The brand new maps featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Apocalypse are named Pod and Frost. Pod takes players to an abandoned cliff-side city in Taiwan where dilapidated structures and scattered pod homes are all that remains of an experimental town. Players can battle it out on top of the scattered pods around the rundown city or head inside larger structures for some cover and close quarters combat. Frost takes place in a snow covered European city featuring two symmetrical sides divided by a frozen canal and a bridge leading to either side of the map. Snowy locations have almost always offered a good chance to pull out a sniper rifle in past Call of Duty maps, so look for this map to offer plenty of long range encounters and some tight battlegrounds as well.
The other two new maps in Apocalypse are actually remakes of classic Call of Duty maps. Dig is a remake of Call of Duty: World at War's Courtyard with a dusty new makeover. The new map takes players to a massive archaeological dig located in Afghanistan with two opposing sides and plenty of vantage points and paths to traverse while racking up the kills. Meanwhile, the new map Takeoff reimagines the Call of Duty: Black Ops DLC map Stadium on a Pacific Ocean launch site. The map features three major structures with multiple entry points and numerous elevated platforms for the savvy player to rain down bullets from up high.
The final zombies map for Call of Duty: Blacks Ops 2 will actually take players back to the beginning of the zombie outbreak in early 1930s France. The map will feature plenty of World War 1 references, as players battle against the undead hordes with the classic crew of Takeo, Dempsey, Nikolai and Richtofen. Since the map takes place in the early 1900s, the tandem will be a lot younger, and there will be a new antagonist leading the hordes of undead in an attack against the survivors. Classic firearms will be available to fight off the hordes with a mixture of supernatural weapons from the series past, perks and pack-a-punch machine thrown in for good measure.
Fans that have been following the zombies storyline for a long time will be happy to see the return of the gang from the original Call of Duty: Black Ops, but it has been confirmed that Samantha won't be in control of the zombies this time around, since the stage occurs before she was born. The map will offer some insight into the original creation of the zombies in the game mode from the Nazi experiments with the mysterious Element 115. A giant mechanical monster will be featured on the map that offers the closest enemy to a boss the game has seen since George Romero was featured in the special Call of Duty: Black Ops Call of the Dead map, but players will have access to plenty of special weapons including a diesel drone and the Mark IV Tank to combat this formidable foe.
As the story of the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 zombies characters is concerned, the most recent easter egg uses the power of a time traveling device that sends the players to the future, where they are dead, but we're assuming, it's possible the characters could also use the device to travel back in time. This could allow the gang to theoretically show up in the past to work together with the original cast against the undead hordes. There is also much speculation to how older zombie mode maps will tie-in with Origins after several shots in the Treyarch promotional video (seen below) showed off several maps including Ascension, Shi No Numa and Kino Der Toten among others. Players have also noticed the massive robot featured in Origins could have ties to the fan favorite map Der Riese, which is the same location where Samantha originally took control of the zombies after being teleported to the Aether by Richtofen and where hellhounds were originally born from a similar accident with her pet dog, Fluffy. Origins should contain some easter eggs of its own, and if previous Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 maps are any indicator, we'll see one that will benefit Richtofen and one that will help out Samantha's father, Ludvig Maxis, but only time will tell on these few assumptions. One way or another, we will all find out when Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Apocalypse arrives later this month only on Xbox 360!
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is now available from all major retailers and can be purchased for PlayStation 3, Xbox 360 and PC. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is rated M by the ESRB for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes & Use of Drugs. For more information on the game, check out the official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 website.