Modern Warfare 3 – Collection 4: Final Assault Review

The end of Modern Warfare 3 content season is upon us. With the final Collection 4 pack arriving tomorrow for Xbox 360 users and soon for PlayStation 3 and PC users, the devs behind the DLC wanted to go out with a bang. How might they do that, you ask? By hitting all of you multiplayer enthusiasts with 5 new maps. If you aren’t an ELITE member, this is the map pack you have been waiting for. After Collection 3 hit, many were disappointed with the lack of multiplayer focus. No need to worry Call of Duty fans, Collection 4 is for you.

Decomission

This shoreline-based setting of rotting ocean liners is the perfect place for those run-and-gun types. For those of us ELITE users, Decomission is not a new map. Having released all the way back in July, we’re probably already familiar with it.

I found Decomission to be one of the maps more suited towards the run and gun style I originally played this map with my trusty ACR but found more success once I switched over to the P90 and MP7. Now I’m not saying you can’t achieve decent scores here by sitting back with an assault rifle or sniper, play as you please. There’s a few areas that seem to be pretty populated and those are the higher levelled areas from old ocean liners. When you are navigating through this map don’t just run around like an idiot, although this map is suited for run and gun, there’s plenty of room for flanking opportunities. Always pay attention up top as that’s where most enemies liked to position themselves when I was playing.

Off Shore

Off Shore leaves you trapped on an oil rig in the middle of the ocean. With plenty of recognizable areas such as helipads, cranes and various perches for those of you who like to snipe, it’s easy to navigate this map. Again, for those of us ELITE users, Off Shore has been made available since July. I really dig the concept art for this map, it’s pretty badass.

Try to run with Dead Silence here, the click clanking on the oil rig’s hard metal surface can give your position away quite easily to those who run with gaming headsets. Not to mention it becomes extremely annoying to hear after a minute into the match. The first time you play this map you may get a tad bit confused but after that you should feel right at home. There’s high levelled playing areas you can rain down sniper fire on unsuspecting foes, or you can just run-and-gun with your SMG. This map fits all play styles nicely, although I could do without the annoying click clacking noise from the oil rig surface. I know I’m not alone here, either.

Parish

Parish takes you to the war-torn French Quarter located in New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States. This map is one of the smaller maps of the bunch, perfect for those who want to run-and-gun amongst the rubble left behind by the destruction of war.

This is probably my most favorite map of the bunch. Gulch is dominated by close quarters combat with narrow walkways. This is definitely not a map you want to snipe on, unless of course you’re one of those awesome quickscoper guys. My advice would be to run with an SMG so you are light on your feet, these areas are very small so you don’t want to sit around for too long. Of course you’ll have your campers who won’t move that will slow the pace of the game down, but without that issue, this map is actually one of the better DLC maps we have seen on Modern Warfare 3. There’s a few indoor areas you can run into if there is some sort of lethal attack chopper in the sky. I’m sure when you are done playing Parish you will want to vote for this map instantly right afterwards.

Gulch

Gulch is an abandoned mining town surrounded by mountains, mine shafts and equipment sheds. You’ll have yourself plenty of opportunities to flank opponents on this map. The color palette of this map will take you back to the Modern Warfare 2 days where we remember Afghan. Now these two maps are not similar in any way, but you get that feeling when you see brown dominate your screen, with a bunch of big ass rocks everywhere.

Despite the dominate brown color palette that sweeps through Gulch, this is one of the more nicer looking maps on the entire game. There’s a nice river that flows through the map that leads into a waterfall, which you can fall off of and kill yourself, which I recommend you don’t do. Outside of a small cave, and a few small broken homes there’s not much place for cover here. You’ll have to bob and weave your way around the rocks and broken shelter to play here. If it wasn’t for Parish, Gulch would be my #1 DLC map in Modern Warfare 3. This map just plays perfectly. There’s not many places to sit and pitch a tent and it can cater to all play styles nicely.

Boardwalk

Set on the Jersey Coast of the United States, your battlefield is set on a sunny afternoon at the boardwalk. With various tourist attractions around, such as a rollercoaster or arcade, you’ll battle it out on this war-torn map. Boardwalk can get a bit intense at times. There’s so many shops you can run in and out of that can change the pace of the game up in an instant.

The one thing I hate about this map is that it reminds me of Jersey Shore. You know, that terrible show on MTV that finally got cancelled? The thing I did like about this map, is that I got to shoot it up and kill some bad guys in the process. Finding your way around this map can be a bit tricky, because there’s so many shops you can enter that it may be hard for some to distinguish the difference between them. You won’t have any trouble ducking and hiding from incoming Predator Missiles here. I’m not quite sure how sniping would work here, but I wouldn’t recommend it until you familiarize yourself with the map. There’s t-shirt shops, tattoos shops, game rooms and food areas to navigate through. It’s quite confusing at first, but if you’re an avid Call of Duty player you should welcome this map with open arms.

Conclusion

Well, after reading a bit about each of these maps, the final 3 drops for us ELITE users today (Boardwalk, Gulch, Parish) were by far my favorite DLC drops on Modern Warfare 3 period. Not only do you get that rush of urgency that people are actually running around and playing, the game feels good. If I had to pick a favorite from this pack, it would be Parish. If I had to pick my least favorite, it would be Off Shore. Off Shore doesn’t really lend itself to the quick run and gun style that I’m a huge fan of, and that annoying metal surface can be bothersome. Parish is everything I look for in a Call of Duty map. Action packed, quick to navigate and remember, gun on gun action and it doesn’t suit the camping play style.

If I had to rate this map pack as a whole, it easily gets a 4.5/5. This is the map pack all of you multiplayer junkies have been waiting for. There’s no extra Spec Ops mission or tacky game mode thrown into this collection, it’s strictly multiplayer. After a long content season of the biggest DLC support in Call of Duty history, Modern Warfare 3’s post-launch DLC support is now over. It’s a bittersweet yet exciting moment, as most players look ahead in the future to Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 launching in 2 months.

Don’t forget that Collection 4: Final Assault launches for Xbox 360 users tomorrow. A date for the PlayStation 3 and PC have yet to be confirmed, but once that information is available we will publish it here on MP1st. So how many Modern Warfare 3 heads are patiently awaiting this pack? Let us know in the comments below!

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