Call of Duty: Black Ops II: Apocalypse

Score: 80%
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Media: Download/1
Players: 1; 2 - 12 (Online)
Genre: First Person Shooter/Action/Online

Apocalypse Now:

Actually, Apocalypse for a little while now, but while it's still the latest released DLC update, there's a menu item for it in the multiplayer menu, letting you play loads of multiplayer on just these new maps, if you like.

Apocalypse marks the fourth and last DLC to be released this year, so you should have that menu option right on through the end of the year, if you want to try to get a lot of practice in on the Apocalypse maps, that's the easiest way to do it.

DIG:

If you're familiar with the Call of Duty: World at War map "Courtyard," then you may feel right at home in Dig, since this is a "re-imagining" of that map.

There are a couple of raised platform areas in this level, but they're not "clock-tower" raised, so don't think you're going to get to snipe down safely from above it all. In fact, I found myself to be everyone's favorite target every time I tried to get a little elevation.

There are a couple of sunken areas and a lot of maze-like walls to run around, over or through when trying to hunt down or evade opponents. I enjoyed this map the most, out of all of the multiplayer maps in Apocalypse, at least when playing Domination. There are some nice places to camp, as long as the enemy has a predefined target to attempt to take control of. My favorite game found me shooting some hapless enemy forces who ran right by me on their way to capture a checkpoint and, when one actually got close enough to try to capture it, bagging a triple kill as they stood at the checkpoint without them seeing me. Sweetness.

POD:

Ah, utopia. The perfect community, where everyone prospers and there is no fighting or sickness. Each time someone attempts to create such a place, they are doomed to fail. Such is the case for this failed utopian cummiunity from the 70's. This once-modern living compound is now abandoned, except for your team and the enemies you're here to engage.

Pod is more of a run-and-gun map, with a lot of close-quarters engagements and several opportunities for using tactical gear to trip up unwitting enemies, but you might as well check your sniper rifle at the door; there's not much use for it in this map.

TAKEOFF:

Off in a remote location somewhere in the middle of the Pacific Ocean, there is a platform capable of launching a manned vehicle into space. This platform has now become a small-scale theater of war, as your elite squad is locked in combat with an opposing force, here, just as you are, to... what again? I really would have liked to see something more done with this. If I had to guess (and, I guess, I do), I would imagine that one team is there to stop the launch and the other is there to ensure the launch? Perhaps? At any rate, regardless of who wins, the shuttle launches successfully. Given that, let's say they're trying to take control of the shuttle and launch a team into space.

I'm not a huge fan of this map. I know that I tend to die on this map. A lot. But, I'm not really sure why. (Then again, if I knew why, I would probably work to correct that.) There are a couple of places that allow a sniper to see a great distance across the map, but there's not much protection for the sniper in either. Also, there are a lot of close-quarter areas and a few mid-distance areas, but I never really got into the groove on this map.

FROST:

Welcome to a quaint, yet war-torn European city. In winter. The canal has frozen solid, so you don't have to make yourself into an easy target by taking the bridge, but be careful not to step off of the solid ice and into the freezing water - this time of year, a man freezes to death instantly in that water.

This map features a good deal of door-to-door gun play, with close quarters firefights and a large number of windows to utilize to jump into or out of rooms, giving opponents the slip or catching them unawares.

Be wary near the canal, as snipers like to set up shop in the windows on either side, although there are actually better sniper fields with longer ranges available, but you'd need a partner watching your six, or you'll get rudely interrupted too often.

ORIGINS:

The boys are back in town, and by that I'm referring to the original soldiers from the first Zombies mode. We're back in WWII, this time, or at least in what Treyarch calls a "dieselpunk" version of World War II. The Germans have been researching magic and the dark arts, looking for some destructive power to give them the edge. The result? You guessed it - zombies.

A Russian agent, an American agent and a Japanese agent walk into a bunker... and, although their initial concern seems to be in what order they should kill each other, they quickly and unanimously decide that they should focus their attention on the undead menace, for the time being.

As with the previous Zombies games, this one will have you constructing various devices to help you out, while trying to stay alive and keep from running completely out of ammo. The environment, this time around, is pretty cool, with Nazi Zombies, magical artifacts, scientific research devices and even huge multi-story mechs that lumber above the facility, stomping down on the roofs above you as they march overhead. While you always have to be on the lookout for the undead, you also have to watch for the skies, lest a thousand tons of full-metal Nazi boot crush you to death. And these metal monstrosities don't even have to kill you directly to take you out; you'd be surprised how hard it is to aim a gun while the ground is shaking that badly, not to mention the difficulty in hearing your surroundings at the time.

The End... Is The Beginning?:

Apocalypse may not be the end of the world as we know it, but it is the end of this year's DLC and the last installation available with this year's Season Pass. This pack seems to have taken a definite "the end is the beginning is the end" sort of approach, which should be appreciated by long-time fans of the series who have complained about changes throughout the series. In Apocalypse, we go back to the Origins of the Zombie mode and see some fan-favorite multiplayer maps re-envisioned with a new premise and better graphics, but what should be very similar gameplay and strategy.

Whether you're a fan from the very start or new to the game, there's fun to be had in this DLC, but it's just not as mind-blowing as the previous packs this season. I do wish a new weapon had been introduced, since previous packs this season were sporting new hardware.

-Geck0, GameVortex Communications
AKA Robert Perkins