Thursday, November 18, 2010

Call of Duty: Black Ops | Review


Synopsis: It is that time of year again when Activision throws out their newest release for their highest selling franchise title to see how many records they can break with their newest entry to Call of Duty. Guess what, looks like they did it again with Black Ops, but how does this title compare to the previous entries? In Black Ops, you will once again go behind enemy lines, however, this time you play as a member of a Special Forces unit, engaging in covert and classified missions. Like the others before it, this release includes the cinematic single player, the always popular multiplayer with RPG elements including new wager abilities, and the returning zombies gameplay mode. Time to go back to the Cold War and see if Black Ops can hold a torch to Modern Warfare in the seventh Call of Duty entry.

Praise: Where do you start reviewing a game that has repeatedly been great for any fan of the FPS genre? This is the seventh entry to the Call of Duty series and what can I say aside from WOW? The graphics and sounds of battle are amazing, making you feel like you are the lead in an exciting war flick full of explosions, close calls, and nonstop action. Aside from the visuals, the gameplay is fast, smooth, and practically flawless. The multiplayer is the same as the previous titles, but with new kills streaks and maps to keep it fresh, and weapons, while not perfect, few games come close in providing a comparable experience. Zombies, I have nothing bad to say about that, though it isn’t a new feature, it is always fun to work cooperatively to keep the zombies away from your brains by blowing the crap out of them.

Gripes: The story feels more like a movie than being in battle, especially when you hear Fortunate Sun playing as helicopters are raining fire on villages and enemies as you work your way to the next objective. Though the cinematic experience provides that high production value but what I liked about the previous entries was that it felt like a gritty against all odds experience and not a Michael Bay movie. The online is great, but the majority of matches, Team Deathmatch being my flavor of choice, do not use much if any teamwork. The reason for this is that a lot don’t use headsets, for probably good reason at that due to the unsportsman like audience you are likely to find in most matches whether it be a 10 year old prepubescent child screaming obscenities or the middle age gamer rapping nonsense into the mic. It still takes a number of matches to unlike character customization and perks so your kill/death ratios may be less than you like until you level up.

Overall, Black Ops is just what you would expect from a Call of Duty title, a strong FPS full of action, online with a huge community, and replay value out the wazoo. Though most of my issues come from the online side of the game, it still provides a dominant online experience you aren’t likely to find in any other recent shooters out there. This is almost the same experience we have grown to expect from the franchise but like the saying goes, if it isn’t broken, there is no reason to fix it, so if you’re a fan of the series or genre, you will not be disappointed.

Mashbuttons.com gives Call of Duty: Black Ops a 9 out of 10.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is available now for the Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, PC, Nintendo Wii and the DS.

1 comment:

  1. Much love for the indie video game journalism scene - gamertag - elock0319

    ReplyDelete