…and ends in “ombies, somebody shoot the zombies before they eat me and my Doritos!”

For several years now, the non-Modern-Warfare CoD games have featured a highly addictive zombie mode in which the player(s) fight endless waves of zombies.  The game mode first debuted in CoD: World At War; this game had just a simple map with weapons, Nazi zombies, and silent human players.  Evidently, simple was effective, as it was with this game’s release that the teenage zombie craze began.

Then came the first Black Ops.  Sure, Nazi zombies were great, but you can’t just repackage the same gameplay and call it “new.”  To that end, Treyarch infused the zombie mode with some of the best humor in living video-game memory.  One map in particular has the players fight for survival in the Pentagon.  As if that wasn’t cool enough, the four players assumed the comic roles of John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, Richard Nixon, and Fidel Castro.  That map is so funny, rumor has it that somebody showed it to Fidel Castro in real life, and he burst out laughing.  Whether or not that’s true is a mystery, but it seems likely when you’ve played the map.

So how does one outdo what appeared to be perfection?

One word: Tranzit.

Yes, my spell-check told me that’s misspelled, but it’s intentional.  You see, the zombie modes of Black Ops 2 focus on an alternate version of history in which zombies have overrun Earth.  And in a world run by zombies, the letter “s” is automatically replaced with the letter “z” it seems.

There are multiple zombie maps in the normal zombie mode that feature different comical characters in the post-apocalyptic Earth, and that’s cool in and of itself.  But the incredible part?  The new game mode, Tranzit, brings them all together.  The players start in one map, but they can get on a public bus and ride to the other maps at will.  And in case you’re not aware… that’s insanely awesome.

To the joy of many CoD fans, one comic character has returned from the zombie abyss of the first Black Ops.  Actor Nolan North (Uncharted, Star Trek: Into Darkness) has reprised his role as the infamous Dr. Richtofen. Although Richtofen isn’t a playable character, he can be heard as one of the narrators of the zombie maps.  He often offers words of advice, but given the fact that he created the zombies… I love him and his funny quotes, but don’t trust him.  Just don’t.

Oh, and did I mention… one of the DLC zombie maps… is NUKETOWN 2025!  And despite the fact that the map is completely dilapidated due to a nuclear explosion, it’s beautiful.  Zombies and Nuketown 2025.  What a stroke of genius.

Some of the manikins are missing, though.  I guess even Tom Hanks can’t survive a nuclear explosion.