The fourth and final Downloadable Content for Black Ops 2 was only just released only a few short hours ago and I've been playing it to give you folks a quick review. And while this is the final DLC, Activision and Treyarch have definitely gone out with a bang on the road to Call of Duty Ghosts.
The four multiplayer maps are as follows: Pod: Set in a broken down future town made in the 70's on the side of the cliff. Players can run on the run down boardwalks and edges or head straight through the rust and ruins. While it is open aired and spacious, the center and the few corridor like places around it are great for close quarter combat. Frost: Players find themselves in a typical European town during the middle of winter, with snow overhead and a frozen lake. This map is mostly for mid to long ranged players, the lake gives a lot of breathing room and quick access to either sides of the map but leaves you mostly exposed. While it's well formed and structured, this is definitely weakest out of the four, since it's mostly a corners map, where gamers hiding behind corners with shotguns are bountiful and spawns are poorly chosen. Prepare for spawn camping on this map. Dig: Two dig sites near Afghanistan, players can expect a lot of fun from this map. Dig is a reimagining of the World At War map "Courtyard" and is my personal favourite. Very quick paced with many areas to duck, dive, dodge, climb over and move around the large map in a snap. This map is definitely welcomed for short range players but areas towards the centers allow snipers and assault rifle users to shine while heavily exposed to either side. Takeoff: Possibly a shoutout to the main campaign, players find themselves on a floatable aircraft station in the middle of the Pacific ocean. This map is also a reimagining of the popular Black Ops map "Stadium". Players can expect quick recognition of the area and adapt well. The corridors and open air areas have been extended by a slight bit but this makes the gameplay all the more easier and fun. This map is mostly favours long range weapon users but does have the odd close encounter here and there.
Now onto the beginning of it all. Origins for the zombie fans is exactly that; the storyline is set in 1918 when the original "ancient horror" is unleashed upon humanity and explains some much needed storypoints. I won't spoil them all or what happens but the beginning cutscene is nothing short of genius and brilliance. Collection and crafting items are much larger this time around, even with helpful collectables also to be found. The newest item is the dig option: in the spawning area, a slightly glowing shovel can be found and be used to dig up items on small dirt mounds. However, while these dirt mounts can have goodies like modern weapons or ammunition, others can contain set grenades. This make the dig option both exciting and also much like a Russian roulette. While one mound held a golden shotgun, the other had grenades. Tread with caution!
Overall, the multiplayer maps are what you would typically expect for the Call Of Duty series, however with Apocalypse, the team at Activision have definitely been hard at work to deliver a fun and enjoyable pack. Origins is definitely a Zombie map to return to over and over while the extra maps add a hint of nostalgia with a twist. And so ends Black Ops 2 but this DLC will still keep fans around after the release of Ghosts.
First of all, let me just say thank you for all the support over the last few days. I've received a lot of encouragement and love and I really do appreciate that. It's helped me out a lot and filled me full of joy. I'm not good when it comes to death of people I care for but I'm doing much better than I was.
But that's not what this is about. First off, I am still working hard on bringing you content. Monday-Itis and Gaming Tales will be out next week as per usual and I will be starting gameplays again. HOWEVER because of all the issues with the return of the SOPA bill, I might put them off until that is settled. For the folks who don't remember, in 2011 a bill was nearly passed forbidding copyrighted content to be displayed. This includes everything from books and movies to poems and video games. That means no more parodies, no more gameplays, no more skits or even TALKING about copyrighted content. 80% of Youtube content is parodies or gameplays, a lot of people will go out of business. And the American government wants to bring this back. Be warned, this effects worldwide so even I would be effected. https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/stop-sopa-2013/LMzMVrQF So give that a click and petition up folks!
Also, big news, I'm working on a secret project that's gonna blow you away! I'm even writing a script and screenplay! I haven't done that in many years but I did get high grades in Media for that. So I'm gonna go start my review for Apocalypse DLC which came out only 3 hours ago and back to Payday 2, which I'm enjoying immensely.
I've been talking about this briefly on YT, but I'm going to be taking a week off. Recently a good friend of mine passed away and I'm not taking it well to say the least. I'm feeling better than what I was but I definitely need some time.
I'll be gone for a week and won't be coming back until Sep 2nd so keep an eye out for that. All reviews will be pushed back past that date. First on my list will be the last Black Ops 2 DLC and then Payday 2 and Saints Row 4. By the time they're done, GTA 5 will be out.
Thanks for the patience with me. I've lost friends and family and I never deal with death well. So please, bare with me.
For those who don't know, I've been a big supporter of Dishonored since it's release; with an overwhelming gameplay, a storyline very usual to Bethesda Games players and a lore as large as Elder Scrolls to dive into, Dishonored quickly became one of the instant classics of our time. The Knife of Dunwall was the first DLC to add onto the single player experience and originally, I wasn't too impressed. Barely an hour of gameplay and the same routine once again. My exact words were: "I won't be waiting for The Brigmore Witches with bated breath." and sadly, this comes into the case too many times. The Brigmore Witches takes place shortly after the events of the last DLC, you are greeted by Corvo who aches to kill you in cold blood. After a short fight, Daud wakes up in his bed choking a fellow assassin. As he comes to his senses, the game begins. While nothing new has been added into the game since the last DLC, the new gadget of a small blade was attached to Daud's wrist. This may possibly be a shoutout to the Assassin's Creed series but whether or not is it, fans of both sides are highly criticising the game for it. Regardless, the return of Arc Mines and all the other add on content was a massive plus and a major help. The gameplay is more or less the same, with a massive help coming from your previous save in the KoD, but still the game holds a challenge one way or the other. The first mission requires you rescue Lizzy Stride, the leader of the gang The Dead Eels and one of the only people to have a working boat. The mission to Coldridge Prison is a fun one but relatively quick. I found Lizzy accidentally and the controls weren't guarded in a difficult way. Even in finding the evidence to Lizzy's whereabouts or how to turn off her safeguards, veteran gamers won't have much to do otherwise. The second mission was the main bulk of the DLC is set with The Dead Eels who control most of Draper's Ward against the Hatters who wage an ongoing street war to control the richest part of town. She only asks to dispose of her usurper Edgar Wakefield from her boat and she will loan it to him. Aiding her continues as you need a new fuel engine which, funny enough, the Hatters have a spare. There are many ways to work through this; he can kill the leader of the Hatters (an old man named The Geezer who has his HQ rounded up to expel toxic gas at his death), bribe his nurse or the quickest way, simply ask for it. I'm unsure whether or not Hatter followers deaths come into play but this option is by far the easiest. Since I've given away half the gameplay/storyline already, I'll stop there.
Once again, this mission can be damn short if you choose it to be. With the final assault on the Brigmore Witches and the ending in sight, there isn't much I can say that hasn't already been said. The gameplay is as great as ever, the new animations for AI deaths and killing motions are brilliant and the set up for the new areas are interesting and unique. The Gravehounds and the abilities of the witches are top notch and add in great character to the game, but they are slightly overpowered for such simple characters, especially seeing as their leader was under hyped, practically powerless and her abilities are mostly just for show (if you take the Low Chaos option especially) and do little to nothing compared to her followers. The storyline is interesting and can capture fans easily but that doesn't excuse the flaws such as the cracked gameplay, rendering time between scenes, flat-toned audio and vocal cast and so on. In the wise words of a fellow review: "A game's a game, it's supposed to be fun not feel like a chore." I was joyful for the last chance to roam in the city of Dunwall and while it was a good ride, it wasn't worth it. Little more over an hour once again: maybe it should've been put out together, maybe a little more time in the oven but either way, for fans or people just generally interested, this can be fun but it can be a little more of a chore than it should be.
So last night I sat up to watch the CoD Ghosts Multiplayer reveal and I cannot deny, I was impressed.
It's quite rare to see a game stand alone in a special reveal but if anyone could pull it off, it's the CoD franchise. While the crowd were less than reactive, Twitter was going nuts on the screen and the die-hard fans were rearing up in excitement. So let me dive into the details!
Customisation - Infinity Ward has truly gone all out this time around. While Activision has had the corner in customisation, Ghosts will definitely satisfy all tastes. With literally over 20'000 possible customisable options, players can now even create their own characters. Head, torso, arms and legs can be picked from different options as well as different accessories for your character to wear such as headgear, clothing and more. Even Emblem Making makes the leap from Black Ops to the Infinity Ward side. Not only that but you can finally play as a woman, a CoD first. There hasn't been that much hype over a playable female character since Nintendo introduced the same for a Pokémon game. I applaud Infinity Ward for all these changes, they will definitely make the game more enjoyable. Customisation is a huge step but a necessary one, what's not better for a gamer than to include the game on how they want to appear and play the game?
Online Detail- While very little of the campaign has been shown, what we've seen from the multiplayer is just absolutely gob-smacking. Maps shift and change from each and every action: players can use C4 to break down obstacles and walls as an advantage point to fire upon enemies below, they can interact with traps (such as tied down logs) to kill enemies and even go as far as to blow up buildings to collapse on the map below. New editions to the multiplayer have been made such as the seven new modes, the main two promoted being Search And Rescue and Cranked, but I'll explain those in a little bit. With 20 new killstreaks, the death of Deathstreaks (goodbye Martyrdom) and a brand new weapon class, things are shaping up nicely to be the greatest CoD in the series yet.
There is so much more I can touch on about. The two new modes were demonstrated during the hour long presentation. Let me talk about the new modes. From what we can see in the trailer, we have names for the new modes, despite that they weren't touched upon in the reveal. Infection, Blitz, Grind, Safe Guard and Hunted are the few that were shown. While there isn't any confirmation on what they are, from the name we can loosely guess what they are...the exception being Blitz and Grind, I have no idea. Search and Rescue touches on the Kill Confirmed mode very lightly. Two teams battle against each other and when players kill an enemy, they drop dog tags. If the player picks them up, that person is out of the round. However if you are killed and an ally from your team picks up your dog tags, you respawn in that round. This promises fast paced matches and what I assume will be three round games. A different twist on a familiar concept. Cranked is a new form of Team Deathmatch with a handicap. When players kill an opponent, a thirty second countdown clock begins for them to achieve another kill. If successful, the clock restarts. If not, they explode. There isn't any info whether or not an ally's explosive death will also damage you but for now it's a wait and see. There is so much to touch on: players can have up to 10 perks, a large amount of weapons are brand new, audio and AIs are enhanced greatly to the point of AI's telling you where enemies are invading from and sounds can be muffled or echo in different areas of the map and so much more that is simply smaller detail.
But this is a Gamer Rant, over all. What are my thoughts about this? Well, I cannot deny I was surprised with all of this. There are a few issues such as a lack of recoil with assault rifles in the trailer but for the majority of what we've been shown, I'm quite impressed. Looks like I'll have to eat my hat. While it still looks like a CoD game graphic wise, the new mechanics both in character animation and map gameplay looks much like a mix of Battlefield and the environmental issues of Gears of War 2. Ghosts has taken what makes the FPS-TPS genre into a mixing bowl and made a game that can appeal to so many tastes. New but old too, simple but exquisite as well. Don't get me wrong, I've never been a massive CoD fan or praised the series for it's "originality" but I won't lie here, this may be "the best of a bad situation" if the game fails to deliver. I won't be holding my breath either way but until November, that answer will have to wait.
Check out the video below for the Multiplayer reveal.
This is a brand new series that I'm bringing out here and on Youtube called, simply put, Gaming Tales. This is a short blog where I talk about key moments of gaming in my past; questions will be asked and your replies will be featured in the next episode. But here on Blogger.com, you get the written version BEFORE the video is out on YT. So enough of this, let's go!
One of the key moments as a kid was when I became hooked on gaming and one of main events in
my life that gave me that nudge was Pokémon. I was only 5 years old when the anime came out in Australia and I was instantly hooked. While I loved Dragonball Z and all the other cartoons on the kids morning show Cheeze TV, Pokémon is what made me get up every morning at 5am just to make sure I didn't miss the next episode. I was a huge fan, enough so to sing the theme song in front of my entire school! And thank god it wasn't filmed cause I was terrible: every note was hit with vibrato...trust me it was bad. When I eventually discovered the games my love for Pokémon grew even more. I come from a relatively poor family, especially back in the days of my youth: my parents lived paycheck to paycheck, budget foods and family friends helping us out, such as the local hairdresser Chizza of Chizza's Scissors (Which still exists today) would give us discounts or free haircuts from the trainees when we needed them. Being the youngest of three children, I was the Hand-me-down kid, all my clothes up to the age of 16 were all hand-me-downs and I was picked on relentlessly for being poor, chubby, having ratty clothes and all the mean things kids do. My saving grace was Pokémon, no matter who was playing it, kids would crowd around a person with a GameBoy to watch them take down a Gym Leader. Eventually the years went by and I'd spend every cent I earned to buy Pokémon stickers, books, colour-ins and guides despite the fact barely playing the game in ten minute intervals from friends. By the age of 8 I finally decided that I would spend every second I could earning cash to buy a
GameBoy and cartridge. For months I pulled weeds, I worked with my parents, I washed dishes, I'd do tasks my siblings didn't want to, I worked my butt off to earn as much as I could. By Christmas, I was close but still too short of my goal so I approached my parents and handed every dollar over to them and said: "I don't care if I don't get anything else for Christmas just please get me a GameBoy." And when Christmas Day came my parents handed me the few gifts I had. The joy on my face was just utter bliss. I finally owned a GameBoy and a copy of the newest Pokémon game at the time, Gold. That moment early Christmas morning truly did change my life for the better. Later in life I found out that the GameBoy I had was rare, a limited edition but even then I wouldn't mind. The amount of hours I spent playing that game over and over, I can't even fathom how many hours I've killed playing on that device. Eventually I had a collection of games that I enjoyed immensely but I'll forever remember how hard I worked to get that device. Where is it now you ask? I loaned it to my grandmother so her Foster Kids had something to play with and I haven't seen it since. Yep. I still have my Pokémon Gold cartridge but the chip inside has dislodged and is now forever unplayable. A sad thing but I'm overjoyed it lasted that long. Despite that I don't have kids (yet), I've been trying my hardest to get my nephews into Pokémon but he's still too young for that just yet. The eldest already has an iPad so I think I'll wait till he's a bit more mature. The moral of this story is that no matter how old you get or what upbringing you have, remember to look back at your youthful years with fondness instead of misery and regret. So much good was poured into you to make you the person you are today.
Did you every play any of the earlier Pokémon games? Have a similar tale? Tell me in a comment down below. And as always, have fun and game on!
G'day there folks!
