As usual, there's been serious gaming going on! It’s building up to Christmas now and I’m well into the big releases for the holiday season. This post will be my review of Call of Duty: Black Ops, but before we delve into the cold war let’s check out some other titles.
I’m loving Assassins Creed Brotherhood and will be back with a review for it soon. I also received news that the second episode of the fun 2D platformer, Blade Kitten, which was scheduled for release mid-December, is postponed to next year. Still I’m really looking forward to that!
However, the small nuisances, I still love the atmosphere. The environments are simply amazing and it’s just so fun to walk freely around in the African landscapes with a sniper and seeing the weather and day cycle change. It’s one of those games that could have been a revolution but ended up flawed on the gameplay side. I wonder if I'll give it any more time though, there are so many other titles to play.
Released: 2010
Well then, the next Call of Duty game. This time around from the Treyarch team, can they outdo last years CoD: Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward?
In multiplayer, hell yes. In singleplayer, well, yes here too! Let me make this clear from the beginning, Black Ops is fantastic! Both the singleplayer and multiplayer deliver an awesome experience.
If that’s all you need to know then go out and buy the game now! let's take a closer look at both the single and multiplayer parts though.
It feels very believable and it gives an interesting political insight to the arms race between the USA and the USSR. The game even takes a flashback mission to the very end of the Second World War, after Berlin has fallen, to give us a glimpse of the race from the allies to get hold of Nazi scientists and technology. I loved the setting and hope that Treyarch revisit it!
Gameplay is familiar territory, it’s the 60 fps goodness of the Call of Duty franchise. Gunplay feels right and its super smooth thanks to the high framerate, once again CoD proves it’s a head higher than most of the competition in the genre! This time around there are many experimental and early versions of classic rifle and weapons too.
The crossbow with explosive tips gives way for some awesome and rather violent kills. Speaking of which, there's some strong violence in various scenes in this game. The amount of effects and details in the environments is jaw dropping and make for some incredible action sequences. It feels like you are playing an awesome Hollywood action movie, with a believable setting and gun realism.
However, at times all the action can prove a little too hectic and it gets kind of unclear what the player must do. They should pace down a little and let you fight in areas for longer periods, before quickly moving on and changing location so often. You can pace things down yourself though and go slowly forwards at least, gone are the infinite spawns of enemies! Although the zombie mode included is fantastic, I would have liked a coop mode for the main campaign.
Minor complaints aside though, it’s a fantastic and rather lengthy title, compared to most FPSs these days. The variation is fantastic and the dialogue and story are intriguing, giving you more than one twist along the way.
For me it actually outdoes MW2s story, I just find that the plot doesn’t go too far out there and the ending missions really round everything up to a great climax.
This focus on taking back the proper gun versus gun combat, versus the cheap ones including stupid knife perks, and putting more grounded shooter skills back in the main seat, has made Black Ops the multiplayer follow-up, Call of Duty 4 really deserved. I didn’t stop once to play, through all the 50 XP levels, to earn my first prestige! I loved every minute of it and my blood pressure never once, went anywhere near the frustration of MW2!
I’m loving Assassins Creed Brotherhood and will be back with a review for it soon. I also received news that the second episode of the fun 2D platformer, Blade Kitten, which was scheduled for release mid-December, is postponed to next year. Still I’m really looking forward to that!
Far Cry 2
By the way, I tried out an older title again recently, Far Cry 2. I wanted to give it a spin again, try and understand what disappointed and what intrigued me in the first place. The annoying spawning of enemies is still there and it reminded me of how frustrating passing each road crossing was. The gunplay is good, not fantastic, but does its job.However, the small nuisances, I still love the atmosphere. The environments are simply amazing and it’s just so fun to walk freely around in the African landscapes with a sniper and seeing the weather and day cycle change. It’s one of those games that could have been a revolution but ended up flawed on the gameplay side. I wonder if I'll give it any more time though, there are so many other titles to play.
Review
Played on: Xbox 360Released: 2010
Well then, the next Call of Duty game. This time around from the Treyarch team, can they outdo last years CoD: Modern Warfare 2 by Infinity Ward?
In multiplayer, hell yes. In singleplayer, well, yes here too! Let me make this clear from the beginning, Black Ops is fantastic! Both the singleplayer and multiplayer deliver an awesome experience.
If that’s all you need to know then go out and buy the game now! let's take a closer look at both the single and multiplayer parts though.
Singleplayer
Black Ops is set during the cold war in the sixties. It’s, in my opinion, a fantastic era to put in a Call of Duty title. It’s a time where technology, superpowers and government conspiracies raged. It's easy to make a story around actual events like Kennedy’s death, The Vietnam War and the Cuban missile crisis and incorporating imaginary characters and events.It feels very believable and it gives an interesting political insight to the arms race between the USA and the USSR. The game even takes a flashback mission to the very end of the Second World War, after Berlin has fallen, to give us a glimpse of the race from the allies to get hold of Nazi scientists and technology. I loved the setting and hope that Treyarch revisit it!
Gameplay is familiar territory, it’s the 60 fps goodness of the Call of Duty franchise. Gunplay feels right and its super smooth thanks to the high framerate, once again CoD proves it’s a head higher than most of the competition in the genre! This time around there are many experimental and early versions of classic rifle and weapons too.
The crossbow with explosive tips gives way for some awesome and rather violent kills. Speaking of which, there's some strong violence in various scenes in this game. The amount of effects and details in the environments is jaw dropping and make for some incredible action sequences. It feels like you are playing an awesome Hollywood action movie, with a believable setting and gun realism.
However, at times all the action can prove a little too hectic and it gets kind of unclear what the player must do. They should pace down a little and let you fight in areas for longer periods, before quickly moving on and changing location so often. You can pace things down yourself though and go slowly forwards at least, gone are the infinite spawns of enemies! Although the zombie mode included is fantastic, I would have liked a coop mode for the main campaign.
Minor complaints aside though, it’s a fantastic and rather lengthy title, compared to most FPSs these days. The variation is fantastic and the dialogue and story are intriguing, giving you more than one twist along the way.
For me it actually outdoes MW2s story, I just find that the plot doesn’t go too far out there and the ending missions really round everything up to a great climax.
Multiplayer
I’d like to mention a few great details about the multiplayer, especially considering how much I hated MW2 online. Black Ops is much less focused on overpowered killstreaks and tones down the amount of aircraft called in by annoying, screaming teenagers considerably. In fact, it’s rather easy to shoot down attack choppers and package deliveries this time around, thanks to anti-air missile launcher being an optional default side-arm
This focus on taking back the proper gun versus gun combat, versus the cheap ones including stupid knife perks, and putting more grounded shooter skills back in the main seat, has made Black Ops the multiplayer follow-up, Call of Duty 4 really deserved. I didn’t stop once to play, through all the 50 XP levels, to earn my first prestige! I loved every minute of it and my blood pressure never once, went anywhere near the frustration of MW2!
Summary
Any FPS or COD fan should pick up the game without hesitation. A landmark release indeed and Treyarch just gave Infinity Ward a real run for it's money!A fantastic package of both excellent single and multiplayer.
Until next time, have fun!
