Call of Duty – Is Infinite Warfare’s DLC worth it?

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare’s first DLC package has been available for a month on PS4. From tomorrw — March 2, 2017 — PC and Xbox One players will gain access. The question I’m sure they’re asking is, ‘Is Infinite Warfare’s DLC worth it?’

Multiplayer Maps

The “Sabotage” DLC includes four new maps, as is standard for Call of Duty. Three of the maps are brand new and one is a re-imagining of ‘Afghan’ from Modern Warfare 2.

Noir

‘Noir’ is set in a futuristic downtown Brooklyn. It includes three distinct zones; a rough side of town, a gentrified area and an all out combat zone in the centre.

The map is set at night and everything is slick with rain. The team at Infinity Ward have clearly put in plenty of effort in reflecting the neon lighting off puddles and the wet pavement. Everything has neon tint and a slight glow despite being dark and grim.

The map itself has been designed with CoD’s new movement system in mind. There’s tonnes of verticality and plenty of places to get the drop on unsuspecting players; as happened to me a lot.

One side of ‘Noir’ features some open areas with direct line of site, but much of the map funnels players down corridors, up stairs and into choke points. It’s your standard three-lane map, but even still it’s monstrously good fun.

Once you learn the lines to take and the best way to get around the map (pretend the floor is lava) you’ll find that ‘Noir’ is one of the fastest maps in Infinite Warfare.

Don’t stand till.

Renaissance

‘Renaissance’ puts players in Northern Italy, on the mean streets of Venice. My first word of advice is ‘Don’t try to swim.’

You can’t.

‘Renaissance’ couldn’t look more different to ‘Noir.’ It’s set during the day and feels much more open and light, despite being far more enclosed and a smaller map.

The narrowness of the streets and closeness of the buildings emphasises movement over camping, though there are a few places where campers try and take you out. I wouldn’t worry too much though, because they usually don’t last too long.

‘Renaissance’ features some pretty tricky and very cool shortcuts, if you can manage to pull them off. They often help you to flank the enemy and get the drop on them. That, or they drop you in the canal.

Point ‘B’ is incredibly difficult to take and hold on ‘Renaissance.’ Open on five different sides and from above, it takes excellent communication and teamwork to keep the enemy at bay. Sometimes luck works too.

Neon

‘Neon’ isn’t set in any real-world place. It’s a VR simulator for training in urban warfare. The entire map is digitised and as you explore you’ll see vehicles and buildings pop-into the world.

When you kill an enemy player they explode into a million pixels which is a nice touch. The map is shaped like the letter ‘Z’ and so the middle lane is incredibly open for long range players and sniping.

Off to the side is much more CQC style of play. There is less verticality surrounding points ‘A’ and ‘C’ though ‘B’ is set upstairs and is accessible from all angles.

‘Neon’ includes a few indoor areas which quickly become traps for players rushing in. I learned that the hard way. On the outside though, ‘Neon’ is ripe for traversal. Long smooth walls give way to sharp corners and skilled players can use these to chain together some truly awesome kill streaks.

Dominion

‘Dominion’ will be familiar to anyone who’s played MW2. A remake of the ‘Afghan’ map, ‘Dominion’ is set on Mars, but keeps all the landmarks of the original intact.

While playing very similarly to ‘Afghan’, the new version takes full advantage of IW’s movement system to breathe new life. In the centre of the map is a crashed ship which is the anchor point for all the combat.

Zombies

Call of Duty’s ‘Zombies’ mode is back for another chapter in “Sabotage.” The heroes of ‘Zombies in Spaceland’ are back this time thrust into the ’90’s thanks to Willard Wyler and his fiendish plot.

Rave in the Redwoods

The second episode of IW’s Zombies is ‘Rave in the Redwoods’ and as the name suggests, it’s set during a rave at a summer camp. The four heroes have become ’90’s stereotypes and every possible teen horror movie trope is played with.

It’s a pretty different experience from ‘Zombies in Spaceland’ and the summer camp aesthetic pairs hilariously with the ’90’s theme. Director Kevin Smith even makes an appearance as himself, which while a bit odd, also fits in perfectly.

The new episode starts players off inside a cabin with access to an M1, Spiked Bat, Golf Club, Machete and not much else. There are a few blocked off areas which require cash to open and plenty of windows needing boarding up.

Once you start opening up some of the adjoining areas, you’ll gain access to better weapons, Totem poles, campfires and the ability to power up the facility.

What really surprised me about ‘Rave’ was just how huge it is. It just keeps on going. Every time i thought I had finally reached the end, I’d find another door I could open, another way to extend the level or another section that looped back in on itself.

Power Ups

There are shortcuts and traps and surprises around almost every corner. When you collect enough gems, you can activate them at the Totem pole and create a powerful zombie stopping trap. My favourite is the balloon trap . It attaches helium balloons to the zombies and flies them away.

Convenient.

The campfires are useful too, especially when you come across Bigfoot and the Slasher. If you have a pouch, you can throw it into the fire and activate ‘Rave Mode.’ You’ll be much harder to kill and enemies will die from one hit. If you manage to keep your streak up, you’ll also extend your time in ‘Rave Mode.’

‘Rave Mode’ also makes everything look as though it’s under a blacklight. Zombies look to have been fingerpainted and the Bigfoots (Bigfeet?) all glow brightly. It’s a bit of a trip to be honest and really drives home that rave aesthetic. Too bad there are no dummy lollipops floating around.

Zombies is always best played with friends, even though it;s still great solo. Best of all is that you can play in couch co-op. Playing with a mate on the couch and a few beers is a great way to spend a few solid hours.

Zombies in Infinite Warfare is so good in fact that it could spin-off into its own franchise without being part of CoD and I’d still recommend it.

At the beginning of this piece I asked “Is Infinite Warfare’s DLC worth it?” and my answer is yes.

“Sabotage” is one of the best DLC releases in years for Call of Duty off the back of ‘Rave in the Redwoods’ alone. Activision could have released the Zombies episode on its own and it would have been a worthwhile piece of content.

The fact that “Sabotage” also includes four of the best multiplayer maps in Infinite Warfare is icing on an already very delicious cake. These four maps take the established CoD formula and the improved traversal of IW and combine them into four tense, fast and frenetic combat zones.

If you’re playing on PS4 and haven’t got the DLC yet, do yourself a favour and do it as soon as possible. If you’re playing on PC or Xbox One, from tomorrow you’re in for a real treat.

“Sabotage” is DLC done right.

Call of Duty: Infinite Warfare and “Sabotage” were provided to PowerUp! by Activision.