Call of Duty: Black Ops

This decade's Call of Duty games have been intuitive, fresh and a stepping stone in the first person shooter genre. Dating back to Modern Warfare, COD has been the fan favorite and number one shooter for gamers on Xbox 360 and PS3 alike. This newest edition to the series, Black Ops, is no less impressive. Minor problems and a the fact that nothing much has changed with the formula hold it back from being number one in my book.

Black Ops, sends us back in time to the 1960's cold war era, where players take the role of protagonist Alex Mason, sending him to areas all around the world. Opening the game in a bar in cuba, the games throws you into the action my requiring you to assassinate Cuban dictator, Fidel Castro withing the first 20 minutes. That's certainly how to start things off. This opening level alone, stands out as one of my favorites of the game. The rest of the game revolves around Mason as he tries to remember what the Russians did to him while he was in a prison camp. Vehicle control also returns in this one, granting players the opportunity to pilot jeeps, helicopters and boats. All surprisingly handle well. Throughout the game you will be taking different perspectives and be dropped in many different places. Cuba to vietnam, then to Russia and Washington D.C. It stands out with it's amazing story and I put it above any other in the series. I actually cared about the storyline in this one. It revolves around the Russians and their experimental biochemical gas known as Nova 6. Once I started it, I really didn't want to put it down, and I didn't.

Graphics seem to have taken a minor step back (more of World At War style,) yet the environments still look stunning. Water textures, sky lines and player details are top notch. Cutscenes enhance the action with so much chaos going on at once, it's hard not to feel like you are in the action. Aside from what looks good, there are of course, the dirty. A lot of blood is back in this title, a little different from the previous, and it is borderline tasteless at times. Countless occurrences throughout the campaign, players are required to assassinate enemies from behind, each resulting in a bloody demonstration of the sneak attack. For example, you will find yourself cutting the throat of a Vietnamese rebel on the docks of a lake, all controllable with context sensitive button controls. I can see where they were going with this, and it is a really cool addition, but I believe they may have overused it a few times in this one. Basically it just gets a little old repeating the same animation over and over, and switching the knife with piano wire doesn't really get me excited.

Sound quality could not get any better. Each character is voiced perfectly and each fits into their corresponding roles. Celebrities, such as rapper Ice Cube, lend their vocals to the cast, and the John F. Kennedy impersonator is spot on, and actually worth a good laugh. Explosions boom, gunshots pound, and vehicles are have genuine sounds. A plane crash landing on a run way right in front of your face, sounds just like a crashing plane should. I recommend at least trying to play this on surround sound to really experience the environments.

Now that the basics are out of the way, I have to talk about the Multiplayer mode. Being such a huge success in the previous titles, this one is none the less exciting. Basic team deathmatch, and objective games are still there, with the addition of Wager matches, but we'll take about that later. Ranking up takes the same type of experience earned by just playing, and the challenges present themselves in the exact same way. Like I said, it's nothing we haven't seen before. One minor change I did notice, was the omission of the “quick scope.” Made popular in Modern Warfare 2, snipers had the advantage of quickly scoping the gun and scoring a quick kill, right before the scope took over the screen. Now players have the slightest chance of pulling those off. I for one used the quick scope tactic plenty of times in Modern Warfare 2, and I found that taking it out of this one really changes the way players use the sniper rifle. Other than that, I found this game is still dominated by assault rifles, and really the only way to outwit someone is just to start shooting first. Of course, there are still killstreaks which cap of at 11 kills, featuring a controllable helicopter as the last kill streak.

The rank cap has been dropped down to 50 instead of the previous 70, but this time around COD features 15 prestige levels, each requiring the player to be stripped of all COD points, guns, camos, etc. If you noticed, I did say COD points. These are a new feature in Black Ops, rewarding players a currency in the form of, you guessed it, Call of Duty points. These are rewarded to players by doing good in matches and finishing them with wins. They can then be spent on guns, camos, emblem layers and perks. Challenges do not reward players COD points, (just XP) so that's where wager matches come in. These game types are separate from the other lobbies and feature games types such as One In The Chamber, starting players off with a pistol and 1 round of ammunition. Each kill rewards you with one more round and placing in the top 3 of the match will reward you with COD points; amounts differing depending on how much everyone had bet at the beginning of the match. Other matches such as Sticks And Stones, start you off with a crossbow and a tomahawk (Which has replaced the throwing knife.)You also do not rank up in this playlist. I found it was a nice addition but I did not care to play it continuously based on the fact that I did not gain any XP.

Maps are certainly this games strong point. All maps seem to be from the campaign, except for a couple. Most play well, have good player flow and are balanced. This is a post patch review, so there should not be any spawning problems by the time you read this. Other than the occasional drop in and get massacred matches, I have had a fair amount of success with it. Prestige mode is still just as rewarding and the new emblem editor is fun to mess around with. Players also have the option of choosing a player model, once unavailable to them. Whichever your first perk is, that will define how your player looks in combat. Lightweight perk will show a smaller player, as Scavenger will feature one carrying bads of equipment, although none of these affect hit boxes or affect balance in any way. This seems to be an attempt of more customization that I really over look. Some may cater to their player models, but I really did not get far into it.

I can't complain about much in this game because everything works so well in it, it's just the fact that I think I, along with many other Call of Duty fans, were expecting a little more. Call of Duty still has a place in all of our disc trays, but a developer can only go so far with the exact formula. Just look at the Halo series, which has been progressing and evolving for years. Maybe changes aren't such a bad thing afterall. Sure Treyarch took back the franchise, but adding some more blood and a crossbow won't hold our interest forever. Overall this is a solid Call of Duty experience with a deep campaign story and a successful multiplayer mode, sure to keep players busy.