Nuketown has become my favorite multiplayer map in Call of Duty: Black Ops, partly because of my appreciation for 50s nuclear nostalgia, and partly because I like tight, small maps. But when I started talking about it with other folks and asking internally, I learned a lot more than I expected. With the help of the community and some info straight from Activision’s Black Ops Project Lead, Erik Melen, I came up with nine clever details worth noting in Nuketown.
1. Double Rainbow, All The Way!
Let’s get the obvious one out of the way — if you haven’t seen the original YouTube video (or the brilliant Autotune remix) of the guy who gets emotional after seeing one (well, two) of nature’s little miracles…well, this is a tribute to that. So intense!
2. And Now A Car From Our Sponsors
And let’s get the promotional one out of the way: The Jeep’s markings (SOG logo near driver’s door, star on rear panel) are the same ones you’ll find on the 2011 Jeep Wrangler Call of Duty: Black Ops Edition in real life.
3. Intersection of Oblivion
According to the street signs, the battle tales place at Latchkey and Trinity. Trinity was the name of the very first atomic bomb test, while Operation Latchkey was a series of nuclear tests in the late 60s. It’s a little funnier if you consider that you’re not even playing at an intersection of two roads — it’s a firefight on a dead-end street.
4. Permanent Residents
And who lives in Nuketown? Check the mailboxes — it’s your old pals Mason (in the teal house) and Woods (in the yellow house). If I were you, I’d knock first.
5. A Sparkling Census of Humor
The population counter on the Welcome to Nuketown sign changes based on how many people are currently on the map — check the top of this article and you’ll see the small screen at the top shows 12, while this one shows 09. What’s more, the sign sparkles, as do a few other objects in this level (check the plates of fruit on the kitchen table in Woods’ house.)
6. Time to Go
Nuketown’s clock tower is a little unusual — it’s a doomsday clock, and it accurately counts down how much time is left in the match. Of course, when it hits zero, Nuketown earns its name.
7. RC-XD on the DL
There’s a bit of broken fence in each back yard — one hole next to Mason’s fallout shelter and the other near Woods’ shed. The openings are just large enough for an RC-XD to fit through — try it. You can take your remote-controlled car for a little offroad joyride, complete with ramp jump — a part of the map where humans cannot tread. Great for sneak attacks or just yelling “WHEEEE!” (Also, keep your eyes peeled: Nuketown is not the only map that features RC-XD shortcuts.)
8. Moving Mannequins
This one’s just creepy. The mannequins that populate Nuketown change every time the level begins. For instance, over at the swingset behind Woods’ house, sometimes you’ve got a male standing behind a female seated on the swing; sometimes you get just one or the other. It’s the same everywhere else in the level; the genders and placement of the mannequins vary every time you play.
9. The Mannequin “Surprise”: A Suburban Legend No More!
I heard about this one four days before the game came out — and I still can’t determine if it’s true or not. Apparently Treyarch’s David Vonderhaar stated in an interview that if you shot all the heads off the mannequins, you would witness a “surprise.” Some people say you have to shoot them off in 60 seconds; some say 30. Some people said the secret was that the nuke immediately went off; others have said the mannequins spontaneously generate firearms or turn into zombies, which then attack. All I know is that I took my time when I shot all of them off in Combat Training (even the ones hiding in the school bus) and nothing happened. I asked Erik and he wasn’t aware of there being anything special about the mannequin heads, but then again, maybe Treyarch truly slipped this easter egg in under the radar. If Von says it’s true, I guess I have to believe it despite my initial skepticism — he certainly knows more than I do — but until someone produces evidence of this “surprise,” I am clueless as to what that surprise would actually be. I figure there are now teams working around the clock trying to get the first YouTube video up — and I’ll gladly link to it when it appears.
UPDATE: Thanks to NextGenTactics, we have a video of the surprise: If you get everybody working together, The Rolling Stones’ “Sympathy for the Devil” plays from unseen loudspeakers. Thanks to Teh Dolla for the link:
Have you spotted anything I’ve missed? The Treyarch school bus seemed so obvious that I left it out, but I’m still wondering whose photo is on Mason’s upstairs desk.
