The First DLC for Black Ops 3 is out and I’m going to take a good look at these maps to see if they are worth your time. Splash, Rise, Skyjacked and Gauntlet are the four new multiplayer maps and Der Eisendrache is a new zombies map. Be sure to read my important message at the end of the article.
First off let’s take a look at the what is visually the most engaging map.
Splash:
Splash is a very different kind of map as it’s very colorful and takes place in a water park. The map’s layout is serviceable. There are a lot of fun places to go like the tubes and the pirate cabins. The more open areas are just kinda useless as there isn’t a lot of stuff to do and the open spaces feel just like their there to connect the better-designed locations together. Where the most action is going to be is the pool area where all the tubes run trough. It’s a great part of the map where you can flank or be flanked by players from a lot of places. The map is almost exploding with color and everything pops out. While it’s a nice change of pace I feel like it’s aesthetically too different from the entire game to fit. It just kind of looks like a map that was designed because it will appeal to the younger audiences. Overall the map’s design is great but there are some long stretches of nothing interesting just to link some of the most interesting parts. However there is a mayor problem with the map that makes it unplayable online. I will go into this major problem at the end of the article.
One of the more colorful maps.
Skyjacked:
This map is a remake of the Black Ops 2 map named Hijacked. Instead of being on a boat you are on some kind of airship which is a neat little spin on the map. It’s basically the same map from BO2 and it’s still great. It’s a good map for things like 1V1s or 8-player free-for-alls. The layout makes for a nice and even playground with both players having just enough chances to fight from where ever they come from. Aside from the good map layout the map has been adjusted slightly for the new wall-run mechanics. I really like that there is a part of the map where you can wall-run almost out-of-bounds from the side of the map all the way to the back. It gives for some nice surprise attacks or maybe even emergency escapes. If you played Skyjacked in BO2 you know what to think of this map. If not it’s a great map and feels like one of the most viable maps for when playing locally or online with up to four players. Pure fun. Again this is followed with an however which I will go into after talking about the maps.
It’s always good to see an old classic return.
Rise:
Rise is by far the least interesting map. It’s fairly well designed with just a few parts of the map being kind of useless. The middle of the map is the party zone with it being an open place with a “thing” in the middle. I never really got a good look at the “thing” is so let’s just compare it to a statue for ease sake okay? So you have this open space with the “statue” which you can get onto from a million different ways. There are four openings where you can get in there, and two windows in buildings which will probably be occupied with people at all times trying to kill players coming into that field. Visually the map is rather dull. It has a boring under construction theme going on that just doesn’t do it for me. In some ways, it reminds me of Array from BO. But I don’t know why though.
Just boring and uninteresting.
Gauntlet:
Now this maps has something really interesting going on. It’s a map that looks like its several parts of other maps connected. While it’s kind of mess thematically it is fun to be in a forest, enter a small alley and end up in snow area. The problem is the it’s a bit harder to know where to go and while playing a lot on the map will alleviate the problem it’s going to be rough at the beginning. Again it looks really cool and most parts are connected by some small garage-like rooms and it makes it look like you are going trough a painting or teleporting to another map entirely. Neat gimmick, confusing layout.
This could be a cool new idea or just maps that didn’t work pasted together.
And while those are the multiplayer maps for killing dudes with no life, what about killing that which is already dead. Well, Treyarch has got you covered.
Der Eisendrach
The new map called Der Eisendrach is pretty good. While a lot of complaints were aimed at the increasingly complex(and just plain stupid) gimmicks this map dials it back quite a bit. It’s still has a lot of dumb stuff going on but the main focus which is surviving zombies, acquire guns, unlock more area’s. This map is really big and I not sure If I have seen everything which is nice. The main problem again is the insane bullshit that’s going on. I’m fighting zombies and getting guns out of the mystery box when I look up and see a dragon head, sigh and go WHYYYYY…. There still is weird and dumb shit that just feels like it’s catering way to many kids with short attention spans. The dumb and overcomplicated “easter eggs” are just becoming a joke. It takes away the fun of the just trying to survive. Just dial back the complex Da Vince Code bullshit okay?
B.J. Blazkowicz was here.
Now while you can see what I think of the maps there is one more really important thing I need to say. With the exception of the zombie map all of the maps are broken. As you can see here on Skyjacked there is a glitch where you can actually see the other player’s screen by just ducking in a very common spot. This glitch happened one two other maps too. Then there is the biggest mess of a map I have ever seen which is Splash. Not only does the before mentioned bug happen there too but while playing we managed to find a rock in which players just disappear and can kill everyone who passes. At first I thought those glitches were goofy but then, when I went online I just downright got pissed. There is a spot on Splash where you can easily glitch out of the map. Just think about that for a sec okay. All maps have a ridiculous glitch and one map is unplayable because other players keep glitching out the map. Now glitches and bugs can happen but these glitches occur on spots that would be easily seen in playtesting. It just leads to the conclusion that Activision just pushed out those maps out as fast as possible without even playtesting it. I not only advise you to NOT buy the DLC I advise anyone that bought it to either file a complaint about a broken product. Are you happy with the state this DLC is in? I’m sure not. It’s shameful that Activision can just release it and people who make up dumb excuses to justify their purchase instead of looking at this mess and saying no, this is not acceptable. This DLC would have been okay if the maps worked. The fact that they can patch the DLC doesn’t mean that we should be happy with rushed poorly tested maps.
