Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

The most anticipated game of the year is here. Is it worth heading into the jungle? Find out in this Review.

Video Review:

If you are new to the franchise then you wouldn’t know that Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch, who also developed Call of Duty: 3 and their more popular title Call of Duty: World at War This time Treyarch put players into the heart of the Cold War which has never been seen in any other Call of Duty title. This is also the 7th title of the series not forgetting the games are published by Activision.

Story

The story consist of you taking roles of various characters during the single-player campaign. If you have played any of the past Call of Duty titles you will come to notice that with each of the different characters you play as gets a different perspective throughout the story. Throughout the campaign you will be taking part playing  as two characters: Special Forces operative Alex Mason and CIA agent Jason Hudson, both members of the Studies and Observations Group, a clandestine black operations unit fighting behind enemy lines. The story this time around follows the Cold War area. The single-player campaign takes place in multiple different experimental locations, including Ural Mountains in central Russia, Cuba, Laos, and Vietnam. When playing as  Alex Mason your are working in collaboration with a mad Nazi scientist who has created the highly lethal chemical weapon, “Nova-6”. If you have played World at War then you will be happy to know Treyarch have done a similar thing that Infinity Ward like to do in their Call of Duty titles, by placing one of the ‘Price’ members in the game. Viktor Reznov makes a return from the Soviet campaign in World at War now joining Mason and the Studies and Observations Group in Vietnam. Not going too in-depth to ruin the plot twist, epic action cut-scenes and just all out brilliant and much longer campaign compared to the previous Call of Dutys, Black Ops by far has one of the most well made, well presented Campaigns ever in the Call of Duty series.  This said, there are far to many moments that the missions loose their quality and basically make you feel like Treyarch just went for quantity than quality.  Each mission features a series of objectives that are displayed on the heads-up display, which marks the direction and distance towards and from such objectives. The same as previous Call of Duty games you are accompanied by friendly troops who cannot be issued orders, but from time to time will kill some enemies.  The story develops more after each  mission as you are presented with a flashback which I can say is very similar to how Assassins Creed 2 was presented,  the missions slowly revealing the plot and gluing the loose bits together, helping you understand what is going on. It may not be very original, but it works well due to its context.   You will find countless characters throughout your Integrations to leave you intrigued to how they play their part in the story.

Gameplay

You take part in the role of a solider/agent for the Black Ops operations. Throughout the single-player you will have  access to various firearms,  you can have a primary and a secondary with also the opportunity for explosives such as grenades, grenade launchers and other equipment to fight enemies.  You also have your trusty knife for hand to hand combat. You can still manoeuvre the same character positions:  standing, crouching, or prone; each affecting the character’s rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. New to Black Ops is the ability to be able dive prone from a standing position. Same as the previous Call of Dutys you can run for a short while before needing to wait for your character to stop being tired. Similar to Modern Warfare 2, when you take damage your screen would be filled with ‘jam’ like blood. It is back in Black Ops but it is not as bad as Modern Warfare 2. The same health system returns, try avoiding damage and your health shall regenerate.  The well-known grenade marker from previous Call of Dutys indicates the direction of the grenade. One of the first missions you encounter is an well executed breakout from a  Soviet prison.  This mission alone features a lot of variety to complete that mission.  The campaign is amazing, but it does have its technical problems. Don’t worry, Treyarch haven’t placed Call of Duty: World at War’s grenade spam in Black Ops. There is how ever… The constant re-spawn of enemies in certain campaign missions on Veteran. The majority of the missions of Veteran are pretty easy, thanks to the new following objectives, others… Not so much. The Vietnam mission for example on Veteran will definiently throw you of your course. It’s like their on an endless loop, and is it hard? Hell yes. But, after a while you will get the hang of it and move on to the next missions. For other difficulties the campaign is of course easier.  Another issue is the checkpoint markers, which are not fairly spread out, causing a huge issue for those doing it on the harder difficulties on their first play through. The vehicles return, this time around placing you in a huge variety of different vehicles. Some put you in the gunner’s seat or driving a motorbike to get to onto a train to escape. The vehicles handling is the best compared to any other Call of Duty titles. It truly is remarkable and really does make the campaign stand out compared to the others. Now the game of course is heading back to the Cold War period. Whilst still focusing around that 1960’s era, the game features a variety weapons such as crossbows (with alternative explosive ammunition), ballistic knives, AK47’s, Dragonov’s and more. The variety of weapons is huge for the Campaign and Online. My personal favourite is the Crossbow – it is so satisfying when you get a kill with it.

Design

The design for Call of Duty: Black Ops varies. By this, I mean it still uses the similar well-built upon engine, but slightly changes it to present the game differently. This time around the most noticeable design flaw is the online. The online feature, as I like to call “Call of Duty 4.5”,  looks very similar to Call of Duty 4’s online. While in certain areas and maps look amazing, some just look pixelated, particularly the  building’s textures. The guns, however, I think have improved a lot since MW2 and the Characterisation is astonishing. After a while of playing online, unfortunately, you will ignore the design elements as your may focus will be killing. Unless you really do like looking at virtual bricks then by all means, enjoy. The campaign is graphically hands down the best out of the Call of Duty titles. The amount of in-depth environments (e.g a Jungle) looks so vibrant and realistic you really do get a feel of what that part of the location was like during the Cold War. The vehicles hands-down  are very well crafted and feel and look realistic while the Campaign overall is just so well-made.

Multiplayer

The online multiplayer mode of Black Ops retains the same XP system as previous World at War and Modern Warfare titles . You unlock experience points by doing certain challenges. This can include a challenge for a gun (e.g get 25 headshots with a Dragonov, etc). Doing these challenge’s will help you progress through more unlocks, giving you more weapons and experience. Earning experience points and levelling up is now presented differently to previous Call of Duty titles. Experience points will give you the ability to unlock more custom class slots, Create-A-Class, new modes to play, and the availability of certain weapons and bonuses for “purchase”. More of the “purchase” items become available throughout different levels in the multiplayer. New to the Call of Duty series is Black Ops’ new multiplayer points system. This system is known as COD Points. This system is the new currency in Black Ops that provides you with Points to buy unlockable weapons, attachments, emblems, face paint and more.  The new Player Match time limited objectives known as “Contracts” is apart of the Cod Points system. Purchasing the contacts can be use to gain more currency and experience points. New custom Killstreak rewards include RC explosive cars, guided missiles and controllable attack helicopters. More Killstreak’s can be brought with Cod Points throughout the duration of your Levelling.

The new Wager Match modes are designed to focus the importance of COD Points, highlighting the fact that it is much quicker, fun and enjoyable playing these matches to earn your COD points. There are different types of ‘wagering’ that can take place. You can head over to Ante up and bet small amounts of Cod points. This mode is mainly their for new players to get use to the game modes, and also if you want to play your friends. Weekend Roller is a bit more expensive placing 1000 COD Points on the line – but you could win 3000 back for becoming first place. Lastly the High Roller playlist – this playlist could either be make it or break it as you have to put 10,000 COD  points on the line to win 30,000 back. I have countlessly lost 10,000 and gained it back. The different types of available game types of Wager matches are: One in the Chamber, Sticks and Stones, Gun Game and Sharpshooter. All of the modes are unique to each other which gives the opportunity for players to find there favourite and work on it.
The original Team Deathmatch, Domination and Headquarters are still present online and probably the most accessible to level up to reach Level 50 and head out of to the 15th prestige.  Search and Destroy, Free-For-All, Domination also make a return with a few others. There is a lot of variety of modes and we are sure there are already a lot of a few fan favourites.

Even though the multiplayer is highly addictive, (so addictive I have already lost over 10 hours and counting playing) it has it issues. The main issues I have come across the multiplayer is the terrible spawns. I would have to say out of all the Call of Duty titles that have online, Black Ops has the worst spawning system ever. Me and my friends have found ourselves countlessly spawning in front of enemies over and over. At one time I was spawned at the same position three times and the same guy killed me each time. This is highly frustrating and causes uncountable swear words to leave my mouth.  The other issues is from time to time the random lag that appears, and I know it shouldn’t be me lagging as I don’t have anything on the internet whilst playing on the X360 to avoid lag.  These are the only main issues I have found with the Multiplayer and I continue to play it even though with these issues.  Hopefully there will be a patch soon.

Returning to this title is also the Online split screen (which was featured in Call of Duty 3 for those who haven’t played it). The guest account can rank up but will be reset after each sign out. Only on Xbox 360, a second Gold Xbox Live account can be brought to keep the second player’s progression.  The Online split screen actually works very well and is a very nice feature for those who would rather play together on one Xbox than online.

Lastly  the Multiplayer has to offer is two new and first time functions to been seen in a Call of Duty title. Combat Training and Theatre Mode. Combat Training consist of you being able to practice against Bots who are meant to represent the Online Multiplayer. This is great for new and old players to get use to the online, maps, guns etc. It is possibly one of the best features to be bundled in with the online Multiplayer.

Theatre Mode is a new mode where you can view up to 100 previous matches you have played in. Every online match you join into (even private matches if you turn it on) will be recorded and saved. You can edit your online clips to show of to your friends of your amazing Tomahawk kills across the map etc. There is so much editing capabilities we are sure there are some already well crafted montages thanks to this function. It is similar to Halo 3/ODST and Reach’s Theatre mode, but it does have its unique functions and a very great and well loved feature of mine.

Zombies

The Nazi Zombies are back to eat our brains. This time around placing you in some new locations, including a a derelict house, theatre and more. If you didn’t play the Call of Duty: World at War Zombie mode then you will want to know how does zombies work. During every match on zombies you will find yourself battling through waves and wave of zombies. During this time you can re-build the broken windows to earn more cash for those pesky perks, weapon upgrades and more ammo.  If you are playing online or split screen with other players and one of them gets punched up by a zombie, you can walk over to the player and revive them. As you progress through the game more and more areas of the house open up, giving you more weapons to purchase and also more power-ups which the whole team will share when collected.

Now, Zombies isn’t the only mode you can play to do with the brain eaters. There is also a nice little ‘Easter Egg’ known as Dead Ops Arcade which is an top down Zombie game. Just break out of the chair in the start up menu (Press L+R a few times for the X360 and L2 and R2 for the PS3), walk over to the Computer, type in “CD”, click enter, then type “DOA”, hit enter again and now you can play Dead Ops arcade. This top down shooter plays like classic arcade games, such as Smash TV, with the left stick controlling the character and the right your aim. You need to fend off a constant swarm of zombies and monsters across numerous rooms, collecting cash and better weapons along the way.

Overall

This could be the finest Call of Duty title yet. Call of Duty Black Ops both improves and somewhat fails over last year’s Modern Warfare 2 however. Black Ops hands down has a brilliant campaign. Even though from time to time may be too tough for players, it all comes down to be a very epic and well made storyline. It does have its glitches and hiccups which can cause a lot of frustration, but once you get past them hiccups you will happily enjoy the game from the start to finish.  The online multiplayer has a brilliant in-depth new COD Points system which will keep players constantly playing for many more years to come. It is a shame however how the design dramatically changes between the campaign and multiplayer. The gameplay is perfect in certain areas and the locations online and the Campaign are amazing.  It is not perfect but it has everything you need in a Call of Duty title. A great experience.

The Good

• Campaign has a lot of  variety
• The story has some very well presented and intriguing moments
• The online multiplayer currency system is awesome
• Combat training is great for practicing with friends or alone
• Theatre Mode has a lot to offer and is great showing of to your friends your videos
• The weapon’s are very well-made and designed, Especially the Crossbow and Ballistic Knife!
• Zombies are back and eating more brains!

The Bad

• Design from campaign to multiplayer show a massive difference which can annoy some players
• The campaign can be over too quickly when playing on Recruit and Regular
• Lots of random technical bugs which hopefully will be patched
• Hit detection is sometimes off target
• Multiplayer spawns on the map’s are annoying