The First Strike

Another write up about Black Ops? I know, I know. It seems I tend to retread ground sometimes but this is technically new! On February 1st, Treyarch dropped the first map pack for their hit game, Call of Duty: Black Ops. Included in the pack are four brand new multi-player maps and a fifth map for the zombie mode. With the pack clocking in at $15 total, I thought it was a little steep in price. Regardless, Andrew (Ramble On Dru) convinced me to purchase the pack and we put it through the paces over the course of the week. Here are my thoughts. The four new multi-player maps include Kowloon, Stadium, Berlin Wall, and Discovery. I'll break each map down as best I can to give you a feel for what each one is like.

Stadium

Probably the most simplistic map. This mimics an actual sports stadium, though you'll be disappointed to find that you can't venture onto the ice inside the stadium itself. However you can venture through disheveled concession and merchandise stands. On the outskirts of the map are several office buildings and locker rooms housing equipment as well as various nooks and crannies perfect for camping out. They also provide second floor vantage points to stage you stand from the high ground. These points aren't great for long range fire though as the map is relatively small, leading to fierce ground battles and a fairly speedy pace of game play as there is little ground to cover. In essence it renders sniping ineffective unless you are mobile. Despite these shortcomings, Stadium has quickly become my favorite of the new maps.

Kowloon

This map is created after the Nova Gas section of the single player campaign. The map is medium sized and covers the sprawling rooftops of Kowloon, just like the campaign. Because of this there are many high vantage points. The upside to this sniper's haven is that there are turns and paths that can lead to different flag points and sections of the map. These create easy flanking points. Though when proper teamwork is employed these paths can be locked down, making it very difficult for a team to overtake their opposition. The other fun addition in this map would be the zip line. They are used for quick travel from one point to another but leave you completely vulnerable to attack until you have landed. Is it great when it works? Completely! But it's humiliating when it fails. Overall this map is great.

Discovery

This is by far the biggest map out of the whole pack. Discovery is modeled after another portion of the single player campaign, taking gamers to a snowy, abandoned outpost. From either spawn point there are three main routes to the other side. The most direct route is over the bridge in the middle of the map, which happens to be the middle flag point in a game of Domination. Craftier players can avoid these congested areas by taking an icy walkway below the bridge to cross over into enemy territory. This can lead to its own set of problems as this bridge of ice can be blown apart while you're on it, leaving a chasm in the middle of the map. So far this map has proven to be the best of the four for snipers as the main routes of travel leave ample room for a player to set up shop and snipe to their heart's content. This makes being able to navigate the underground pathways invaluable so that you can flank them and swarm their spawn. Keep that in mind when when you venture out on this map.

Berlin Wall

This is the map I was most excited about after seeing the trailer for the map pack a month ago. While I applaud Treyarch for what they did with it, it's still a mixed bag in its execution. The map is fairly small, just a little bigger than Stadium perhaps. However the unique thing about it is a quarter of the map is sectioned off and unusable. You're probably asking yourself how this is if you haven't played it yet. Well on either spawn side you have your Domination points of A and C. Much like Discovery the B point is directly in the middle of the map. The problem with this is that B consists of a very narrow pathway leading from one side to the other and it's wide open. When you enter the sides surrounding B, a siren will begin to wail and very shortly afterwards you will be gunned down for trespassing. This means that your modes of travel are very limited as the B point is always congested.

So there you go. I hope from these impressions you have gotten some idea of how these maps play out in the field so to speak. I took a little extra time to play these for a few more days before finishing my write up to see if it would change how I felt about some of them(I started this post on Saturday, it's now Thursday.) Honestly, nothing really changed. Stadium is still my favorite by far but I'm starting to really get a feel for Berlin Wall. It can still become a bit of a mess at the B point in Domination but it is possible to work around that, almost turning the game into musical chairs for points. If you haven't picked up the pack yet, then I hope my write up can help you in your decision to do so or not. If you already have the map pack, you should join up with me for a game. Also look for a review of the Ascension zombie map from the First Strike from Andrew sometime soon.