Beyond My High Expectations
Call of Duty is the biggest franchise in gaming, ever. Every year, Activision publishes a brand new addition to the series and it sells like crazy, whether it be Infinity Ward or Treyarch that develops it. Infinity Ward's Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare really started it all, with its brilliant ranking, experience system, customization, and thrilling campaign. We all played this game so much and had much fun with it. While COD4 was getting all sorts of love, Treyarch was hard at work making the next addition to the series, Call of Duty: World at War which went back to World War II once more. WaW used many of the same elements that made COD4 so successful. In 2008, the game was out and it received mixed reviews. I think the problem with this game is that people played WWII to death on the PS2 and XBOX. People were introduced to modern warfare with all of its advanced weapons, and expected WaW to feel the same, which it did not. The one thing it had that everyone loved was zombies. In 2009, Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 broke many sales records. The multiplayer was exciting and fun, but was shot down due to hackers, cheaters, glitches, and lag. It was a nightmare. But it was so addicting that nobody cared. I think that there is just way too much going on in this game. Most people fell for it and made it the game to beat. Games like Battlefield: Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor were compared to this game and faltered because everyone is used to MW2, and everything different than it sucks. Which I think is garbage, no two games should be compared, it just is not fair. Next, it was Treyarch's turn to make a game based on the Vietnam Era.
Black Ops:
Call of Duty: Black Ops had even more anticipation than MW2 and had a ton of hype to live up to. It is based on the controversial Vietnam Era and a special operations unit called the Black Ops. These soldiers basically have no rules, which makes this a fun, interesting game. It has four game modes that are each a blast. Overall Grade: A
Campaign:
Call of Duty's campaigns have always been under some criticism for being too short and repetitive. Treyarch tried to wash that standard away with Black Ops. The story follows a top soldier named Alexander Mason and the Black Ops unit. He has been through alot of war and is now held under questioning for where the location of a terrorist weapon is, Nova 6. There are many supporting characters such as Frank Woods, Joseph Bowman, Jason Hudson, and the returning Sergeant Reznov. Most of this game consists of flash backs of Mason's missions such as Bay of Pigs, Vietnam, and a Soviet Space Disruption. What makes this campaign better than the others, is the diversity of missions. Black Ops has prison escapes, motorcycle chases, Air Force commanding, helicopter missions, assassinations, and more. While most of this story is fiction, Mason encounters many important people from the era including John F. Kennedy and Fidel Castro. Every mission is dynamic and full of excitement. People complain that it is "too short", sure it isn't a 16 hour RPG or platformer story, but it does have a fair length to it, l advise not too blitz right through the campaign, just play like 3 missions a day to make it last. However, the story is so interesting that you can't put it down. Grade A
Zombies:
The Nazi Zombies are back! There are three maps to play, but two you have to unlock. You can play by yourself, with some friends privately online, splitscreen, online with strangers, or even team up with a friend splitscreen and play online with other people. The basic element is the same, but the difficulty his risen and requires more teamwork. There is even a map in the Pentagon where you play as JFK, Nixon, Castro, and McNamara. The maps are bigger and better designed too. I can almost guarantee that there will be more zombie maps for DLC. As fun as this seems, it isn't a whole lot of fun compared to World at War, I think it is because of the weapons being to modern it drops the effect of 'Nazi' zombies. But it is still very nice fo Treyarch to throw in zombies again for the fans. Grade: B+
Wager Mode:
Call of Duty's multiplayer is very different because experience doesn't unlock anything, it is all about the COD points, which are like a currency for the game. After every match, you get these points and you can spend them on weapons, customization, perks, and more. But what makes it interesting, is the Wager Mode, where you can practically gamble your COD points in these four exciting free for all game modes. My favorite is Sticks and Stones, where each player starts off with an explosive crossbow, ballistic knives, and tomohawks. the player with the most points wins. but to add a fun edge to it, if you die by tomohawk, you are bankrupt. Like the other game modes, the top three players walk away with a profit, the bottom three lose their money. You can bet high or low. There is also a mode where the guns change every minute, a mode where you must use every gun to win, and a mode where you only get a pistol with only one lethal bullet. All of these modes are a fun addition to Black Ops. Grade: A
Multiplayer:
This is why people buy Call fo Duty games. Multiplayer fo this series is always fun and fresh. This game is no exception. There are the standard game modes like Team Deathmatch, Free for All, Domination, Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, etc. All of these mode have the same theme to them, so if you have played COD before, you already know about them. The gameplay is obviously a little scaled down from the campaign, which is not a big deal. All of the maps are great areas for all sorts of combat. However, snipers will not fall in love with this game, there are only three maps that have good sniper spots. It might seem all run and gun now, but when people find the hidden spots and get used to the maps, you can bet there will be those "campers". The weapons are all great in this game, there are five types of weapons: assault rifles, submachine guns, sniper rifles, light machine guns, and shotguns. I have to say that all of these guns are pretty balanced and there are not any guns that are overpowered accept for maybe the M60 and Commando. Each gun has its attachments, ranging from red dot sights, flame throwers, and grenade launchers. I know there is an army of people who HATED the grenade launchers in MW2, rest assured that they greatly scaled down to a point where almot nobody uses them. The secondary weapons are better than ever: pistols, launchers, and then there are crossbows and projectile knives. Each of these are fun to use, especially the projectile knives, when you kill somebody with one, you feel like the ultimate badass. These weapons also have minor attachments. The perks are back and scaled down for the better. None of them are unfair like juggernaut, martyrdom, or cold blooded. There are 3 perks you can have equipped that enahnce your skills, the second perk ganges your look. For example, if you have Ghost, you are in a ghillie suit, which makes you invisible to spy planes, but not killstreaks. Killstreaks are back to, but only go up to 11 this time with no nuke. Without spoiling too much, my favorites are the RC car and attack dogs. The deathstreaks are gone which is a good thing too. So nothing to new in that department. The gameplay is like World at War, but better and more fun. The one thing that I am very impressed with so far is the servers. They are holding up great even with hundreds of thousands of people playing. I have only encountered one problem so far out of many games. We will have to see if Treyarch keeps their promise with no hackers and cheaters. You can tell that Treyarch played this game alot and fixed all of the bugs, which was one key thing Infinity Ward did not do. Overall, the multiplayer shines again. Grade: A+
Customization:
One thing that Treyarch took a HUGE step forward in is the customization. Each level of customization only grew with this sequel, like the class customization, weapon customization, and kill streak customization. But the two biggest parts of customization are almost brand new to the series. There is the outfit customization that is based on which perk 2 you choosed. For example, if you pick flak jacket, you actually have one on. If you pick lightweight, you will have less armor and gear on. This does not mean that you will have less resistance to damage however, which is one thing they could build upon. It would also be cool to be in complete control of your outfit like in SOCOM: Confrontation. You can also have facepaint in exchange for some COD points. Customizing your gun means alot more than camo and attachments this time around. You can now customize the lense of your sights with different colors. You can also throw on your clan tag and emblem. Emblems are much improved since MW2. You can create your own choosing from hundreds of logos and objects and colors and sizes. People with an artistic taste can really make a great one. As far as the callsigns go, you have to buy them with COD points not challenges. Challenges do not do much in this game besides give you XP. There is just so much to customize in this game. Grade: A
Theater:
For the first time in Call of Duty, players get to watch and save their games using the highly requested theater mode. While it is not as good as Halo, it still serves the purpose and works well for the most part. Key word being "most". Sometimes it doesn't work, for example, I was playing One in the Chamber and had a 100 yard+ kill with my only pitol bullet. I really wanted to brag this with theater mode. Of course, it wasn't there, but every other game was. Grade: B-
Visuals:
Black Ops used the same engine as they did with World at War, which is still impressive. But they also used MW2's texture engine which allowed rich environments. They are not like Killzone 2 or Red Dead Redemption how you marvel them throughout the game, but they sure are above average. Especially the detail. If you look around each huge map, each level is packed with fine detail. I dare you to play the campaign again and really explore each level. The explosions and destruction are good too, especially the helicopter mission. Treyarch went above and beyond with the character animation. The used a motion capture similar to Avatar. They also used real soldiers to prvide examples. Grade: A-
Audio:
This game sounds amazing. The guns sound great and realistic as in World at War. Explosions sound as great as they look. Treyarch did a great job casting too. They had an all-star voice cast including Gary Oldman, Sam Worthington, and Ice Cube. The non licensed music sounds great except for some of the team music before each multiplayer game. The licensed music is the best I have heard in a non sports, non music, non open world game. Treyarch includes two amazing songs from the era, Jimi Hendrix's "All Along the Watchtower" and Rolling Stones' "Sympathy for the Devil" Both of these songs lyrically make sense and add alot of effect to the campaign missions. They also include Eminem's song "Won't Back Down" featuring PINK. It is a great song by an amazing artist, but it does not belong in a Vietnam game at all. The lyrics have little to do with war or the time period. I am assuming Treyarch saw how Eminem helped MW2 with his song "'Til I Collapse". It just does not work here. There are also some weird noises in the campaign, you here the same scream 5 times in a row sometimes which should have been fixed. Grade: B+
Overall any Call of Duty fan should have this game. If you do not, GO GET IT! You are missing out on alot of fun. I know there are tons of anti-COD gamers, but they can shove whatever they are playing up theirs :)