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| Game Review : First Strike |
Maybe I have, in the past, called its multiplayer "hide-and-seek with guns". This past weekend, the entirety of my gaming time was spent on the Call of Duty: Black Ops multiplayer. I can't attribute my entire turnaround of opinion to the First Strike map pack – a set of four multiplayer maps and one map for Black Ops's Zombie mode – but it certainly helped. At 1200 Microsoft Points (worth just shy of £10) First Strike is, not to beat around the bush, hideously overpriced for a handful of multiplayer maps.
Given Call of Duty's propensity for tactical, clinical gunplay, well designed maps are crucial when it comes to multiplayer. Cod maps need to be intricate and painstakingly crafted in order to create multifaceted war-zones. I don't mind saying that, frankly, a great deal of the on-disc maps for Black Ops just aren't very good. The multiplayer maps are a varied, well-balanced collection. Taking place at an ice hockey arena and its surrounding area, the action revolves around a central plaza with the stadium itself dominating one side of the map, and office buildings dotted around the edge.
Kowloon strikes a neat balance across all modes, its tangled layout leads to tense standoffs in deathmatch and objective games alike. It's a fantastically balanced map with a terrific conceit. There are only three safe passages across no-man's-land, which both funnels the action into ferocious choke-points and separates teams onto opposing sides of the map.
Berlin Wall accommodates all types of play styles and suits all match-types. The final multiplayer map is Discovery, a huge snow-covered outpost blanketed by the gorgeous luminescence of the Northern Lights. The clusters of buildings and the iron bridge that skirts around the edge of the map offer plenty of chances to mix up tactics and play-styles in order to descend on objective points.
Rounding off the package is Ascension, an extra map for the Zombie co-op mode. If the issue is quality, rest assured that the four maps on offer are thoughtfully crafted and a lot of fun to play. As for me, First Strike's maps did a terrific job of throwing Call of Duty's strengths into sharp relief.
It appears the new multiplayer maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops share one common theme: There's nowhere to go but up. Players can also enter a "First Strike" playlist if they prefer only checking out the new maps. The largest map of the bunch is Berlin Wall, highlighted by gun turrets placed near the center of the map. Usually, teams that controlled the bridge often dominated the match. The maps feel more vertical compared with other Black Ops maps.
As a result, these maps seem very friendly to snipers, particularly Berlin Wall and Discovery. How effective will that Kowloon zipline prove in match types such as Domination? Based on several multiplayer matches, the "First Strike" maps are refreshing. As with Modern Warfare 2 DLC, the maps cost $15, so it would obviously fit players still devoted to Call of Duty multiplayer.
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