Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

[GLo Jones]

Lucky for me, I only got the game for it's multiplayer. I haven't been disappointed thus far. I'm having a blast, and it's great that there are always friends on it willing to play.

 

[Not-here-anymore]

Other than the woefully vague objectives at some points (would not have got the napalm barrels if Woods hadn't kicked one of them for me...), I enjoyed the story. A little cliché, perhaps, with the big twist being somewhat predictable, but good fun to play through, and a lot less nonsensical than MW2... Sure, it's not the original Modern Warfare, but it does some interesting things with its semi-episodic nature (for once, a campaign that doesn't force me to play the whole thing in one go!), and it's interesting to see the Cold War through the eyes of someone who isn't James Bond.
Also, the little easter eggs like 'dead ops arcade' were great fun!

I'll save my multiplayer comments for tomorrow.

 

[AngryFrenchCanadian]

I was disappointed by Modern Warfare 2. I'm definitely not buying this game.

 

[INF1NIT3 D00M]

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.

True, but this guy makes excellent points. My friends told me the game was good. My friends (though I love them so) are idiots. They actually liked Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer. When they say this game is good, and russ pitts (who plays lots of games and reviews them for a living) affirms my vague suspicions that the game will be crap, I'm going to side with Russ Pitts. See, I liked Call of Duty 4. I did not like anything in Modern Warfare 2. If developers are going to keep making Call of Duty games like this, I'm going to stop buying them. I won't even so much as rent them. When they stop making money off games like this, they'll stop making games like this. Hopefully, they'll spend their time and money more wisely. It's like how everyone got sick of WWII games, and they made CoD4. Now, there are less WWII games and a million Modern Warfare 2 knockoffs. When people stop buying those, we can get something better. Maybe Call of Duty: Space Marines, like this website previously hinted at.

 

[Megacherv]

I'm not sure if this is a joke or he just hasn't played the vehicle sections yet (like the chopper scene, and the boat scene with Sympathy for the Devil playing in the background.)

I haven't played the campaign (only watched my friend play through it), but it looks far superior to MW2.

 

[SL33TBL1ND]

Well, that's what they get for releasing the same game every year.

 

[Baneat]

Again. Let's take the Pentagon cutscene as an example. After you finally meet Kennedy, you're given your mission and sent to a loading screen. By the time the next level opens, more than 10 minutes have passed since you last had control over your actions in the game and, although you are now able to move your character, you're still not playing the game. You follow your partner, Woods, to a nearby hilltop where he hands you a pair of binoculars and tells you to watch the scene unfolding below. At this point the game takes control again, another cutscene plays out, and then you follow Woods down the hills. Then you stop, unable to move or act, as helicopters fly overhead. Then you walk over to some guards, the game puts a knife in your hand. You use it. You dress as a guard (custscene), then follow Woods again, where you bluff some Russians into thinking you're one of them (Woods does the bluffing), then crouch (behind Woods) while two more of your buddies get to actually kill people while you watch. Then you're moving again, following Woods to a building where, after you wait around and listen to your friends killing some guards, you watch Woods kick open the door and THEN you finally get to fire your gun and play the game. Total elapsed time: over 20 minutes.

If it's seriously like this, and I have no reason to doubt that, then WHY THE HACK does this game get fantastic reviews all over the place.

Those damn super-strictly scripted games... which are less of a game and more of a bad movie -.-
Exactly what most people want it seems, lawl. But yeah it got guns too, and that really is what 95% of the gamers want.

AAA titles get insanely high scores because they do something which I feel should be illegal, they introduce heavy bias into reviewers. Reviewers should be free to publish their opinion without any backlash, but if you give this a 6/10 (Score I'd have given this thing, it's like they just gave up, it even looks worse than CoD4!), they aren't gonna invite you back for previews and such. Sites which provide reviews can't really afford to be behind on flagship titles, at all, so they'll comply.

Also if your review is out of line with everyone else's, people will start to question your ability to assess games.

On top of that, the preview things are not representative of actual gameplay. Black ops reviewers were given a great hotel room a lag-free environment an insane 3DTV and this is simply unrealistic. Shouldn't we review it in the same environment as your average consumer?

It's unfair and ridiculous if you ask me.

 

[hem dazon 90]

I disagree, hell I liked this COD game more than all the rest but hey that is how opinions work breda.

 

[teh_Canape]

holy shit

Call of Duty Black Ops...


got a bad review?

HORY SHET

though I somewhat agree, I havent played all the game, but the fair bits I played were actually pretty stupid =P

 

[Stabby Joe]

Woah, that sure is low. Most likely going to be the one review to stick out in Metacritic in fact haha.

 

[cainx10a]

This is what happen when Infinity Ward gets booted out of Activision. I respect Treyarch for how they handled the multiplayer in CoD: WaW, but the single player was a pain to play through. I was replaying the modern warfare 2 campaign today: going through every encounter slowly, the pacing was great, I was enjoying each skirmish, but I couldn't say the same for how WaW SP was, the way the enemies respawn, and the amount of things exploding that would cause my screen to shake more than well ... a shakey shakey thing. IW actually pushed the boundary, going to a modern day setting ain't something that a lot of companies would have thought of when they could still cash in on WW2 games.

The only reason I might get Black Ops, is because it has bots, and I want to see for myself if Treyarch 'fixed' the 'broken' MP of MW2.

 

[Swaki]

wow, thanks for the detailed single player review russ, really, i have never cared for the multiplayer in the CoD series outside lan games (but then again i could play anything at LAN and it would still be fun) but i have always enjoyed and at times even loved the single player, and since most other reviews base it entirely on the multiplayer i really needed this review.

i know i wont be buying it, so they will have to settle with only selling 50 million copies instead of 50 million and 1, yay for making a difference -.-.

 

[Fox242]

I don't get it. MW2's story was a plot hole sandwich that was,admittedly, a blast but didn't really make much sense and it gets heaps of praise. Yet when Black Ops tries something new and interesting with a Lost and Flash Forward like story about trying to decipher numbers, Russ here takes it out to the street and curb stomps it American History X style. I don't think that I am exaggerating with that statement; that is what it felt like he was doing to the game as I watched the review.

So this is going to be how the Escapist will forever score Black Ops huh? A 2 out of 5? Really? I'm having flash backs to this site's review of Resistance 2. Same shit, different game. I never cared about reviews because if I like it, then I like it, but what is going on here? I don't know man...just, wow.

 

[The Austin]

Black Ops uses the same graphical engine as Modern Warfare 2. I don't see why people keep saying it's graphics are bad, when they also claimed that MW2's were fine.

Perhaps it's the heavy focus on cut-scenes?

 

[Waaghpowa]

The one and only thing about this game that made me even consider buying it was the Zombie mode with JFK, Nixon and Castro. Other than that, a CoD game is a CoD game.

 

[theSovietConnection]

Really? Cause it uh, seemed fine to me.

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

Have to agree with this. I'm having fun with Black Ops single player so far. I really don't get where he says the graphics are bad, though. They're nothing exceptional, mind you, but neither are they terrible. Really, I know this is your opinion Russ, and I respect it, I usually find you on the ball, but this seemed more like bashing for the sake of bashing.

 

[fo shneezy]

i love how most of the people who read this blindly follow it to the word, trust me this game is much better than MW2, and the multiplayer isn't nearly as frustrating

 

[Autofaux]

It's good to see at least one review taking the hardline on a popular series. Call of Duty now has Halo syndrome, in that each iteration, despite being almost indistinguishable from the last, gets near-perfect scores across the board.

I was never going to get this. Was leaning more towards the next Battlefield and Homefront.

 

[Toeys]

just finished this on veteran. and i wouldnt say anything was worse, or better with the campaign than previous games. it's as mainstream as anything can get.

2 major flaws in single player though.
- the AI is programmed badly, so the way they increase difficulty is to set their aiming skills unreasonably high, compared to how little it takes to kill the player
- i didnt recieve my achievement for completing the game. possibly cause i skipped the credits. i'd gladly report the bug, but their forum is down for maintenance.


looking forward to multiplayer, which looks way better and more balanced than mw2 used to be.

 

[ModusPwnens]

I totally agree about the single player, it was so fucking boring that after my first session, I've had no desire to go back. He's not exaggerating that cutscene part either.

Another thing that nobody's mentioned yet is that the controls don't feel as smooth as that broken POS Modern Warfare 2. Moving around and using the guns just doesn't flow as smoothly as IW's games, and the animations when your bullets hit make no sense - MW2's animations in contrast were, to its credit, fantastic.

It's been something I've found about Treyarch's games. None of CoD 3, W@W, and now Black Ops "felt" that great to play, the controls all feel jagged. Pop in MW2, and it's smooth sailing in comparison.