Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops hit stores Nov. 9, 2010.  Whether you love it, or hate it, the game has staying power.  Check out the review by Corvianking, our newest game reviewer.

I have a confession to make: I have played every single Call of Duty game that has existed, including the crappy ones that Activision made to appease people playing on Nintendo’s consoles. Like so many other Call of Duty fans, I was greatly enamored with Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, and I was as upset as any other fan to hear about the split between Infinity Ward and Activision (not getting into that whole thing here). When I heard about Black Ops, it was guaranteed that I would be in line for the midnight release. I took the day off from work so I could stay up all night gaming. Yeah, I know, I’m sure a few of you reading this did the same thing.  Most of you, if not all, would agree that it was so worth it.

Now, I should note that after World at War, my respect for Treyarch was pretty low, especially when you compared WaW’s multiplayer with Modern Warfare’s. Yeah, the single player was fun, and Zombies was a great addition that I wasted days and days on, but all-in-all the multiplayer just could not stand up to Modern Warfare. I really can’t put my finger on what they did wrong, but it just didn’t feel right.

What fickle people we gamers are though, because in the time since Black Ops was released, I haven’t once touched Modern Warfare 2. Treyarch, bravo, you’d outdone yourself, though honestly, after WaW, that’s really not saying much. The single player mode is insane, taking you from Cuba, to Russia, to Vietnam, to China, and back again, all the while weaving a great story, especially for a game where most people are just picking it up to shoot at other people in the multiplayer. An added bonus to the usual deal of picking up intelligence in game is that, from the main menu, you can access the fruits of your labor, with documents, covered in redacting black lines, slowly get revealed the more you gather. Is it a big selling point? Not really, but it is a cool new addition and one that I appreciate as I normally wonder while hunting for intel, “what exactly am I getting out of this besides a headache and a few points of gamerscore?”

Zombies is a blast, and so is the new Dead Ops arcade, a bird’s eye view shooter reminiscent of some much older arcade games. It’s a lot of fun, especially when you toss three other players in with you. I won’t tell you how to unlock it though, you’ll have to figure that one out for yourself (or you can google it, if you’re lazy. I didn’t.) General multiplayer modes are where Black Ops really shines though, just like its predecessors.

Prestige mode is back, and once again it bears the same price. Advance to a new set of ranks, reset all your weapons and other purchases. That’s a new feature that I love also, the inclusion of shopping. It adds a tremendous level of diversity to the game that simply wasn’t present before. No player will have quite the same guns, even if they’re at the same rank, something that’s a departure from the more traditional style of the past Call of Duty games. Not to mention, Prestige mode has definite rewards this time in the form of camo unlocks, additional colors and such for your clan tag, and one additional custom loadout slot for each time you Prestige.

So how does it all stand up? Well, it took the release of Dead Space 2, my second most anticipated game of the year (Portal 2 holds that high honor of first place), to break me free from the clutches of Black Ops, and even that didn’t last for long after I’d beaten DS2. Black Ops is an excellent game.  If you like shooters at least and you’re not one of those raging fanboys who hates Call of Duty simply because it’s popular (yes, they exist, and they’re as annoying as they sound like they’d be with their “dethrone CoD!” chants), and I highly recommend picking it up if you haven’t already. If you have, why are you reading this? I’m not telling you anything new, GO PLAY YOUR GAME. Peace out.