Annihilation, the third DLC map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops, is now available on Xbox Live, and we’ve been indulging in some Team Deathmatch to give you our first impressions.
Overall the response to Annihilation is pretty favourable, and it’s possibly the best of the three Black Ops Map Packs. There’s more variation in the layouts, and as a result, the gameplay seems to allow everyone the chance to play to their strengths, rather than promoting sniping or ‘run and gun’ techniques.
Hazard:
If you aren’t familiar with Cliffside from World at War, you’re basically looking at another variation on a long, thin central strip which is only useful for end-to-end sniping (See also Berlin Wall, Convoy, etc). And two side passages filled with cover to give you a chance to getting up close and personal.
The fact that it’s a smaller map than Berlin or Convoy actually makes it far more enjoyable – there’s nothing worse than spending a couple of minutes skirting round a central snipper zone only to get killed with a headshot when you finally spot the enemy. The golf course setting is fun, and the lawn sprinklers at least provide the hope of getting off the greeen without getting shot if you’re unfortunate enough to spawn there. There’s a couple of good spots for those non-snipers, and we’ll be testing them out a little more before sharing them (One seemingly good spot is the house on the lower side of the fairway)
Silo:
Everyone we spoke to seemed to really enjoy Silo. It’s a sizeable map, and as a result, long distance weapons can do well from several spots, but the amount of cover and winding pathways and tunnels mean you can close on the enemy or practice hiding until they get bored and come looking for you.
Oddly enough, the look and feel is somewhat reminiscent of ‘Quarry’ from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, with the map sloping towards one end area, and a couple of cylindrical towers in the centre of the map, plus a multi-level building at the top with a reasonable outlook over the lower area.
Whether it’s just the fact Annihilation has been released so late in the Black Ops lifespan, the sniper points do seem pretty dangerous to try and hold, as most players seemed to be clued up about them and can take you down pretty quickly.
Hangar 18:
One school of thought is definitely to hold the hangar and impressive looking Blackbird plane, which is certainly possible if you’ve got a good party together, but is also quite a risky approach if your friends are the kind of people who get caught out by headshots as they sit on the plane itself.
The other technique is to skirt around the hangar to pick off anyone going in and out, and this definitely works well with some handy cover nearby. Probably my least favourite of the four maps so far, but definitely not a bad map.
Drive-In:
My most anticipated map as I’ve recently rediscovered my love of Nuketown. After all, if you like really big maps, you’d be playing Battlefield! The central screen and projector tower seem to remain a magnet for people imagining they’ll hold it for sniping, but there are enough routes in and out to take them down before camping becomes much of an issue. Some of the smaller side buildings provide excellent places to hang out and pick off people as they go for more obvious areas, and there are a couple of ledges which you can climb to good effect to surprise people.
It’s not as immediate as Nuketown due to the larger side of the map, but certainly sits between it and Stadium. It might just be the style of the level, but Modern Warfare 2’s Trailer Park springs to mind.
Total Annihilation:
Overall it’s a pretty strong map pack. First Strike featured Kowloon and Stadium, but didn’t quite match them with Berlin Wall and particularly Discovery, which doesn’t really gel. Escalation followed up with Zoo and Stockpile, which were pretty good, the Rainbow Six lookalike Hotel, and Convoy, which channeled Berlin Wall once more. So if you’re nodding your head right now, then Annihilation could be the pack for you, as all of the maps are better than the weaker pairs from previous DLC map packs.
Of course, there is the question of spending 1200 MS points on just 4 multiplayer maps and one zombie map, particularly if you’ve bought the previous 2 packs and plan on getting Modern Warfare 3 in just 3 months. But then again, if you’re one of the many people who seemingly only plays Call of Duty: Black Ops and the occasional game of Fifa, then you’re getting your money’s worth. And if you still haven’t reached 15th level prestige and plan on trying before MW3, then you’ll definitely get the value out of adding 4 new maps to the familiar existing rotation.
We’ll add some more specific tips for the Annihilation maps shortly, but the basic principle at the moment is to take it slow and steady, and check those corners!
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