Call Of Duty: Black Ops 2 Apocalypse DLC - Multiplayer & Zombies Reviewed

Zombies Map - Origins

After one clunker (TranZit, a map that came one console generation too early), one fun but slightly rough around the edges map (Die Rise, which was a lot of dumb fun but little else), one stellar map that perhaps went a little too far on the ambition front (Mob of the Dead, a map that's brilliant in some ways and frustrating in others), and one bog-standard filler (Buried, a map which has not held up well since my initial positive review), and we're at the end of the rollercoaster that is Black Ops 2 Zombies. To top the game off, we've got Origins (from the team behind Mob of the Dead, interestingly), a nostalgic offering set in the trenches of World War I France and featuring some truly enormous mechs. Can Origins provide a satisfying end to Black Ops 2 Zombies?

After introducing the New Crew in an attempt to ape the success of the four original characters and somewhat failing, Origins returns to the original characters, last seen in Black Ops' Moon - Nikolai, Takeo, Dempsey and Richtofen, albeit a little younger. They're pretty much the same characters you know and love from World at War and Black Ops (stereotypes ahoy!), with the exception of Richtofen, who's not quite as insane as he was before, which can only be a good thing. It's a map steeped in the intriguing if baffling lore of Zombies, complete with audio logs, a major Easter Egg (and we'll get to this later, because it's proved quite the talking point since it leaked yesterday) and plenty of explanation of how the events of Zombies began, even if that means furious retconning and cheerful liberties with the ages of the Original Crew.

Origins provides a plethora of new gameplay features, but of course, it's mainly about the three enormous robots who patrol the map. Even in a storyline as bonkers as Zombies (this map includes Templar Zombies too, for some reason), this takes the oddness prize - but it's quite a fun addition to gameplay. The robots don't do much apart from stomping through the map, but their presence (or rather, the appearance of a deadly giant foot right next to you) provides some of the hilarious/terrifying moments that are typical of Zombies, and help enhance the scale of an already vast map. To accompany the robots, there's also mechanized zombies who show up at several points and have the ability to completely flip situations on their head in various ways. Yes, this map is quite heavy on the dieselpunk.

There's an awful lot more to Origins though - other features include six generators which power up certain areas of the map (and can result in a very quick death), a tank that carries players along the map (think the TranZit bus, but done an awful lot better), the ability to craft four elemental staffs (that's fire, wind, ice and lightning) with extreme difficulty, a new power-up called Zombie Blood that enables you to lose the attention of the zombies for a certain period of time, a random perk machine that finally contains the almost mythical (by this point anyway) PHD Flopper, and a brand spanking new pistol called the Mauser. There's a lot to get your head around in Origins, but everything gels together surprisingly well, even if it often feels a little too oppressively difficult. It's also a great-looking map - grubbily good looking perhaps, but after the bland design of Buried it's nice to see a map that looks a little more interesting.

In conclusion, Origins is a fitting conclusion to Black Ops 2 Zombies, with excellent (if slightly maze-like) map design, a bunch of interesting and mostly successful gameplay features, a dollop of Zombies insanity and a charismatic set of new characters. It's difficult - perhaps a little too difficult in many ways and could be a little off putting for slightly less skilled Zombies players (I feel obliged to put my hand up here), but it at least attempts to challenge the player, and doesn't stop Origins from being one of the best Zombies maps yet.

As for the Easter Egg - without spoiling, let's just say that in the likely event that Zombies returns in Treyarch's next game, it'll be very, very different indeed.

Overall, Apocalypse is a great conclusion to Black Ops 2's DLC season - with four solid multiplayer maps and a fantastic Zombies map, it's comfortably the most consistent DLC of Black Ops 2, even if it lacks a properly great multiplayer map. When Ghosts' first of four DLC map packs lands at the start of 2014, it'll be interesting to see how the two compare...

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Apocalypse DLC is available now on Xbox 360, and will be available on PS3 and PC at the end of September.