Think back to the first few Call of Duty games. This was a series that revolved around sticking with your squad to accomplish objectives that were (for the most part) rooted in actual World War II operations - and, except for a few ridiculous set-pieces, it was all mostly believable. It wasn't until Call of Duty 4 that the series took on a different tone, one that was more inspired by over-the-top action flicks than war epics. Call of Duty 4 was a game-changer, and it pulled off the series' radical shift marvelously, but disappointingly, both World at War, and Modern Warfare 2 stumbled a bit.
But luckily, with Call of Duty: Black Ops, the guys at Treyarch, formerly thought of as the Call of Duty B-team have crafted an entry to the series that rivals both the madness, and the fun of the first Modern Warfare.
Black Ops' greatest strength is easily in its campaign. We haven't seen a truly outstanding singleplayer offering from the series for a while, but it's safe to say that Black Ops campaign rightfully takes is place amongst the best of the Call of Duty campaigns.
The story kicks off as Alex Mason, an ass-kicking secret agent, wakes up to find himself covered in blood inside a creepy interrogation room, as two shadowy figures demand to know the meaning behind a sequence of numbers that Mason apparently knows something about. The missions that ensue play out as Mason's memories as he must think back to his various highly-confidential missions in order to piece things together. But the series tradition of offering different perspectives is still very much an integral part of Black Ops. Players will take control of a few other soldiers, most notably a CIA agent named Jason Hudson, who very much becomes Mason's counterpart by the game's end. With ample twists an turns, a non-linear narrative that provides a ton of cool environments and scenarios, and an interesting, if understated, parallel between the game's two main characters, Black Ops' story really shines even if it doesn't take itself entirely seriously.
The campaign missions themselves are great. Because the action jumps around so much, you're never in one environment, or situation for too long. Over a span of about ten years, you'll jump from Cuba, to Vietnam, to Russia, and the result is a campaign that is always varied, fresh, and exciting. Each level feels different from the next thanks to awe-inspiring environments, and awesome set-pieces ranging from a river-boat chase, to directing allies from the cockpit of an SR-71 Blackbird. While there are tons of notable moments that serve to shake things up, there's never an overwhelming onslaught of them that takes you away from the core run-and-gun action for too long; the game even has moments, such as a few lengthy stealth sequences, that serve to tone things down a bit.
The singleplayer campaign is lengthy considering what has been grown to be expected from the franchise, clocking in at 8-10 hours instead of 5-6. And while that's still pretty brisk, the campaign is so good that it truly does warrant multiple play-throughs. With awesome missions, locations, set-pieces, and a great story to boot, Black Ops' campaign is one big step forward for the series.
The frenetic, white-knuckled multiplayer action that is based just as much around gunning down opponents, and working with your team as it is gaining XP, and acquiring Killstreaks returns. The system that Call of Duty 4 made famous is just as fun here. The three main hooks that serve to differentiate the Call of Duty multiplayer experience from other first-person shooters are Killstreaks, Perks, and the ever-so-addicting XP system, only this time, everything has been tweaked to provide a more enjoyable, balanced experience.
There's a ton of room for customization in Black Ops. You can tweak everything from the guns, and perks in your loadout to the crosshairs you want on your scope, the images you want on your insignia, and even the camouflage face paint you want to wear. There's a huge amount of stuff to unlock, and outfit your character with, the only problem is that all tied to COD Points, which are easily the worst part of the multiplayer experience. COD Points are currency you earn as you do battle. As you earn these Points you can buy various unlocks made available to you by leveling up. Sound unnecessary and confusing? It is. COD Points are not only wholly unnecessary in conjunction with the XP system, but they limit progression in favor of customizability; players will probably end up only buying exactly what they want instead of choosing to try out all the different goodies they've acquired.
There is one cool thing the COD Points does allow for, however: Wager Matches. If you're feeling lucky, you can lay some points down on the table, and duke it out in one of four Wager Match game types. The modes themselves are really cool and unique because they usually force players to take some abnormal approaches to any given confrontation. Because options are limited, and precious points are on the line, Wager Matches are quite a successful addition to the standard multiplayer experience.
With tons of modes, tons of maps, and tons of customization options, plus the ever-so-addicting XP system, Black Ops is sure to suck up a ton of time. And when the action is as polished, and balanced as it is, you'll enjoy every minute of it.
Easily the weakest part of Black Ops is the zombie mode. While it's impressive that Treyarch managed to squeeze a co-op mode into an already robust package, it ends up being much to insignificant, and detached from the rest of the game to warrant a whole lot of attention.
There are only two maps but since one takes place in Germany during World War II, and the other in the Pentagon in the 60's, they each their own sets of weapons, characters, and of course, zombies. While it's great to see that kind of attention to detail, and some great quips from the two sets of characters (let's face it, JFK, Robert McNamara, Fidel Castro, and Richard Nixon make for an awesome team), the gameplay itself is a little shallow. Players simply must defend against hordes of the undead, earning points for each kill which they can use to purchase new weaponry, or advance forward. There's really not much more to it than that.
In a market saturated with co-op shooters, Black Ops' zombie mode just doesn't cut it. It feels like Treyarch made the mode just so they could check off the obligatory co-op box on there list of things to put in the game. But honestly, it's not a huge deal since the game's other modes are so compelling.
Every Call of Duty game has been an absolute beast in terms of production values, and Black Ops is no different. The game runs at a smooth 60 frames-per-second the whole way through, and the graphics are amazing on a technical level. There's also some great art design when it comes to the environments, from the James Bond-esque secret bases, to the hellish battlefields of Vietnam. Things are similarly superb on the audio side: sound design is excellent, as is the exciting score, and a host of stars lend their voices to the game's cast.
It's hard to pick and choose the best titles in a series that's comprised entirely of great games (provided you've completely erased Call of Duty 3 from your memory), but if I had to pick, Black Ops would certainly be among the best in the series. Even though it's a shame about the Zombies mode, Black Ops offers a robust online component that has been fine-tuned to being quite close to perfection, and amazing production values. More importantly, however, Treyarch has ended the streak of mediocre singleplayer modes that we've been getting since World at War, and delivered a campaign that is intense, and memorable enough to be worthy of the Call of Duty name.
PROS:
+ Awesome singleplayer campaign
+ Production values are through the roof
+ Adversarial multiplayer continues to be awesome
+ Very high replayability
CONS:
- Zombies mode is disappointing
- COD Points are unnecessary