Today is finally the day that Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 players on the PlayStation 3 and PC can get their hands on the Revolution DLC pack that Xbox 360 owners have had for awhile now. This pack comes with four brand new maps, a new zombie map and mode, and a brand new gun, the Peacekeeper SMG. Let's break down the reaction from reviewers who have played the game for the 360, for those on the fence about downloading the new content.
The Peacekeeper SMG had the potential as a gamebreaker, but this is not the case. Combining the range and power of a full assault rifle and the best parts of a SMG sounds like a recipe for disaster, but this gun is fairly well balanced. Overall, the consensus is that the gun is good for rookie players, but veterans of the game won't be switching out for it anytime soon.
The general feelings about the four new maps (Hydro, Grind, Downhill, and Mirage) are fairly mixed. Hydro and Downhill offer environmental deaths to players not paying attention, which is a negative aspect of the maps, according to Eurogamer:
"It's still an addition that takes player death out of the hands of players, which isn't ideal for a game that has been so ruthlessly balanced and rebalanced in the past. It's one of those ideas that sounds amazing on paper, but ultimately serves to distract from what COD is best at: players shooting each other."
While Hydro and Downhill are decent enough maps, the fact that players can get killed suddenly (and sometimes comically) by floodwaters and cable cars brings the quality of the maps down somewhat. Grind is the clear favorite of the bunch. It offers the unique challenge of having a firefight in a skatepark in Venice Beach, and the new setting helps lift the map to greatness, according to Destructoid:
"The colors in Grind also pop, which is a nice contrast to most of the other drab maps in the game. Although the competitive crowd may not enjoy the map nearly as much, Grind is a really fun stage that's frequently voted for in the first week of Revolution's launch."
Mirage is the most basic of the four new maps, offering up the same Call of Duty experience you can get from the rest of the same. It does not stand out in any particular way, but is still a fun experience to play on, according to Destructoid:
"Sometimes it feels like the stage is incomplete, and sand was thrown over certain areas to hide that fact... There are a few neat areas (like the drained swimming pool in the picture), but it's basically just one big square with another square in the middle."
The new zombie mode and map (Die Rise) are possibly the biggest letdown of the expansion. IRB Gamer sums up the feeling of these add-ons as such:
"Turned feels unbalanced. It's a fast-paced game, slightly resembling Left 4 Dead, but all in a confined area. Maybe if the map was a more opened environment, it would have been more interesting. Instead, you and other players will feel that backing yourself into a corner is your best, and possibly only strategy"
Turned is only available on the Diner level, so the opportunities to play this mode. It would have made more sense to add this mode to the new map for zombies, but instead, they neutered the mode, thus leading to a forgettable experience. Die Rise has gotten some positive feedback, but the random spawning on the level has cause frustration with some players. The new zombie map is slightly above-average, but not the best map of the bunch.
Despite the flaws of the DLC, this is still a worthy pickup for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 players, if only to add more variety to the game. Nothing in this expansion is terrible, and while Grind may be the only exceptional part of the DLC, the package of the whole is worth the 14.99 price tag of the DLC. Players with the season pass get this DLC for free, so they should download this pack immediately once it is available. Remember the PSN store can take until the evening to update itself, so check with it often.
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