The newest DLC for Black Ops 3 is out and I’m going to take my time looking at the maps and tell you what I think. I can tell you already that Eclipse is a vast improvement but still has the same issues.
Knockout:
The first map starts off well enough. The map’s design is supposedly a Shaolin temple despite looking more like Japanese temples instead. Whatever that’s nitpicking compared to what’s going on, on this map. The map has all the stuff you like about Japanese inspired maps. A lot of cherry blossoms pagodas and red colors. Everything looks really cool and is visually exciting. The outside looks so good and then you walk into a structure and…..
God no, this entire map is ruined. Inside the structures for some god unknown reason, everything is Disco inspired. Scratch that I know exactly why it’s done like that. Because maps like these aren’t exciting for kids. They need strong color palettes and “hur dur randomness” in their maps or they suck. It’s a trend that started to pop up in the first Black Ops and got worse and worse. But I digress. The map has some cool visuals and roads to take but as soon as you enter any structure and get confronted with this extreme and unnecessary clashes in styles I just can’t help but get mad and feel bad. Structurally a solid map with what I think perfectly represents what happened with this franchise as soon as you walk through a door.
I wish it was a knockout, but alas.
Spire:
Oh hi Titanfall, how’s it going? This one looks a lot like a Titanfall or Killzone Shadowfall level. The map has some weird and useless dead stops but for the most part, it’s a solid design. I like the waiting room with all the cool objects from different countries. The inside of the maps looks like you expect it. It’s a white airport with adds. One thing that’s weird is that it’s an incredibly small airport but whatever. The outside by far is the most enjoyable part of the map. It takes place above the clouds and the only thing besides the clouds you could see in the skybox, is the tops of skyscrapers. It looks cool and reminds me of that one level in Shadowfall. I also like the part where you have to jetpack to a small and fairly useless part of the map right next to a plane. It’s a good map. A few flaws but cool.
A decent map with cool aesthetics.
Verge:
And from a clean and sterile white future, we go to an apocalypse future. It has very Mad Max-esque design and it’s pretty neat. The map feels a bit cluttered but I guess it’s okay since it’s Mad Max inspired map. This is one of those maps where the layout is way better than the design. You have the big bridge and underneath the bridge are small walkways and a big puddle of water for you and your enemies to splash in. The back of the map is a more traditional level with small structures and open areas. There is a cave section that looks cool, and leads to the water section. It’s a cool map with the water section being the highlight.
The water section of the map is fun and the bridge above gives way for vertical battles.
Rift:
Ok, so this map is something else. We go from Titanfall straight to Halo in this one. This map looks cool as hell. The layout is also pretty solid. There are indoor areas, wall-run areas and the big center stage area. What makes this map so good is its design. I like it. It reminds me of what all maps should be like. A pretty solid design and visually rad as hell. There isn’t really much to say other than that. It’s symmetrical and that’s about it. Really well-designed map.
Genuinely an amazing map that knocks it out of the park.
Zetsubou No Shima:
Then there’s the new zombies map. There’s some good and some bad going on here. The good is that there is a lot of weird stuff going on that looks cool. There are zombie-eating plants and spiders and even an uber zombie called the Thrasher. All of these look great and don’t seem to clash with the aesthetics of the game considering the mode. The zombies here have roots growing through them and are covered in plants, it’s a nice detail. Now over to the bad stuff. You know what the bad stuff is. In order to do anything, you need to do some elaborate or cryptic crap. I already ranted about it in the last DLC review but zombies isn’t fun anymore. There is too much to do that just isn’t fun to do. Zetsubou No Shima is a drag with some cool enemy designs, but cool designs don’t even make this worth is. There is nothing of value to the new zombie pack unless…you know, you like wasting time.
As with all modern zombie maps, cryptic, complex and not fun.
And that’s the second DLC. It’s ways better than the first pack, if only because it isn’t riddled with bugs. Most of the maps work and one looked like it wanted to be an aesthetically pleasing map but failed miserably when it threw some dumb stuff in for dumb reasons. The zombie map is what you’d expect of it, and that’s not good. Overall it an okay pack but still to this day is it not worth $15. If you really like the multiplayer and still play it, you will have fun with this for sure. However, I don’t really know if the maps are worth it for people who play the maps casually.
