With Call of Duty: Ghosts looming in the horizon along with the next gen console launches, Call of Duty: Black Ops II has one last push to make the FPS world sink in more months of their life in the meantime.

On August 27th, the final map pack called Apocalypse will be released for Call of Duty: Black Ops II on XBox Live with later releases coming to PS3 and PC. It will include four new multiplayer maps (Pod, Frost, Takeoff and Dig) and one new Zombies map (Origin) to help round out the Black Ops II experience.

Pod: A failed utopian community from the 70’s has left stacks of dilapidated residential pods nestled into an abandoned cliff side in Taiwan. Its residents long gone, the modernist compound now hosts frenetic combat as players must run atop the pods, as well as navigate their multi-tiered interiors for a strategic edge.

If you are a Call of Duty: Black Ops II player, you probably spent the better part of your day yesterday playing the new Vengeance maps that came out on XBox 360. If you’re a PlayStation 3 owner, let’s face it that you aren’t a real Black Ops II player to begin with. The XBox 360 players got to dig in to the four new multiplayer maps as well as the new Buried zombie map as well.

Instead of a standard fare trailer showing off the levels like the teaser videos have done already, the team at Treyarch worked on something a little different. In the launch trailer for the Buried zombie mode map, Treyarch paired up with Malukah who is best known for her Skyrim cover song (with over 10,000,000 YouTube hits) to create “Always Running”.

With a voice similar to that of Amy Lee from Evanessence, Malukah does a fantastic job capturing the desperation overcoming players during zombie mode. This combined with some fantastic in game close call footage gives a very different feel than a fast paced shoot ’em up that Call of Duty: Black Ops II often gives its players.

I know that two weeks ago we showed you the reveal trailer for the Vengeance map pack for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (which comes free to Season Pass holders) but we’ve got a new trailer featuring new gameplay footage from the DLC levels. But, more importantly, the Replacers who are our favorite marketing gimmick so far for any game out there also get a new member. Joining JB and Peter is…. well I can’t spoil the trailer for you.

In addition to the new member of the team, we do get to look more in depth at the four new levels coming to Vengeance. The Cove looks like a fantastic combination of the beach level from Mario Kart combined with Zanzibar from Halo 2. Rush is a paintball video game finally done right, probably since it involves actual guns and not subpar paintball gameplay mechanics. Sadly, this would be the one time I’d hope for a paintball mode back like they had in Goldeneye 007 and we aren’t getting it.

Detour is eerily reminiscent of a scene from Left 4 Dead except now everyone can shoot back. Uplink has the feel of a classic Bond level to it with a computer control room that everyone gathers in but the only difference this time is how gunships can rain down fire through the skylights. Finally buried adds not just a new location to the zombie mode but a new gameplay twist with a rampaging giant to deal with or befriend.

We’re looking forward to this DLC for CODBO2. Should make a great enhancement to an already awesome game. At least it will help pass the time until Call of Duty: Ghosts arrives.

Can’t wait for that one either. Until then, we’ve got some vengeance to tide us over. Look for it on XBox Live starting July 2.