So Much Crammed Into A Single Disk, So Much Content That Will Keep You Playing For Months. This Is The Game of 2010
With Black Ops; you have the Single Player campaign, then of course Multiplayer which came with Modern Warfare 2 but it also gives you Zombie mode once again and this time with far more maps and gameplay.
All of this still not complete without Training with bots to hone your skills for future online play and then finally wagers; betting on wins or specific goals to make some extra in-game credits. This is so much for so little, one thing about Black Ops that cannot be complained about is the amount of content for its price. It outright beats Modern Warfare in that aspect.
Now down to specifics; Black Ops single player campaign is quite varied and a change of pace and environment from Modern Warfare 2, even a change in time line.
You are given a tale of betrayal, paranoia and dirty politics during the Cold War. Obviously the story and events in the main campaign are possibly of fiction, and if not then a bonus. The action moves from Vietnam and then rapidly to the slopes of the Russian motherland.
Black Ops ups the ante in my view in its story telling since MW2 and as a result it doesn't feel like a rehash or indeed another hard to believe story. It simply feels more real, and with a more solid back story.
Also the game in general as seen in every aspect of the game including its Single Player is that its more colourful and brightly presented.
To its multiplayer. we are given everything MW2 gave us but with a change of weapons, kit outs and environments to battle it out on. Its still very fast paced, and well designed with additions of little quirks and new perks its addictive gameplay.
This is where Modern Warfare fell short, with just two game modes for the same price. With Black Ops I was surprised the action did not stop there.
You now have the favoured Zombie Mode back, also known as Nazi Zombies in World At War. This time with 3 brand new maps, addition of Cold War era weapons and new zombie enemies to fight. This alone adds many hours to your stats, as it brings back the fun yet very competitive "fight to the death against the undead" as you know you cannot survive. You play to get as far as you can, and survive as long as possible with your group of fellow players.
We know that Treyarch will be in the future releasing new maps for the Zombie mode, which is a blessing and I cannot wait for more maps to survive on.
Finally to the Training for online play, you are given bots to fight either against or alongside against an opposing bot team to hone your skills before jumping into the online play.
This is another great addition to content for rookies and those new to online play, it gives them time to practise and hone what skills needed for when they finally enter online multiplayer.
Finally another point I forgot, customisation has gone in the direction of Halo: Reach with far more in depth customisation of your character. Not just weapons and kit, but to your appearance, your gamer tag, personal quirks you can add to weapons and even your whole gaming appearance to other players.
All of this and I paid £40, for some it was more. Now if this was MW2 I would be dissapointed but Treyarch has given us content that is worth more than what I believe we've paid. Its not a few weeks of gameplay to enjoy, its months.
This is clearly the reason why this and possibly Fallout: New Vegas are the hits of 2010.
The Good:
- A vibrant Cold War era single player campaign and plot.
- Colourful graphics reminiscent of the 1960's.
- Weapons and kit realistic of the time.
- Gameplay is solid, and has almost no technical or graphical issues.
- You do not feel cheated or robbed of your money with this game, and its content.
- Many hours, days, weeks even months of gameplay value here.
- Zombie mode has returned, and has much more to come.
- Customisation has gone so deep, it takes some time to discover what you can customise to your own liking.
- Multiplayer training is fun and enjoyable, but also ideal to train and hone your skills before online play.
The Bad:
- All I can really think of is possibly more maps added to the initial game release, and having to not wait for more maps to come. Yet this is a small price to pay.
Black Ops is what we wanted, and more from our expectations. Its not about Call of Duty with Black Ops. Its not about the past Modern Warfare titles, its an entirely new experiance in total and when you play it you can see there are two sides to Call of Duty. Both are great and good, but this side is far more worth its price tag.