Activision is known for putting out a new Call of Duty title every single year. It would seem as if it’s not an intelligent move to get too attached to a Call of Duty game because a new one will just come out to spoil all the fun. Unfortunately, with the latest COD incarnation that isn’t the case, as every FPS fan and their mother is addicted to Call of Duty as if it were some gray/brown FPS crack. Seriously, I know some frat boys that would freebase Call of Duty: Black Ops if they could.

Well, Activision isn’t going to let a moneymaking opportunity pass them by, and so they have their map makers working endlessly on new map packs that they can sell to gamers for ten to fifteen dollars. Unlike PC shooters which generally have a large and thriving mapmaking community that expands the game for free, Call of Duty is that one game you will need to spend a hundred dollars or more just to get the full version.

That’s enough of my Call of Duty rant, now let’s get down to sheer facts. Call of Duty: Black Ops’ first DLC add-on, First Strike introduced four new levels for multiplayer and a brand new level for zombie mode. The maps, to the surprise of many gamers, were actually rather interactive. Maps allowed you to slide down ziplines, blow up bridges, run through turret filled trenches, and much much more. It was one of the bestselling add-ons on the Xbox marketplace.

Now, the second map pack, Escalation, is ready to drop on May 3rd, 2011, and it too appears to include four new levels for standard multiplayer and one new level for the zombies mode. The only details we have about the pack are in a poster that included the phrases “Seize the Zoo, Take the Hotel, Secure the Convoy, Raid the Stockpile, and Survive the Call of the Dead.” These posters obviously refer to the new maps. The Zoo may include animals that players will have kill. The Hotel shows someone rappelling off the side of a building down through a window, so that may be possible in game. The Convoy showed pictures of moving vehicles down a roadway, so it may be an entirely moving level which would be cool. Finally, the Stockpile shows a screenshot of a soldier firing heavy weapons in some sort of frozen climate, which doesn’t tell us much so this may be the most standard map of the bunch. The zombie screenshot only shows a bloody hand, so there aren’t many details to be gleaned from that other than the fact that the zombies will be hungry.

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