As you all know I am a big time Black OPS player. With over 300 hours put into the multiplayer and 11 prestiges nearly completed you know i'm enjoying myself. So today I bought the new Escalation DLC. Now before I give you all my first impressions of the DLC please bare in mind that I played the new maps for only an hour and a half and the new zombie map for well over an hour. So i've had very little time to get a good grasp on these maps, as such I will write a more in depth impressions blog on Monday after i've had ample time to play everything. But here are my thoughts so far on each map. :)

First Impressions: Escalation DLC

Multiplayer Maps: 4

Map #1: Convoy

One thing that great about convoy is its openess. Its great for all cl*ss types (Snipers, Shotgunners, Assualt Rifles ect...) There are some nice narrow corridors for short range gunplay and some really nice long range and open areas for snipers. Its a well made map to say the least. One major problem it has (at least while playing domination) is that its a campers paradise. If it wasn't for campers my first game would've been 14-2, but campers brought my score to a very nice 14-16. :x I haven't tried any other game modes yet, but rest assured that you will run into a ton of campers in Domination. However the map is still designed well and is fun to play on.

Map Score- 7/10.

Map #2: Zoo

Zoo is a great map, but it to shares convoy's biggest weakness. It has campers galore. Unfortunately its the worst kind of camper, since the map seems to facilitate corner camping almost to well. Its a cool map, but running and gunning is almost impossible against a team full of really good campers. I was most excited for this map, but so far it seems to be the weakest of them all do to a horrible amount of campers, even if the level design is amazing.

Map Score- 6/10.

Map #3: Stockpile

So far my favorite of all the maps. Stockpile is a great map for sniping and assualt rifles. It helps that i'm a sucker for snowy maps, but besides that the map is very well made and doesn't really reward camping, which is something that the other maps have a serious problem with. I wasn't doing that well on it tonight, but that just comes from not playing it enough to know all the spots and all the different angles of the maps. It really has no issues that I can tell right now, so its easilly the best of the maps right now.

Map Score- 8.5/10.

Map #4: Hotel

At this point I can't decide whether to hate Hotel or love it. The overall design of the level is fantastic, but in certain game modes your going to find nothing, but campers. Luckily its easy to find these campers and kill them, but it definitely leads to some frustrating deaths if your stupid. The best weapon loadout for this level is either a SMG cl*ss or a Shotgun cl*ss and those seem perfectly suited for all game modes. Its really a fun map and pretty to look at, but you will get very frustrated quickly if campers keep killing you.

Map Score- 6.5/10.

Zombie Map: Call of the Dead

Now we get to talk a little bit about the highlight of the Escalation Map Pack. I've never been the biggest fan of zombies although I have enjoyed all the maps in Black OPS, but I'd just rather play the Multiplayer. With Call of the Dead I felt immediately addicted to it! This map is easily the best thing to come out of Escalation and is just pure awesomeness. It has a really cool story to it and the badass cast of characters feel perfectly suited for zombies! Things start off much faster than any of the other zombie maps before and its a nice added challenge, but makes it kinda hard to do well if your team isn't organized or in sync with each other. Still Call of the Dead is just fantastic and is a must play.must own for any zombies fan out there!

Map Score- 9/10

Final Verdict:

Escalation is a good DLC pack, but its not quite as good as First Strike. The zombie map is leauges better than Acension, but the maps just aren't as cool or as inviting as the ones in First Strike were to me. Maybe that will all change with more playtime and fewer campers, but as it stands this Map Pack is worth the price of admission mostly due to the incredible Zombie map and a couple of really good multiplayer maps.

Overall Score: 7.5/10.

So like I said this is not a final score. If you actually remember I gave First Strike a 7/10 then later changed that to a 8.5/10 after I played it more. So this score is definitely subject to change.

Thanks for reading. :)

~Mike 8)