Activision Details Call of Duty: Ghosts' Onslaught DLC

The first DLC pack for Call of Duty: Ghosts contains a number of surprising features, including the ability to play as Halloween's legendary Michael Myers in a map that pays tribute to classic horror films.

Activision has officially announced Call of Duty: Ghosts' first DLC pack, Onslaught. The digital offering contains four new multiplayer maps that sport a few interesting gameplay twists, which are detailed below.

Fog:
The most interesting-sounding map of the bunch, Fog pays tribute to horror films. The map is set near a lake and contains a variety of horror-themed locations, including a campsite, cabins, and a torture chamber. Collecting a special Field Order will turn one character into Halloween's Michael Myers, and changes the music to the film series' classic theme song. Call of Duty fans created a Michael Myers game mode years ago that involves one player hunting down defenseless, unarmed victims; it will be interesting to see how Infinity Ward's take on the mode compares.

BayView:
The second map takes place on a Californian boardwalk town and contains a number streets and stores. Activision describes the map as being good for "fast-paced run-and-gun matches," but that players can also set up on rooftops for long-range sniping. Players can call in artillery strikes from an offshore Naval Destroyer, and set up sentry guns on a moving trolley.

Containment:
Containment takes place in a Mexican village that's divided by a dried-up river, allowing players to snipe from their respective bank and infiltrate enemy territory by crossing the central bridge or running through the river bed. The map contains a radioactive missile on an abandoned truck near the center of the map, which can be detonated via a mortar strike.

Ignition:
A remake of Modern Warfare 2's Scrapyard, Ignition is set at a Florida space launch facility. The map contains two rocket test engines, which can be activated by completing Field Orders. The blast from the engines will ignite anyone unlucky enough to be in the area.

Onslaught also contains a new weapon called the Maverick, which functions as both an assault rifle and a sniper rifle, and can be selected by either class. Finally, Onslaught features the first episode of a four-part narrative for Extinction mode, entitled Episode 1: Nightfall. The episode takes place in a Alaska research facility and introduces new characters, a new weapon, and new alien enemy types, including a 30-foot boss creature. Check out the video below for more information.

Onslaught will be released first on Xbox Live on January 28, at a later, unspecified date for other platforms. The DLC is included in Call of Duty: Ghosts' Season Pass, or can be purchased separately for $14.99. For more on the game, read our review.

Our Take
Gamers love to complain that the Call of Duty series never does anything new, but between the aliens and the surprise Michael Myers cameo, it seems to me like the developers at Infinity Ward are more than willing to take chances. I'm especially interested to see how the Halloween tie-in plays out, and whether it mirrors the fan-made Michael Myers mode that the Call of Duty community came up with years ago. Playing as the invincible horror icon could be a lot of fun.