Game Review: Call of Duty Black Ops

Pros:

• Intense and expansive campaign
• New story telling never before seen in a Call of Duty game
• Multiplayer system has been expanded further with currency and theater mode
• Combat training allows players to play against AI before venturing online for competition

Cons:

• Campaign ends too soon

Over the past few years there has been a new Call of Duty entry into the series each year. Each one expanding more than the last. Call of Duty Black Ops is this years entry and it for sure lives up to the reputation that the Call of Duty series is renown for. Everything that you love from the earlier games is all included plus new additions that really add to the excitement.

The single-player campaign is still the hard hitting action that it has always been, but the storyline is more on the verge of a thriller genre. The story follows the Cold War and events that take place during the 1960s. You travel to places such as Cuba, Russia and Vietnam. The story is very different in the fact that you are playing a series of flashbacks while being interrogated by an unknown voice. With each flashback you receive another part of the story’s puzzle leading up to the thrilling ending.

The campaign is roughly six to seven hours long, but the multiplayer will have you coming back again and again. The competitive multiplayer has many new additions and all have their place in Black Ops. The biggest addition is the currency system used. As you level up and gain experience, you also gain CoD points. These points are used to purchase new weapons, attachments, gun camos, face paint, clan emblems, and playercards. The clan emblems and playercards are the equivalent to the emblems and titles found in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

The well known multiplayer games can be found in Black Ops under the player matches and private matches. There is also another game type called Wager Matches where players can bet their own money and play some outrageous game types. The Wager Match games are: One in the Chamber, Sticks and Stones, Sharpshooter and Gun Game. One in the Chamber consists of players only having a pistol with one bullet and three lives. Players can receive an extra bullet upon achieving a kill. Sticks and Stones is a game type where only the crossbow, tomahawk and ballistic knife are used. In Sharpshooter each player receives the same random weapon every 45 seconds and receives perks upon gaining killstreaks. The final game is Gun Game where players start with a pistol and progressively gain more powerful weapons upon each kill. The first person to kill with all 20 weapons will win.

Zombie mode also makes a return in Black Ops. The first zombie map continues the storyline of zombie mode from World at War. There is also a second map upon completion of the single-player campaign where many well known figures are in the position of fighting to survive.

Each year Call of Duty brings something new and exciting to the table. Black Ops is this year’s prize. Even though it does not really add any new mechanics, the Call of Duty core is still there, it does add a new layer of excitement to the single-player, multiplayer and co-op. The expansive and intriguing campaign makes the storyline the best in the Call of Duty series. Black Ops is this year’s biggest first-person shooter giving veterans and new players some of the best experiences.

Gameplay: 9/10
Graphics: 8/10
Sound: 9/10
Replay Value: 9/10

Overall: 9/10