Welcome to Town of the Dead, a place where the guns are louder than Mardi Gras whilst tripping on LSD. This map was released by xXxCowmanxXx (surprise, surprise, another review from me on a Cowman map) on July 2nd (02/07/16 or 07/02/16 for those who like it weird way) and was well received, not as much as Undead Hospital, but it was definitely liked. Now, without further ado, let’s get into the pros and cons of this map.

PROS:

Weapons are great: Much like Undead Hospital, the weapons feel great, on top of the Arsenal being almost as large. On top of a new set of weapon from assorted games, from the standard Black Ops M1911, to the fan-favourite Alien Blaster from Fallout 3, this map has a nice variety of weapons to mess around with. And, all of these weapons are pack-a-punchable, and they get their corresponding attachments, like the AUG’s Masterkey and the M16’s Nade Launcher, which is a great touch.


 
And I can’t forget to mention the sounds of the weapons themselves. Cowman had them fully re-done by a friend of his, and they sound so much better, making me want to use more of the weapons, not because they would do work against the hordes, but because the sound of it was so great.

Side Easter-Eggs: Although this map may lack any real easter egg, per say, there are still easter eggs to discover. Such easter eggs include the hidden in plain sight Undead Hospital Poster in the Pack-a-Punch, and the sneakily placed Bridge Poster, which is hidden very well (I’d disclose the location, but that would spoil the surprise of it). And there is a Jumpscare easter egg, but, like Origins, Mob of the Dead, Shadows of Evil etc. you will only trigger it of you actively go out of your way to find it (Hint: a Sniper Rifle will help you).



Map layout entices players to play in a variety of ways: In this map, there are a few areas where you could possibly train, but these areas can quickly become your grave if you put one foot wrong, like running into a boss zombie, or back into a section of the horde you forgot about. So, this map has a few areas that hark back to Der Riese in the sense they have one way up, and a single window where you can jump out of but, much like Der Riese, if you get too carried away, it’s over. There are also the streets themselves, that are long areas where you can run around/past the cars, but if you mess up, and try to run back, and a zombie happens to be in your way, it’s basically game over, unless you have a gun to drop the zombies ASAP, and I like that, it encourages you to use a mix of strats to beat the map.

Quotes from Black Ops 1: This returns from Undead Hospital, and I am happy that it is. It honestly made me want to play more as a certain character than the others, just so I could hear the quotes they would say in a certain situation.
The Ambience: The Background Music (which is from The Last of Us) made this map so much more enjoyable, as it wasn’t just the standard W@W background noise, it was this pleasant, but morbid background acoustic ambience that really sets the mood of this map.

Boss Zombies: You wanted boss zombies? Well, this map more than satisfies and sadist who loves to the challenge of it. This map has 4 boss zombies, that being: The Napalm Zombie from Shangri-La, The Black Ops 2 Panzer Soldat from Origins, and 2 Custom Bosses, one being Kuba (or our lord and Saviour, Harambe) the Ape, who acts similar to the Cosmic Silverback as in he starts of walking, then when you piss him off, he starts legging it towards you at breakneck speed. Then, there is the Big Daddy from Bioshock, who runs as fast as a Panzer, but is exponentially tougher, and hits like Reinhardt when he charges, being able to knock you down in 2-3 swipes with Jugg.



Custom zombie Sounds/Cut Quotes: As they say, it’s the little things that matter, this is no exception, as the map uses custom zombies sounds from the Left 4 Dead Franchise, as well as making use of cut quotes from World at War, such as the “CHARGE!!!/ATTACK!!!” and “RELOADING!!!” which, in itself, is a nod to Left 4 Dead, as the characters would always yell when they are reloading.

Now, no map is perfect, so let’s get into the cons for this map.

CONS:

No Perk Limit: I understand that I am probably the only person who likes to have a perk limit, as it forces you to strategically choose your perks, but having no perk limit removes a challenge aspect of the map itself, and overall makes it easier, which isn’t that great.

Everything Everywhere: What I mean by this is the littering of models, figures, etc. all over the place, that just make the whole place feel really messy, and completely out of place, such as 1940’s station wagons in a street filled with 21st century vehicles.

No real Easter Egg: this map may have little side easter eggs, but unlike Undead Hospital, and heaven forbid, Bridge, this map is simply just a survive-and-buy map, which is kind of a let-down since the map had the potential to have a solid easter egg in the map itself.

Lack of Areas to explore: This map feel very cut-down from what it could be, it would’ve been lovely to have more areas to access, such as the bank, that looks like it could’ve been used, but in the end, just sits there, and does nothing but being an add-on to the atmosphere of the map.



Final Verdict

Level Detail: 7/10. Although some items feel out of place, majority of what is in the map has a story, and potentially a price.

Custom Content: 8/10. Majority of what was in this map was Custom, including the Knife Model.

Fun Scale: 9/10. Tonnes of Weapons, Zombies to slay, and bosses to test out, all leads to a good time.

Replayability: 8/10. There is a tonne of weapons to try out and Pack-a-Punch, on top of seeing how high you can go, against the masses of both zombies and Bosses, so you can have many hours of fun with this map.

Overall Score: 32/40

Download Link: http://ugx-mods.com/forum/index.php/topic,11703.0.html