Black Ops 3 Awakening DLC maps mix pirates, zombies, and a heli-carrier

There has been an awakening. Have you felt it? No, not that awakening, this one: Awakening, a DLC pack that will bring five maps to Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 on February 2. Just in time for all the lucky boys, girls, men, and women who'll unwrap the game on Christmas to finish the campaign and get their feet wet in multiplayer.

Three maps in Awakening are all-new. Gauntlet emphasizes developer Treyarch's three-lane design philosophy of maps, with the stage being split into three distinct areas: one themed after a thick jungle, one emulating a snowy mountain landscape, and one designed to reflect a rainy urban environment. Rise is a more traditional Call of Duty map, with abandoned warehouses and industrial refuse littering the landscape. My personal favorite though has to be Splash, which takes place in an abandoned water park. It's bright and colorful, with plenty of pirate motifs to have me shouting "YARR MATEYS" at my teammates.

Skyjacked is semi-new, as it's a re-worked version of Hijacked from Black Ops 2. Where that map took place on a large boat, Skyjacked is set on a large heli-carrier. There are slight changes made to reflect the game's new movement system, but this is by and large the same map. Lastly, Der Eisendrache is medieval castle environment designed for the Zombies co-op experience. It's cloaked in mystery (as these occult things tend to be), but needless to say there will be plenty of undead looking to make mincemeat of you.

Awakening will rouse PlayStation 4 players from their slumber first, 30 days before it comes to Xbox One and PC. It will not be coming to Xbox 360 or PS3.

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Sam Prell

Sam is a former News Editor here at GamesRadar. His expert words have appeared on many of the web's well-known gaming sites, including Joystiq, Penny Arcade, Destructoid, and G4 Media, among others. Sam has a serious soft spot for MOBAs, MMOs, and emo music. Forever a farm boy, forever a '90s kid.