Activision Wants You To Pay ....... Again

The zombie maps on Call of Duty have always come with mixed reviews.  One or two levels are great, but with each installment of the series comes more and more maps.  With the upcoming release of the Rezurrection Map Pack for Black Ops, I’m more than annoyed.

The new map pack will have five maps, all of them zombie based.  I’m not a fan of zombie games so I don’t plan on buying it.  And not in the way I usually make statements like “ *grumble grumble grumble* not getting my hard earned monies” and then instantly buying it the second it comes out.  The Rezurrection Pack does not even faintly interest me.  I personally wish they would just make a separate Call of Duty zombies game, but I am one of the only players that feels that way.

For those who are long time players of series, like me, and happen to love the zombies, there is something you should know.  Four of the five maps are old, straight up recycled material.  Activision decided to take the four zombie maps from World at War (the originator of Nazi zombies in the series) and “revamp” them.  Basically, the gameplay will be smoother and there will be better music.  From press releases and information on the website, the maps are not even re-skinned like the Cliffside/Hazard map was (which you can read here).  They are straight up old maps.

The worst part of this?  They are still going to charge players the full 1200 Microsoft points.  That’s right, $15 for old maps.  But wait, it gets better.  Of the four offending maps, three of them were paid DLC for World at War.  That means a lot of people paid for the maps once, and now they will have to pay for them again.  The attempt to double dip in my wallet feels more like a double penetration.

It should be noted, that not everyone is totally boned in this situation.  The four old maps were part of the Hardened Edition of the game at release.  So those who already have them will actually get the new map for free.  And I do have some sympathy for the people who purchased the old layouts in the beginning.  The lobbies for those maps are probably close to barren since most people just bought the regular edition.  This release will certainly boost the ability to find people to play with.

I think there were a lot of alternatives to this situation.  Keep the price high but include more new maps.  Make the old maps a separate purchase altogether for a lower price.  But to expect me to pay for the same old maps that I have already paid for once is pretty stupid.  Activision has once again proven that they don’t give a crap about the player, just the money.  But we all knew that already, didn’t we.