Annihilation Map Pack Review

I am going to be giving you an overall review of the Annihilation map pack. To start with, I automatically found out that the new zombies map is the best thing with this new map pack, as it was the same with the previous two map packs. Shangri La is an awesome, temple styled zombies map with similarities to things taken straight out of Indiana Jones movies. The four multiplayer maps are decent, however in my honest opinion, aren't as good as the previous map pack maps such as Zoo, Hotel, Stadium and Kowloon. So, let me break it down to each map and what is good and bad about them.

Drive-In: This map was meant to be a similar map compared to Nuketown, which was my favorite map that came directly with Black Ops, as it was with many. However, it is still very different and from what I can tell, the only real similarity is that it is a smaller sized map with a few buildings you can camp in for games such as One in the Chamber or Gun Game. Overall, a decent map, but I don't feel it was a good enough map for a DLC and should have been a direct-to map for the Black Ops game, but was obviously made at a later point and couldn't be. I would say I would rate the map a 6 out of 10, as my personal opinion.

Hangar 18: This map at first I thought would be a remake of Terminal, as that was what it appeared to be in the loading screen. However, it turned out to be very different from the hit MW2 map. The only real similarity is that there is a large plane on the map that you are able to walk onto, but not in it. It is a more opened up map with not much to do aside from run into a building or into a hallway. I think they shouldn't have made it so open, but instead have more buildings and options. I guess I would rate the map a 5 out of 10 as my personal opinion.

Silo: That is right! Another snow map. Treyarch must love being cold! It isn't that I am against snow maps, it is just that on Black Ops, they are all very similar except for Summit which I found to be quite an awesome map. However, this time around, Silo is very different and more along the lines of Summit. There is a sort of tower in the middle of the map which is great for sniping. I found this to be the first exciting new map for the multiplayer experience. So, I would rate this map an 7.5 out of 10!

Hazard: Okay, now this was my absolute favorite in the multiplayer maps for this map pack! David pointed out it is almost an exact replica of a WaW map, but was made into a Cuban Golf Course. It is very nice graphic wise and you can tell they put the most work into this map out of the four multiplayer maps. There is a lot of cover and a ton of high up places. It was a very fun map to see and play on! I would say this map deserves a 8.5 out of 10 for what it is.

Okay, now it is time for the real review.

Shangri La (Zombies): Just a few months ago, I was saying how awesome it would be to have a temple/pyramid styled map. I also considered the idea of another movie styled map with Indiana Jones (Harrison Ford) to play as. Well, it turned out that I was half right. This is a temple themed map with things very similar to Indiana Jones happening all of the time. I even at one point expected a big boulder to chase behind me and David, as we both turned around. But, there was no large boulder chasing us. However, there is a lot of traps that resemble things from the famous movie series such as spikes flying upwards. Now, the unique thing with this map, is that there is no boss such as heck Hounds, Monkey's or big ole zombiefied directors. Instead, they incorporated multiple boss like characters as normal zombies that appear throughout the map, however I don't know if they can appear together or not. They aren't really any stronger than normal zombies, but instead of directly attacking you, they have special attacks or features. There is a Fire Zombie that weakens you when he is too close. Once you kill him, he will explode, weakening anyone around him. There is also a wind/shrieker type of zombie that affects your seeing when he attacks. Now, there is also monkey's that return from Ascension, but this time around, they steal your power ups if you let them get too close and to get them back, you have to kill them. So, it is important to kill them quickly unless you want to lose that important Instant Kill or Carpenter.

Now, the one thing that I didn't like about the map, is that zombies can spawn practically anywhere. Yes, there are plenty of places to camp (just never really did since I was exploring) but you have to be very careful where you pick, since zombies spawn from the walls, ceilings, ground, doors, geysers and water. Not to forget to mention, all perk machines swap locations each game, so Speed Cola might have been at the PHD Flopper space one game, but was moved to a different location the next. Also, there is one spot where the mystery box sometimes begins and it is practically a suicide location since it is directly in the water and you have no way of knowing if you are safe where you are, since a zombie could spawn next to you and hit you immediately. Now as for the new Shrink Ray or Baby Gun (31-97 I believe) it is actually very helpful. It is kind of an updated Thunder Gun since it can take out hordes. Mainly, you shoot a certain direction and the zombies there turn into munchkin zombies. Now, they can return to full size if you don't kill them soon enough, but all you do is let them run up to you (or run to them) and they will die upon impact, flying backwards.

This is a very well done map, even though the zombies are slightly stronger (so I highly suggest four players when playing) so I will rate this map a 9 out of 10. I would say for me at the current time, this is just as good as Ascension and it is simply a bonus that it takes place in daylight! A ton of great escape routes and features! Also, not to forget the awesome Spike-Mores which replaces the Claymores.

Overall, Annihilation is a very good map pack, but could have been improved on for the multiplayer maps. But hey, it has only been a month since the last map pack! So I will rate the entire map pack a 7 out of 10, the same as the last map pack!