The Best Call of Duty: Black Ops Maps, According to the Devs

We all have our favorite Call of Duty multiplayer map, but which Black Ops multiplayer map do the developers of the game keep returning to in their spare time? IGN sat down with senior Call of Duty Black Ops developers, many of whom actually created some of the most popular Call of Duty maps of all time, to answer once and for all which multiplayers maps truly are the best.

Just a note before we begin, this list will only cover multiplayer maps that have appeared in the Black Ops series, meaning you won’t be finding maps that appeared in the Modern Warfare games. Apologies to fans of Crash.

Nuketown (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

No list of Black Ops multiplayer maps can exist without Nuketown. Perhaps one of the most popular multiplayer maps in the entire Call of Duty franchise, this desolate test site for nuclear missile testing first appeared in the first Call of Duty: Black Ops. Since then, some version of the map has appeared in every Call of Duty Black Ops game ever since, speaking to its status as a perennial favorite.

On creating the map that started it all, expert level designer Adam Hoggatt says he has more fond memories of making the map than actually playing it, saying it wasn’t an idea that was pushed forward by the studio, but instead a passion project that was started up for fun. From there it just snowballed into what is now Nuketown: “We all just put all the most fun things we could think of into the map. There’s the doomsday clock, an engineer helped hook up the first mannequin Easter Egg, and the audio department said, ‘Hey, we have this Rolling Stones song that we licensed and don’t have anywhere to use it,”’ so we put that in there. The rest is pretty much history.”

Raid (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)

Another popular map as chosen by the developers is Raid. Set in the Hollywood Hills of Los Angeles, the map is a sniper's paradise and perfect for long-range weapons. Regarding its development, Hoggatt calls it almost the opposite of Nuketown because unlike the natural creative process behind Nuketown, Raid “started off a little bit rough.”

“It actually went through several complete redesigns,” he says. “But each time we iterated, something interesting from the previous iteration was carried over into the new one,” resulting in the fan favorite map.

Carrier (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)

Set atop a large military aircraft carrier, the appropriately named Carrier is associate creative director Miles Leslie’s favorite map, which is high praise considering he says he “literally worked on every single multiplayer map since World at War.”

Carrier is very much a different beast than Raid, with obstacles scattered across the deck preventing most long-range combat. Instead, close-quarter combat is required, and players will usually come out of the map with a large killstreak if they’re skilled enough.

“We knew going in it was going to be a super tough design because no one would ever make a multiplayer map on top of a Carrier,” says Leslie, “Because it’s flat.” But like Raid, Carrier underwent numerous iterations and ideas before finding its final form. One unused idea according to Leslie was that players could hop into a plane and use it to fire missiles. Sad we missed out on that one.

Kowloon (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

Another of Leslie’s favorite maps is Kowloon from the first Call of Duty: Black Ops. Inspired by what the single-player team was doing with the famous Hong Kong walled city, Leslie says Kowloon was another fun map to design because of the challenge it posed the development team. “If you look at the real Kowloon, the buildings are separated. How can you have a separated giant hole in the center of a multiplayer map?”

The solution was introducing the first zip lines in a multiplayer map ever, solving the layout issue and creating a crazy fun map to zip around in the process.

Evac (Call of Duty: Black Ops 3)

Not a map that’s often thrown around when discussing best multiplayer maps in Call of Duty, Evac is a personal favorite of Leslie’s thanks to how it incorporates Call of Duty’s advanced movement system.

Set in an abandoned evacuation zone on top of a flooded quarantine zone in Singapore, Evac is a “playground of fun” according to Leslie, who recalls how he and the team spent countless hours playtesting the map and immediately adding any fun idea they had into the finished product: A map where players can combo wall jumps and runs together into an exciting, parkour-heavy multiplayer map.

Deprogram (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War)

One of the newer maps on the list, lead game designer Joanna Leung says her favorite multiplayer map is Deprogram from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War. Set inside the fragmented mind of Adler, this small map is primarily for close-quarters combat, though there are fun secret areas perfect for snipers if you can find them.

“I’m a SMG player at heart and I love getting up close and personal with my enemies while I kill them… So I love that map for that reason,” says Leung.

Standoff (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)

True to its name, Standoff from Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is a map where two sides face-off to see who controls the center of the map. With snipers on either side, there’s not a lot of safe spaces in this map, which was inspired by a small border town between China and Kyrgyzstan.

But if you’re able to find your way through the small flanking routes in the side, you’ll find that you can get the drop on snipers and take them out. “It’s such a satisfying experience because I now get a leg up on those guys who kept sniping at me, and basically attack them from behind.”

Cracked (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

One of the bigger maps in rotation, Cracked lent itself to the larger-than-life feel and big-scale action that Call of Duty is known for. It’s also the favorite map of Raven Software lead designer Damon Shubhastari.

“There was just a lot of internal playtests with Cracked that I felt like I had so much playing, especially when the RC XD came online. Cracked was just a very intense map, especially in Domination.”

Firing Range (Call of Duty: Black Ops)

Many popular maps get reimagined or remastered in later Black Ops games. For example, there’s Firing Range which was originally imagined as a military training facility before getting reskinned as a Hollywood backlot set, a change that Shubhastari particularly enjoyed.

“The fun was already there, in the map, we knew it. It was a classic fan favorite, but when the team remodeled [Firing Range] as a studio backlot I just thought it was super fun to play.”

Satellite (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War)

Another recent map from Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, Satellite is one of Matt Coutras’ favorite maps. A senior level designer at Treyarch, Coutras’ favorite map is actually Raid, but Satellite is another of his top hits considering he was involved with designing the map from start to finish.

One goal for Coutras with Satellite was to lean into the natural King of the Hill type gameplay of the map. “I tried to make it so all different types of gameplay styles could be used on that map. So if you want to snipe, you could go out to the dunes. If you wanted to run and gun with a shotgun or an SMG, you could go right down the dry riverbed and try to flank around to get upon top of the hill with a satellite.”

The Pines (Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War)

Another Cold War map, The Pines is set in a fictional New Jersey mall that was going to have its grand opening before being taken over by Perseus. The mix of suburban America and military gunfights is reminiscent of the classic film Red Dawn, and is another of Coutras’ favorite maps purely for nostalgia.

“It reminds me of the mall where I grew up on the East coast and it has an interesting design choice,” he says. “In the center of the map you have the high side versus the low side and it makes for some really interesting engagements.”

Express (Call of Duty: Black Ops 2)

Based on a currently non-existent, California High-Speed Rail terminal, Express takes the classic three-lane map structure and dials up the intensity and fun, according to Jake Harley, associate lead audio designer at Raven Software.

“It’s a twist on traditional three lane map design where there are the parts that you could walk up and over on the stairs to over the train, as well as some sections on the side of the map that would go down into the terminal area.”

Those are the favorite Call of Duty Black Ops Multiplayer maps according to the developers. Let us know what your favorite Call of Duty Black Ops maps are in the comments.