Call of Duty: Ghosts Invasion map pack feels like modern combat injected into other adventure games

Activision has unveiled the third downloadable content (DLC) pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts.

The Call of Duty: Ghosts — Invasion pack, which has four new multiplayer maps and new episode of the bug-killing Extinction narrative, will arrive on June 3 on Xbox Live for Xbox One and Xbox 360. The timing is interesting, as Call of Duty: Ghosts multiplayer needs to hang on to its players even as hardcore fans gravitate to Ubisoft’s new Watch Dogs open-world hacking game. The audiences may be very different, but both compete as blockbusters.

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The Invasion pack includes “Episode 3: Awakening,” the third chapter in the four-part Extinction co-op narrative. The pack sells for $15 à la carte or as part of the $50 Call of Duty: Ghosts DLC Season Pass for 2014. This map pack feels like an attempt to take the action of Call of Duty and place it into the settings of other games. It seems like a tactic to stave off boredom.

Invasion has four new small-to-medium-sized multiplayer maps. “Departed” is a medium-sized map set in a rural Mexican town during the Día de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) celebration. It has skeleton masks, colorfully decorated streets, vendor carts, and storefronts for run-and-gun play. And it has a unique Field Order where you can unlock the Death Mariachi killstreak. It reminds me of Grim Fandango, the classic LucasArts adventure game.

“Pharaoh” is set in an abandoned archeological site of an ancient Egyptian palace. Players must look out for collapsing monuments and urns full of flesh-eating scarabs. Inside the palace, gamers can battle through multiple chambers in close-quarters combat with short-range weapons. Anubis, the half-jackal/half-human, protector of the dead, will reward players who unlock the map’s Field Order.

The third map, “Mutiny,” transports players to a remote Caribbean island harboring an eerie pirate hideout complete with abandoned trading posts and prison cells. It feels a lot like the environment of Assassin’s Creed IV: Black Flag, as the players fight among pirate ships. This map rewards speed and stealth. The Mutiny Field Order will unlock two ghost pirates, who will send enemy combatants down to Davey Jones’ locker.

Lastly, the fourth map really is from another game. “Favela” is a refresh of the fan favorite map from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2. Since its original release, the Brazilian shantytown has seen substantial change. Buildings once under construction are now complete, while others have crumbled into a state of disrepair. Players have to avoid falling to their death as they traverse the map from one building to the next.  Those who complete the Field Order will be able to call in heavy air support from a nearby Y-8 Gunship, which has a 105mm cannon, a 40mm auto-cannon, and a 25mm cannon.

Lastly, the Extinction episode puts the co-op team into an alien underworld, where they can strike at the subterranean fortress of the Ancestors, the mysterious puppet-masters behind the Cryptid invasion.