Oh Russia, if the most recent blockbuster videogames have taught me anything it’s that your ability to pump out evil geniuses and war criminals is without equal. In Call of Duty’s Modern Warfare 1 and 2 you gave us Zakhaev and Makarov, Battlefield: Bad Company 2 spawned Kirelenko, and now Call of Duty: Black Ops continues the tradition with yet another rogue element of the Russian military: General Nikita Dragovich. And I thought we didn’t actually fight during the Cold War.
It was Treyarch’s turn to take hold of the Call of Duty reigns this year and they proved that this year is certainly the year of sequels with their release of Call of Duty: Black Ops. You heard right, Infinity Ward didn’t develop this one, but that isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Black Ops falls between the traditional World War II era of the series and the newer Modern Warfare installments. It starts with the Bay of Pigs Invasion and ends during the middle of the Vietnam War, giving the story eight years of game to develop itself. And, for the most part, it does this successfully. In fact, I can’t think of one thing that I was confused on, even though the campaign supports quite a complicated twist. However, the gameplay does fall prey to grey shooter syndrome. If you’re not acquainted with this plague you’re amazingly lucky. Symptoms include seemingly endless waves of copy-paste enemies, random difficulty changes, bland vehicle segments, and uninspired missions.
However, the same could not be said for the online multiplayer. Black Ops did right what Modern Warfare 2 couldn’t in this department, which was very little. Yet Treyarch fixed many balance issues and made sure they had cleaned up all the bugs and glitches in their maps before they released the game. I can only think of one complaint, some of the maps are plagued by horrible spawn points. Nuketown, the smallest map, is a fake town in the New Mexican desert set up specifically for the testing of nuclear weapons; it is just 2 houses across the street from each other separated by a bus and a mover’s truck. It is so small that the only place for players to respawn is in the backyards or maybe in the houses. On such a small map with such predictable spawns it is easy for players to set themselves up so they can shoot anyone who spawns in the backyard before the newly spawned player can do anything. This can be especially frustrating as it can go on for a few lives before a teammate puts a stop to it. On the big maps, which there are plenty of, you usually spawn well away from the action, forcing you to walk for 10 seconds to get back to the fight. My best advice would be to just avoid Nuketown if you can and get a feel for the big maps so that when you’re sprinting back to the battle you don’t sprint right into the business end of an enemy’s shotgun.
The final experience Black Ops has to offer is the zombies game mode. In it you’ll find the odds stacked against you as waves and waves of zombies break through the windows in search of your brains. The two maps that are available are either set in a Nazi era theatre or the Pentagon; both are very big, which in turn forces you to constantly move to stay alive. And since this game mode is heavy on the teamwork you’ll need to coordinate your constant flight to stay together and stay efficient. It is best played with three other friends, but there is matchmaking support, but cooperation is hard to facilitate while your teammates are cursing, screaming, or singing into their mics.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is good but not great, which is fine, but I have a feeling that even if I told you it is terrible you would still buy it because it’s Call of Duty. So for a poor campaign, a decent zombie survival mode, and a fantastic multiplayer experience Call of Duty: Black Ops gets 7 out of 10.