Hello and welcome to the next destination on our journey through Call of Duty’s Black Ops Zombies. Last week, I reviewed the Black Ops 7 map Ashes of the Damned, and I was struck by how familiar it felt. It then dawned on me that Ashes of the Damned is an ode to Black Ops 2’s TranZit scare fest. So, did Black Ops 7 do TranZit justice? Was the original idea worth repeating? And which map is better?
The Map that is straight out of my nightmares
I remember finding this game terrifying as a kid. The idea of getting stranded in the wilderness frightened me to my bones. The terror strikes instantly.
There I am enjoying the loading screen’s music, when it takes a sinister-sounding turn. Thankfully, I’m saved by the bus honking, but my nightmare has only just begun.
After playing the Black Ops 7 Zombies, I wasn’t prepared for how brutal TranZit was going to be. Showing a ridiculous amount of naivety, I was knocked down in the first round. I even nearly missed the bus. Once inside, I looked behind me to witness the hilarious sight of the zombies chasing the bus behind me. It’s all fun and games when you’re safe in public transport, but I soon found myself lost in the wilderness. Then I remembered why TranZit scared me so much. A creepy alien zombie baby had attached itself to my face!
I arrived at the Diner with the hope of accessing a decent gun from the Mystery Box, but I couldn’t afford to use it. T.E.D.D., the bus-driving robot, doesn’t wait for anyone.
With no gun and very little time, my first game ended abruptly in the power room when a zombie quickly jabbed me twice while I tried to put the parts together.
TranZit was a Great Idea, but the Execution was Poor
It was time to give the game more respect, but I felt like the game didn’t respect me. The Mystery Box gave me the Knife, then some Monkey Grenades. As if that wasn’t bad enough, my ears started to bleed due to the famous audio glitch.
There are many hidden rooms that you can open with the power turbine. Inside, you’ll find parts which can be fitted onto the bus to aid you on your travels. You can even climb on the roof. You can constantly board up windows as the dead are trying to break them, much to the annoyance of the zombies.
I just couldn’t stop dying. In one game, I finally managed to turn the power on, but the bus abandoned me to the horde of zombies. Then I touched the lava with my toenail, and the game was over. Max Ammo never seems to appear, and without ammunition, you’re constantly searching for a new weapon.
Thankfully, you don’t need ammunition for the Electrical Man, as stabbing him is very effective at making him disappear.
In my last game, I actually managed to survive until the Town area. After plenty of searching, I’d finally managed to acquire some of the classic perks. I made my way through the vault, solving the puzzle to open the doors as I went. Under the bank, you can find the parts to build the Pack-a-Punch machine. I left one zombie alive as I put the parts together, but I misjudged how quickly it would follow me. In two strikes, I was finished, and I did well not to throw my controller out the window. Enough was enough.
The Only Way to Enjoy the TranZit Map
Unfortunately, there are just too many perilous locations in the full TranZit map. Examples are the cornfield and the broken bridge that slows the bus down. The novelty of the constant travelling does get tiring pretty quickly.
Thankfully, there is a Survival mode where you are confined to a single area of the map. I always choose the Town as my location, because there is such a vast area to control the horde. You can even start at a high round, which means you start with a vast number of points. After gaining the perks I needed, I headed over to the Mystery Box.
It didn’t take long for me to get the HAMR and the Ray Gun, and all that was left to do was upgrade them in the Pack-a-Punch machine.
I was really starting to enjoy myself, and I realised in that moment why I’ve always looked at TranZit more fondly than other people do. Many hours of my childhood were spent massacring zombies in the Town, and I loved every second of it.
Did Ashes of the Damned do TranZit Justice?
On Ashes of the Damned, it’s great to be killing zombies in locations like the Farm and the Diner again, with the Farm, in particular, capturing the chilling scenes from the previous version. The gameplay and graphics are obviously vastly superior, but there are also fewer irritating quirks. Ammo Crates are a massive help, and the Mystery Box seems to be a lot more generous.
Like TranZit, Ashes of the Damned also requires you to travel between destinations, but you can travel at your own pace. I prefer travelling in the truck rather than always having to be mindful of when the bus is leaving.
I’m sure I speak for everyone when I say that there aren’t many worse feelings than watching a bus drive off without you.
It’s not ideal to become stranded in the wilderness, but it also doesn’t feel like the end of the world if you are. I know I often complain about the simplicity of modern Zombies maps, but TranZit is certainly far too difficult. In all honesty, Ashes of the Damned has its own qualities which ultimately make it superior to Tranzit.
So, was Tranzit Worth Repeating?
As iconic as it is, TranZit isn’t my favourite map. It was a shock to discover how small the file size of Black Ops 2 on the PS3 is compared to that of Black Ops 7 on the PS5.
The latest Call of Duty game is currently suffocating my console by needing hundreds of GB of space. Whereas each map on Black Ops 2 takes up around 2000MB.
Due to the limited amount of file space, the plan to have a giant Zombies map with multiple destinations backfired. TranZit isn’t a bad map, but the space between destinations feels like a rushed idea. Every item needed to have fun and progress the story always feels just out of reach. As much as I appreciate the effort of expanding on the original idea of a larger Zombies map, unfortunately, it still just doesn’t quite work in Ashes of the Damned either. Maybe Call of Duty will try again in another fifteen years.
Verdict
My overall rating for Tranzit is 5/10.
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