First on the docket are the maps, and leading off is Fog. A creepy outdoor excursion under the veil of night features one main “house” that overlooks one half, with smaller buildings encompassing the other. The middle is entrenched with an intricate cave system complete with a bottomless pit that takes the lives of absent minded wanderers. The first thing I noticed about Fog is the immense amount of detail in the visuals. The colors are a bit drab, sure; but that’s in an effort to enhance the “horror” element at play. The tattered buildings and claustrophobic vines that envelop the midfield tunnels increase the anxiety of the map’s sightlines. Items like floating apparitions and screeching hordes of bats go along way in setting the ghastly ambiance. This is a very “hill-y” place to play. Not much flat to be found. Therefore, you’re always on edge about where the next target may be lurking. Admittedly, this isn’t a great map for sniping. The upstairs window of the main house is serviceable, but there are too many counter points for someone to properly post up for long periods of time. This place rewards the fast and fearless. Of course, the hot button item is the potential for someone to gain the Michael Myers Field Order. While other items are still available, Myers is “weighed” more heavily in the rotation. Once someone becomes the iconic psycho, the classic John Carpenter theme music plays, and intel doesn’t tell you if he is enemy or friendly. The FO itself plays much like Juggernaut Maniac. You have a melee weapon (in this case an ax instead of Mike’s patented knife) and can sprint faster than other combatants. And boy, are you faster! At first, it’s jarring how quick the character handles and can lead to over-swinging victims in range. My advice: take it slow and creep instead of outright sprinting. Dealing with the speed becomes much easier when troops on the other side fall into your lap as opposed to chasing them down like a lunatic. I’m definitely a fan of the Myers addition, as are most of the people I’ve inquired. I love this map. It goes right in line with my short to mid range mentality and is a blast to play. All DM and KC variants are awesome here, as is Domination. But it’s short stature and multiple paths does make Blitz quite the headache.
Continuing down the list, we find Containment. A small, two-tiered choice on a war-torn town street set under the high noon sun of Mexico. Opposing ends have deserted buildings on either side of the road, and the two halves are connected by a bridge littered with destroyed cars, trucks, and buses. Underneath the bride is an un-kept field that acts as an alternate route to traverse from one side to the other. To be fair, the aesthetic styling of Containment don’t strike one as original. We’ve seen this type of thing before from many shooters of similar theme. Having said that, the middle being so narrow gives a decently new flavor to the layout. The biggest, most hotly contested skirmishes usually happen for control of the bridge, and a few longer sightlines can reveal themselves in the exchanges. You won’t get a SATCOM signal while in the very center of the map in lieu of the nuclear weapon stashed under the dry river bed below. The map specific event is detonating said weapon with the proper Mortar Strike, destroying the bridge and eliminating the main footpath for the remainder of the match/round. This place has a polarizing effect. Some games are really fun, others wind up being tedious or even boring if neither side is willing to forcefully engage. I don’t think there is a game type that doesn’t work at all, but there aren’t ones that lend themselves perfectly, either. If I had to pick, I’d say the most consistent are Blitz, and surprisingly S&R.
Next up is BayView. A gorgeous sea side vista featuring restaurants, gift shops, and a trolley train for getting around the outside of the perimeter. This one can be describes as a medium selection, but that’s helped out by how many features there are in the design. The actual “square footage” doesn’t seem that large, but the numerous buildings and cover spots allow it to “play” much bigger during matches. This is a highly detailed map, probably the most painstakingly polished of the bunch. Of course, it’s hard to take time to admire the beauty when there are several people that want you dead! At first I was worried about the high perches being too advantageous for the Gander Mtn. enthusiasts in the Ghosts MP community. However, only a couple are really good lookouts, and a decent flank or just checking the occupancy before preceding past on-foot nullifies a stagnant sniper. Naval vessels in the nearby ocean can bomb the place with a heavy artillery strike when the special FO is done. While this sounds cool, it’s really not all that impressive and pales in comparison to the other three map events in terms of “awe” factor. It took me a while to get used to BV, but I have a generally positive impression at this point. S&R is a bit lame duck here, but the tight corners and obstacles make the Domination bouts hectic fun.
Fourth on the rundown is Ignition. A lot of Ghosts players will be familiar with this entry, as it’s a remake of Scrapyard from Modern Warfare 2. The same general feel comes across, but Ignition doesn’t seem as “cramped” as it did at times in MW2. Maybe it has to do with the horrible knifing and akimbo days of old being long gone. For whatever the reason, the sightlines play at an extended distance. The flat nature of the layout allow for the two main trekking paths on either side of the map to be seen clearly from one end to the other. When the match starts, the airplane graveyard feel of Scrapyard seems missing. That is until the map lives up to it’s title. The event in Ignition has to do with the space shuttle situated in the distance. Shortly after liftoff, it explodes, sending pieces of the hull crashing down in the open part of the map! Because of the previous knowledge of the “flow” by the MW2 fans, this place can be really unforgiving. Asserting map control is key. If the right players with the right weapons get themselves to the right areas, the notoriously questionable spawns of Ghosts only get worse and it can be a seriously tough challenge to battle back into objective game types. Domination is really good, and this is by far the best Search & Rescue map in the quartet. However, because of really bad placement of one of the end zones, Blitz is really unbalanced and favors one half exponentially over the other.
It would be hard to have a much better general impression of the group. Every one of these selections host epic matches of TDM and Kill Confirmed. The Deathmatch Onslaught playlist might be the most fun available online right now. Hardcore is also very solid on each of them, with BayView being the standout in this regard. One caveat could be to say all of the maps fall into either the small or medium category. But to be honest, most of the on-disc maps belong to these two as well, with Stonehaven and Overlord the obvious exceptions. Each of the Onslaught locations are fun and keep the “cheap” stuff at a minimum. That’s a passing grade in my book.
Reminiscent of the first DLC pack for Black Ops II last year, January ’14 brings us new weaponry. The Maverick is instantly available in the Assault Rifle and Sniper categories. Called the Maverick-A2 as a sniper, the innovation to the semi-auto arm is the scope. When pulling the LT to initiate the zoom, a vertically inclined sight draws up with a yellow tint. With the stock sight or VZL, the A2 has the “tango targeting” ability of the Tracker Sight. On paper, this sounds like a huge benefit. But target identification is usually accomplished without the scope up. So by the time the sight puts the yellow-ish glow around a would-be kill, you’ve already spotted them. The A2 has a quick pace, but isn’t very powerful. To compensate, you might be interested in attaching DMG increase favorites Armor Piercing and the available Chrome Lined barrel. Then, the kick is awful and anything past a one shot kill becomes a chore. In short, I wouldn’t say the A2 is bad, but I doubt dedicated long shots will ditch their current choice.
Now, the Maverick as an AR? Right on the money! It’s fast and loud. Really loud. After trying it with no attachments, I quickly slapped on Armor Piercing and Suppressor. Even with a silencer, its fully auto cadence is still tough on the ears. After replacing it with Muzzle Break, I started really cooking. The increases for longer range foes from MB was the perfect touch. This has, perhaps, the most reliable iron sight I’ve ever seen from a CoD weapon. It’s nothing special in terms of design, but I feel like an overwhelming percentage of ejected rounds find the intended target, even at a medium range. While it performs just a tick under the ARX and Honey Badger (which I think are tied for top in the AR class), this is a very solid gun that puts a premium on every bullet fired.
The final piece to the Onslaught puzzle is an extension to the main Ghosts co-op experience, Extinction. Being pushed as a developing story throughout the DLC season, we first arrive at Part 1: Nightfall. The name comes from a classified military program dubbed “Nightfall.” Initial intel shows a distressed video recording by Dr. Samantha Cross. She explains that under the direction and command of David Archer, Cryptic organisms were taken from the Colorado quarantine zone (Point of Contact) for the purposes of experimentation. The detail goes terribly wrong, and the situation at the installation gets way out of hand. Your job will be to secure the facility and fight off the horrid Cryptic forces.
When the chain link gate cracked open, and I first walked upon the fresh powder of the secret base, my mind immediately went to the 1982 horror classic The Thing (that’s two, count em two John Carpenter references in this feature). The frigid conditions and snowy details come through beautifully on the One hardware. As do the new enemies of Nightfall. The Phantom is a medium sized Cryp with an eerie underlying purple hue. Along with being powerful and ferocious, its main trick is the ability to teleport. Much like Nightcrawler from X-Men, it can disappear in an instant and re-appear just as fast. Phantoms also have a good amount of HP, so defeating them takes focused fire from more than one person. The second new baddie on the block is the Breeder. This giant monstrosity looks like a Kaiju from Pacific Rim. The four legged beast doesn’t do much moving around, but the attacks are crushing, like Gatling gun-esque bursts of fire and launching eggs of other Cryptic species, hatching pesky foes. Breeder fights serve as boss battles, and are an accomplishment in themselves to get through.
Nightfall is much, much harder than Point of Contact. Neversoft now knows they have a good idea with Extinction. There’s enough interest to warrant completely supporting the game mode from now going forward. Also, many players are ranked high enough that all the loadout choices are unlocked. I expected it to be a step up for the aforementioned reasons, but wow, this is no joke. Most shouldn’t try this without four people on deck all fulfilling separate roles and using skill points to make sure their niche is maxed out. Speaking of skill points, give a concerned effort to finishing each of the challenges. You’re going to need all the upgrades and increases you can get to survive the several rounds that lay before you. On the plus side, Nightfall offers way more “discoverable” item pickups: from ammo clips, to sights, to cash, and keys that are used for lockers you’ll find around the compound loaded with weapons at no cost. With the design improvements, new aliens, and an increased challenge, Extinction could start to garner the same level of respect and fanfare of Treyarch’s notorious Zombies from the Ghosts community. Time will tell if the next three parts can keep up the good work.
I have no qualms suggesting the MP community should download this expansion ASAP. The new maps are solid fun, particularly for Deathmatch games. The Maverick might not make the best sniper, but it’s a damn good assault rifle. And Neversoft is starting to really show its potential with Extinction, as Nightfall is a homerun. This sets the bar way high for the remainder of the 2014 CoD DLC season.
