Game Review: Call Of Duty: Black Ops

 

I’ve finally gotten to finish Black Ops (except Zombies, but I really don’t care for zombies). Understand that I came into Black Ops sceptical.  In the first trailer the first thing you see is these explosions that look like ass. From then on I kept me expectations low. And even after the release I still didn’t pick the game up for several weeks (problems with MW2 made me finally buy it). Here are my thoughts…

Single Player

Single Player is so-so. Some missions are pretty good for their use of history. Executive Command for example has you destroying a Russian Missile which is similar to an actual accident. Operation 40 has you on the Bay of Pigs Invasion. The Vorkuta Prison escape was also really well done.

On the other hand, the Vietnam, Kowloon and Laos missions were pretty bland. The mission WMD has some good moments but the whole spy plane is such a waste. Why did they even bother on something that you spend more time getting into than actually using? Some other complaints: Why was there no introduction to the RC-XD Car? The story isn’t great and a lot of the forced scenes are tedious and its annoying that you have to go through them EVERY TIME WITH NO SKIPPING! Some objectives aren’t clear… I’m looking at you Khe Sanh Napalm Barrels.

Multi Player

The multi-player is good. There are to big problems though. #1 is the maps. They’re all pretty uninspired and too small. Rundown time:

• Array: Good
• Cracked: Bad
• Crisis: Boring
• Firing Range: Meh
• Grid: Meh
• Hanoi: Good but rarely comes up
• Havana: Okay
• Jungle Meh
• Launch: Not bad this is probably the most interesting map
• Nuketown: Okay
• Radiation: Boring No one ever goes under ground, they wasted time on a useless door opener
• Summit: One of the better maps
• Villa: Really good sniping map
• WMD: Meh

Maybe I’m just hard to please.

The #2 thing wrong is the money/experience system. There’s a lot of little reasons so I’ll try my best to explain. For me moving Modern Warfare 2 along required unlocking weapons, unlocking the attachments and completing various challenges (usually gametype challenges). So I would play like this: Level Up, Get Gun, Get Attachments, Complete Gametype Challenge (Deathmatch, S&D, Demolition, Etc.) until I Prestige.

In Black Ops all that is thrown out the window. You only need to unlock Pro Perks. Everything else can be bought. So I focus on Pro Perks, which are a pain in the ass. I can’t really go into S&D if I’m trying to get PPs so I have to stay in TDM. So my experience so far has been level up in TDM until I get the AK47 and then just play that till I either get all my PPs or prestige (so far its only been the latter).

Another complaint: Noobs. Now I’m usually not one to complain about this, I mean, were all new at some point, right? But the issue I have is that people seem to be just taking their Xbox out of the box, putting in the game and then JOINING MY MATCHES AND GETTING 0-32! It’s ridiculous! And it happens all the time that I go to check their gamercard and the have 0 gamerscore. WHAT YOU COULDN’T BE BOTHER TO PLAY THE FIRST MISSION? YOU HAD TO COME STRAIGHT INTO MERCENARY TEAM DEATHMATCH AND YOU DON’T EVEN KNOW THE FUCKING CONTROLS??!?!?

Sorry, I just had to vent there.

There’s various other problems which you can find out for yourself (just search “Black Ops Sucks” you’ll get what your looking for)

Sound

The sound is actually top notch. Excellent voice over cast and good licensed music including Rolling Stones and CCR.

Graphics

Graphics weren’t impressive. They seemed worse than MW2 for some reason.

Positive Notes

There are several great steps though. First is the fact that you can play online with a guest. The theatre mode is good too.

Overall 7/10

I don’t think Black Ops is a worthy successor to the Modern Warfare duo. It’s good and fun to play, but it just doesn’t have the same impact that they had story wise and game play wise.

Game Review: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2

Modern Warfare 1 was easily one of my favourite games of all time. It had a great story and excellent multiplayer. Let's get "No Russian" out of the way. Yes it's pretty crazy, but it at least has some context (your a CIA operative and are trying to get close to a terrorist). Think about Grand Theft Auto, a series practically built on the ability to kill civilians. And in the rest of the game you fail if you accidentally kill a civilian, so it balances out.

Now further on in the story it gets ludicrous. Russia invades the U.S. basically the plot of Red Alert 2, instead of Kirovs there's choppers and planes. Where was my iron curtain?

So from there it becomes your standard "We're the US fightin off the ruskies". And that's the same problem MW1 had, the fun parts are when your the English team, not fun is with the US team. Why is that? My favourite missions are when your methodical, not frantic getting hit from all sides.

Now getting away from the story is multiplayer. Which is fantastic! The upgrade for weapons keep the game fun. It's just a blast to play. There seems like a limited number of maps, amd of course it has the love hate relationship with me as always. There's also the co-op which I felt should have been integrated with the story.

Programming: 9/10 : Overall pretty good, but the glitches such as the javelin glitch and the "private ranked match" glitch show that there could have been a little more time spent
Graphics: 9/10 : Good, but starting to show it's age
Story: 7/10 : Kind of ridiculous
Atmosphere: 7.5/10 : Not as fun as MW1
Multiplayer: 10/10 : Improves on MW1 10 fold
Overall: 9/10 : Overall still a great game, but not a classic like the first.

P.S. I thought they were joking on Bleep Bloop when they said Dick Cheney quotes show up when you die. Sure enough, they do. *facepalm*

Games That Have Annoyed Me

1. Mass Effect
Last Played: I honestly only played for a few hours after I beat the game.
Reason: First off, I was lied to. That's right, LIED to. How you ask?



Notice the end of the trailer. How you switch from person to person? That was completely cut from the game. Also the longer trailer showed how you could dynamically effect conversation, that wasn't in either. I never heard that before the game was released and I checked the website and forums frequently.

Finally the worst offender to me was that once you finish the final mission, that's it. Your character is done. You have to create a new character or reload a save if you want to explore the other worlds.

These betrayals hurt me because I was extremely excited for the game. I bought the book, had all the trailers on my 360 and watched them religiously, and pre-ordered the Limited Special Edition.

2. Call Of Duty 4: Modern Warfare
Last Played: 3-6 Months Ago
Reason: Someone thought that I'd like the idea of losing all my multiplayer 'mini' achievements so I could rank up more. NO! That is a big pile of bullshit. Fuck you! I don't need your fucking ranks! I earned this fucking achievements and I'm damn well going to keep them! And since I'm not ranking up anymore I'm not going to play! So fuck you!

3. Fall-Out 3
Last Played: A week ago or more
Reason: They borrowed a page from Mass Effects shitty ideas and ended the game after you beat the story. They didn't do this for Oblivion! I read on the Fallout 3 forums where people complained about this: "People don't get that this isn't an Elder Scrolls game it's a Fallout 3 game" Well that reasoning is fucking stupid! Is there a story line? Check. Is there dozens of missions, characters and areas to explore that don't involve the story? Check! THEN DON'T END THE GAME WHEN THE STORY ENDS!

The big reason this pisses me off is because no other games do this. FPSs let you choose a level for example, so if I need a certain achievement I can just go to that level and play. You can't do that for RPGs!

Finally fuck Mass Effect for their play the game over! but this time with so and so only achievements! And the same for Fallout 3

4. GTA:IV
Last Played: Months ago
Reason: I got fucked over by their completion score, I got like 99.3% completion and I've done fucking everything!

20/20,000 Spectacular Extravaganza Fiesta!

Well yesterday was the 20/20,000 Spectacular Extravaganza Fiesta! The 20 is representing the 2nd decade that I've been alive for aka my 20th birthday. The 20,000 stands for the fact that I passed the 20,000 Gamerscore point this weekend. Here is my present round-up:

1. Lotto Scratch Tickets which total $10 with a Keno coupon.
2. Lost: Via Domis for the 360
3. 2 Cookies 'n' Creme Chocolate Bars
4. 3 pack of Trident Splash
5. $50 Futureshop Gift Card
6. $25 EB Games Gift Card
7. 2800 Microsoft Points
8. DVD- Goodwill Hunting
9. DVD- Johnny English
10. East Side Marios $5 Gift Certificate

In addition to cake this weekend was great fun. Played lots of Call Of Duty 4 in glorious hi-def on the big screen television. (Halo monks are singing in my head). Watched t.v. with the fam., Started playing the Lost game. Played Scene It: LCA with the family. Watched NASCAR (Bobby got 12th) And that's about it. Good ole laid back weekend. Also there was a hurrendous storm this weekend.

Looking Back at 2007/Stinger503's Game Awards

Well I'm thinking up the awards as I type this, so here is the 2007 Stinger503 Game Awards.
*Remember any nominations and winners can include demos and only includes games/demos I've played (so Assassin's Creed isn't qualified), here we go...

Bad Awards

Worst Game
Winner- Hour Of Victory(demo)
Explanation: Honestly playing the demo was all I needed, now that I have Gamespot and 25,000 other people who agreed with me, I can feel comfortable knowing that I'm smart for not buying this game just so I can give it this award.

Worst Demo
Winner- (Tie) Burnout: Paradise and Hour of Victory (edit: also Fusion Frenzy 2)
Explanation: Really want to know why? Well, I'm not buying Burnout because of it's demo, that's why. When I'm giving the choice of continuing to play or not and I choose HELL NO! Then you've made a terrible demo good sir.

Worst Download
Winner- Call Of Duty 4 beta
Explanation: It killed my Xbox. Don't give me that "It's the hardware, not the game" BS! My Xbox 360 survived over two years and survived it all! Oblivion, Halo 3 beta, everything! And I download this darn beta for over a day and a half! Killing my xbox two WEEKS from Halo 3 missing the launch! That's inexcusable!

Worst Backwards Compatible Game
Winner- Return To Castle Wolfenstein
Explanation: THEY KILLED THIS GAME! I excitedly put it in my Xbox 360 and started playing and couldn't get past the 1 level without the framerate dying and getting me killed! Worst bc game since 007 Nightfire and it's impossible to play flying level!

Tech. Awards

Best Soundtrack
Winner- Halo 3

Best Graphics
Winner- Bioshock

Best Download
Winner- (tie) Halo 3 beta, everything for Oblivion

Best Backwards Compatible Game
Winner- NASCAR Thunder 2003

Best Demo
Winner- (tie) Halo 3 beta, Medal Of Honour: Airborne, Boom Boom Rocket

Best Game... to play with your girlfriend?
Winner- The Orange Box
Explanation: Before I went back to college after winter break. My girlfriend loved watching me play Half-Life 2 to no end! It was strange, she even was disappointed when I said I beat the end of it without her. I even got her to play Portal. (P.S. I'm saving HL2 Ep.2 for when I see her next ;) )

Most Satisfying Game:
Winner- (Tie) Halo 3, Call of Duty 4, The Orange Box

Major Awards

Best 360 Gear
Nominees:

• Text Messenger
• Racing Wheel
• Messenger Bag
• Halo 3 Points Card
• Halo 3 Xbox 360
• Black Xbox 360 & Gear

Winner- (Tie) Text Messenger & Messenger Bag
Explanation: Typing in my Bio after the update became a whole lot easier and I finally have something that I can literally fit all of my 360 gear into!

Best Character
Nominees:

• Portal- Ai
• Halo 3- Master Chief/Arbiter
• Mass Effect- Shepard & Crew
• Bioshock-The Doctor

Winner- (Tie) Halo 3 and Mass Effect
Explanation: Definantly a tie here, I mean the M.C. and Arbiter are so badass and then you have Garrus, Shepard, etc. So it's a toss up

Best Multiplayer Game:
Call of Duty 4
Halo 3
Winner- Halo 3
Explanation: There aren't any nominees here, it was basically a showdown between these two bahemoths and it went to the 12th round. Halo 3 is superb and COD4 is too. However the only thing that brings COD4 down is it's lack of guests! The thing that's great about the Halo series is that you and some friends can play Halo 3 for hours against other people as a team. This isn't possible with COD4. So basically after COD4's multiplayer challenges, what else is there? Not really any ranking system. Halo 3 has it's achievements and ranking system and guest ability, meaning I will be playing Halo 3 far longer than COD4.

Best Voice-Overs
Nominees:

• Halo 3
• The Orange Box
• Mass Effect
• Call Of Duty

Winner: Mass Effect
Explanation: Orange Box is a close 2nd here because of Portal and it's turrets and the AI, because the AI had to basically make the story. But Mass Effect was just so well done.

Best Arcade Game
Nominees:

• Pac Man: Championship Edition
• Boom Boom Rocket
• Aegis Wing
• Switchball

Winner- Boom Boom Rocket
Explanation: As much as I'd love to give this to Pac Man or Switchball, really Boom Boom Rocket is magnificent and it's visualizer feature alone is worth 800 Microsoft Pts.

Best Atmosphere
Nominees:

• Bioshock
• Call Of Duty 4
• Halo 3
• The Orange Box

Winner- Bioshock
Explanation: Orange Box just missed out with Portal and Half-Life 2 but Bioshock really deserves kudos for this. Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3 already had their "worlds" set-up so they aren't really spectacular with their atmosphere's, but Bioshock had to create a world in the 1950s...underwater...with crazy people. And that's why they get the award.

Best Story
Nominees:

• The Orange Box
• Call Of Duty 4
• Bioshock
• Mass Effect

Winner- Call of Duty 4
Explanation: The Orange Box really just missed out on this with it's Half-Life 2(which I am now a fan of!) and Portal 1, 2 punch. But with COD4's 2 levels of just story telling (you don't actually do anything you just experience it) is amazing! This is what I love in games, they could have just taken the easy way out like Halo does at times but they made it into an experience which I love. Mass Effect and Bioshock fall short because they are just too short, which suprises me about Mass Effect because it's an RPG.

Best Game
Nominees:

• Call Of Duty 4
• Halo 3
• Bioshock
• The Orange Box

Winner- Halo 3
Explanation: Halo 3 simply raised the bar to where the others couldn't reach, Forge, unstoppable multiplayer, great single player (not to mention 4 player online/2 offline), great music, video replays, etc. Those of you who don't like it... KISS MY @$$

Prediction for next year-
Best Game- Grand Theft Auto IV