First off the multiplayer presses is Cove. A beautiful beach front locale that has a circular-esque sensibility to it. Reminds me of Crisis from Black Ops to a certain extent. It is no where near as “expansive” and doesn’t have any indoor features. But the outdoor portion of both maps have a similar theme in the way objects affect viewpoint and provide semi-exposed cover. This map can be tough to play. Extremely so if the “air assault” Perks start kicking up. All outdoors = nowhere to hide from dropped bombs. Also, trekking right up the middle is a sure fire way to get capped. Staying along the edge and peeking inward is better for staying alive. I found Cove to be a decent TDM place, but doesn’t lend well at all to objective types. The worst of which being Hardpoint and Demolition.
Hope you’re ready for a Rush, because that’s next! This box-ey layout is about 3/4 outside, and a quarter left for a flat level indoor “arena.” The open air is a multi level paintball field with flanking and out positioning the moniker. The inside court is all about taking a side, keeping that scope zoomed in, and squaring off with the other team in furious exchanges of heated bullet barrages. This map plays host to a lot of interesting possibilities. Because of the increased cover, the outer part is more frequented. Which leaves the court and “shop” to be used as a walled transit from one end to the other. Quickly cut from barricade to barricade, or swiftly cut up a 2nd level ramp and snag a peek down to see where they other guys are hiding. I have yet to play a match where everyone is huddled on the inside court, so more often than not action occurs when a member of each team cross paths and battle for the right to reach the other side alive. This one grew on me quite a bit. Look for Domination, and surprisingly Search & Destroy to be a lot of fun.
Third up is the all new Detour. Imagine any big budget action movie with a bridge scene. Now imagine that same bridge right after the scene is done. That’s what you’re getting here. Detour is two tiered. The top is the “road” side of the bridge with downed buses, blown up cars, and a few small enclosed “control centers.” The bottom shows the underbelly of the structure, with various construction materials acting as makeshift cover and obstacles. You can even get adventurous and catwalk along a series of pipes that hang off one side. Just watch your step, and don’t look down! This made me think of the Halo 3 map Narrows in some ways. Besides the obvious comparison, Detour shares the same arched design up top and a much skinnier and straight basement. Even without the spots of cover, it would be impossible to cleanly shoot from one end to the other. It’s an up the hill/down the hill effect with very interesting sight lines that makes this a really fun and refreshing map. I had a blast with about every match type; S&D was really good. And I’d go so far as to say this might be the best Hardpoint map in the entire BO2 library.
The last map of this download is Uplink. Much like Studio from the last round of DLC, it’s based off the Black Ops map Summit, with a graphical “buffing” and no snow. This place has a ton of possible trek paths, as it did a few years ago. There seem to be endless ways one can effectively reach any feature on the stage. Flat for the most part, with the middle structure offering some two-level effect. While I thought Studio “played” much differently than its predecessor, this feels strikingly similar to Summit when playing matches. I found myself employing the same travel strategies and utilizing similar weapon types depending on what I wanted to accomplish. I really liked the first version, so I’m also a fan of Uplink. Just watch out for the “cheapest” of BO2 equipment and weaponry tactics because of everyone’s familiarity.
The biggest restriction to the set as a whole is the consistent theme. All four are, and play, really small. They’re tight and don’t have many features to them. Because of this, the better team makes a mockery of the opposition much more so than it might on other layouts. And I’ve been on both sides of this, so one minute I love it, the next it’s maddening. Rush and Uplink are both pretty solid and breed even games a good portion of the time. My personal favorite is Detour. This just feels so much different than other map I’ve played over the course of the two Black Ops games. The perspective of the dual tiers and the slender frame make you engage in a wholly new way. Cove is by far the worst. Without some defining landmark, there’s nothing to “shuffle the deck.” Quick scopers can just circle up and pave through with no reasonable counter measures. It takes an exceptional effort to get back into objective games once down early. Cove is in a tight race with Magma for the worst DLC multiplayer map thus far in BO2.
Move over Hollywood hotshots, The Survivors are back for Vengeance’s undead experience: Buried. An old west town is discovered underneath several feet of Earth. This dilapidated community is 100+ years of age. And the inhabitants aren’t quite still alive, but are very much kicking (and biting). Simlar to the MP places, this is a very narrow venue for Zombies. The town streets are small and crowded with objects. The buildings are cramped and don’t feature a large number of ways to get yourself out of a tight spot. However, you can use this theme to your advantage. Buried might be the first Zombs selection where I would suggest running solo or with just one other as your best bet. Given you stay within one of the two “main areas” (the second of which isn’t as big, but is tough to get to, hence me calling it a separate place), it doesn’t require much running to reach any part. But ensuring the lives of four folks round after round might not be worth the added firepower, particularly because “training” is the best way to dispatch the horde here.
There are a few new offensive choices at your disposal worth mentioning. The headliner is the Ray Gun Mark II. A sequel to the “must have” firearm for reaching later rounds, this is a more focused and deliberate selection. It is much better for targeting the undead at longer range, and its three round burst can cut through them pretty easily. Spamming, though, should be left to the original Ray Gun. The pistol shovels out “energy pulses” quite rapidly in an attempt to chop down a large number within seconds. Try that with the Mark II, and you’ll be downed in no time. I think this is definitely a good Mystery Box toy, but some folks might opt to sticking with a Wall choice like the PDW instead. If training is your thing, look no further than the Paralyzer as your new best friend. This Wunder weapon works on the warm up and cool down principle. No conventional ammo, but takes a second to get going then must be relieved of the right trigger press after a few ticks. It “paralyzes” the zombs from close range, and makes them explode after an extra second or two. The way the gun works makes it perfect for circling to line up a host of baddies and hack away at them by the dozen. A coordinated two person attack with one “running” them and the other chopping can prove a lethal one-two combo. It’s also great as a “get out of jail free card” secondary weapon if you find yourself hung up in one of those aforementioned tight hallways.
Lets talk strategy. Clearly, fanning out and conquering probably won’t be what gets you into the 25+ round range. Grouping them up and mowing them down has been the best way I’ve seen so far for extended success. To this, Buried offers a plethora of options to aid in the attempt. New equipment called the Time Bomb is akin to C4 (at least the way it is intended to be used!). When activated, it takes things back in time to when it was thrown and spawns you in the spot it’s placed. Whatever the state of you, your teammates, the map, the walkers, everything gets reversed. This is great for trying something new and being able to get away with living if things go wrong. Vulture Aid is a new Perk and does three things. First, random kills offer up little yellow pick ups of ammo or points. It also has an X-ray quality that brings up icons to objects on the other side of walls and doors, like the location of the Box. Lastly, some zombs will glow green. Kill them, and they let off a cloud of mist that while standing in it, masks you with the flesh eating scent, making them shift their attention elsewhere. Each of those could be a separate Perk all their own, particularly the last one. So, this triple threat is almost a must have when on Buried. The last thing I’ll mention is the newest member of the Black Ops Zombies universe. I’ve heard many names from the community, but the prevailing option to this point is Leroy. The jail of the town has a tall, hulking “lame brain” that surprisingly doesn’t want to cause harm to the living. Find a key to unlock the cage and he’ll lumber about the town. Offer him things like Candy or Booze, and Leroy becomes a vital asset. He can smash through debris piles, which makes accessible crucial portions of the map. And he can attack “his kind” for a short stint. But the best way to use his “talents” is late in the rounds when you have a crawler. Hold X to offer Candy. Instead of killing it, he picks it up and keeps it from bleeding out. This is a god send when prepping for the next round or going after the insanely intricate and demanding Easter egg.
Of the three offerings so far, I think this is the weakest. There’s just not enough variation within the maps to suggest the set is must have. I expected them to be really good because I knew our Zombies offering wasn’t going to come close to Mob of the Dead in terms of scale. Buried is good, don’t get me wrong. But I don’t think it a slam dunk reason to slap down 1200 MS points. Dedicated BO2 players should, and will, download this. But you can get away with not having Vengeance. Which is something I wouldn’t say about the first two packs.
