Call of Duty Black Ops
Call Of Duty: Black Ops
Here is the latest game in the Call of Duty saga. The question is does Treyarch’s latest outing in the series beat down on Infinity Ward’s? The answer frankly is if you mean Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare then "no" - nothing could compare to the system shock of that game. However set against Modern Warfare 2, yes.
Whereas World at War sat and stagnated a little in the WWII setting, although it had its moments, frankly there weren’t many battles to play through that we hadn’t already seen. Black Ops takes us into the cold war, where we in the west had instant villains for films forever; until it ended anyway.
Black Ops’ is told through a series of flashbacks, but starts the game about half way through, as is the fashion with a lot of modern films and TV series. You play as Alex Mason and Agent Hudson between different levels. Mason is a SOG agent and you replay his flashbacks throughout as you try to uncover the truth about some numbers being broadcast across the U.S.
As Mason you’ll fight around some of the key battles of the cold war such as the Bay of Pigs and the battle of Khe Sanh. You’ll engage in more head on fighting. As Hudson you’ll be doing more of the secret agent stuff, like sneaking into bases and stealth killing your way through a level.
The pair’s stories join and separate several times throughout the game, sometimes in token moments and others in important segments of the story. It gets very interesting later on when you play through a level as Mason and then get swapped into Hudson’s point of view to see a different version of events during a battle.
The story is done in an almost Bond style way *spoiler alert* complete with an underwater base *spoiler ends*. However there are some truly chilling moments during the campaign when you (the player) are shown the horrors of war - in a subtle, not patronizing, way.
Enough of the story. The game’s got that polished COD feel to it as you would expect by now. There’s very little that I could say that hasn’t already been said about the previous COD games. Everything works like it should, however this time you’ve got new things to play around with.
In the Campaign you will come across some fun new weapons to grab a hold of such as a crossbow with exploding bolts and a shotgun that fire flame rounds. They make for good fun as you strut around killing everything left, right and centre. It’s nice to see COD do something like this. I was overall impressed with these Bondesque touches to the game. It felt like I was playing a game. I’m all for realism in games, but too much just gets dull.
Another addition (that I wish featured more) was a moment where you have to give orders to your men on the ground from a stealth jet miles above them. Once they come in contact with the enemy you zoom down and take control of one of the characters to take part in the fight you initiated. It was great but underutilized.
The music guides you through the game well, with some good orchestral moments and for once in a COD game some electric guitar to make you feel more like a man when you're in the heat of battle.
Black Ops has one of the best campaigns any COD title had to offer. It may not break through with many innovative ideas but it does keep you wanting to come back for more. It likes to tease you with new ideas but then takes them away quite quickly - apart from the explosive crossbow - it’s very keen to let you keep that. It seems like the developers weren’t sure how well certain things would be received so they thought it best to only give you snippets in case people didn’t like them.
Multiplayer matches are frantic, but you don’t need me to tell you that.
Multiplayer has been made even more fun for the players. There are some neat new gadgets like the camera - perfect for search and destroy missions. They’ve introduced COD points, you use these to buy guns and attachments for them. You still need to level up to unlock guns, but you don’t need to spend hours playing with it to unlock say the red scope you can just spend your points to get it the same time you get the gun.
There are also wager matches where you can bet these COD points to earn more. These matches are all unique and you can bet as much as you want on them. There are rounds like "one in the chamber" where you're given a handgun with only one bullet in it. If you score a kill you earn another bullet. Nice and tense some of these matches...
All in all, Call of Duty: Black Ops gives you some nice moments and thrills. The story is exciting and I never found it to drag no matter how over the top it is. The Multiplayer gives you exactly what you want. Other than that it’s hard for me to add anything that hasn't been said already.
- Ben Jones, UK correspondent -
Favorite moment: jumping across rooftops to escape an enemy, the heart pounding moment as you leap across a gap unsure if you’ll make it...
Least Favorite moment: The twelve year old American child, calling me a “fag” and trying to order our squad during a search and destroy operation. Who is this child and why are his parents letting him play an 18 rated game?!