Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

[Madara XIII]

LOL Thankfully I did, the moment I heard Treyarch I said HELL NO!!!

Infinity Ward all the way baby. At least they can do it right

1) Black Ops is better than any Infinity Ward CoD released before this; and
2) Is Infinity Ward still Infinity Ward without half the founding members, including the original founding bosses, there?

To say that Black Ops is better is an opinion and holds no validity unless brought about under an unbiased analysis of the elements and gameplay in each one.

Yes it still is Infinity ward if they can keep a Campaign fun and entertaining.

I mean Capcom is still capcom eventhough they lost Kamiya....Bastard left for SEGA

 

[AngelOfBlueRoses]

It's sad, I love the escapist, but people take these reviews as if they're only right. I think their shouldn't be perfessonal reviews anymore for any game, only user reviews.

No offense, but seriously, people read this and then say "well this guy says it sucks, so it must suck." Without ever even trying it. People should try games for themselves, not just going off the opinion of others.

I am not saying this review is right or wrong, its someones opinion and I don't want to change that, I just hate when reviewer's opinions are taken above anyone elses.

I think a user review would be worse as they generally don't understand games as well as someone whose in the actual industry. Someone like Russ Pitts catches onto more subtle things. This isn't my main point, though.

My main stab at you is that you seem to think that everyone should go out and get the games themselves so that they can judge. Games are sixty dollars brand new on the consoles, and even sometimes that on the PC. It pays to be cautious. It pays a lot to be cautious because if you go and buy the sixty dollars for the new game and end up being disappointed, your money feels wasted. That's sixty bucks that was wasted. You won't get very much of that back. So, while I understand your point that people shouldn't hold one reviewer's opinion over everyone else's, I shake my head at you telling us to play the games before we can have an opinion. You should listen to Shamus Young more often, as he points out that you can form an opinion on a game before playing it.

OT: I was on the edge about this game. Still am a bit. I might pick it up when it's not so heavily-priced.

 

[Tears of Blood]

And user reviews would be different...how, exactly? Assuming, of course, people paid any attention to them, which is all folks are doing here. They're reading the review, and deciding for themselves whether or not they still want to get the game. Paying attention to a professional reviewer and paying attention to an amateur one is no different.

You may have a response to this already, but it's different because professional reviewers, such as yourselves, are imbued with a certain amount of credibility that a user review on any site is just not going to have. People are going to take professional reviews more seriously, whether they should or not.

Don't get me wrong, though, I like the reviews you guys do.

 

[jakefongloo]

I dont know. I am enjoying the story and the Graphics seem better than MW2 and the like. I guess reviews are the same as opinions. Just Sounds like someone is drinking his Haterade.

bump

We've all played cod games. I'm so tired at getting behind a crate waiting 4 seconds for a terrorist popping his head up and then reloading repeat till i get to move forward. It does not matter at all what gun is in my hands at the time it's the same motion over and over again, but this game and i'm not making it up lets you
Tear shit up with a mini gun
Infiltrate viet cong, russian bases, and snowy outposts with knives and crossbows with pretty nice stealth
Crawl around with a flash light in an enemy waist high tunnel
shoot towers with a giant sling shot
fight in a hazmat suit that makes you take cover way more seriously
blow a fucking missle out of the sky
And a slew of other fun set pieces

And the story was waaaaaaay more interesting then you're elite/they're terrorists/get them/bang bang

I do wish they would have made woods a more relatable charecter though.

And to all you haters out there watching this review and getting all smug about leveling up you're internet cocks if you never liked cod then you're opinion doesn't matter, if you don't like treyarch get off your fucking high horse and play it before you judge.

 

[brumley53]

Really? Cause it uh, seemed fine to me.

Nothing completely spectacular, but as far as single player FPS's go, its not bad.

I agree, i think it was better than most other linear cinematic corridor shooters. not great but better than COD6

 

[Norix596]

My experience with CoD is limited to Modern Warfare 2 so I'm not particularly surprised by this. Of course the campaign is mediocre, it's an extra. The story mode of MW2 was uninteresting and I never felt the desire to replay any level as second time besides the motorboat chase. I, like most players I would assume, bought and played CoD for it's Multiplayer, so if the idea to put less effort into the story mode wasn't already clear it would be after MW2's huge success that the designers don't need to try particularly hard on the single player. I thought MW2's Multiplayer was loads of fun and re-playability, but if the only thing I had seen of the game was the single player, I would say it wasn't a bad game, but just that it was not very good and certainly not worth $60. That said, whether or not you want to buy Black Ops really comes down to whether you think buying it is worth a slightly upgraded/altered Multiplayer, you really like rail-shootery vehicle sections (from what I saw of trailers there seems to be lot of that) or if you're just a big enough CoD fan that you're excited about a new release.

As I said, MW2 is the only background I have with CoD so if earlier titles had excellent campaigns don't bother flaming -- it's their fault for leaving new players like me with the impression that CoD has poor single player.

 

[jakefongloo]

It's sad, I love the escapist, but people take these reviews as if they're only right. I think their shouldn't be perfessonal reviews anymore for any game, only user reviews.

No offense, but seriously, people read this and then say "well this guy says it sucks, so it must suck." Without ever even trying it. People should try games for themselves, not just going off the opinion of others.

I am not saying this review is right or wrong, its someones opinion and I don't want to change that, I just hate when reviewer's opinions are taken above anyone elses.

I think a user review would be worse as they generally don't understand games as well as someone whose in the actual industry. Someone like Russ Pitts catches onto more subtle things. This isn't my main point, though.

My main stab at you is that you seem to think that everyone should go out and get the games themselves so that they can judge. Games are sixty dollars brand new on the consoles, and even sometimes that on the PC. It pays to be cautious. It pays a lot to be cautious because if you go and buy the sixty dollars for the new game and end up being disappointed, your money feels wasted. That's sixty bucks that was wasted. You won't get very much of that back. So, while I understand your point that people shouldn't hold one reviewer's opinion over everyone else's, I shake my head at you telling us to play the games before we can have an opinion. You should listen to Shamus Young more often, as he points out that you can form an opinion on a game before playing it.

OT: I was on the edge about this game. Still am a bit. I might pick it up when it's not so heavily-priced.

There are alternatives things like game fly, local game retailers, i THINK gamestop rents out used copies, and blockbuster isn't out of buisness yet bar a month. Much cheaper, and sometimes i think the professionals get caught up in the whole process of checklisting what they're reviewing rather then just enjoying the experience as a whole...sometimes. The only review I'll take in blind faith is when yahtzee says a game is good. If he says it's bad i'll check around some more; even then I still havn't gotten saint's row 2.

I personally think that this cod is the second best cod out there under cod 4 in single player and TIES cod 4 in multiplayer, it's so incredibly balanced now.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

I guess reviews are the same as opinions.

Reviews are often more thought-out than opinions, a scientific judgement of a game's individual parts and how it comes together as a whole; unbiased and unforgiving.

The problem with opinions is that it is often very hard to find which ones to hold in high esteem.

 

[Andy of Comix Inc]

And to all you haters out there watching this review and getting all smug about leveling up you're internet cocks if you never liked cod then you're opinion doesn't matter, if you don't like treyarch get off your fucking high horse and play it before you judge.

"If you've never liked cod then you're opinion doesn't matter"

Uhhhh... I'm going to take a huge step back and claim heresy on this one. If you don't like a series if games, it's all very well and good that you don't like it again. If I need to like CoD to like this CoD, then guess what? Then I will like it.

Stop eliminating all possible negative factors and realize an opinion has as much weight as any other opinion.

Besides. Hating a game you consider totally awful is perfectly acceptable, I would hope.

 

[Tdc2182]

Ive been saying from the start that Blops would suck. Ive also been saying that Kinect would bomb too, which judging by current sales figures appears to be true

Gamers dont want the same fucking games spat out every year in the same way we dont give a fuck about motion controls

The sooner the industry learns this the better

My fiancee is buying me Blops for Christmas. I'd never willingly pay for a Treyarch game nevermind a Call Of Duty one
(CoD4 I found for PS3 in a skip, MW2 was bought for me by a mate who owed me a shift at work and WaW was given to me by a friend who hated it more than Hitler hated the Jews)

2 million gamers would tend to disagree with you.

 

[Illusive DiZ]

Wow, and I had high hopes for the campaign in this game.

 

[kouriichi]

I liked this games single player. Sure, it wasnt super inventive.

Sure, any half educated monkey could see the plot twist coming at the end.

Sure you can easly point out whos going to die.

But it was a solid single player. And thats the most important thing right now. many games these days arnt solid. Most eather fail miserably, or are quickly forgotten.

Case in point, Alien Vs Predator. It was a solid game, that many people had great times playing. But it was quickly forgotten.

So many games these days are eather flops, or massive successes. We need more middle ground. The middle ground is whats truely good about video gaming. It what keeps us sane during the off seasons.

 

[Sniper Team 4]

Ouch...I'm enjoying it, though I think I may have an idea how it ends (and I was only three levels in). I have to agree with the cutscenes being jarring. The one that bothered me the most was right after you stopped the Russian Space Rocket. Mason goes, "Then his limo showed up. We blew it up, but I knew he wasn't dead." I remember thinking, "Wait, did I miss that? Did I skip it? How come I don't get to play that?!"

On the plus side: NAZI ZOMBIES! NIKOLI! I am still giddy about the fact that, not only did the characters all return, but I TOTALLY CALLED how they would all return. So much fun.

 

[s-l-u-g]

Yeah. MW2 totally had a better plot. Let's compare..

MW2:
You play Ramirez. You are basically everyone's *****. You do everything. Your role in the story is to shoot some bad Russians in some dark and dreary maps. Sometimes they're set in the day, too.
While this is happening a man called Soap and his old friend are going out to kill some bad Russians and one of the undercover agents on their side is with the bad Russians killing good Russians and is ultimately stabbed in the back by the bad Russians for pretending to be a bad Russian, but actually being a good American.
In summary: you have to kill bad Russians. Then two characters get set on fire and so you have to kill bad Russians and bad Americans.

Black Ops:
you are a soldier from Vietnam-era wars. He was brainwashed in a fucked-up MKUltra experiment that split his personality and caused him to imagine himself running around with a now-dead good-Russian so he can kill a nazi and some bad Russians for making a super-poison called Nova which makes you shit your organs out.
And then Kennedy and Nixon are killing zombies.

I think I prefer Black Ops.

EDIT: I'd like to add that if this was Halo the review would have said that it was amazing. See, that's how it is. Bungie gets away with doing the same thing over and over.. But when Treyarch, while still basically doing the same thing, actually decided to fix their game and make it enjoyable they get a review-shaped kick in the balls.

I'm just saying this because I'm as biased as this review.

Coming up next: Yahtzee says something sarcastic and his fanboys fap over it.

 

[GrizzlerBorno]

It's funny how i was on the fence about getting Black Ops, but this review actually makes me WANT to play this game. why? Russ Pitts, no offense, man, but you were SO damn Biased in that review. I'm not a fanboy, i don't play MW2 multiplayer and, as i said, was on the fence about this game too, but the fact that you WANTED to hate this game is SO obvious in this review. i recognize the passive aggression, because my best friend literally hates me for 'considering' this game, as he still feels embittered about the IW debacle and for some reason blames Treyarch. i think Russ feels the SAME. by the way, That desk looked fine, as did the smoking woman. what the ****, Escapist?

 

[dbmountain]

I want a Black Ops review specifically on the Zombie mode! That is all I really want.

Anyone who reads this and owns the game: Consider doing a user review on just Zombie mode?

 

[MurderousToaster]

Regardless of how highly I value the Escapist review section's opinion, the fact that they gave a game 2/5 because of two issues does somewhat perplex me. And the fact that they actually managed to review Metal Gear Solid 4 if they get so angry at a game for 20 minutes of cutscenes.

 

[Nikolaz72]

It's sad, I love the escapist, but people take these reviews as if they're only right. I think their shouldn't be perfessonal reviews anymore for any game, only user reviews.

No offense, but seriously, people read this and then say "well this guy says it sucks, so it must suck." Without ever even trying it. People should try games for themselves, not just going off the opinion of others.

I am not saying this review is right or wrong, its someones opinion and I don't want to change that, I just hate when reviewer's opinions are taken above anyone elses.

The only reason i could say i agree on his points is if i played through the game itself and felt i wasted 60 Euro...

I feel i wasted 60 euro.. I envy the people in here who watched the review and decided not to buy it.

 

[Caradinist]

I love it how a couple of people think this review is some sort of strike against "The Man". Really i can't wait for a post to mention Bobby Kotick or something.


Make no mistake, the Single Player campaign IS short, and it took me about six hours to finish the game. To me there was plenty of variety in the gameplay in comparison to other Call of Duty games, most notably being Modern Warfare 2. The complaint that there's so many things going on at once however, and being pulled from the gameplay at times really confuses me.

To help explain things. Think of a Strategy game. Single Player campaigns have stories, and add things into the mix to keep you under pressure, like say for example, a Nuclear Silo was just built on the other side of the map...A supply truck convoy must be stopped to reach a destination. It's variety, and you'll find variety in single player. It'll just be short lived.

If you're honestly looking for pure shooting fun no questions asked, you might as well wait for the Multiplayer review of this game so you can make up your mind then. I think it to be an improvement over Modern Warfare 2.

 

[Siberian Relic]

I had two big problems with this one: the graphical downgrade and the lack of variety. Not sure how to properly articulate the graphics, but they just seem...worse. Pre-Modern Warfare worse. The variety was an even bigger issue. Treyarch proudly stated that this game would have considerably more stealth than any other entry in the series. Hot air. Run-n-gun was the name of the game for a large chunk of Black Ops. Actually got fatigued having to slog through the same sort of monstrous firefight we see, not just in so many COD games, but so many FPS games in general.

That said, I do disagree with a few things in the review, particularly the acting. This was the strongest point of the campaign, giving a more robust feel to it all. I didn't feel as though I was huffing to checkpoints with noble war heroes, but real military men. Woods' voice actor, in particular, was quite good.

My overall consensus is that it's an above average campaign that gets better after the second half, but is hampered by Infinity Ward's shadow and a shameful lack of variety.

Oh, and this:

Playing Call of Duty Black Ops is an exercise in futility and frustration punctuated by brief moments of genuine fun. I can't recommend the game to anyone who doesn't hate themselves and want to inflict pain on their own psyche.

...isn't how I'd describe Black Ops. Not by a long shot. That description is much more appropriate for Medal of Honor.