Mob of the Dead

Mob of the Dead
Developer(s)	Treyarch
Publisher(s)	WW Activision
Engine	Black Ops II engine
Platform(s)	PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Microsoft Windows
Release date(s)	Xbox 360 April 16, 2013 PlayStation 3 & Windows 16 May 2013
Genre(s)	First-person shooter, Survival horror
Mode(s)	Single-player, multiplayer, Co-op
Distribution	Download

Mob of the Dead, also known as Alcatraz Island, is a Zombies map released for Call of Duty: Black Ops II in the downloadable content (DLC) pack Uprising. It was released on April 16, 2013 for Xbox 360 and on May 16, 2013 for PlayStation 3 and PC. It is significant for being the first Zombies map ever in which that the players can complete the level and end the game without being killed by zombies.

Plot

The map is set in the infamous Alcatraz Prison in the year 1933, and features four new characters: Albert "The Weasel" Arlington (voiced by Joe Pantoliano), Billy Handsome (voiced by Ray Liotta), Michael "Finn" O'Leary (voiced by Michael Madsen) and Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca (voiced by Chazz Palminteri), who plan to escape the island only to run into a zombie outbreak.

Alcatraz Island is also the first Zombies map possible to "complete", rather than fighting through the waves until being overwhelmed.

The four mobsters engineer an escape from the prison, only for the prison guard, Stanley Ferguson, to reanimate as a zombie. Despite their best efforts, the four are overwhelmed and killed. However, they are able to revive as ghosts and reenter their inert bodies. Upon reviving, they discover themselves in a hellish, dark version of Alcatraz under attack by the zombies, as well as a map of the prison. The four eventually resolve to build Arlington's plane, and find going into the "Afterlife" mode allows them to traverse through areas they could not in physical form, and to recover parts of the plane. Their efforts are hampered by the zombies as well as Brutus, a hulking and powerful zombie who appears somewhat sentient. The four are able to build the plane, but it crashes on the incomplete Golden Gate bridge. Here, they find four electric chairs with the message "NO ONE ESCAPES ALIVE" written in blood over them. After a chaotic battle against the zombies and multiple incarnations of Brutus, the four kill themselves on their own terms. However, they awaken in Alcatraz as ghosts in the Afterlife once again.

This pattern continues several times before the mobsters begin to lose hope. However, Arlington has remembered every single time they went through this thanks to writing it down in his journal, though the others do not listen to him initially. Brutus eventually helps them learn the truth - in reality, the group never built the plane, having fallen apart due to infighting, and Sal, Billy and Finn killed Arlington. The three were then quickly executed for their crime. With this knowledge, the four ride the plane to the bridge in the Afterlife, and enter their bodies which are already in the electric chairs waiting for them. Upon revival, Brutus and his legions arrive, but only attack Sal, Billy and Finn, allying with Arlington. An all-out battle breaks out on the bridge until either Arlington or Sal, Billy and Finn are dead. If the latter three survive, the cycle continues and the four mobsters go back in time with only Arlington with the memory of what happened. If Arlington is able to kill the other three, he is free to leave Alcatraz forever, and the cycle is broken.

Gameplay

The map introduces a new game mechanic, Afterlife Mode. A player in Afterlife can power various utilities and walk through certain walls to reach areas that are not normally accessible, however, the duration of the Afterlife is limited. Afterlife is necessary for collecting the plane components that are dispersed across the map.

Mob of the Dead also features a new boss-like zombie, Brutus. He attacks players and also targets various utilities to disable, including Perk-a-Cola machines, workbenches, traps, and the Mystery Box. Brutus can kill the player in two hits, which goes up to three with the Perk-a-Cola Juggernog.

Mob of the Dead contains five Perk-a-Cola machines, which offer perks to players who buy them using points they have earned from killing zombies. Returning from other Zombies maps are Juggernog, Speed Cola, Deadshot Daiquiri and Double Tap Root Beer; which offer more health, faster reload, headshot auto-aim and doubled bullet damage respectively. The map also includes one new Perk-a-Cola called Electric Cherry. This creates an electrical shockwave that kills nearby zombies with every reload, but keep in mind shockwave damage lessens throughout rounds.

There are two sections to play on "Alcatraz Island". They are Sunset Strip and Cell Block. The mode on Cell Block is Grief and the mode on Sunset Strip is Mob of the Dead.

Reception

IGN stated that Mob of the Dead is a return to form for Call of Duty: Zombies.^[1]

References

External links

• Mob of the Dead at Call of Duty Wiki