As someone who has always been an avid fan of Call of Duty, an obsessive player of each title ever since way back during the Modern Warfare 2/ World at War era, it was very unfortunate to me that all these years later, a storyline in an important Call of Duty series ended a little under a month ago. On September 6th, the final Black Ops 3 DLC, titled "Salvation", came out. This featured Zombies mode map "Revelations". The cast of characters in this map has been the exact same ever since their days in World at War, a game released November 11, 2008. The mode itself has come a long, long way since those days, but Treyarch has stated this would be the last DLC involving this set of characters, ever. We find that when we beat the story version of the mode as the characters are transported into their own alternate dimension, hailed as kings, to rule it for the rest of eternity. A cliched happy ending. Here, I'll go in depth on how I felt about the map and the story as a whole.

So, for starters, let's talk about gameplay. The very premise of this map is very similar to maps past; buy weapons, perks from the perk machines, pack a punch your weapons, and in general, survive, with each passing round getting more and more difficult to do so. However, this map is unique in that it literally fuses various maps from the past, while chipping in some new features based on the story to that point. Maps from the past that got featured included Origins (Black Ops 2), Mob of the Dead (Black Ops 2), Shangri La (Black Ops 1), Der Eisendrace (DLC from earlier in Black Ops 3), Kino Der Toten (Black Ops 1), Verruckt (World at War), and of course, the map where it all began, Nacht Der Untoten. Each piece of the map offers its own degree of nostalgia, with the best parts of each map being highlighted to magnify this feeling. This alone would make the map worth playing by far, but given that this was the last DLC for this storyline, Treyarch decided to go even further to really go out with a bang. Weapons from Advanced Warfare's Zombies mode made an appearance, including the Banshi, Rift E9, and the Peacekeeper MK2. We also saw weapons like the M1927, Thunder Gun/Zeus Cannon, and Apothicon Servant making returns for this going out party. Going beyond the weapons, the level of player interactivity, while normally never an issue in Zombies in general, is taken a step further in this map, and you actually can't dodge tons of action each round, regardless of your style of play. Whether it's turning the power on via the Corruption Chambers, neutralizing the Apothicon Worm with the Tesla Death Rays, or combating an Elemental Margwa, swarm of Parasites, or Panzersoldat every few rounds, each round brings with it something new, deviating completely from the old style "kill zombies every round until you die" to incorporate new challenges amidst the zombie slaying.

But none of that can compare to the Easter Egg Boss Battle. In a few maps in Black Ops 3, Treyarch had tried their hand with "boss battles" achieved through certain objective based gameplay within the Zombies mode. It had an astounding level of success, so as you might have expected, the company gave the players a great boss battle here. The players are given the chance to defeat and kill the Shadow Man, the most powerful being in all of the universe, as well as the primary Antagonist throughout the entirety of Black Ops 3. Through a series of challenges, including pre-battle objectives to achieve, as well as a mental game of wits during the battle, the players could come out on top, defeating the Shadow Man and saving the universe from an uncertain peril. The pure awesomeness of this sequence, the intensity and the immersion the game practically forces on you (in a good way) make this fight one of the best "Final Bosses" in gaming history.

As far as gameplay goes, though, Treyarch did a good job filling the needs of the casual player who'd rather not go through several hours of gameplay to achieve the glory of the aforementioned Boss Battle. It is perfectly plausible and easily achievable for one to have a great time playing this map through the reasons listed in the first paragraph.

As far as story writing goes, if it wasn't abundantly clear, Treyarch scored an A+ in this compartment as well. With this being the ending of a near 8 year stretch of an incredible story, it couldn't have ended any better. With the Summoning Key, the most powerful artifact in the "known universe" being returned and then swiftly stolen by the Shadow Man, the heroes in Dempsey, Nikolai, Takeo, and of course, Richtofen, are once again tasked to fight through zombies and a twisted world alike to try to mount up to defeat the Shadow Man and restore order once again. It plays off wonderfully coming off of the previous DLC map in "Gorod Krovi" where we become acquainted to new character, Dr Monty, after being abruptly introduced to him in the aforementioned map. For those of you saddened to have to say goodbye to our lovable heroes, be at solace with the fact that they are eventually immortalized after being forcefully removed from the "Perfect world" Monty has created by being sent to a seemingly medieval realm, with the quad being hailed as kings and getting to live out the rest of their days peacefully and on top.

To summarize everything, Treyarch absolutely nailed it on Black Ops 3's final DLC in just about every way possible, appealing to the dedicated and to the casual player alike. I'd absolutely have to rate it a 10/10, and I'm not kidding, this map is flawless in every possible way hands down. It would be extremely foolish to have come this far in Black Ops, Call of Duty in general, and not download this DLC.