Welcome to Gorod Krovi translated as the City of Blood. You may recognise some of the surroundings as Stalingrad, but this isn’t the usual World at War map with some Zombies thrown in. This is a city torn apart because a battle between Mechanised soldiers and Dragons. Why Black Ops III? Why? First Giant Spiders, now Dragons, this is becoming ridiculous. If you’ve been keeping score at home then you should be able to figure out our target here, Nikolai Bellinski, well the other Nikolai…or am I the other Nikolai…either way one Nikolai will die. There are a host of new features once again in this map, from new weapons, new buildables to new enemies (as well as some returning SOBs). Let’s go through the new enemies you will be facing; the Russian Mangler Solider sounds like a heap of fun just from the name, these guys are similar to the Panzersoldat except with less health and without the ability to fly, just watch out for the Sickles and Shockwaves that come your way. Next up we have some Valkyrie Drones, our new special round enemy, these bad boys will fire some shocking electric bolts at the player and could even turn zombies into Electric Zombies as seen in Die Eisendrache, watch out as if these drones sustain enough damage they will charge the player (or the players last location if the camera is destroyed) and explode. R.A.P.S make their zombies debut, the most feared of killstreaks makes it’s way into Gorod Krovi and the players must do battle with these rolling death balls when fighting Nikolai at the end of the Easter Egg. The Dragons, ah yes how could I forget, you’ll be fighting some Dragons too, the Dragons are used as Traps, an Enemy and a Transport system (talk about multitasking). The Dragons will fly around the map and breath fire on certain locations killing Zombies and players alike, however by collecting Network Circuits the players can use Dragons to fly to the Pack-a-Punch. Finally we will face the Manticore, piloted by Nikolai in the Boss fight during the Easter Egg, actually it doesn’t look that bad, kind of like having a pet, I’m going to call you Freckles. Several new Traps appear in Gorod Krovi; the Gigant Eye Beam Trap (does what it says on the tin, shoots a giant laser on the ground), the Flinger Trap (think giant metal grids flinging zombies away) and the Giant Finger Trap (two metal fingers smashing into each other and anything that gets caught in between). A new transit system makes its appearance in the map, The Bridge, which is a…well a bridge…between the infirmary and armoury.

To get the Dragon to transport you to the Hatchery and the Pack-a-Punch Machine, you’ll need to get the Dragon Network Controller up and running. To do this you need the power on first, then zombies will randomly drop a Code Cylinder that will need to be placed in either the Dragon Command, the Tank Factory or Supply Depot (the name of the corresponding place will precede Code Cylinder when picked up, e.g. Dragon Command Code Cylinder). Take the cylinder to the relevant location and find a computer station called a Groph Module where you can place the Cylinder, activating this will cause a Drop Pod to land nearby (it is large and glows green so shouldn’t be hard to see). Defend the Drop Pod from a new wave of Zombies, after enough Zombies have been killed near the Drop Pod it will open and you can collect a part. After completing this step for all three locations head into the Operations Bunker and near the centre of the room is a machine to place all the Network Circuits. Now you can call a Dragon from each of the three locations will Groph Modules.

Many weapons make their debut in an attempt to make this fiery hell a little more manageable…except the double Pack-a-Punched PPSh-41, which makes things a little more fiery. The NX ShadowClaw, probably the most badass weapon name (excluding any upgraded weapons) is a dual wield bolt firing weapon, although it lacks power it makes up for that in quick fire accuracy, however its most useful form is post Pack-a-Punch when a bolt can revive downed players. The L4 Siege is a 4-rocket launcher, it is useful for taking on groups of zombies or bosses at range, but the slow reload speed makes it a poor choice for quick close quarter combat. The FFAR is a useful Assault rifle; similar to the PPSh-41 is a beast when Pack-a-Punched. For once in a Zombies map a mounted MG42 can be used after being dropped off by the Dragon. New Melee weapons also make their mark in this map all are obtained from the Bulletin Board in the Operations Centre after completing time trials; the Malice (a dagger obtained by completing 10 rounds in 13 minutes), a Wrench (obtained by completing 5 rounds in 5 minutes), the Slash N’ Burn (an Axe obtained by completing 15 rounds in 24 minutes) Fury’s Song (a sword obtained by completing 20 rounds in 32 minutes). The GKZ-45 Mk3 takes the Ray Gun game to new levels, this dual wielding beast consists of the GKZ-45 which fires a yellow mist, slowing Zombies down and speeding the player up and the Ray Gun Mk III. By shooting the Mist with the Ray Gun Mk III causes a black whole to be created, so this is a pretty useful addition.

The Gauntlet of Siegfried is a specialist Wonder Weapons that needs to be obtained through completing tasks, similar to the Skull of Nan Sapwe or the Wrath of Ancients. The Gauntlet allows the player to hold and baby Dragon on their arm and act like a living Flamethrower. A further two attacks can be used; a Melee attack and the Dragon can be launched becoming a sentry shooting fire at enemies, whilst the Dragon is airborne the Gauntlet Melee attack launches the player into Zombies causes them to take flight themselves.

-To obtain the Gauntlet take the Dragon to the Hatchery and head into the Basement, there will be a sewer grate and above that a Dragon’s Egg, shoot the Egg with any weapon which will make it fall onto the ground to pick up. Place the Egg in any of the Dragon’s nests in one of the areas where the Dragon breathes fire onto. Once the Egg has been sufficiently burnt the player must wait an entire round before being able to retrieve the Egg. After collecting the Egg the player needs to kill napalm Zombies, get penetrating multi-kills and Melee kills (in that specific order, you can check your progress on the Challenge Graves). Then take the Egg back to the Hatchery and place it in the incubator, once inside the player will need to kill Zombies near the Egg to collect souls, after enough souls have been collected then the player needs to wait an entire round before being able to collect the Egg once again. Take the Egg to Belinski Square (where the Challenge Graves are) head to the left most board and hold the action button on it, this should give the player the Gauntlet.

The Dragon Strike is a part Wonder Weapon, part Trap, part killing machine. It works in a similar fashion to the G-Strike; it marks locations for the Dragons to make sure Ed Sheeran isn’t the only one seeing fire. To obtain the strike you must head to the Hatchery on the Dragon, once there interact with the crystal on the second floor (all players must do this) to activate a lockdown mode. During the lockdown there will be four rounds of Zombies, Manglers and Drones to fight off, once completed the lockdown will be lifted and the player can collect the Dragon Strike by interacting with the crystal. The Dragon Strike can be upgraded to the Draconite Controller; firstly kill 40 zombies with the Dragon Strike. Then mark an iron cross (if playing with multiple players then one for each player will spawn), they can be found; in front of the Supply Depot near the river, in front of the Dragon Command on the furthest wall, in the back right of the Tank Factory, and inside a building around Belinski Square. The player must head back to the crystal and initiate the lockdown sequence again, but during the lockdown battle the player must use Dragon Strike, then once this has ended the player must pick up the Draconite Controller from the crystal.

The main new buildable is a variant of the Zombie Shield, the Guard of Fafnir allows the player holding it to become defended from the Dragon’s fire, a fireball type attack can be used a limited number of times from the Shield. The shield has to be built by collecting all parts, just like all previous iterations. Each of the three parts can be found in one of three locations.

-The Frame can be found in the Operations Bunker, either beside Juggernog, against the truck downstairs, or on a shelf after entering from the Department store

-The Screen is in the Armoury, either beside Wunderfizz, beside shelves near GobbleGum, or on a crate after going upstairs

-The Launcher is in the Infirmary, either beside the destroyed shelf, on a bunk bed, or beside Stamin-Up

Now for the Easter Egg, this follows the Lover and War Achievement/Trophy:

-Some prerequisites for this are; having the power on, having the Guard of Fafnir, activating the Dragon Network Controller, obtaining Dragon Strike, and obtaining the Gautnlet of Siegfried. All of these guides can be found above.

-After leaving the Hatchery for the first time several Trophies will appear around the map, there are six in total that you need to collect; 1) Take the Sewer Pipe from the Hatchery and shoot the red light on the ceiling of the pipe, return to the Hatchery and on the same floor as the Pack-a-Punch is a toilet that contains the Trophy. 2) Use the Gauntlet of Siegfried melee attack on the safe in the Operations Bunker, the Trophy is inside. 3) Activate the Gigant Laser Eye Beam which causes a hole to appear in the floor under the beam, a Trophy is located inside. 4) Stand outside the Dragon Command Centre (with the centre to your back) shoot the right hand of the right-hand statue on the wall above the rubble, a Trophy will drop. 5) Use Dragon Strike on the puddle outside the Supply Depot, near the Robot Arm and in the corner with all the crashed Trains and Trams, a Trophy will appear. 6) Use the Fireball Shield attack on the pipe behind Double Tap in the Tank Factory, this will shoot a Trophy next to Double Tap.

-Lure a Valkyrie Drone into the Hatchery Basement and kill it next to the generator underneath a tarp. This should cause the generator to start up and the tarp will be blowing in the wind to show it’s on. Around the map there will be 6 dials/valves the player can interact with, they are located at the following locations; 1) Upstairs in Dragon Command to the left of SOPHIA. 2) Downstairs in the Infirmary beneath Stamin-Up. 3) Inside the left corner of the Tank Factory. 4) In the Armoury by the Bridge. 5) On the third floor of the Department store near the Kuda. 6) To the right of a Mystery Box location in the Supply Depot.

-Now here is where shit gets complex. Each dial will have a set of numbers (1-3) and either a Green, Blue or White light. One of the six locations will have a Green light, this signifies that this tube is your starting point, any locations with a Blue light is complete and air is blowing through the Tube, a White light means no air is moving. The end result should be one Green light and 5 Blue lights with the tube containing a Code Cylinder to pop open. Each game is random so there is an element of guess work involved, the player must change the number sequence in order to get the Blue light lit and air moving through each pipe. This step must be done with 5 minutes otherwise the Generator shuts off and the process needs to be repeated. If completed the Master Code Cylinder will pop out of the Tube to be picked up.

-Place the Cylinder in SOPHIA to continue. Now some letter wheels will appear on SOPHIA, shooting each wheel will turn it to place another letter at the front. Shoot each wheel until you spell out KRONOS and the press the action button to complete the code

-Place all of the Trophies on the Map Screen opposite SOPHIA. Pressing the green button between all the Trophies will causes SOPHIA to choose a random Trophy Challenge for the player to complete. Now these Challenges can happen in any order so I’ll go through each Challenge in a random order.

1) Escort the Russian Mangler; Around the map there will be a Russian Mangler with Green Eyes, the player will need to escort the Mangler back to the Dragon Command Centre and onto the Teleporter next to the Trophies. Once this is done press the Green Button again to receive a new Challenge

2) Bomb Defuse; SOPHIA will play a twisted version of Simon Says with you, on the Map Screen 6 different locations will quickly flash blue in a particular order (the order changes every game), you’ll need to make some note of it. Each location contains a bomb (a small blue device), which needs disarming, however you must disarm the bombs in the order they appeared on the map. The first room to flash blue must be disarmed followed by the second and so on. The bomb locations will be; In Dragon Command Centre on the second floor balcony, in the Infirmary, in the Armoury, near Der Wunderfizz, in the Tank factory left of the GobbleGum machine, in the Supply Depot on the ground floor, in the Department Store on the first floor behind a staircase. If successful SOPHIA will say the sequence has been stopped, if failed then any non-defused bombs will detonate downing the players near them instantly.

3) Drop Pod; A Drop Pod (similar to those used to activate the Dragon Transport) will appear outside the map in the three locations that contained Groph Computer stations (just follow the Green Light Beam from the sky). The Pod will be outside the map and will be getting attacked by zombies, kill the zombies attacking the pod and once this is completed use the Baby Dragon on the Gauntlet of Siegfried to fly over to the Pod, collect the part and drop it next to you.

4) Gersch Search; A yellow Orb will spawn in the map somewhere, it will move around the map when being shot with a Pack-a-Punched weapon. Shoot and follow the Orb until enough damage has been done to it, then it will turn purple, remain in place and an Audio Cue will be heard. Repeat this twice more and Gersch (the yellow orb) will go to SOPHIA.

5) Protect the Drone; Similar to the Mangler Challenge, a Valkyrie Drone will spawn with Green lights and move into the map (at the Spawn room near the dead Dragon). The Drone will follow a set path around the map and to the Dragon Command Centre, simply protect the Drone from zombies until it reaches the Command Centre.

6) 935 Download; After the Challenge is selected a draw underneath the Green Button will open and a player will need to pick up a Keycard inside it. Head over to the Hatchery and on the middle floor will be a computer terminal with a red screen, place the card in the screen and then each player must hold the action button on the terminal to activate it. A download progress bar will appear at the bottom of your screen and the house will go into lockdown again. During this lockdown only Russian Manglers will appear, after the fourth round of Manglers the lockdown will be lifted and the players must bring the keycard to SOPHIA.

-Once all challenges are done interact with SOPHIA again and she will present a Power Core for a player to pick up. Go to Belinski Square and head towards the Spawn (near the crashed bus). Use the Baby Dragon and launch it towards the destroyed building to the left of the bus, the Dragon will give the Power Core to Nikolai’s Mech and the player will receive and audio cue. Head back to SOPHIA where she will detach from the computers and fly away. The computers will then move back revealing a hatch for the players to stand on, causing it to open and the players to drop into a Sewer to be transported to the Boss fight. Inside the circle of pillars is a Green Button, pressing that will free Nikolai’s Mech and signal the start of the end.

-Firstly the main fight will be the players and Nikolai’s Mech vs the Dragon. A large dragon will perch itself around the square and will breath fire into the centre of the square, use the trenches in the corner to avoid it. Eventually the Mech will fire a harpoon into the Dragon and a glowing weakspot will appear on the Dragon (the wing, chest or neck), shoot the weakspot until it disappears. Continue this process whilst avoiding all enemies spawning in (there is an infinite amount so the focus should be on the dragon), after all three locations have been lit up and shot the Dragon will explode causing a mini cut-scene where Nikolai and the Mech refuse to give up. The fight now turns to the Mech, whilst the Mech attacks players 4 areas will light up yellow on the Mech armour (two under the front window and two power core on the shoulders), shoot these whilst Nikolai is attacking. His attacks consist of an energy harpoon, RAPS and a Turret. Once all 4 areas have been shot sufficiently a final yellow spot will appear on the lower gut region of the Mech, shoot this until he goes down instigating the final cut-scene.

-During this cut-scene Nikolai kills Nikolai in the Mech collecting his soul in the Summoning Key. Richtofen tells Maxis that it is complete and a giant yellow hole appears in the Sky taking the players up. After the cutscene Dr Monty talks to Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey explaining that all will soon be…well explained once they get back to the house.

The Story

The Primis crew heads to Stalingrad. In this dimension the battle rages between the Germans and the defending Russians but both are caught in a stalemate. In an attempt to break this stalemate Dr. Groph and Group 935 resurrects Dragons. These Dragons are still very volatile and therefore attack both sides but are brought in to break the resisting forces. However neither side gains an advantage from the Dragons so the battle continues indefinitely and as time progresses the Russians became more technologically advanced. This meant that the battle was now between Russian Robots and German Dragons.

During this time, in Kino, Maxis and Sophia are working with test subjects. However during one experiment Sophia is attacked. Maxis kills Sophia and transfers her brain into a machine, the Strategic Operations Planning Heuristic Intelligence Analyser, or S.O.P.H.I.A. She is then sent to Stalingrad to oversee Group 935’s projects.

The German forces then release element 115 within the city after Russian technological advances had stifled the attack and German Valkyrie Drones had been brought in to regain the offensive. This left the city populated by mostly undead soldiers and a small band of mechanised Russian soldiers, including Ultimis Nikolai.

The Primis Crew appear in Stalingrad via a portal and perform tasks for S.O.P.H.I.A in order to gain access to the main system. They come across Gersch, who has been transported here after the explosion of the Moon base in Der Eisendrache cause him drift into the Fracture and end up in Stalingrad. The Primis crew trick Gersch into infiltrating the systems of S.O.P.H.I.A and extracting the information they need. At this point Monty speaks to the crew and tells them to fix the Fracture that they created. They eventually reach Ultimis Nikolai and defeat him before Primis Nikolai reveals his drinking is to stop the pain of his past losses. Ultimis Nikolai attempts to shoot Primis Nikolai and hits his armour, prompting Primis Nikolai to kill the Ultimis and collect his soul.

Now with all four souls collected, Richtofen creates a beacon with the Summoning Key that takes Primis Nikolai, Takeo and Dempsey into the sky and to Maxis. However Dr Monty contacts the three claiming Richtofen cannot hear them. He says they will arrive at his domain “The House” soon, that he had been searching for years to find the ‘right versions’ of them to close of the dimensions and fix the Fractures. This shows that the Primis crew are responsible for the Fractures in dimensions and all other iterations of them in other dimensions were gone.

Join me next week for the final episode, where we find out what has really been going on in The House.