It’s taken an extraordinarily long time for this, Ghosts’ very first map pack, to come around. T’was not so far Black Ops 2, which set new series records for DLC sales.
But if Infinity Ward have failed to match Treyarch’s speed, they’ve at least matched their capacity for synonyms for the word ‘attack’ – and for developing solid-sounding new multiplayer maps. Onslaught has five, and they’re available to download today.
Four are traditional multiplayer maps: Fog, BayView, Containment, and Ignition. A fifth is the first of four episodes for Ghosts’ alien-unfriendly (some might say xenophobic) cooperative mode, Extinction.
Ignition is a reimagining of Modern Warfare 2’s scrapyard – relocated from a dusty airfield to a creaky Florida space launch facility – presumably in tribute to Ghosts’ gravity-free campaign leanings.
Infinity Ward have infused Scrapyard with dynamic elements – namely rockets crash-landing into the map, and two rocket test engine sites that both sides can trigger with explosive results.
“Sending massive fireballs into the already intense firefights and the failed launch of a massive rocket has a dramatic effect on the combat,” they note.
If you’ve heard about any of the other maps, it’ll be Fog – a smallish affair based around a lake, notable for its links to classic horror films. Besides the menagerie of torture chambers, creepy campsites and flickering TVs, there’s a chance to embody perpetual Halloween baddy Michael Myers if you manage to find and complete a specific field order. All in all, an out-of-season good time.
BayView is an even tighter close-quarters map, set on a coastal Californian boardwalk. The sniper cover granted by seaside gift shops and an aquarium make this perfect run-and-gun territory – but for a naval destroyer anchored suspiciously close to shore, which can be persuaded to make artillery strikes on US soil.
Containment takes place on the banks of a dried up river at the centre of a Mexican village. A small bridge provides a bloody bottleneck, and the abandoned buildings backed up on both sides offer plenty of nice vantage points.
Extinction Episode 1, meanwhile, introduces two new characters and a narrative which begins in a remote Alaskan facility. As part of a recon team, players will retrieve intel, remove the wings of oversized insects, and “uncover a three-story tall terror unlike anything they’ve faced before”.
Plenty to do, then. Are you at all tempted?Onslaught is part of Ghosts’ Season Pass, or can be bought separately for $14.99/£11.49 on Steam.
Cheers, VG247.