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Be the baddies: Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer DLC to make CoD villains past and present playable

Zakhaev featured in the background of that memorable Modern Warfare opening - sans arm.

Given the long money tail Black Ops II grew thanks to its DLC, it’s taken Infinity Ward a surprisingly long time to wind up to a similar cycle of paid-for packs for Ghosts; which we thought was rather bad in our Call of Duty: Ghosts review. Three months on, they’re finally getting there: their Onslaught map pack is out on PC today, and will be followed by micro character DLC that’ll allow you to get under the skin of some memorably mean personalities.

The leaked blurb for a Ghosts season pass references three CoD villains from three different games. I expect you’re most likely to remember Imran Zakhaev, him of the original Modern Warfare.

Zakhaev managed to be an arms dealer, Ultranationalist, and terrorist, all while growing an astonishing ring-pull beard that protected much of his face and neck from enemy fire. You might recall he was rendered mostly ‘armless by Captain Price, but in Ghosts’ multiplayer maps we’ll presumably play him with both limbs intact.

Next comes Vladimir Makarov, distinguished from Zakhaev by – well, not very much. The need for a dead bad guy at the conclusion of each game meant he’d graduated to primary villain by Modern Warfare 3. Hobbies included torture, human trafficking, and human rights violations – and for work, he led the notorious airport massacre of MW2.

Finally, there’s Gabriel T. Rorke – former Ghost and antagonist of Ghosts’ single player campaign. He sported a bandana that made him resemble Steve Van Zandt – and soon, you can too.

Makarov will come as part of the Legend Pack, which also features a themed weapon camo, reticle, patch, playercard and background – but the two others will be released individually as “micro DLC”. All three are expected to be released on March 4.

Do you have a favourite CoD villain? Or had you forgotten these three?

Thanks to VG247 and IGN.