to build the Staffs by myself. The first major error that was made was them stating that Morg City was influenced by "1940s New Orleans"; apparently, if the map has jazz music, it was influenced by New Orleans. Its official. Also, while they do mention the GobbleGum machine and the added feature of weapon kits, they decide to say that Jeff Goldblum plays himself. What?
Number 8 was "Five". A bit of tick for me is that the map name lacked quotation marks. Aside from that, they don't even mention... who is that secretary guy again? Also, when listing JFK, Fidel Castro, and Nixon, the clips shown depict Castro as McNamara. For some reason, gameplay from Kino der Toten is shown. They state that the Pentagon Thief was a welcomed addition - the Thief is the reason I avoid playing this map when I can. Lastly, the gameplay shown of the Pentagon Thief was captured on a modded map, for the player had the upgraded Staff of Wind - which as I said in my previous blog, is not available at all. Also, this is one of the most hated maps in the franchise, and while they claim it is more than a cliche where one plays as famous figures, it seems as though that's the reason they included the map on their list.
#7 - #5[]
Number 7 was Mob of the Dead, which many would argue should be higher. It had some of the most effort put into its production, with Treyarch visiting Alcatraz to actually make the map as identical (barring their own touches) to the historic prison as possible. They state that it is noir-esque map, when in fact it lacks aspects which would categorize it as such - Shadows of Evil is about as close to noir as CoD has come. They list the return of the Tommy Gun and the hidden Rusty Cage Easter egg (ironic how the number pad which activates "Where Are We Going?" is shown instead) as valuable features, completely missing many of the features which made the map so memorable. Also, what dark comedy exists in zombies? I don't really see it all that much, even with Mob of the Dead.
The sixth spot went to Ascension. This is fair enough as a placing, as while many fans enjoy the map, there is just as many who think less of the map. Not many fans enjoyed the Space Monkeys - that is the only thing I really dislike about the map. They refer to the Gersch Device as simply "blackhole grenades" (not even showing gameplay). In all honesty, this map had the least errors, but they still lacked sound reasoning to why the map deserves to be that high.
Call of the Dead may be number five, but it should honestly be lower. It was not better than Mob of the Dead, and was overall one of Treyarch's more disliked of maps. At least when listing two of the characters they had them time properly with gameplay. Their only logic for this map was that it was good because it had famous actors and George A. Romero. No joke. They fail to mention Perk-a-Colas and weapons; and despite these features, the map still suffered from its design to some extent. This combined with Romero turned off many fans with this map.
#4 - #2[]
They list Kino der Toten as number four, yet they also note its criticism for being "too easy". While normally stating an antithesis would strengthen their reasoning for why the map should be at this position, they fail to refute it affectively. While they say it gives players a sense of empowerment, they also state that the maps "circular design" allows for easy zombie training. Even with the Thundergun, their logic is terrible. I do enjoy this map, but there are maps far better and superior which could have taken its place.
The third spot went to Nacht der Untoten. IGN listed reasons why the map was so appealing, and left fans wanting more, but at the same time, this map is in no way one of the top three. By listing this map here, they completely reject all other innovations in subsequent maps as significant contributions to the mode. Everyone enjoys a bit of Nacht der Untoten, but almost everyone prefers later maps due to their additions, from perk to weapons to traps to Pack-a-Punch.
The runner-up to this trainwreck of a list was Origins. Origins definitely deserves to be at number two (maybe higher or lower depending on the player). I have to agree that it was a climax to the original zombies arc. However, when the only things they mention is the Elemental Staffs and the Giant Robots, it makes this map seem blander than Descent.
#1[]
So, does anyone have any idea what map is number one? Is it TranZit? It wouldn't be much of a surprise with this list. But instead, they went with Der Riese. The map is one of the best. But how they approach the map, like so many others, is a disappointment. The Pack-a-Punch machine became a sort of gold standard for zombies, yet they don't even recognize it by name. Nevertheless, Der Riese does make for the quintessential zombies map.
Conclusion[]
This list wasn't as bad as WatchMojo's list. While WatchMojo seemed to care less about making a good list, IGN at least tried - to an extent. There were less contradictions to their list than WatchMojo's. But Exo Zombies and Treyarch Zombies cannot be ranked together. Everytime, the former will fall short of the latter. They mention maps such as "Five" and Descent, but don't even mention Moon.
Their choice of gameplay was rather poor. Much of what was shown was simply gameplay seen in trailers, and that which was shown was often uncited. Also, one would think that when minimal gameplay is being utilized, they would at least choose gameplay that wasn't from a modded game or a different map altogether.
Ultimately, the main reason this list is so poor is the reasons provided for the map's appeal. They failed to mention key reasons as to how the maps helped revolutionize zombies mode, and what made the maps as good as they were. But apparently, the only reason some of these maps were enjoyed is due to the voice actors of the one-and-done characters, rather than actual gameplay mechanics, such as weapons, perks, and utilities featured in the maps. Overall, not as bad as WatchMojo...but still a disappointment in its own ways.
Thank you for your time. I hope everyone enjoyed. Let me know\ if I missed anything else in the video, or if there is anything I could do to improve these types of blogs. Until next time, Legos out.