Call of Duty: Black Ops – Reviewed
by OMGitsTFC on Dec.02, 2010, under Gaming
Another one?
Yup.
Okokok. Its Christmas season, and all of the big hitters in the gaming department have been released. This one is definitely at the top of a LOT of wish lists. Black Ops has been released for a month or so now, and is calling in a napalm strike on most of its competitors. You liked my reference. I’m not going to be able to fit everything about this game in to one review without going on for hours, so I’m going to try to hit on the main points.
If you played any of the other games in the series, then you’ll be able to jump right in to this one with absolutely no problem. The controls and engine are exactly what you will remember from the past titles. As a matter of fact, with the exception of a different story line for the campaign, and the zombie mode, this is MW or MW2 all over again. While not necessarily a bad thing, its more of the same. It was a bit of a disappointment for me. With all of the hype and excitement behind it, I expected at least a few new additions, but instead, we were given small tweaks that seemed to be more gimmicks than anything else.
Campaign seems to be the most solid part of the game. The plot and all of the dialogue is all extremely well written. At the start, i just wanted to skip all of the story and just get straight to the killing, but after fighting that urge and seeing several scenes and situations play out, I was pulled in to it. Match that together with the intensely explosive action scenes sprinkled through, like its predecessors, and you have a win. This game also sports one of the best difficulty breakdowns I’ve toyed with. Veteran is absolutely no joke, while the lower settings will let you still have fun if you’re not in it for the pro glory, achievements, trophies, etc. It’s lack of glitches or problems was also very impressive. Not once during my campaign play thru did I experience any problems. But don’t get your hopes up. I still have to talk about zombie and multi-player modes…
Now to the part you all ACTUALLY care about…the multi-player. Just like the campaign, if you’ve become familiar with the last 3 games, then you’re instantly familiar with this one. Everything is set up almost the exact same way in terms of the “how-to’s”. I still notice the same glitches and bugs ive seen from the past games also, however I’m glad that it’s been able to go this long without seeing people crank out the glitches to exploit multi-player like before. (knock on wood…) The main change that you’ll bump in to is the XP/money system. For anything and everything that you will be able to equip to one of your custom classes, you’ll have to earn both a minimum level, AND enough $$ to spend on it. While the money and experience both flow in fairly well, I still consider it to be just a tad in to the overkill department to require both. You’re also going to find the stats breakdown the give you is WAY more than the average player needs, but personally, I LOVE being given that much access to my play record. There is too much to cover all of the items, but i will tell you that the heat-map for your bullet hits is definitely my favorite out of the bunch, and apparently my bullets like to go for your “make god cry” area 99% of the time. Another welcomed feature, which should be on every multi-player game from here on out, is the theater system in the multi-player. Threw a tomahawk that bounced off 5 objects and went across a level to kill someone? No one believed you? Now you will be able to get proof. And you can all thank my buddy, Master Chief, for that one. While this is where most people are going to spend most of their time, its the most disappointing mode for myself due to the lack of changes.
And for my personal favorite mode. ZOMBIES!!!!! It really doesn’t need as full of a review as the other modes. Its simple and to the point. Kill zombies. Survive. Move around the level. Get new guns. Rinse. Repeat. I have noticed several bugs or glitches in my many many many times playing, but nothing that really kills the flow. If you got any edition besides the regular version, then you are also given access to the other 4 maps from World at War, in addition to the two maps they give you by default. If you haven’t heard of or seen the second level, then you haven’t unlocked it. Either beat the campaign on any difficulty, or break out of your chair in the menu screen and enter the code for it on the computer against the wall. Just youtube it… This level is played in the Pentagon, and replaces the 4 different zombie slayers you’re used to with JFK, Richard Nixon, Robert Mcnamara, and Fidel Castro, complete with a boat load of zombie killing sayings they’ll toss out at you. I’m interested to see what downloadable content they will be releasing for this mode.
Done and done. The game as a whole is put together well, but the lack of changes or additions seems to keep it from being the game that it could have been. I am content with it at the very least, and its definitely worth buying, I just wish they had taken a little more time and care with it.
Call of Duty: Black Ops – 360 – 8/10
Wanna buyz it?
Click here for the XBOX360 version
Click here for the PS3 version
