The Easter Egg was essential to the story.
Call of the Dead was still integral to the story and just because you weren't playing as the 4 characters this collection focuses on, doesn't mean they weren't in the Map. If anything, this collection shows how the Zombie experience has grown, has evolved and whilst its great fun, I can't help feel that some of the best Maps and experiences are missing.
Shino Numa and Verruckt are certainly more interesting than Nacht but its the Maps with Pack a Punch and Easter Egg steps that really elevate the Zombie experience above the basic Horde mode survival experience. It doesn't have the staples we have come to expect - like dog rounds for Max Ammo, Pack a Punch but they have added Gobblegum and Wonderfizz to get more perks inc some that weren't created back then and the possibility of Pack a Punched weapons. Locked to just 3 rooms, the sole purpose is to see how long you can survive. I understand why the collection used these though but the Maps I mentioned are much more representative of the modern Zombies experience. I admit that I would have preferred Call of the Dead, Mob of the Dead, Die Rise, Buried - even Five to some of the earlier maps. While other maps on average can be survived up to 25 to 30 rounds, it was hard to push 20 on Nacht der Untoten since there are only wall buys and the Mystery Box. It has remained the favorite of many because of the great limitations it forces on players. Unfortunately, the map that started it all has lost a bit of its charm. Verrückt and Shi no Numa are not as diverse in this respect, but still have great layouts and plenty of viable strategies. Our favorite examples being Kino der Toten, Ascension, and Shangri-la, which demand satisfying mixes of camping and strategic movement, thanks to useful locomotive features like the Teleporter and Lunar Landers. If you don’t have the patience for them, most of the other maps hit the right spot between simplicity and complexity. We would’ve preferred Five and Call of the Dead instead. Trying to play Moon and Origins by yourself or with friends proves to be quite the challenge then, and while the maps themselves are aesthetically pleasing and have neat, experimental ideas, they remain frustrating by having you erratically run around and micromanage so many things. The latter works for Moon and Origins since they aren’t designed for camping, especially with enemies that force you to be on the move like Phasing Crawlers or the Panzersoldat. The former is usually expected with Nacht der Untoten, Verrückt, Shi no Numa, Kino der Toten, Ascension, and Shangri-la.
This can tip to the point of favouring two expectations, with one about finding spots to hold out in for the remainder of a session, and the other focused on continuously running around in planned circuits.
The Zombies mode’s design philosophy over time can be boiled down to increasing complexity and size nearly every map has more features and open areas than the last. However, were they even worthy of being resurrected in the first place? This isn’t like Shi no Numa being ported to Black Ops with no touch-ups: the studio has remade these maps from the ground up, making their predecessors look unbearably blurry and bland in comparison. As a whole, taking time to revisit these maps unveils that Treyarch didn’t skimp on remastering, even with the sound design.
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