Canadians Get First Strike on Call of Duty: Black Ops

Posted Feb 01, 2011 by Keadin
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With Call of Duty: Black Ops receiving First Strike, a brand new map pack with 4 multiplayer levels and a brand new Zombies campaign we thought it might be fun to get some early-access impressions from the Xbox.ca Community about what they thought of the add-on. Little did they know that they would be among the first people in the world to play the new maps.

We had a ton of fun fighting across the rainy rooftops of Kowloon to the hockey rink of Stadium. Discovery provided a gorgeous backdrop of the Aurora Borealis while Berlin Wall's automated turrets kept us at bay. Of course Ascension, the incredibly robust new Zombies campaign, kept us busy fighting our way through a bizarre Russian missile facility, but you don't need to take my word for it. The three lucky First Strike winners have written their own impressions below.

WeAreTheSame – Dartmouth, Nova Scotia
The new Call of Duty: Black Ops map pack, First Strike, is the most robust of all the Call of Duty map packs to date. Discovery, the "snow map", is large and atmospheric and I swear that I felt cold playing it. Kowloon is set amongst dark rainy rooftops and the most fun of the four maps; there are doors galore, plenty of blind corners, and the ziplines open the map up in a whole new way forcing you to strategize and to think about your next move.

When Stadium came up in the map rotation, it was then that I realized that each map is better than the last. Being Canadian, this map in particular interested me because it is set in and around a Northeastern U.S. hockey arena. You can't go on the ice surface, but you can go in the concourse. This is the smallest map of the four, thus the best for the run-and-gun style of play. Meanwhile, Berlin Wall is reminiscent of the maps found in Call of Duty 3. No Man's Land, an area shaded in red on your HUD, tears you apart with the automatic turrets looming overhead. It's a sniper's paradise!

The new zombie map, Ascension, ups the ante with more weapons and rocket platforms. The space monkey enemies are a gas, they throw stuff back at you! All in all, this map pack is the most fun and diverse of all COD map packs available on the Xbox 360 to date. It made me pick up Black Ops again, and I had a blast!

Legend of Myth – Edmonton, Alberta

Having dedicated entire weekends with friends to playing the Zombie maps in the past, the COD map packs have always been about the new Zombie maps for me. Treyarch started something special with World at War two years ago when they included the original Zombie map as an unlockable treat for those that beat the single player campaign.

Flash forward to the release of the First Strike pack for Black Ops and not only does it contain the largest Zombie map to date, but it’s the best. Ascension will pit you and up to three friends against an endless onslaught of Zombies, undead astronauts, and space monkeys. You heard me...space monkeys...

Team work is crucial as there are more entrances and environmental hazards this time (giant spinning centrifuge anyone?). I could explain all the amazing new additions in detail (black holes for example), but the truth is this, it's amazing. It's everything I love about the Zombie gametype and it's an absolute blast to play with friends. With the few hours I have spent on it so far, I have had more fun on my 360 than I have had in months. I highly recommend everyone look into this map pack if only for this map, it's worth the price of admission by itself.

As for the four competitive maps, they're all awesome for their own reasons, but the star for me is (and always has been) the Zombie map. Ascension will steal hours of your life with its addictive just-one-more-try gameplay. You get a group of friends together and within minutes you will be planning runs, screaming for help, and having the time of your life. With enough new additions and twists to the gameplay, it feels fresh and stands on its own from the other zombie maps.

Treyarch has proven once again that their Zombie mode is the best thing to happen to the Call of Duty franchise and this one map will easily make the entire pack worth your time.

Greenskull – Calgary, Alberta

I was fortunate enough to have the opportunity to try out the latest maps for Call of Duty: Black Ops, Xbox Live's biggest game. I'm a big Halo guy, so when I say I'm impressed with a Call of Duty map pack I mean it. If you want to freshen up your Black Ops experience, this is the way to do it. From the icy peaks of Discovery to the dusty streets of Stadium, the new multiplayer maps are sure to make your online battles more interesting.

The new maps contain some neat features! On Discovery you can use explosives to break an ice bridge, causing unsuspecting foes to plummet to their death. Meanwhile, on Kowloon you can zoom across the map on a zipline. These little things add so much to the gameplay and can be used to completely alter the course of the match.

The new Zombies map, Ascension, has you scurrying to restore power and launch a rocket into space. Now why go through all the effort just to launch a rocket? Because of what lies beneath. When launched, a new area is unlocked containing the ever-important Pack-a-Punch machine to upgrade your weapons to unearthly power. Boasting new perks, characters, enemies, and more, Ascension is sure to give you a new experience and a nice challenge.

Overall, the First Strike map pack really impressed me and actually made me spend several hours with the game. That may not sound like anything special to you, but for me it's a sign that for 1200 points, you can't go wrong with this map pack.