Hit or miss? Yet again another year another Call of Duty. I can’t complain; although I sincerely despise everything about Activision and their need to milk a franchise til nothing but dust comes out of the utters. But I digress, this isn’t an Activisions standards of proper publishing procedures review, its a Call of Duty review!
Gameplay – 7 out of 10
Over the top with explosions that could make Micheal Bay wet in his pants in excitement. Black Ops continues the COD legacy with some of the best yet generic FPS game play; continuing to through multiple first person action quirks, and numerous amounts of spray and pray into the game play, this one is a sure hit with the console kiddies.
Graphics – 9 out of 10
The graphics are as just as good as Modern Warfare 2. Don’t let the douchers lie to you. As with all the previous Call of Dutys Black Ops proves to not be so much model detail dependent but merely texture dependent and the Treyarch art team did a fine job and keeping it nice looking. I do think that the engine is starting to show its age a tiny bit, but that’s just me.
Story – 6 out of 10
Honestly, the story in Black Ops falls super short of what we’ve seen in both Modern Warfare games. Admittedly it is the best of any of the Treyarch games. Like the average summer action movie that was made on a decent budget and super awesome marketing; Black Ops is nothing but action and an empty shell of an attempted story, which any idiot could figure out halfway through. Perhaps we can blame Modern Warfare 2 and its epic story for why I have higher expectations.
Acting – 8 out of 10
Ed Harris. Gary Oldman. Sam Worthington. Ok. Ed Harris is one of my favorite actors, as is Gary Oldman. Both are veristile and have some great abilities. Hell Oldman did such a fine job at both a {Spoiler} and a {Spoiler} you couldn’t even tell it was him. Suprisingly Sam Worthington did a pretty good job as Alex Mason. Refusing to see Avatar and seeing how Clash and Terminator:Salvation… His acting is pretty 1 dimensional and it seemed to fit this role pretty well.
Length – 6 out of 10
Obviously. If your buying COD your not really getting it from the Singleplayer. But for a game that is ment more for multiplayer then singleplayer Black Ops has a little bit of length in it. Taking possibly 2-3 play throughs to beat it.
Replayability – 7 out of 10
Zombies, and expansive multiplayer. Black Ops was ment for Xboxlive and Playstation network. From Playing 4 player co-op zombies to combat training with your buddies to avoid the kiddies. Black Ops has it all. Once all the kinks are worked out and patched I might actually be able to sit down and enjoy all of these features!
Sound – 10 out of 10
Pure Amazing. Best feature of this game. From the Guitar riffs when you level to the sounds of bullets snapping past your head and hitting a wall; This game has the best audio out of any of the Call of Duty games. Oh and a new Zombie song!
Difficulty – 9 out of 10
I played through on Normal. I don’t have the patience for veteran, I already did that with MW2 and it drove me batty to finish it. Being accustomed to MW2 and its vast amount of weapons I have been spoiled by the less then physics defying recoil. Black Ops is pretty brutal when it comes to recoil and I sometimes find myself peppering an enemy with a full clip completely dotting the wall behind him and not landing a single bullet on him. To each his own.
Overall – 7 out of 10
Hmph. Tough Call. I have already suggested my friends to pick it up, as they were just as reluctant as I was but hey, I gotta stay apart of the cool crowd. In the end it all boils down to what your own preference is. Are you a hardcore gamer who loves to compete? or are you a Story junky who loves being dragged into the next Epic battle? If you are the latter of the two, then this game is not for you unless your willing to shed 60 bucks for 8-10 hours of story. If you are the former of the two then you have something in common with me. No Black Ops is not the best game ever, and it will never be, but as of right now its something to replace the tiring MW2 and to fill in the gap of the disappointing Medal of Honor.
