It was like waiting till Christmas to open a present you have been expecting only to find out, its not what you wanted!
When the Mapathy campaign launched and I learned that out of the 5 maps being released only 3 of them were new I was kinda bummed, but at least they chose 2 of my most liked maps plus I would get to try out some new weapons, perks and killstreaks out on these maps. I was also ok, not happy with, but ok with shelling out $15 bucks in Microsoft fantasy money. What I didn't expect was the painful process everyone including myself would have to go through to be able to play the new maps. If you don't know about the glitches then google "stimulus package" and you are sure to read about the troubles that were had by some of us over-zealous MW2 players who tried to play the new maps on their release.
Anyhow so how good is MW2 Stimulus package, well I did a little math to produce my rating. The 3 "new" maps are pretty sweet. I really can't compare the layout of the 3 maps to really anything else. They are unique. "Bailout" feels like my college dorms were converted into a paintball arena with some pretty odd boundaries set. The layout of the map keeps you moving because truly there is no safe place to camp! "Salvage" is like a paradise for assault rifles, although a crafty sniper might have some fun. But don't think you can sit around an snipe in this map. Movement is once again the key to this map. "Storm" is possibly one of, if not my favorite map out of the release for its maze like structure keeps the gameplay at a fast moving pace. So I give 6 points (point for style and for tactical tuning 3*2=6) for the new maps. The two rehashed maps are solid favorites, however they are rehashed so I give it 1.5 points for that (2 points for choosing my favorite maps but minus .5 for making me pay for it). And because the price is a little high I took away .5 points for a total of 7 out of 10.
I know a lot of people are bummed about the lack of being able to choose the type of game play they want with the stimulus package but in my experience isn't that the way it always starts. Eventually we will be able to choose our gameplay type with these new maps, I am sure.
$15 is kinda expensive, but I must say these new maps "stimulate" my interest once again in MW2. So if you have 1200 MS points lying around and you love MW2, I say download it. However if newer games like Bad Company 2 have gained your interest then you could probably pass on this for now until the inevitable price drop.