There is no easy way to say it, but I’m going to try. While I really enjoyed Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare, especially the campaign, Ghosts disenchanted me a bit with the multiplayer experience. It actually was so bad, especially with the ‘try-hards’ dominating it, that the MP experience I had with Advanced Warfare, as well as Black Ops III, was less than it should have been. I don’t mind losing in MP, in fact I expect to get killed multiple times, but the MP maps in Ghosts were geared towards more skill (which sounds silly to you, but if you don’t play this game every waking moment, it’s quite true) than relying on the map itself to give players an advantage. The maps in Ghosts were a bit flat, uninspired and not conducive to the casual CoD player.
Advanced Warfare improved on the maps, offering up opportunities for non-hardcore CoD gamers to compete, which was great. Black Ops III brought back the style they created with the Black Ops II MP experience, but shook me up a bit with the beta, which brought out those try-hards again.
Anyway, long story short, getting into the Black Ops III MP experience took some time.
Why am I telling you this? Well, I just want to make sure you fully understand how much fun I had with Call of Duty: Black Ops III – Awakening DLC and how much I realized through this DLC what a good MP experience feels like.
Let’s break this thing down.
Maps
A good map can be essential to a solid experience. Treyarch has proven through its previous Call of Duty efforts that it knows how to create a good map. Black Ops II is still my favorite Call of Duty title. It has a variety of good maps that bring different flavors with solid focus laid on evening out gameplay. Giving players of all types (new, casual, hardcore) almost an even playing field where everyone feels like they can compete. That is always a superb element to have with a MP experience.
Well, the tradition continues with the maps Treyarch has released with Awakening. Here’s what you’re getting:
Skyjacked – In Black Ops II you got Hijacked, where you’re competing on a gigantic yacht with three levels of play (second floor, first floor, engine level). It was incredible, fast fun to be had. In Skyjacked, you’re on a futuristic sky yacht. Walls have been increased in height, so that you can run along them, and the same feel that was created in Hijacked continues with this one. I was tickled to see that Treyarch had replicated their successful efforts with this map. Everything feels the same, works the same and the little things like bigger walls help to bring this map into the Black Ops III gameplay format.
Rise – I didn’t play this one much, but it’s comparable to Black Ops II mall scene, where there are plenty of alleys/nooks/crannies to go through and hide in. It’s one of the flatter maps of the bunch, something I’m not particularly fond of, but it’s wide enough to make up for that a bit. It’s a map that is under construction, so there are plenty of objects to hide behind and dim lighting to conform to during battle. Again, I didn’t play this much, but it worked well when I did. Not my favorite at all, but certainly much better than previous map efforts in previous CoD titles.
Gauntlet – Loved this one because it gives you a variety of locales to explore. It’s comparable to Black Ops II movie set, where you can turn a corner and be in a different scenario instantly. For example, there is an ice bridge to fight on, a city alleyway to fight through, a jungle area to hide and assault folks, as well as a normal tech area that is quite open. It’s a big place and you can lose your way easily, even after a few games. The best game modes played here were domination and uplink.
Splash – In the cold, cold winter it’s a nice reminder of the summer. A huge water park full of tunnels, rooms and different ways to play. Especially impressive are areas you can climb and jump up to creating sniper nests to take out enemies. It’s a colorful level that is comparable to the Skate Park from Black Ops II. It works well, the colors help to blend in players and game modes such as Domination and Kill Confirmed are some of the most fun on this map. Loved this addition, probably second on the list of favorites.
Speaking of which, let’s rank these in order of favorites to kinda-liked:
1. Skyjacked
2. Splash
3. Gauntlet
4. Rise
The four maps received in the Awakening DLC are damn good. I think that PlayStation owners will be thrilled, and somewhat braggarts, with what Treyarch and Activision have done with the first big DLC with Black Ops III. Awakening is a great reminder that the series still has some life to give and good creative ways to make the MP experience once again fun.
In addition this bunch, you also get the Zombies add-on, Der Eisendrachen, which is great for zombie CoD fans. I’m not one of them because I get motion sickness (only in Zombies, haven’t figured that one out yet), but my small amount of time with this was good. Treyarch’s level design is deep, creepy and just what the doctor ordered when wanting a zombie experience in Call of Duty. Again, people who love the Zombie portion of Treyarch’s games will be thrilled.
Onto the summary!
