Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 - Collection 1 (DLC)

Collection 1 is a straightforward map pack for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3, bundling four multiplayer and Survival Mode maps alongside two downloadable Spec Ops missions - the first time Infinity Ward made Spec Ops content available as paid DLC. If you are still running MW3 lobbies and want fresh ground to fight on, this is the only officially supported way to get it. Nothing here reinvents the wheel, and that is exactly what was expected. The four maps cover a decent range of flow types. Piazza drops you into a tight Italian coastal town - staircase fights, constant shoulder-checking, very little room to breathe. Liberation opens things up in a militarized version of Central Park, with underground bunkers offering cover and enough mid-range sightlines to reward AR players over pure SMG rushers. Black Box is the most verticality-focused of the three ground-level maps, while Overwatch - a rework of MW2's Highrise - puts the action on top of an unfinished skyscraper. Overwatch sounds better than it plays: the layout is full of right-angle corridors and deep camping spots that reward patience over aggression. If you run an aggressive, movement-heavy playstyle you will hate that map within two games. Piazza and Liberation are the two worth the price of admission on their own. The two Spec Ops missions, Black Ice and Negotiator, are where Collection 1 loses some steam. Black Ice is a snowmobile chase with a bomb objective - cinematic in the trailer, over in a few minutes in practice. Negotiator has a genuinely interesting co-op wrinkle where player two starts as a hostage and needs to be rescued by player one before a breach sequence, with hostage-saving rated for stars. It is the more mechanically interesting of the two, but both missions feel like they were designed to fill a bullet point rather than give you a real reason to keep coming back with a partner. Neither will hold a candle to a proper Spec Ops grind session. Context matters here: this DLC landed on PC roughly two months after console players got it, and the community population drop-off that comes with any aging COD title was already underway. Finding lobbies that consistently rotate these maps depends entirely on how healthy the server browser looks when you load up. If your friend group is the reason you are buying this, the Spec Ops missions give you something to do together for an evening. If you are a solo pub-stomper looking to stretch session variety, the four maps do the job, with the caveat that Overwatch will probably end up in your map-skip rotation fast. Fred, Scout Team