Call Of Duty Black Ops

Call Of Duty: Black Ops

Rating: M

Score: 7.5/10

                There is no bigger name in the shooting community than "Call Of Duty". Its name has a history, just like the war it covered. Call of Duty went from being just a shooting game to THE shooting game, with most people agreeing it peaked around Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. After Call of Duty 4, the series has been...true to itself, if you wanted a nice way of putting it. Black Ops seems to want to change that a bit, by not going back to the days of the second World War, which a lot of games still capitalize on (even though World at War was, in general, the masters putting the ages to rest with their skills and overconfidence coming right off from Call Of Duty 4). Does Blacks Ops deliver? That is the million dollar question. This game is available for the Nintendo Wii, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, and PC.

                The story takes place during modern times (presumably), but all the flashbacks cut back to around the Cold War, which is interesting. You see, you are a captured soldier who keeps getting flashbacks from his war days. Considering this is a very American-driven game, it seems weird that the Cold War days are included in the game, since Americans were just as much "bad guys" as the "big, bad communists". In fact, on the first mission, your group's orders are to kill Fidel Castro in Cuba and overthrow their government. After the unsuccessful attack (attempted by three soldiers with a dream), you continue trying to finish your mission and take on new missions. This includes a mission given to you directly by Mr. Kennedy himself. Only possible in alternate fictional history, folks, since I'm sure Kennedy had better ideas than to hire one single random soldier for an important assassination mission.

                Gameplay is typical First-Person shooter action. You have a powerful mechanism that shoots small metal objects at high velocity into targets, and you make it from point A to point B. Instead of gameplay-story-gameplay break up like normal games, this game brings something different. Since all the gameplay is flashbacks, there are no particular cutscenes that last anymore than a minute or two, meaning it's a heavy dose of constant action.  It's actually pretty tiring, since there's no particular cooldown or stops other than to reload, and any non-enemy parts appear only in a quick flashback/cutscene section existing solely to identify the next bunch of targets.

                You have the typical multiplayer modes, which are as addictive and fun as always. You level up slowly, getting better weapons and gear for the custom characters you create. There are enough customization options to go to town in any way. Like Submachine Guns? Have a powerful SMG with rapid fire attachment, Scavenge Perk (perks are special abilities you can give your character) keeps your ammo full, maybe Sleight of Hand Perk to keep full clips in your SMG. Like Sniper Rifles? Have a quick rifle with added zoom attachments, with Deep Penetration Perk for hitting through walls and Scout Perk to hold your breath longer while zoomed (which increases accuracy). That's just two quick examples, you're free to experiment.

                The Nazi Zombie mode returns as well. The mode, for those unfamiliar, has zombies coming in from all sides and you must survive as long as possible. Guns and ammo can be bought with the points earned from defeating zombies. Considering gamers were already "Wow!"-ed when this mode appeared in World at War, it's seems like this gameplay type was only included for the sake of fan demand; there is not the same amount of polish going into the mode as deserved. Then again, you're just as well off getting a zombie-oriented game if you want that experience.

                There's really very little to hate about Black Ops, but it's so standard. You know a game has true fame when its own series overshadows its amazing gameplay and fast-paced but very tiring action. Then again, the only reason it's overshadowed is because we've been through this before. Same story, different war.