The Call of Duty riot shield has been a source of much debate within the community for years. This primary weapon replacement — a huge shield that lets you deflect bullets from enemy weapons — has sparked as much frustration as it has devilish delight, with critics claiming the riot shield encourages frustrating turtle tactics that are hard to counter, and fans saying, essentially, get good.
Over the last few Call of Duty games, the riot shield has met with consistent calls for it to be either nerfed or pulled from the game. It’s a particular favorite of the Modern Warfare sub-brand, appearing in last year’s Modern Warfare 3, 2022’s Modern Warfare 2, and 2021’s Call of Duty: Vanguard. Black Ops developer Treyarch, however, isn’t a fan; the only Treyarch game to have a riot shield as a weapon was 2012’s Black Ops 2.
And so, when Activision published a blog post confirming all the Black Ops 6 launch weapons, fans were quick to scan for the riot shield. Lo and behold, it is nowhere to be found; cue rapturous applause from (most) fans who are now looking forward to straight up gun fights in their gun game.
With Black Ops 6, players won’t need to worry about having to change their strategy to cope with riot shield opponents, which means no need to save that explosive just in case or scan for those hard to hit weak spots. In truth, the riot shield and its slower, more defensive gameplay probably wasn’t the best fit for the fast-paced Black Ops 6 and its new Omnimovement mechanic anyway.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
Bloober Team has released the first major update for the Silent Hill 2 remake in Patch 1.04, addressing myriad gameplay issues as well as improving the survival horror game’s technical performance.
The patch notes were released on Steam and outline dozens of changes made to Silent Hill 2. Some address funnier bugs like protagonist James teleporting through a peephole and getting stuck in a window near Neely’s Bar.
On the technical front, Bloober Team has reduced visual glitches when using the latest version of Nvidia DLSS, added an option to enable DLSS frame generation in the menu when using DLSS for supersampling, and added support for AMD FSR 3.1.1. The full patch notes are available below.
Bloober Team and publisher Konami released the Silent Hill 2 remake on October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales, leaving many fans of the previously dormant horror franchise eager for more.
In our 8/10 review of the Silent Hill 2 remake, IGN said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
Silent Hill 2 Remake Patch 1.04 Notes
Technical
– Reduced visual glitches when using the latest version of NVIDIA DLSS. – Added an option to enable DLSS frame generation in the menu when using DLSS for supersampling. – NVIDIA Reflex is now active when DLSS frame generation is enabled. – Added support for AMD FSR 3.1.1. – Added an option to enable AMD Fluid Motion Frames in the menu when using FSR 3.1 for supersampling. – Updated Intel Nanites to support upcoming driver updates. – Improved performance and optimization for Steam Deck. – Fixed stuttering issues related to sky map generation. – Added an option to enable/disable HZB culling to fix stuttering on some AMD/Intel GPUs. – All graphic settings should be saved locally. Gameplay
– Fixed an issue with translation for UI “High” preset not being translated and displayed correctly – Fixed an issue with Wooden Plank appearing during James’ death animation – Fixed streaming issue where staring at the walls inside the Grand Market caused problems with loading all of the environment around James – Fixed an issue where interacting with the wrong side of the peephole in Brookhaven Hospital teleported James to the other side – Fixed an issue where breaking windows near Neely’s Bar got James stuck in the window frame – Fixed an issue that allowed James to access the inaccessible balcony in Blue Creek Apartments – Fixed an issue with Abstract Daddy’s behavior during boss fight where the enemy was not hitting James properly – Fixed multiple issues with Abstract Daddy’s 3rd TV – it should now have the correct audio, and the wall won’t interfere with its position – Fixed an issue with a question mark from the Conference Room not disappearing after obtaining Cinderella figurine in Lakeview Hotel – Fixed an issue with collision detection with the Dayroom walls in Brookhaven Hospital – Fixed an issue where James was falling under the map when approaching Laura entering Brookhaven Hospital from the bushes on the left – Removed debug numbers displayed behind wallpapers in Blue Creek Apartments’ Clock Room – Resolved an issue with James not being able to leave the 3F corridor in the Lakeview Hotel – Fixed an issue with the lightbulb on the 3rd floor of Blue Creek Apartments constantly switching on and being impervious to destruction – Resolved an issue with the small coffee table blocking James in the corner of the room located in Woodside Apartments – Fixed an issue where after completing the Disgust Path in Labyrinth, the player was forced to do it all over again – Fixed an issue with Spider Mannequins getting stuck when attacking James while he is going through squeeze traversal – Fixed an issue with James getting stuck in the window frame while attacking Lying Figures located outside of the window – Added more natural movement for James when switching weapons while aiming – Fixed an issue with triggering Spider Mannequin event on Fear Path in the Labyrinth multiple times – Improved the ability to pick up items during the final boss fight – Fixed an issue with picture frames overlapping in the Moth Room – Improved the deformation of Nurses’ skirts – Fixed an issue occurring when displaying the information about unlocking NewGame+ which didn’t appear in the player’s chosen language – Fixed visible unloading of the door of an abandoned garage in the west side of South Vale – Fixed question mark on the map during Chute Puzzle in Woodside Apartments
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Bloober Team has admitted it knew it had to “evolve” after releasing The Medium, a decision which led to the development of bigger games such as the Silent Hill 2 remake and the upcoming Cronos: The New Dawn.
Cronos director and producer Jacek Zieba told IGN that The Medium, which arrived in 2021 as a psychological horror adventure game alongside a Metascore of 71 on Metacritic, became a turning point for the studio as it looked to make bigger and better games.
“I think after The Medium it was very clear to us that we needed to evolve,” Zieba said. “It was like, ‘let’s end the chapter of the adventure games.’ Layers of Fear, Observer, and The Medium, [games that were] strange, experimental, with fixed camera tools. ‘Okay, let’s finish with that.’
“We also want to evolve, so let’s go into survival horror, let’s create something of our own, something different than other games in the genre in terms of world, story, and also gameplay. Let’s create another game of our dreams.”
The Silent Hill 2 remake was somewhat of a coming out party for Bloober Team to show it could make a big budget survival horror adventure. It arrived October 8 to glowing critical reception and strong sales, and Bloober Team is open to making more Silent Hill games too, either remakes or something completely fresh.
In our 8/10 review of the Silent Hill 2 remake, IGN said: “Silent Hill 2 is a great way to visit – or revisit – one of the most dread-inducing destinations in the history of survival horror.”
Ryan Dinsdale is an IGN freelance reporter. He’ll talk about The Witcher all day.
Space Marine 2 Update 4.0 added a new PvE map and with it the terrifying Tyranid Hierophant Bio-Titan, which ordinarily must be tackled by a squad of three players working together to down this enormous xenos monstrosity.
After leaving the final elevator room and entering the map’s boss fight area, players are meant to activate a central terminal to link their sidearm with ultra powerful fortress lascannons — powerful enough to down even a Bio-Titan.
You then use your sidearm as a targeting system for the cannons, aiming at the Bio-Titan as the guns get to work. After one barrage the cannons are out of juice, so you have to recharge them by spinning nearby energy stations, which in turn spawns the Tyranid horde. Meanwhile, the Bio-Titan will bombard your position with high-damage artillery fire.
Once the cannons are recharged, you need to activate the central terminal to link your sidearm once again, aim, and let the cannons fire. You need to repeat this process a number of times to bring the Bio-Titan down. It’s a stressful boss fight with a lot going on; the Tyranids can easily overwhelm your squad, even on the easier difficulties, and the Bio-Titan itself can effectively one-shot you if you hang about the same area for too long. Crank the mission up to Lethal — the new, hardest difficulty added with Update 4.0 — and you’re in for a world of hurt.
Or are you? One Space Marine 2 player has worked out a way to solo the Bio-Titan even on Lethal difficulty, exposing a flaw in the design of the mission that the developers at Saber Interactive may want to patch out at some point (once they’re done addressing the backlash to Update 4.0, perhaps).
It all started with redditor RedditOakley’s discovery that it is possible to deal damage to the Bio-Titan when it walks past the Space Marines just after they step out of the final elevator room but, crucially, before activating the terminal (this imposing moment was used to reveal the Bio-Titan in promotional videos). This (tiny) damage is reflected when the Bio-Titan’s health bar displays, and then you do all that fortress cannon stuff we mentioned before.
RedditOakley theorized that it would thus be possible to continue to damage and eventually kill the Bio-Titan using Space Marine weapons and without having to go through the cannon activation process, and that theory turned out to be true. The only question was, from where would you safely shoot the Bio-Titan down? After all, in Space Marine 2 ammo is scarce; infinite ammo resources are ammo crates and loadout pods only; and the swarm can quickly become too much to handle.
The answer is the elevator room itself, which, if you never activate the terminal, is a safe haven of sorts (although you won’t see the Bio-Titan’s health bar). “I fired up a solo Minimal [the easiest difficulty] run and progressed to where the door opens and you meet the titan,” RedditOakley explained. “We have the ammo crate next to the elevator and a loadout pod available, the door to those never closes as the room is used to spawn enemy waves.
“The titan itself will walk around the battlefield, and often stay close to where you’re standing. This is the range where it is possible to shoot and damage it with your guns. The titan will even lob acid globes at you here after a while.
“So that’s what I did. I just kept shooting, and shooting and shooting, clearing the waves and [tougher] extremis that came along the way. I didn’t have any way of seeing my progress as the health bar isn’t visible in this area, so all I could do was keep shooting and praying.
“Then eventually a red hit marker showed up and the end cutscene appeared.”
In their post, RedditOakley issued the Space Marine 2 community a challenge: kill the Bio-Titan using Space Marine guns only on the hardest difficulty, Lethal. Of course, someone answered the call: redditor xD3viLzx, who used the Sniper class and the Las Fusil to slowly — and I mean slowly — solo the Bio-Titan on Lethal.
As you can tell from the footage of the run, xD3viLzx popped in and out of the elevator room to snipe at the Bio-Titan, returning to grab ammo from the loadout pod when needed. Whittling down the Bio-Titan’s health in this way took 45 minutes, rinsing and repeating while occasionally avoiding a barrage from the Tyranid itself and dealing with waves of enemies. It’s a monotonous cheese, for sure, but an effective one. Upon the final blow the mission ended properly, the victory recorded as it would if the Bio-Titan were killed as Saber intended, and the appropriate rewards dished out.
It should be noted that this cheese isn’t a win button. xD3viLzx still had to make it to the mission’s final area in one piece on Lethal solo, which for me is a more impressive feat than the Bio-Titan cheese itself. xD3viLzx’s perfect parry was on point, but there were a few hairy moments in the run when the AI-controlled teammates saved the day with a revive. Still, the cheese makes the hardest part of the mission relatively trivial. You just need time and the patience of a saint; the entire run took one hour and 14 minutes.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
At the time, the internet collectively scoffed at that request. And now, it’s all out in the wild. Today, October 21, ahead of the playtest going live on October 23, some users were able to download the playtest, which weighs in at 2.2GB. Images of this website and its details are now spreading across social media, Discords, and subreddits.
The leak appears to have been kickstarted by X/Twitter user @Ethan_ThisGuy, who posted images of the playtest website along with the post: “hope Nintendo doesn’t kill me for this.”
Spoilers for Nintendo Switch Online: Playtest Program test follow:
Those images, which X/Twitter has now pulled offline “in response to a report from the copyright holder” (a clear sign of their legitimacy), reveals a social MMO hybrid experience some are already comparing to the Miiverse, Nintendo’s discontinued social network for 3DS and Wii U.
The idea, according to leaked images of the Nintendo website, is to work with other players to develop a massive planet via farmed resources and building on your own plot of land. Players use Beacons that emit a healing light that “purifies and develops the land.” The idea is to place multiple Beacons until your planetary block is fully developed.
The player’s Beacon sounds like a protected space in which only they can move, lift, or edit items. Outside their Beacon is considered a public space anyone can work in.
There’s a ‘Dev Core’ that acts as a player hub. Here you level up your character, obtain items, and talk to other players. Players earn points for developing the land and socializing with others.
There’s a definite user-generated content (UGC) aspect to this new game, and you’ll be able to share what you make with others. This is very Nintendo: it says to create UGC players must pass a test in-game to show they understand “the importance of respectful communication.” Only then will players obtain a UGC License and be able to create UGC. There is, as you’d expect, a player report feature, which I imagine will come in handy for tackling all those… certain things players will inevitably build.
And finally, as Nintendo had signaled, it recommends playing this new game in TV setup with a wired connection, given it’s a server-based experience.
That’s all we have for now. It’s odd that Nintendo would insist on such secrecy around what sounds like a relatively straightforward Switch online MMO (we still don’t know the name of the thing), but hopefully we’ll know more when it actually goes live later this week and, well, the whole thing inevitably leaks.
This is a Switch experience for now, but the big question is whether it will also be available on the upcoming Switch 2, which Nintendo has yet to formally announce.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Sunday, October 20, below:
Resident Evil 4 for $19.99
Resident Evil 4 was one of the biggest games of 2023, with Capcom recreating one of the highest-praised action titles ever. As Leon S. Kennedy, it’s up to you to travel to Europe and rescue the President’s daughter, Ashley Graham. With the Separate Ways DLC also available, the Resident Evil 4 remake is simply one of the best action games ever. There’s never been a better time to jump in, with this price acting as an all-time low.
EA Sports College Football 25 for $42.99
EA Sports College Football 25 is available on sale for $42.99 this weekend. This game marked the first college football title from EA since NCAA 14, as a lawsuit regarding player NIL (name, image, and likeness) prevented the company from producing further entries. Many of the older modes have returned to College Football 25, including Dynasty, Team Builder, and Road to Glory. Of course, dozens of new features have been added, including Stadium Pulse, which creates challenging road environments in college football’s biggest stadiums.
Save on Popular LEGO Sets This Weekend
There are quite a few LEGO deals available on sale today. This includes the LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant set, the LEGO Ideas Jazz Quartet set, the LEGO Walt Disney Tribute Camera, and more. If you’re preparing to start shopping for the holiday season, these are solid gift ideas!
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Woot! (owned by Amazon) is offering The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch for only $39.99 after you apply a $10 off promo code “ZELDAWELCOME” during checkout. This promo will only work for first orders. Amazon Prime members get free shipping, otherwise there is a $6 flat fee. You’ll be getting a physical copy, which also includes a 90-day Woot! warranty. Woot! mentions that copies may or may not be imported, but all Nintendo Switch games are region-free so you’ll be able to play the game regardless. You won’t have to worry about language either since that setting is determined by your Switch console.
Disney Classic Games Collection
Next up, you can save on the Disney Classic Games Collection for Nintendo Switch on Amazon. This package includes multiple different versions of Aladdin, The Lion King, and The Jungle Book that released over the years. You can use new features like Rewind, which allows you to retry any difficult areas, or start the game from any point with access to full game playthroughs. Additionally, there is even a CRT filter that is designed to mimick displays from the original releases!
Xbox Series X|S Seagate Expansion Card
Today, you can save $50 off the Seagate Storage Expansion Card for Xbox Series X|S. This is the 2TB model, which will allow you to increase your total storage on Xbox Series X to almost 3TB. Since neither Xbox Series X or Xbox Series S supports a standard NVME SSD slot like the PlayStation 5, you will need to purchase an Expansion Card to increase your console’s storage.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 for $39.99
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is available this weekend at Woot for only $39.99. This is one of the best games available on Nintendo Switch, filled with charm and all sorts of fun puzzles. With Halloween right around the corner, there’s never been a better time to pick up the game if you haven’t already!
Kingdom Hearts All-in-One Package for $35
Kingdom Hearts is one of Square Enix’s best series, and it’s a must-play for any RPG fan. The series mashes together the worlds of Disney and Square Enix to tell the tale of light and darkness. This All-in-One package contains a total of ten games, with everything up to Kingdom Hearts III included. Now is the perfect time to get caught up before Kingdom Hearts IV, so pick up the All-in-One bundle today and jump into Sora’s journey.
Mario Party Superstars for $39.99
If you’re waiting for Super Mario Party Jamboree to go on sale, Woot has a great deal on Mario Party Superstars that can hold you over for the time being. Superstars features five boards from the Nintendo 64 era, recreated with new twists. You can hop online and play with friends anywhere in the world, with 100 different minigames to discover. While its content offerings are not as good as Jamboree, this is still a great Mario Party game and well worth picking up.
Metaphor: ReFantazio Collector’s Edition Available
Metaphor: ReFantazio has quickly become one of the hottest games of 2024. Katsura Hashino, known for directing Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, has led ATLUS’ Studio Zero on this project, with illustrator Shigenori Soejima serving as Character Designer on the project. Metaphor is the first step into the world of fantasy for ATLUS, and it’s been a massive success. In our 9/10 review, we stated, “Metaphor: ReFantazio is poetic, and at times, idealistic, but it also understands its complexities and that change requires action, and that even far-fetched fantasy stories can serve as inspiration to make our world a better place.”
Star Citizen developer Cloud Imperium Games has said Squadron 42 launches at some point in 2026.
If the game does indeed launch then, it’ll come out an incredible 14 years after CIG first launched Star Citizen’s crowdfunding drive.
During CitizenCon in Manchester, England this evening, CIG boss Chris Roberts, known for creating the Wing Commander series, took to the stage to say he was “confident” that Star Citizen’s long-awaited standalone single-player story game would release in 2026.
Roberts’ on-stage comments followed a lengthy live gameplay demo that suffered a number of crashes, bugs, and graphical problems, but did give the audience a good idea of Squadron 42’s first hour.
CIG demoed Squadron 42’s prologue, which is designed to set the stage for the player as a pilot in the sci-fi game. The demo was heavy on flashy cutscenes with CGI representations of Hollywood stars such as Gillian Anderson, Henry Cavill, Gary Oldman, and Mark Strong, mixed with on-rails turret action in a huge space battle. The demo ended with a first-person shooter segment as the alien enemy boarded the player’s ship.
“We did say we were doing it live, risking the demo gods, and they brought their wrath down on us,” Roberts said as he walked on-stage.
“There’s a lot more that goes on in Squadron 42 after that, but that sets up where you came from and from there you become a pilot and start serving on a smaller ship, the Stanton. But there’s a lot more in the game than we were showing there. It’s been a lot more stable for me when I’ve been playing these last few weeks.”
Roberts continued: “Both the team and I are confident of giving you this game in 2026. Obviously you can see it’s not going to be tomorrow, because you saw a few crashes there.
Gladiator has three minutes of battle and eight minutes of prologue. This was an hour of crazy stuff.
“Thank you for supporting us and allowing us to build such an ambitious game. Crashes aside, there’s probably not another game that has a prologue that has that much action. Mostly there aren’t movies that have that much action in there. Gladiator has three minutes of battle and eight minutes of prologue. This was an hour of crazy stuff.
“But thank you for allowing us to build something so amazing, and I can’t wait for you all to be able to play it in the moderate future.”
Star Citizen is considered one of the most controversial projects in all video games. Over the 12 years since its crowdfunding drive began, Star Citizen has been called many things including a scam by those who wonder whether it will ever properly launch. Its virtual space ships, some of which cost hundreds of dollars, are often the focus of criticism.
Indeed, Star Citizen has now raised over $729 million according to figures from CIG. The developer makes revenue publicly available on its website, which at the time of this article’s publication shows Star Citizen has raised $729,151,801. CIG calls this money “funds raised.”
In March this year, CIG began talking about Star Citizen’s 1.0 launch being within sight, although there’s still no release window. 1.0, Roberts has said, “is what we consider the features and content set to represent ‘commercial’ release.” As it stands, Star Citizen is still in Alpha.
Wesley is the UK News Editor for IGN. Find him on Twitter at @wyp100. You can reach Wesley at wesley_yinpoole@ign.com or confidentially at wyp100@proton.me.
The weekend is officially here, and we’ve rounded up the best deals you can find! Discover the best deals for Saturday, October 19, below:
EA Sports College Football 25 for $42.99
EA Sports College Football 25 is available on sale for $42.99 this weekend. This game marked the first college football title from EA since NCAA 14, as a lawsuit regarding player NIL (name, image, and likeness) prevented the company from producing further entries. Many of the older modes have returned to College Football 25, including Dynasty, Team Builder, and Road to Glory. Of course, dozens of new features have been added, including Stadium Pulse, which creates challenging road environments in college football’s biggest stadiums.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
Woot! (owned by Amazon) is offering The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom for Nintendo Switch for only $39.99 after you apply a $10 off promo code “ZELDAWELCOME” during checkout. Amazon Prime members get free shipping, otherwise there is a $6 flat fee. You’ll be getting a physical copy, which also includes a 90-day Woot! warranty. Woot! mentions that copies may or may not be imported, but all Nintendo Switch games are region-free so you’ll be able to play the game regardless. You won’t have to worry about language either since that setting is determined by your Switch console.
Luigi’s Mansion 3 for $39.99
Luigi’s Mansion 3 is available this weekend at Woot for only $39.99. This is one of the best games available on Nintendo Switch, filled with charm and all sorts of fun puzzles. With Halloween right around the corner, there’s never been a better time to pick up the game if you haven’t already!
Kingdom Hearts All-in-One Package for $35
Kingdom Hearts is one of Square Enix’s best series, and it’s a must-play for any RPG fan. The series mashes together the worlds of Disney and Square Enix to tell the tale of light and darkness. This All-in-One package contains a total of ten games, with everything up to Kingdom Hearts III included. Now is the perfect time to get caught up before Kingdom Hearts IV, so pick up the All-in-One bundle today and jump into Sora’s journey.
Save on Popular LEGO Sets This Weekend
Amazon has two popular LEGO sets available on sale for a limited time this weekend. First, you can save on the LEGO Super Mario Piranha Plant set. This kit allows you to make one of Super Mario’s most iconic enemies, warp pipe and all! Additionally, you can also save 20% off the LEGO Ideas Jazz Quartet set. You can build a piano, cello, drum kit, and more.
Mario Party Superstars for $39.99
If you’re waiting for Super Mario Party Jamboree to go on sale, Woot has a great deal on Mario Party Superstars that can hold you over for the time being. Superstars features five boards from the Nintendo 64 era, recreated with new twists. You can hop online and play with friends anywhere in the world, with 100 different minigames to discover. While its content offerings are not as good as Jamboree, this is still a great Mario Party game and well worth picking up.
Metaphor: ReFantazio Collector’s Edition Available
Metaphor: ReFantazio has quickly become one of the hottest games of 2024. Katsura Hashino, known for directing Persona 3, Persona 4, and Persona 5, has led ATLUS’ Studio Zero on this project, with illustrator Shigenori Soejima serving as Character Designer on the project. Metaphor is the first step into the world of fantasy for ATLUS, and it’s been a massive success. In our 9/10 review, we stated, “Metaphor: ReFantazio is poetic, and at times, idealistic, but it also understands its complexities and that change requires action, and that even far-fetched fantasy stories can serve as inspiration to make our world a better place.”
We all have our favorite Call of Duty multiplayer map, but which Black Ops multiplayer map do the developers of the game keep returning to in their spare time? IGN sat down with senior Call of Duty Black Ops developers, many of whom actually created some of the most popular Call of Duty maps of all time, to answer once and for all which multiplayers maps truly are the best.
Just a note before we begin, this list will only cover multiplayer maps that have appeared in the Black Ops series, meaning you won’t be finding maps that appeared in the Modern Warfare games. Apologies to fans of Crash.
Nuketown (Call of Duty: Black Ops)
No list of Black Ops multiplayer maps can exist without Nuketown. Perhaps one of the most popular multiplayer maps in the entire Call of Duty franchise, this desolate test site for nuclear missile testing first appeared in the first Call of Duty: Black Ops. Since then, some version of the map has appeared in every Call of Duty Black Ops game ever since, speaking to its status as a perennial favorite.
On creating the map that started it all, expert level designer Adam Hoggatt says he has more fond memories of making the map than actually playing it, saying it wasn’t an idea that was pushed forward by the studio, but instead a passion project that was started up for fun. From there it just snowballed into what is now Nuketown: “We all just put all the most fun things we could think of into the map. There’s the doomsday clock, an engineer helped hook up the first mannequin Easter Egg, and the audio department said, ‘Hey, we have this Rolling Stones song that we licensed and don’t have anywhere to use it,”’ so we put that in there. The rest is pretty much history.”
Raid (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)
Another popular map as chosen by the developers is Raid. Set in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, the map is a sniper’s paradise and perfect for long-range weapons. Regarding its development, Hoggatt calls it almost the opposite of Nuketown because unlike the natural creative process behind Nuketown, Raid “started off a little bit rough.”
“It actually went through several complete redesigns,” he says. “But each time we iterated, something interesting from the previous iteration was carried over into the new one,” resulting in the fan favorite map.
Carrier (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)
Set atop a large military aircraft carrier, the appropriately named Carrier is associate creative director Miles Leslie’s favorite map, which is high praise considering he says he “literally worked on every single multiplayer map since World at War.”
Carrier is very much a different beast than Raid, with obstacles scattered across the deck preventing most long-range combat. Instead, close-quarter combat is required, and players will usually come out of the map with a large killstreak if they’re skilled enough.
“We knew going in it was going to be a super tough design because no one would ever make a multiplayer map on top of a Carrier,” says Leslie, “Because it’s flat.” But like Raid, Carrier underwent numerous iterations and ideas before finding its final form. One unused idea according to Leslie was that players could hop into a plane and use it to fire missiles. Sad we missed out on that one.
Kowloon (Call of Duty: Black Ops)
Another of Leslie’s favorite maps is Kowloon from the first Call of Duty: Black Ops. Inspired by what the single-player team was doing with the famous Hong Kong walled city, Leslie says Kowloon was another fun map to design because of the challenge it posed the development team. “If you look at the real Kowloon, the buildings are separated. How can you have a separated giant hole in the center of a multiplayer map?”
The solution was introducing the first zip lines in a multiplayer map ever, solving the layout issue and creating a crazy fun map to zip around in the process.
Evac (Call of Duty: Black Ops 3)
Not a map that’s often thrown around when discussing best multiplayer maps in Call of Duty, Evac is a personal favorite of Leslie’s thanks to how it incorporates Call of Duty’s advanced movement system.
Set in an abandoned evacuation zone on top of a flooded quarantine zone in Singapore, Evac is a “playground of fun” according to Leslie, who recalls how he and the team spent countless hours playtesting the map and immediately adding any fun idea they had into the finished product: A map where players can combo wall jumps and runs together into an exciting, parkour-heavy multiplayer map.
Deprogram (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War)
One of the newer maps on the list, lead game designer Joanna Leung says her favorite multiplayer map is Deprogram from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Set inside the fragmented mind of Adler, this small map is primarily for close-quarters combat, though there are fun secret areas perfect for snipers if you can find them.
“I’m a SMG player at heart and I love getting up close and personal with my enemies while I kill them… So I love that map for that reason,” says Leung.
Standoff (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)
True to its name, Standoff from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is a map where two sides face-off to see who controls the center of the map. With snipers on either side, there’s not a lot of safe spaces in this map, which was inspired by a small border town between China and Kyrgyzstan.
But if you’re able to find your way through the small flanking routes in the side, you’ll find that you can get the drop on snipers and take them out. “It’s such a satisfying experience because I now get a leg up on those guys who kept sniping at me, and basically attack them from behind.”
Cracked (Call of Duty: Black Ops)
One of the bigger maps in rotation, Cracked lent itself to the larger-than-life feel and big-scale action that Call of Duty is known for. It’s also the favorite map of Raven Software lead designer Damon Shubhastari.
“There was just a lot of internal playtests with Cracked that I felt like I had so much playing, especially when the RC XD came online. Cracked was just a very intense map, especially in Domination.”
Firing Range (Call of Duty: Black Ops)
Many popular maps get reimagined or remastered in later Black Ops games. For example, there’s Firing Range which was originally imagined as a military training facility before getting reskinned as a Hollywood backlot set, a change that Shubhastari particularly enjoyed.
“The fun was already there, in the map, we knew it. It was a classic fan favorite, but when the team remodeled [Firing Range] as a studio backlot I just thought it was super fun to play.”
Satellite (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War)
Another recent map from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Satellite is one of Matt Coutras’ favorite maps. A senior level designer at Treyarch, Coutras’ favorite map is actually Raid, but Satellite is another of his top hits considering he was involved with designing the map from start to finish.
One goal for Coutras with Satellite was to lean into the natural King of the Hill type gameplay of the map. “I tried to make it so all different types of gameplay styles could be used on that map. So if you want to snipe, you could go out to the dunes. If you wanted to run and gun with a shotgun or an SMG, you could go right down the dry riverbed and try to flank around to get upon top of the hill with a satellite.”
The Pines (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War)
Another Cold War map, The Pines is set in a fictional New Jersey mall that was going to have its grand opening before being taken over by Perseus. The mix of suburban America and military gunfights is reminiscent of the classic film Red Dawn, and is another of Coutras’ favorite maps purely for nostalgia.
“It reminds me of the mall where I grew up on the East coast and it has an interesting design choice,” he says. “In the center of the map you have the high side versus the low side and it makes for some really interesting engagements.”
Express (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)
Based on a currently non-existent, California High-Speed Rail terminal, Express takes the classic three-lane map structure and dials up the intensity and fun, according to Jake Harley, associate lead audio designer at Raven Software.
“It’s a twist on traditional three lane map design where there are the parts that you could walk up and over on the stairs to over the train, as well as some sections on the side of the map that would go down into the terminal area.”
Those are the favorite Call of Duty Black Ops Multiplayer maps according to the developers. Let us know what your favorite Call of Duty Black Ops maps are in the comments.
LEGO and Minecraft are one of those perfect combinations that just make sense. You take a game all about building with blocks and you transfer it over to a toy brand that is all bout building with bricks and you have a winning combination. While there are a lot of great LEGO Minecraft sets available, some of them are actually about to be retired.
One of these sets that the LEGO website has as “Retiring soon” is the Minecraft Pumpkin Farm that happens to still be on sale at Amazon this October. This set is an excellent option for Halloween, seeing as it’s literally a pumpkin house in a swamp with a witch minifigure. Although we don’t know exactly when this set will be retired, it almost certainly won’t be around at all this time next year.
LEGO Minecraft: The Pumpkin Farm on Amazon
Although this is a fairly small set that is for ages 8 and up, there are a lot of small details that make it worthwhile. The pumpkin house is certainly the main attraction, but there is also a witch, a frog, a potion, and a carved pumpkin. You also get a minifigure of Steve, who is seemingly trying to escape with a treasure chest farther into the swamp. At only 257 pieces, this is a fairly easy build that can be done quickly and doubles as great Halloween decoration.
The discount itself isn’t all that impressive, with the price dropping lower than it currently is now just last week. However, the fact that it is still on sale this close to Halloween makes it worth pointing out. Coupled with the fact that it’s set to retire soon, that makes it a great time to pick this set up before it’s potentially gone forever.
Are Any Other Halloween LEGO Sets on Sale?
Now that we are more than halfway through October, now isn’t necessarily the best time to find LEGO discounts on Halloween-themed sets. Many of our favorite Halloween LEGO sets aren’t on sale right now. That being said, there are a couple of price reductions worth mentioning that we’ve gathered below.
