Ayrton Chio
Prof. Dinsmore
ENGL 115
December 7, 2013
Prof. Dinsmore
ENGL 115
December 7, 2013
Zombies Take Over the World
Zombies have taken over the world, from the show The Walking Dead and to games such as Left 4 Dead and Nazi Zombies. Although Nazi Zombies is not an individual game, it is a game mode included in the games Call of Duty; World at War, Black Ops, and Black Ops 2 it is still widely popular throughout the world. Zombies in general right now are very popular and people are going crazy over them, from being zombie or especially being a zombie killer. After watching so many zombie movies in which the individual is limited to watching people fight zombies one tends to imagine themselves in those situations. With Nazi Zombies and other zombie video games to fulfill those needs, people gather towards these games. The game mode Nazi Zombies, and with the help of other zombie crazed themes, is addictive because of Nazi Zombies, weaponry, and the point system.
People are already falling head over heels for zombies, and now with zombies that were former nazis and the ability to kill hordes of them in your hands, not many people would pass up this opportunity. With it's first debut in Call of Duty World at War people flocked to it because of a two differences many zombies in movies, shows, and games don't have. First off, former nazi turned zombies, who wouldn't want to kick some nazi butt? Many people who have knowledge of nazis, dislike them. Nazis did a great deal of violence to the Jews and with the knowledge of how much damage was done to them, people have grown to hate nazis and their ideas. Second, the variety of zombies. Yes, Resident Evil did have a zombie evolution where they become bigger and stronger than the normal zombie, but Nazi Zombies offered different boss zombies or creatures. For example the Hell Hounds, The Pentagon Thief, George A. Romero, Brutus, The Ghost Lady, Pazer Soldat, and many more. Each and every boss or special zombie has it's own unique abilities from stealing weapons to causing a great deal of damage. Due to the fact that each map has it's own special zombie each map poses a different challenge making the player more interested. The more interested a player is the more invested they become in trying to complete everything, especially when there is a reward to almost everything. Although not all the zombies were Nazis, they all were a certain race according to whichever map you were playing in.
Weapons, something everyone needs in a zombie apocalypse. Zombies offers a wide variety of weapons from regular old fashioned mp40s to wonder weapons such as the iconic ray gun. All the weapons differ from each map except the ray gun which can be found time and time again in the mystery box. All zombie games uses guns, or some type of melee weapon but I've never seen any other one shooting bolts of lightning or incredibly strong gusts of wind. Well Nazi Zombies offers a wide variety of special, powerful weapons which can become more powerful when upgraded through the pack-a-punch. For example the Wunder Waffe a.k.a Wonder Waffle according to Tank Dempsey, this weapon can shoot a volt of electricity that electrocutes zombies in the vicinity of the one that was hit. With these special weapons players flocked to try it out and take out hordes of zombies. Another special weapon that caught the attention of many were the staffs featured in the latest installment of Zombies, Origins. The 4 staffs, fire, wind, lightning, and ice each has a unique puzzle to gain the ultimate staff. These ultimate staffs were required to complete the Easter Egg, a special surprise to the game, which most other maps also had. By completing the easter egg a short clip involving the story line is revealed leaving players wondering what's going to happen next. These weapons became a very large part of the story line and also one of the greatest survival tools in the game.
The xbox and the playstation both have a point system for all games. The xbox having achievements and the playstation having a trophy system. The more difficult the challenge the higher the reward. For example finishing a campaign in legendary is worth about 75 gamerscore whilst the easy mode is only 20 points. According to a website the ability to finish with a high difficulty gives a sense of accomplishment for many people. For example reaching round 30 in zombies is a difficult task but to be able to reach it makes many people have it. I myself have played up to round 30 and higher with others and if one were to wear my headset their ears would shatter from excitement and laughter. Also the website indicates that the most addicting games the ones with no end are more addicting than regular video games. Unlike other games that have some type of end game zombies can go on forever if the players have the right equipment. People are drawn to these point systems in which many people actually go "achievement" hunting, where the player or players go play a game and get every single achievement for that game. Every single zombies map has it's own unique achievement that are as simple as "The Might of Monkey", in which you just need to obtain a Monkey Bomb or as difficult as "Elevate your senses" in which the player must go through a series of tasks to gain the achievement. For these types of achievements some players actually need a tutorial which can be easily found on youtube. The achievement and trophy system are like an incentive for players to try harder and to play more. Some of these easter eggs also give power ups in game and a very large amount of gamerscore after a long battle against zombies. Sometime the eggs would take a very long time to accomplish. From experience it took about 6 hours to complete one easter egg and my friends and I were very happy about accomplishing it. These accomplishments give many players a sense of actually being able to do something because in reality they don't have much to accomplish.
The playstation and xbox achievements aren't the only type of point system. There is a point system in the zombies game mode as well. For ever bullet hit, for every stab, for every grenade there are points given. These points are used to purchase everything that needs purchasing such as guns, perks, doors, or upgrades. The more points the more the player can buy or even the better the item the player can buy. With this point system players become to determined to get the best guns in the game by constantly using the mystery box until they get what they wanted. I myself have accumulated so many points just to hog the box in order to get a ray gun and some type of large machine gun. To survive players must spend points but in order to gain a large amount of points it takes quite a while to get, therefore they must survive long enough to gain what they want that is why people take hours at a time playing one game of Zombies.
Video Games are very addictive in general but what makes Nazi zombies so special are those three components; zombie Nazis, wonder weapons, and the point system. Nazi Zombies offers a wide variety of opponents that vary in each map and all a challenge as players progress in-game. Killing one of these special zombies can give players a power up that may help them in defeating hordes. Wonder weapons, there is nothing else like it in other zombie games. It's technology is beyond our time and therefore it attracts players to play and do what they can to obtain one of the powerful weapons. The point system has two parts the console based points and the in-game points. The console based points are permanent and act as a trophy that can be shown off, showing others how great that player is or how addicted depending on the person looking. The in game point system gives players a chance to survive in against zombies for as long as they can. Players become addicted in playing this game because many become obsessed with getting the greatest guns or gaining the highest achievements but in reality they don't have much going for them. Many players have become addicted to paying nazi zombies.
People are already falling head over heels for zombies, and now with zombies that were former nazis and the ability to kill hordes of them in your hands, not many people would pass up this opportunity. With it's first debut in Call of Duty World at War people flocked to it because of a two differences many zombies in movies, shows, and games don't have. First off, former nazi turned zombies, who wouldn't want to kick some nazi butt? Many people who have knowledge of nazis, dislike them. Nazis did a great deal of violence to the Jews and with the knowledge of how much damage was done to them, people have grown to hate nazis and their ideas. Second, the variety of zombies. Yes, Resident Evil did have a zombie evolution where they become bigger and stronger than the normal zombie, but Nazi Zombies offered different boss zombies or creatures. For example the Hell Hounds, The Pentagon Thief, George A. Romero, Brutus, The Ghost Lady, Pazer Soldat, and many more. Each and every boss or special zombie has it's own unique abilities from stealing weapons to causing a great deal of damage. Due to the fact that each map has it's own special zombie each map poses a different challenge making the player more interested. The more interested a player is the more invested they become in trying to complete everything, especially when there is a reward to almost everything. Although not all the zombies were Nazis, they all were a certain race according to whichever map you were playing in.
Weapons, something everyone needs in a zombie apocalypse. Zombies offers a wide variety of weapons from regular old fashioned mp40s to wonder weapons such as the iconic ray gun. All the weapons differ from each map except the ray gun which can be found time and time again in the mystery box. All zombie games uses guns, or some type of melee weapon but I've never seen any other one shooting bolts of lightning or incredibly strong gusts of wind. Well Nazi Zombies offers a wide variety of special, powerful weapons which can become more powerful when upgraded through the pack-a-punch. For example the Wunder Waffe a.k.a Wonder Waffle according to Tank Dempsey, this weapon can shoot a volt of electricity that electrocutes zombies in the vicinity of the one that was hit. With these special weapons players flocked to try it out and take out hordes of zombies. Another special weapon that caught the attention of many were the staffs featured in the latest installment of Zombies, Origins. The 4 staffs, fire, wind, lightning, and ice each has a unique puzzle to gain the ultimate staff. These ultimate staffs were required to complete the Easter Egg, a special surprise to the game, which most other maps also had. By completing the easter egg a short clip involving the story line is revealed leaving players wondering what's going to happen next. These weapons became a very large part of the story line and also one of the greatest survival tools in the game.
The xbox and the playstation both have a point system for all games. The xbox having achievements and the playstation having a trophy system. The more difficult the challenge the higher the reward. For example finishing a campaign in legendary is worth about 75 gamerscore whilst the easy mode is only 20 points. According to a website the ability to finish with a high difficulty gives a sense of accomplishment for many people. For example reaching round 30 in zombies is a difficult task but to be able to reach it makes many people have it. I myself have played up to round 30 and higher with others and if one were to wear my headset their ears would shatter from excitement and laughter. Also the website indicates that the most addicting games the ones with no end are more addicting than regular video games. Unlike other games that have some type of end game zombies can go on forever if the players have the right equipment. People are drawn to these point systems in which many people actually go "achievement" hunting, where the player or players go play a game and get every single achievement for that game. Every single zombies map has it's own unique achievement that are as simple as "The Might of Monkey", in which you just need to obtain a Monkey Bomb or as difficult as "Elevate your senses" in which the player must go through a series of tasks to gain the achievement. For these types of achievements some players actually need a tutorial which can be easily found on youtube. The achievement and trophy system are like an incentive for players to try harder and to play more. Some of these easter eggs also give power ups in game and a very large amount of gamerscore after a long battle against zombies. Sometime the eggs would take a very long time to accomplish. From experience it took about 6 hours to complete one easter egg and my friends and I were very happy about accomplishing it. These accomplishments give many players a sense of actually being able to do something because in reality they don't have much to accomplish.
The playstation and xbox achievements aren't the only type of point system. There is a point system in the zombies game mode as well. For ever bullet hit, for every stab, for every grenade there are points given. These points are used to purchase everything that needs purchasing such as guns, perks, doors, or upgrades. The more points the more the player can buy or even the better the item the player can buy. With this point system players become to determined to get the best guns in the game by constantly using the mystery box until they get what they wanted. I myself have accumulated so many points just to hog the box in order to get a ray gun and some type of large machine gun. To survive players must spend points but in order to gain a large amount of points it takes quite a while to get, therefore they must survive long enough to gain what they want that is why people take hours at a time playing one game of Zombies.
Video Games are very addictive in general but what makes Nazi zombies so special are those three components; zombie Nazis, wonder weapons, and the point system. Nazi Zombies offers a wide variety of opponents that vary in each map and all a challenge as players progress in-game. Killing one of these special zombies can give players a power up that may help them in defeating hordes. Wonder weapons, there is nothing else like it in other zombie games. It's technology is beyond our time and therefore it attracts players to play and do what they can to obtain one of the powerful weapons. The point system has two parts the console based points and the in-game points. The console based points are permanent and act as a trophy that can be shown off, showing others how great that player is or how addicted depending on the person looking. The in game point system gives players a chance to survive in against zombies for as long as they can. Players become addicted in playing this game because many become obsessed with getting the greatest guns or gaining the highest achievements but in reality they don't have much going for them. Many players have become addicted to paying nazi zombies.