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.

This Week In Fantasy Sports 29/11/10

The Hamilton Stingers won their game in a monstrous fashion beating division rival TopRushers 144-58. Analysis: Vick, Foster, Hillis and Bowe all had over 20 pts! Which easily made up for the no shows by Bryant and Jackson.

Standings wise, I go up two games (8-4) on the Bad Boy Ballas (6-6) for the lead in the Central Division. Meanwhile Eazeland All-stars continue to lead the East by a comfortable 3 games. Finally  the race for the West has been blown wide open with Westside 7-4-1, Copperheads 7-5, MOH 6-5-1 and Hombres 6-7.

 

The Moscow Maulers continue to march into the playoff defeating the Saints 100-89. Analysis: Close game, Green-Ellis, Vick and Tamme all had good games. Everyone else seemed to have problems (Johnson fighting, Rice injury, etc).

This raises the Maulers to 6-4 and keeps them one game up on the Detroit Lions. In the Central division, the Razorbacks continue to fall apart now 7-3 and tied with Teammitchel and Johnnyblaze.

The East division is still wide open with Team Decap and Piper Downs at 6-4 and Bone Crushers 5-5.

Finally the Norfolk Maulers is still on going. Currently I have a 10 pt lead on Katy’s Bratpack. Playing for me is Crabtree, and for Katy is Gore. I just received word that Gore is not going to be playing the rest of the game, meaning the Maulers win. This brings them to 9-3 assuring the Maulers a playoff spot!

In the Central Division Facemob also has a 9-3 playoff spot. The West Division is still wide open though, Nessquick went to 9-3, the PCB Bengals went 8-3, Yojimbo and GBD are at 7-4.

This Week In Fantasy Sports Monday Edition- SWEEP

The astounding performance of Michael Vick easily won the games for all three teams.

The Moscow Maulers, who were losing before todays game 66-107, won 137-107. This keeps the Maulers (4-4) one game up on the Detriot Lions (3-4-1) in the West Division. The East Division has a 3 way tie for 1st at 5-2. The Central division has three teams within 1 game of each other.

The Hamilton Stingers easily dominated the M.O.H 159-66. In addition to Vick. Dwayne Bowe, who was predicted to have a bad game, scored an amazing 30 pts! You also had Jones-Drew who got 24 pts. The Stingers go up 6-4, tied with Big Boy Ballas and one up on the 5-5 TopRushers. Eastland Allstars still leads the East 8-2. Copperheads and Westside are battling over the lead in the West at 6-4/6-3-1.

Finally the Norfolk Maulers won over Nessquick with a score of 150-99! Again, aside from Vick there was Fred Jackson who had 26 pts, as well as Crabtree, DeSean Jackson, Williams and Akers with 12-15-14-11. This takes the Maulers to 8-3, 4 games up on Katy’s Bratpack and Boston Pats. Facemob continues to dominate the Central 4 games over Urlacher. West division is still wide open with the PCB Bengals one game over G.B.D., Nessquick and Yojimbo.

Again a special thanks to Michael Vick for scoring an outrageous 57 points!

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

2010s Stinger503's Video Game Awards

Biggest Game I Didn't Play But Wanted To
Nominees:
Battlestations: Pacific
Ghostbusters: The Video Game
Call of Juarez: Bound in Blood
Wolfenstein
Batman: Arkham Asylum
Halo 3: ODST
Winner: Halo 3:ODST - No doubt the biggest upset of the year was that I did not play ODST. It just didn't drum up enough interest in me as Modern warfare 2 or Beatles Rockband did.

Worst Game
Winner: None for 2009, I just never played a bad game this year, not saying there weren't any.

Best Music
Nominees:
Band Hero
Lego Rock Band
Modern Warfare 2
Beatles Rock Band

Winner: Beatles Rock Band, tons of great Beatles music. Undeniably good.


Best Cinematics
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles Rock Band
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Just amazingly well done.

Best Voice Acting
Winner: - Billy Murray as Captain Price in Modern Warfare 2

Best Accessory
Nominees:
Facebook
Twitter
Wireless Headset
Winner: Wireless Headset

Best Multiplayer Games

* Best Two-Player One System

Nominees:
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: (Tie)Modern Warfare 2 & Left 4 Dead 2 - Definitely equal, because of how good they are, but also by how limited they are. Modern Warfare 2's Spec Ops were great but only offline multiplayer is a huge issue. Playing Left 4 Dead with a friend is how it should be.

* Best Online

Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Halo Wars
Winner: CoD Modern Warfare 2 - By adding attatchments, weapons, titles, callsigns and killstreaks, they revolutionized online play again.

* Best Overall

Nominees:
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Resident Evil 5
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Just magnificent fun, especially adding microphones, just completely enhances the experience.

Best Xbox Live Arcade Game
Nominees:
Braid
Castle Crashers
Battlefield 1943
Shadow Complex
Peggle
Winner: Shadow Complex - Amazingly well made game. Great year for arcade games.

Best Music Game
Nominees:
Band Hero
The Beatles Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Winner: The Beatles Rock Band - Build off of the great Rock Band games with more microphones, better unlocks and great music.

Best Racing Game
Winner: Burnout Paradise - Fortunately its demo wasn't fully indicative of the game. The game was quite good.

Sports Game
None- Just wasn't a big year to me for sports games.

Best RTS/RPG
Winner: Halo Wars

Best Action
Winner: Resident Evil 5

Best Shooter
Nominees:
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Winner: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Yet again one of the best experiences in shooters this year.

Best Level
Nominees:
Left 4 Dead- Final Stage of Dead Air
Modern Warfare 2- Second Sun
Resident Evil 5- Volcano
Shadow Complex
Winner: Second Sun - Turns the game on it's head. Completely unexpected.

Best Story
Nominees:
Modern Warfare 2
Resident Evil 5
Lego Rock Band
Shadow Complex
Left 4 Dead 2
Winner: Resident Evil 5 - Definitely one of the best stories of the year. Also has a ton of history behind it.

Best Game
Nominees:
Halo Wars
Resident Evil 5
The Beatles: Rock Band
Lego Rock Band
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2
Band Hero
Left 4 Dead 2
Left 4 Dead
Shadow Complex
Winner: Modern Warfare 2 - Although the campaigns a little lack luster. The Spec Ops and Multiplayer more than make up for it

Prediction for Next Year:
Alan Wake (again), Splinter Cell Conviction or Rock Band 3