With the final DLC pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 yesterday comes the end of an era – The closing chapter on 8 years of Zombies, and 8 years of fast-paced Multiplayer; intended to be Treyarch’s Magnum Opus, ending their Zombies storyline with a thrilling conclusion, and introducing new, engrossing multiplayer maps, how does Salvation stack up to the hype?
Multiplayer
Citadel
To start off with my favourite multiplayer map of this DLC, Citadel is set in a Warcraft-esque, medieval castle fit with dense vegetation, large expanses of swimmable water, tall vantage points and steep drops; to me, this map is visual eye-candy, a feast for the eyes, being both great to look at, and to play. The map is structured fairly, with balance in mind, with a real sense of verticality too. A very strong map to start off Salvation with.
Rupture
A remake of fan-favourite map Outskirts from Call of Duty: World at War, Rupture is a very…Interesting map. What I may say next may not sound legit to people who haven’t been keeping up with Blops’ 3’s DLCs, but…Rupture actually brings innovation to Black Ops 3’s multiplayer. Let me explain – Rupture is the most unique map I’ve seen in a long time in Call of Duty, due to the introduction of Battle Mechs, large Titanfall-esque robots that you can pilot, fitted with missiles, and a minigun – One complaint about this map, however, is that whilst these new Mechs are amazing, they’re also paper-thin, and don’t deal much damage if used incorrectly.
Outlaw
Remake of the COD: Black Ops 2 map Standoff, Outlaw is, most likely, the closest remake to it’s original in terms of structure, theme, and visual style – Outlaw is a perfect remake of Standoff, with gameplay feeling exactly the same as it did back on PS3 and Xbox 360; one thing to note, as well, is that this map is chock-full of easter eggs and references to western-inspired films such as Back to the Future Part III!
Micro
Here we go – The LittleBigPlanet Level; Micro, as the name suggests, plants you in the middle of a garden-side barbecue birthday table, with your characters minified to the size of ants; jumping over beers, barbecues, and flies; on the side of gameplay, not much new is introduced, however the theme alone, coupled with the change of scale for Call of Duty really does breathe new life into Multiplayer.
Zombies
Revelations
Whoo boy…Here we go – The last Zombies map. Not going to lie, Revelations had me get a little bit emotional; a culmination of nearly every single Zombies map to date, Revelations contains areas from Nacht Der Untoten, Origins, Der Eiseindrache, Zetsubou no Shima, Shi no Numa, Mob of the Dead, Verrukt, Kino Der Toten, and Shangri-La; 9 maps, including small original sections for Revelations. Fan favourite weapons also return, such as the Tommy Gun from Mob of the Dead, the Lil’ Arnies and Apothicon Servant from Shadows of Evil, Ragnarok DG-4 Gravity Spikes from Der Eisendrache, and, of course, the iconic Thundergun from Kino Der Toten.
The map itself is visually stunning, bringing back so many iconic areas and themes back to Zombies that were sorely missed – One touch I did love, as well, is that depending on where you are in the map, the Round End, Round Start and Game Over music changes to that map’s specific, unique music from past games, only injecting me with even more nostalgia – The new areas as well, being the House Garden, and the Apothicon Behemoth are both different enough to split from past maps by themselves, especially inside the Apothicon Behemoth, where Pack-A-Punch is swallowed. The map is hard, very hard, but also offers lots of room for exploration and reward, with the return of Time Trials and Medal Trials from Gorod Krovi, Laser Turret defences similar to cleansing the Sapwe Skulls in Zetsubou, and Antigravity wall-running courses themed after Der Eisendrache; this map has it all.
I couldn’t have wished for a better sendoff for Zombies, and can’t wait for the future of Custom Zombies on PC.
I would rate Salvation an 8/10.