The Giant

Overview

The Giant is the second Zombies map of Call of Duty: Black Ops III, a remake of Der Riese, German for “The Giant”, first seen in World at War and brought back in Black Ops. It came as a bonus map with the special editions and the Season Pass of the game. The mission briefing: “Re-awaken The Giant. Return to the secret facility where it all began, and strike at the heart of the zombie scourge.”

The story follows Origins. In the intro, the original Richtofen has just locked Ludvig and Samantha Maxis in the teleporter room when the Primis crew catches him. He activates the teleporter anyway, and the Primis Richtofen steps out of it and shoots his older self, creating a paradox. The factory clock stops at 1:15 and snow starts to fall: unlike Der Riese, The Giant is covered in snow.

Characters

The four playable characters are the Primis crew, the younger versions of the heroes, as they appeared in Origins.

“Tank” Dempsey

The American Marine. He holds the original Richtofen at gunpoint in the intro.

Nikolai Belinski

The Russian soldier of the First World War, who warns that “a great evil approaches”.

Takeo Masaki

The Japanese officer, who draws his katana against the horde at the end of the intro.

Edward Richtofen

The doctor of Group 935, who comes out of the teleporter and kills his own older self “to secure a better tomorrow”.

The original Richtofen

The Richtofen of the Ultimis crew, killed by his younger self in the intro.

L

Ludvig Maxis

Heard on the radios of the factory, and the voice of the Fly Trap.

S

Samantha Maxis

The announcer of the map. She laughs at a player who picks up a perk bottle with every perk already taken.

Enemies

Zombies

The undead soldiers of the factory, with orange eyes. Up to 24 of them can be on the map at once.

Hellhounds

They appear in a flash of lightning on their own rounds, the first one on round 5, 6 or 7, then every four or five rounds. The last dog of each round drops a Max Ammo, and later in the game a Hellhound can also turn up among the zombies of a normal round.

Perks

Five machines stand in the spots of Der Riese, but which perk sits in which spot is drawn at random at the start of each game. None of them is in the courtyard, and all of them need the power.

Going prone in front of a perk machine gives 100 points once. A Random Perk Bottle can also drop at the mainframe after a teleport.

Weapons

Every game starts with an MR6, the knife and frag grenades. The walls sell ten weapons, the Bowie Knife, the Trip Mine and frag grenades, two of them in the courtyard:

Wunderwaffe DG-2

The wonder weapon of the map, from the Mystery Box. Its bolt chains through up to ten zombies, and on Black Ops III it no longer shocks the player who fires it. Pack-a-Punched, it becomes the Wunderwaffe DG-3 JZ.

Annihilator

A revolver given by the Fly Trap, the Easter egg of the map. It takes the special weapon slot and holds 18 shots in all.

Monkey Bomb

From the Box. It draws the zombies before it explodes, and it is needed for the secret perk machine.

Every weapon, its price and its place

Teleporters and the Pack-a-Punch

The power switch is on a generator in the Courtyard behind the factory, reached by dropping down from the upper walkway on the Animal Testing side or on the factory side. Once it is on, each of the three teleporters, A, B and C, must be linked to the mainframe: activate its pad, then reach the mainframe pad within 30 seconds. Each link raises the shutter a little more, and the third one opens the Pack-a-Punch.

The power, the three teleporters and the Pack-a-Punch

Mystery Box

950 points a spin, on six possible spots. Unlike Der Riese, where it always started by the power switch, its first spot is drawn at random.

Besides the weapons of Black Ops III, it holds the Ray Gun, the Wunderwaffe DG-2 and the Monkey Bomb.

Easter egg: the Fly Trap

Instead of a long main quest, The Giant brings back the Fly Trap of Der Riese, renamed Paradoxical Prologue. This time Ludvig Maxis speaks in place of Samantha: the players light a beacon so that he can find the crew. It needs the power and the Pack-a-Punch.

The reward

The Annihilator, floating in a furnace of the Automobile Garage, 1000 XP and a Gateworm on the picture of the map in the menu.

The control panel

Shot with a Pack-a-Punched weapon from the barrier outside the Animal Testing Lab. Toys rise from the ground and fly away.

Three hidden toys

A Cymbal Monkey in a furnace by Teleporter A, a teddy bear on a high balcony over the power switch side, and a teddy bear in a vat by Teleporter B.

The Fly Trap, step by step

Secrets

The secret perk machine

A Monkey Bomb taken through each of the three teleporters, then a button by the mainframe, make the head of a giant robot fire a beam that melts a pile of snow. Under it waits Stamin-Up or Deadshot Daiquiri.

Beauty of Annihilation

Three glowing jars play a remix of the Der Riese song by Brian Tuey.

Icarus

The plane of Mob of the Dead rests on a roof of the factory.

Ciphers and radios

Five ciphers, a blueprint signed by Dr. Monty and eleven radios are hidden around the map.

The secret perk, the song and the hidden details

Trivia

• The game files call the map zm_factory, and the courtyard of the First Room is the receiver zone.
• Unlike Der Riese, the map is covered in snow. On Xbox One the snow was first missing, until an update on February 8, 2016.
• The factory clock stops at 1:15 in the intro.
• The swastikas of Der Riese are replaced by Iron Crosses.
• A Monkey Bomb thrown into a furnace screams until it explodes instead of playing its song, as it already did in Der Riese.
• From a tunnel near Teleporter C, containers full of gold bars can be seen, a nod to the legend of the Nazi gold train buried in the tunnels of the real Project Riese.
• Behind the loading screen are the blueprints of the Wave Gun of Combine.
• The map came out on PlayStation 3 on June 2, 2016 and on Xbox 360 on July 5, 2016. Since the Xbox 360 Marketplace closed on July 29, 2024, it can no longer be bought there.