Nuketown (Call of Duty)

Nuketown takes place in a nuclear test town in the deserts of Nevada. It is one of the smallest maps in the Call of Duty series and has a very simple design. The layout consists of two two-story houses with backyards, separated by a road with vehicles on it, separating the houses. A third house is located at the end of the road in the middle of the houses, but it can not be entered.[7][8] At the end of any multiplayer match on Nuketown, a nuclear bomb is detonated, destroying the town.[1] Despite its simple design, Nuketown has been described as an incredibly chaotic map.[1][2]

Nuketown was inspired by a scene in Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, a movie that released shortly before Black Ops began development.[2] In Black Ops, the map was a launch map available to everyone. It originally took place in the 1950's.[9]

In Black Ops II, the multiplayer map was redesigned to be based in the 1960's, and was titled "Nuketown 2025".[10] The map was originally a pre-order bonus, but later was made available to everyone via the "Revolution" DLC on all platforms, except the Wii U.[11] About a month after the release of Black Ops II, a Zombies map titled "Nuketown Zombies" was added, redesigning the original Nuketown site to accommodate for the mode and depicting it as a barren wasteland.[12] The Wii U received Nuketown 2025 in August 2014, two years after the game released, and was the only DLC released for the platform.[11]

In Black Ops III, the map was remade for the new gameplay mechanics introduced in that game. Vertical movement was emphasized in the remake, and the maps design went one hundred years into the future, now taking place in a virtual simulation in 2065. This new version of the map was titled "Nuk3town". Similarly to Black Ops II, the map was exclusive to those who pre-ordered the game.[13]

In Black Ops 4, the map appeared as a Russian replica of the test site.[14] In Black Ops: Cold War, the map was moved back to a decommissioned replica of the original Black Ops site repurposed as a commune.[3] The map has also appeared in Call of Duty: Mobile.[9]

Nuketown is one of the most popular and well known maps in the Call of Duty series. It has been ranked among the greatest maps in the series,[15][16] and the map has been considered one of the greatest multiplayer maps of all time.[17][18] The fast-paced action of the map has been praised.[2] After Nuketown 2025 was removed from Black Ops II, an outcry from fans resulted in the map being readded within a day.[19][20]

However, Play criticized Nuketown as one of the worst FPS maps ever, calling it "infuriating" and poorly suited to the Team Deathmatch game mode. They cited the fact that a player could predict which side was going to win within 15 seconds.[21]

The map has been recreated by fans in Fortnite Creative,[22] and as a physical paintball arena.[23]