Ruins gets the four part map party kicked off. A disintegrating Mayan temple located in South America is the backdrop for a medium sized, multi-leveled selection. The biggest thing Ruins has going for it in terms of design is how many features engross every inch of the floor plan. There’s fallen rocks and statues that act as cover and create tight corners to navigate. Intricate tree and root systems turn otherwise long hallways into character control fights where bullets barely graze over towards the intended target. The map also has two unique functions, both from Field Order drops. The first is a volcanic eruption that acts much like Mortar Fire on other Ghosts maps. The second follows in the vein of Fog from Onslaught. This time, you’ll become the Predator from the eponymous series of films. Cloaking, quicker movement, and thermal vision accompany a deadly blade that hacks through G.I.s very effectively. Although the “essence” of the map is cool and nice to look at, Ruins plays quite inconsistently. It is very tough to feel like you’re in a “groove.” There are many places on the map that seem impossible to effectively defend because of all the ways to traverse to and fro. And the sightlines are either across the map in length or just a few feet with no in between; neither of which are very conducive to fun shootouts. This is not only the weakest of the bunch, but is eighth on the list of Ghosts DLC maps currently available. Look for decent games of Search & Rescue with everything else not being played at a very high level.
Unearthed borrows its basics from a Modern Warfare 3 destination, Dome. This outdoor vista houses a Cryptid excavation site that seems abruptly abandoned for some odd reason. A “smedium,” mostly single level build is tied together by a couple of small buildings and an underground passage located along one of the map boundaries. The special FO unleashes a series of Cryptid Seekers that ransack members of the opposing team. The coolest little niche is a player operated crane that carries passengers from one side of the map to the other in an airborne fashion. At the highest point, you can see the entirety of the map and any outdoor shot becomes accessible. Overall, I was pleased. There are definitely some weapons that work much better here than others (an accurate assault rifle like the Remington or an in-close arm a la the Bulldog), which will undoubtedly frustrate many from time to time. But the areas of action are so interesting, that it produces effectively paced momentum shifts. Domination is fantastic here because of the point locations. On the other hand, one of the endzones in Blitz is not placed well at all, and gives that side a distinct advantage over the other.
Collision marks another “disaster” inspired CoD arena. Its design comes from two full sized bridges that have crashed into one another and formed a base level for combat. And the map specific A-10 Strafe FO takes full advantage of the layout with two flybys of machine gun fire and missile drops. The place is tiny. Not necessarily in actual “square footage” like Nuketown, but in the way the features are constructed. The objects designed in Collision are so big in comparison to the map area that sightlines are few and constricted. From this, getting the high ground either in the middle or in one of the two overlooking windows near A and C is crucial to map control and team fluidity. All of this sounds bad, and if one team is over powered, they will consistently roll face. Matches with two even to semi-even teams, though, makes this place really fun. And much like Unearthed, Domination is the highlight because of brilliant control areas, particularly B. Strangely enough, vanilla TDM was a pain more often that not. This may be due to the two or three camping spots having a very good outlook and are easy to rig up with equipment.
Last up is Behemoth. A giant excavation claw hosts a medium, elongated build with narrow hallways and abbreviated rooms for the closest of CQC exchanges. The Chopper Gunner-esque Blackhawk Field Order puts you behind the helio’s minigun looking for lackadaisical players not utilizing the covered portions of the map. The tiered parts of Behemoth make traipsing down corridors a nervous venture. Many footpaths have a few places where someone can intervene from your point-to-point journey. This creates a place that’s a blast to play. I’ve watches some twitch streamers that don’t particularly like the “just around the corner” mentality, but I thought it acted as a good balance to keep someone from getting on an insane streak just because they happened to spawn at the end of a hallway. Most game types, particularly Kill Confirmed, are great. Strangely enough (considering its company), Domination wasn’t that good. In large due to the fact that taking over both of the bookends (A & C) in nearly impossible from the map’s layout and keeping control of B is way too difficult, with their being four very viable ways into the point location.
The new weapon on board the Devastation train is the Ripper. Unlike the Maverick, which was two weapons in different classes, the Rip is a pure hybrid. It starts as a rapid fire SMG that, with a click down on the right thumbstick, becomes a full fledged assault rifle. While this magic trick is really cool in theory and the transforming sight is a cool novelty, this is a case of being in the middle of no where. The assault rifle side just doesn’t carry enough payload. I didn’t feel like the damage stacked up well against any other popular AR. Rip v. Remi, Rip v. ARX, Rip v. Mave. Given an even shootout in those scenarios, it would be 0-3. Also, I wasn’t a huge fan of the AR scope. Its green sheet layout with distance markers and middle circle didn’t feel fluid to use. It seemed I was too conscience of it when trying to aim. A sight is supposed to make firing downrange more accurate with little to no active acknowledgement of it being on-screen. The Rip’s AR sight looks too “show-y.” The SMG side is better, but only slightly. Basically, it’s way too quick for its own good. Sure, in close it’s super effective. But any SMG with that high a fire rate is going to be “deadly” from point blank. Given any distance, the Rip SMG edition is too inaccurate. If any indication, I see way less people giving the Ripper a chance in the DLC-only playlist than I saw trying out (and sticking with) the Maverick during the Onslaught stint of January/February.
The last portion of Devastation is the next entry into the Extinction universe. Taking place on a huge ship that is stranded in the middle of a tumultuous ocean, the Suriv-err, I mean Fireteam (?) is called to rescue Dr. Samantha Cross from the clutches of Captain David Archer. Two new Cryptids make their debut: Seeders and the Kraken. Seeders fill in for the MIA Scorpions. They expel the same sort of toxic liquid/gas that nauseates and poisons those within range. The most dangerous part of Seeders is their ability to instantaneously plant and sprout these big plants that look fit for the set of Jumanji. They act like turrets, raining barrages of crippling shots. And the worst part is they can be grown anywhere. Floor, wall, ceiling, doesn’t matter. Identifying and taking them out quickly becomes critical in the latter stages of a Mayday run. Speaking of latter stages, the Kraken is no joke. This is a serious boss battle. Its attacks aren’t as scary as its stature may imply, but the thing’s HP is almost unfair. Prepare for a long, arduous, aggravating battle with seemingly endless waves of Cryptids that will test the mettle of all four teammates. Yes, four. Do not expect to live through, or even make it to the sea monster without a full team. I understand there are really good players that don’t have to stack the deck. But the average Extinction player is not on that level.
To try and be “fair,” Mayday offers more opportunities to arm up and protect yourself and others. Along the way, there will be “doors” to drill through. These shortened drill sessions unlock access to rooms with ammo, money, attachments, and equipment (like magnets, batteries, and wire) needed to craft items. Schematics can be picked up one at a time that unlock the possibility to create traps and weapons. Different variants of the Venom are made this way, for example. The best of the bunch seems to be the Hypno Trap. Much like the knife, it reverses the attack intentions of Cryptids. When the first two aliens run across the trap, they’re instantly “turned.” One suggestion, try your best to convert a Rhino. Not only is it an achievement, having one in your corner keeps a lot of the other riff raff out of the way as you and your team can focus on “high value” targets like Phantoms and the aforementioned flower turrets. The close quarters throughout the entirety of Mayday puts team shot at a premium. And although the “layout” of each area is easy to manage, the insane amount of Cryptids that get thrown at you from beginning to end is the great challenge. Strap in and be ready to furiously fire and run for your life while having a blast the entire way!
In terms of worth, I do think Onslaught was slightly better. There wasn’t an absolute clunker of a multiplayer map like we have here and the additional weapon(s) was/were better. I do like these maps overall, but I don’t think they’re as consistent or fun as the first batch. I found Behemoth to be enjoyable and the Dom matches on Collision are some of the best I’ve ever played. I’m just not as drawn to the Devastation playlist like I think I should be. For me, the Ripper is more of a great idea than great weapon and doesn’t make the intended splash. The saving point is Mayday. Extinction is slowly becoming my favorite CoD experience, and if the missions being churned out continue to be this solid, it might for other players as well. If you really like Extinction, you have to get Devastation. Anyone else, this may or may not be a sound use of $15.
