From the Vault — originally published November 23, 2010. Some links, videos or prices may be out of date.
It came as no surprise that Black Ops is the biggest game release of 2010. Many games were pushed back because of the sales powerhouse the Call of Duty franchise has grown into with each release topping the last. Call of Duty Black Ops is a safe entry in the series and who could blame the developers. If its not broke why change.
In terms of the single player campaign Call of Duty Black Ops takes you through various locales as you piece together the memories of Alex Mason a soldier during the Cold War, in The Sixties. You are taken through Russia, Cuba, Vietnam and Laos as you hunt for an experimental Russian chemical weapon codenamed “Nova-6”.
The single player game is at its best during tighter sequences. The stealth and “black ops” moments in the game were the most enjoyable for me. The larger battles felt more generic like older Call of Duty games in the series and when in the larger the battle areas the gun gameplay seemed to fall apart. The enemy AI in the single player mode is pretty much non existent. The game remedies or masks it by throwing enemies at you I guess in hopes that you will not notice that most of them do not actually fight back in any clever way. In tighter situations its harder to tell but once the area is very open the glaring AI problems are apparent. A few just stand around. You will rarely have any true gunfights with the AI. Its like they are scripted to pop in and out of cover at intervals and you can pretty much always predict what they will do.
The vehicle sections are enjoyable and welcome mix-ups to the general on foot shooting that makes up most of the game. The vehicles all handle and control really well. You will find yourself piloting a tank, manning various turret guns on the back of trucks and also flying helicopters.
The story itself gets interesting and has some heavy handed plot twists but still in the end was only slightly short of forgettable. Some of the supporting characters do a really good job with their voice acting. Ice Cube is surprisingly good as was the actor that voices Reznov. The main character who voices Alex Mason is inconsistent and not so great. The single player is interesting and I would say overall good but nothing superb.
The multiplayer in Call of Duty Black Ops has been tweaked for the better. The frame rate at 60fps is great and the action is a bit slower than previous games but not by much. I welcome the slight slowdown though the players still move a bit too fast and maybe even floaty. Veteran players will feel right at home and I must give this game credit as I like this multiplayer more than any other Call of Duty game I have ever played. The speed tweaks and the change to the perk system that uses a point unlock system is welcome for more casual players who need specific weapons to stay competitive. Instead of having to wait until a weapon you want is randomly unlocked you can choose to unlock the weapons you want when you have enough points.
The included maps are great though there are simply not enough of them. This is without a doubt to sell them as additional content. The game should have shipped with many more multiplayer maps. Some of the single player content should have been cut and that time in my opinion should have been used for multiplayer map development. Wishful thinking I know but its a shame that the game did not ship with more maps. In the popular team death match mode I felt like I was playing the same four maps over and over. They did add a replay and theater mode so that you can watch your favorite multiplayer matches. Also included for the first time is a wager match mode that allows player to bet COD point earnings on the outcome of in-game battles. Last but not least they even included 3D functionality.
Aside from the new modes the multiplayer itself though is tried and true Call of Duty. Players will feel right at home and it does not stray far from the winning formula at all. There are no “Special Ops” co-op missions though you can play the included Zombie mode with friends. You play as John F. Kennedy, Castro, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara as you fight zombies at The Pentagon.
Call of Duty Black Ops is a solid game with tons of content. If you are a fan, or just into first person shooters it is totally worth the money. Its packed with a good single player game, robust multiplayer mode and a co-op zombie mode. Black Ops does not push the envelope in any shape or form as a game perhaps other than by breaking sales records and because its not pushing the bar in anything in particular I cannot give it a 9, or 10 rating. The graphics are good but not outstanding, the formula for the most part we have seen before and it is just more of the same though that same is really good for the most part.
