Black Ops Contains a Secret Classic Adventure Game

John Funk

U.N. Owen Was Him?
Dec 20, 2005
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Black Ops Contains a Secret Classic Adventure Game

Older gamers picking up Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops may be in for one wholly unexpected blast from the past.

It seems that Treyarch has been busy packing little extra side-games into Black Ops. We all knew about the return of Nazi Zombies [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/102774-Zombies-Confirmed-for-CoD-Black-Ops], but like a Transformer, there's more here than meets the eye.

Instead of having a typical menu screen, Black Ops' menu puts you in the shoes of a special operative trapped in some kind of interrogation facility - and with some clever manipulation of the controls, you can break free of your shackles and explore the room. To the side of the room is a computer, and by accessing it a player can boot up the first hidden minigame, Dead Ops Arcade [http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/105103-Black-Ops-Has-Another-Secret-Zombie-Killing-Mode] - seen here to the right.

Whereas the command "DOA" brings up Dead Ops Arcade, however, inputting the command "ZORK" brings up something else entirely: If you couldn't guess from the input, it's Zork. Yes, that Zork. Father of the text adventure genre, you-are-likely-to-be-eaten-by-a-grue Zork.

As far as we know, it's the full and complete version of the classic text adventure, which should be good for at least a few hours' worth of nostalgia from older gamers who remember playing the original. Younger gamers, on the other hand, just might not have the patience for a text adventure, and will probably gravitate back to Dead Ops Arcade - or the rest of Black Ops - before too long.

How many other minigames will players find in Black Ops before all is said and done? You have to give Treyarch credit, though: Even if Dead Ops and Zork were the only two easter egg side-games present here, it's still really cool that the developers put them in the game in the first place.

(Via MTV Multiplayer [http://multiplayerblog.mtv.com/2010/11/09/how-to-unlock-two-secret-games-in-the-call-of-duty-black-ops-main-menu/])

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Gxas

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Sep 4, 2008
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I'm guessing that doing this on the PS3/Xbox 360 would not be advisable. I mean, even with the chat pad on the Xbox it would still be a pain in the ass to play a text-based adventure.
 

GLo Jones

Activate the Swagger
Feb 13, 2010
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I've actually always wanted to give Zork a go, but never gotten round to it.

This. Is. BRILLIANT.
 

zHellas

Quite Not Right
Feb 7, 2010
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Gxas said:
I'm guessing that doing this on the PS3/Xbox 360 would not be advisable. I mean, even with the chat pad on the Xbox it would still be a pain in the ass to play a text-based adventure.
They might have a series of options you can choose, like you can move an analog stick to point at and then press A to Look Around, or Go North or Go East.
 

Nouw

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Mar 18, 2009
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Seems that they put the effort into these little extras! Awesome work Treyarch.
 

Shihoudani

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Oct 3, 2009
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Treyarch has really improved their image with me. The work they have put into Black Ops and the fun loving easter eggs present show to me that they put a little part of themselves in their product. Two thumbs up for Treyarch!
 

BenzSmoke

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Nov 1, 2009
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My brother just played DOA.
I have to say, including a hidden arcade game in a computer, in the main menu, that is actually another room, is an awesome idea!
 

Sniper Team 4

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Apr 28, 2010
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Okay, so I played Zork. Or rather, I tried to. I typed, "Go to mail box," then I get "It's Here!" I can't do anything after that. Seriously, all I keep getting is "It's Here!" How it the world do you play these types of games?
 

tahrey

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Sep 18, 2009
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"how many more things will be discovered?" ... well, at least as far as that old computer is concerned (i'm pegging it at about a P166 with a voodoo2, btw, given the graphics on that top-down shooter; the title screen is a bit out of place, but eh, stylistic choice), does no-one know how to use DOS any more?

cd\
dir *.com
dir *.exe
dir *.bat
dir *.* /d

and off we go a-explorin'

maybe chkdsk for a clue on the disk size first, so we know what we may find. 500mb will be plenty sufficient to hide the zombie game, zork, GTA, shareware versions of descent, Doom 1+2 (maybe quake?) and still have the files for which it was officially set up :D
 

Tyran107

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Nov 14, 2008
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Is there any way to actually do this on the PC version??? From every video I've seen you have to alternate the fire/aim buttons which doesn't work on PC because clicking the mouse buttons interacts with the menu no matter where you are looking.
 

Urgh76

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May 27, 2009
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I got to the end of the rainbow under the great canyon with the jewel egg.... not that far.......
 

Why do I care

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Jan 13, 2010
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Ah Zork, the one of the best from my childhood.

Brilliant. Just brilliant.

Treyarch got +5 respect points from me.
 

IBlackKiteI

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Mar 12, 2010
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Ahhhhh so THATS why it takes ten years for a map to be properly loaded.

Actually I had a go of Zork on BO just then, I remember hearing about these sorta games.
Its...intriguing yes.