Highlights
- Treyarch struck a balance between modern technology and a historical setting, making Call of Duty: Black Ops a fantastic shooter.
- The game included scrapped content for Zombies mode and multiplayer levels that were never finished.
- The game had concept art and descriptions for enemy variants, wonder weapons, and perk-a-colas that were never implemented in future games.
Treyarch struck a careful balance between the modern technology and weapons featured in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and a historical setting for its story, like Call of Duty: World at War, when working on Call of Duty: Black Ops. This was the title that also introduced bigger, better, and more complex maps for the iconic Zombies survival mode. Overall, it was a fantastic shooter.
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A lot of concepts and ideas went into creating this title, though some of them ended up on Treyarch’s cutting room floor. This included a lot of content for the Zombies mode, along with scrapped levels that never got finished for multiplayer, and so many more inclusions that most players may not have even known were being considered for the game.
7 Zombies Maps
Three Scrapped Levels And A Trip To Paris
- Two were repurposed into different levels entirely.
- One was scrapped completely and has not been seen in a future game.
Zombies mode in Call of Duty: Black Ops had some absolute gems. One of them was the fan-favorite level set in a German theater, ‘Kino Der Toten.’ This was actually carried over from the fifth game’s canceled Map Pack 4. Another map was code-named ‘Temple of Doom’ in the files, which was repurposed into ‘Shangri-La’ for the Black Ops:Escalation DLC. A Raven Software developer also uploaded concept art for a Vietnam-themed stage nicknamed ‘Viet Cong.’
That’s not all, though. There were hints in Call of Duty: World at War’s ‘Der Riese’ map, with photos of the undead in front of the Eiffel Tower. Indeed, there was a level that would take place in Paris, before it was redesigned to become the final survival map for the game: ‘Moon.’ This ended up being part of the Rezurrection DLC.
6 Multiplayer Maps
Fourteen Maps Never Made The Cut
- None of these maps have been seen in future releases.
- Only one map was found to be playable, but it was unfinished in its discovered state.
There is a significant number of maps for the game’s multiplayer mode that can be played with other players or against bots. Quite a lot of them never actually made it to the base game or any of the respective map packs, but pieces of information about them do very much exist in the game's code and are also strewn around the internet.
Some of them have self-explanatory names, like ‘Shipyard,’ ‘Snow Mine,’ and ‘War Museum.’ ‘Landing’ was to take place around a landing strip, while there were two underwater facilities that were planned as well. ‘Airbase’ is perhaps the only “playable” map, though it is missing significant amounts of textures. Still, it’s interesting to think about what could’ve become of all of these if they were ever finished and released.
5 Zombie Variants
Kung-Fu Zombies And Undead Mules
- Such enemies have never been implemented in future games.
- Only concept art and brief descriptions remain.
Raven Software reportedly pitched different enemy concepts for the aforementioned Vietnam map to Treyarch, yet they were never used. All that exists is the concept art and descriptions. For example, the Smoke Screen Zombie would spew Agent Orange-like fog around survivors if they got too close, all the while indirectly heading to other players to mask his undead brethren.
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There was also a Thuat Zombie (also dubbed ‘Martial Arts Zombie’) who would use his speed, strength, and agility to punish players and dodge their gunfire, encouraging the use of explosives or backing into a corner and attacking. The final known concept is the Zombie Oxen, which may have been a hazard to avoid.
4 Wonder Weapons
Chainsaws And Shrink Ray Variants
- The chainsaw is available via mods, but it is not complete.
- While the chainsaw never made it into another game, the Shrink Ray was repurposed and redesigned.
The 31-79 JGb215 - informally known as the ‘Shrink Ray’ - was introduced in the ‘Shangri-La’ map as part of the Annihilation map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops. This Wonder Weapon shrinks down zombies to the size of an action figure, rendering them easy to be rammed and instantly killed. According to the concept art, there were ideas like the weapon being powered by a village bell, being shaped like a dragon, having makeshift bayonets to recharge it, slowly recharging on its own, and so on.
On top of that, there seems to be a chainsaw called the ‘Sabertooth’ in the game’s files. It lacks textures, though it allegedly would’ve been called the ‘Sabertooth 360’ when Pack-A-Punched. As cool as it would’ve been to saw through rotting flesh like timber, perhaps it would’ve been too overpowered.
3 Perk-A-Colas
Perks That Were Not To Be
- Fans speculate some of these perks were combined into one to make PhD Flopper.
- Audio files exist for perks like Tufbrew.
Perk-A-Colas are what help players survive against the increasingly difficult waves of the undead in Zombies mode. Quite a few of them were planned to be added. ‘BoomJuice’ was going to be on the ‘Ascension’ map, but it was replaced with the explosive PhD Flopper. Meanwhile, how ‘DTPBoom’ and ‘DamageAde’ were supposed to work is anyone’s guess.
‘Candolier,’ no doubt, would’ve offered extra ammo reserves like the Bandolier perk, while fans assume that ‘Boom Juice’ and ‘Pronaide’ might’ve had some kind of bonus effect when combined (lines for Richtofen allege that the latter had something to do with diving and laying down much quicker, maybe offering an effect similar to PhD Flopper). Other voice lines mention a ‘Tufbrew’ perk, yet its function is up for debate.
2 Campaign Co-Op
Teamwork Sounds Like Too Much Effort
- This was likely inspired by the same mode in the game's predecessor.
- Co-op has since been brought back in Black Ops 3.
Call of Duty: World at War was unique in the series for having a co-op mode that fans could play online competitively for scores or just cooperatively. It even had mutators to shake up the gameplay a bit. It seems that Treyarch was eager to implement exactly that for their next big hit so that players could work together to take on the villains of the game.
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This would, of course, never happen. The campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops was worked on to be solely available for single-player, while multiplayer and Zombies were available for offline and online play. In the game’s coding, however, there are still references to co-op existing. One can only speculate how it would’ve functioned with two people running around and progressing through the story.
1 Scrapped Kill-Streaks And Weaponry
Airstrike The Zombies
- Modders have recorded online what some of these kill streaks would've been like against zombies.
- Similarly, mods have also uncovered and put these cut weapons in the Mystery Box to be used.
It seems that Treyarch had additional ideas for kill streaks. This included drops for MP40s (voice lines indicating this are left in the game’s files) and an Ammo Station. What’s humorous is that fans considered the MP40 in Call of Duty: World at War to be overpowered due to its high damage output paired with its rate of fire.
Not only do some weapons like the AK-47 and WA2000 have Pack-A-Punch variants for Zombies mode, despite not being available at all, but there are even scripts of unfinished code for kill-streaks in said wave mode. Calling in attack dogs, air strikes, and attack helicopters were all considered. The latter were likely to be purchased from the walls, much like most weapons and equipment. One can only speculate how effective they would’ve been if they were ever implemented.
