Over the past few months ill admit, I started to get bored of Black Ops. Hit level 50, gone through all the multiplayer levels countless times and played a bunch of Nazi-Zombies. I definitely got to the point where it was time for some new maps to switch up the monotony and repetition.
When the news broke that Activision and Treyarch were going to be releasing a brand new map pack, it had me excited and hopeful.
So, lets get on to the maps. First up we have Stadium, set inside and around a hockey rink and office buildings. It has many close quarter areas, yet still feels very open at the same time. Stadium is my favorite of the four, Treyarch did a great job making you feel like you’re at a real arena. They put tons of detail into to this map as well, from the concession stands to the score board and the litter yard. it all looks and plays great!
Next up is Berlin Wall, which takes place at ‘Checkpoint Charlie’ in a winter themed Germany. This is a very big and open map great for camping and snipers. There are multiple ways to take, lots of buildings to go through, and even a turret filled field ready to mow your a** down. Once again Treyarch has set the perfect mood when running around this level, the streets are litter with vehicles, all the interior is decorated based on the era, you start to feel like you were actually there when the war was going on.
Discovery, what I would say is the weakest of the four, is set at a German research center in antarctic. This is a very beautiful map to look at with the northern lights in the sky and all the ice filled buildings. You get a great sense of how cold it would be if you were there. What makes this level not as good as the others is that it feels a bit rushed and not always well thought out. Items just feel to be thrown in for no reason. Not the best of the four, but still a very fun map to play on.
And finally for the multiplayer maps we have Kowloon, a small map set in China on a connected series of rooftops. The whole time when I was playing the campaign level Numbers all, I could think about was how much I wanted them to make it as a multiplayer map, all I have to say is my wish came true! Kowloon is a very intense, crazy map the whole time you are playing it. So much is going on in such a tight area. You will have a great, hectic time when playing this map.
Along with the multiplayer maps, Treyarch also included one new zombie level called Ascension. Ascension, like all other zombie levels, is just complete mayhem the entire time, and out of all the others, this is my favorite of them. Nice open feeling, not cramped like past zombie levels, good weapon placement. All in all just a great fun map.
In the end, if you are starting to get bored of the regular rotation of maps or want something to get you back in to the game, this is one map pack that you will not want to miss. It has something for every COD player.
Buy It – Must have maps for any BLOPS player.
First Strike was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for the Xbox 360 on February 1st. A review code of the Xbox 360 version was provided to us by Activision for reviewing purposes.
