Taking an unexpected detour into
clandestine military action, Call of Duty Black Ops puts players in the
role of a secret military agent named Alex Mason who's been working
undercover for the US in battlefields around the world for several
decades. In an interesting twist on FPS conventions, most missions in the
game take the form of flashbacks, which are revealed while the main
character is being interrogated by unknown captors. These sequences are
interesting and they slowly reveal an emerging conspiracy that unfolds as
you play through the game. These intercessional points make for an
interesting plot device that allows Black Ops to jump around the world
during some seminal points and experience some pivotal events from a
different perspective. These include historical events such as the Bay of
Pigs invasion, a clandestine Russian base and the Tet Offensive in Vietnam
and more. However, in the fictional world of Black Ops, these events
aren't quite as they seem and your agent's experience doesn't quite match
the official history. This makes for an interesting back story that has
some surprising twists. Unfortunately, the flashback sequences aren't
quite as coherent as you'd like them to be, and between the grunts of the
main character and the distorted voices of his interrogators, trying to
follow Black Ops' story can be confusing at points. It's an odd decision
for such a mainstream game, and the story sometimes seems like a
watered-down Metal Gear Solid. Its conspiracy theories make the missions
feel a little disjointed and its plot doesn't always come together
coherently, but this doesn't really mar the main gameplay. Fortunately,
you don't really need to know all the details during battle. After you get
through the cut-scenes and you're on the field of battle, Black Ops mostly
reverts back to the conventional play and traditional FPS mechanics you've
come to expect.
Anyone who's experienced a recent Call
of Duty title will feel right at home with Black Ops. The controls,
conventions and mechanics haven't changed that much in this installment.
You still have the trusty main firing mechanics where you fire with the R1
button and use the R2 to throw frag grenades. You'll find a good
assortment of standard weapons during the game including machine guns,
rifles and pistols that can be found in abundance. There are also more
powerful items you can use such as grenade launchers, sniper rifles and
even crossbows that can launch fiery arrows at the enemy. When enemies are
at close range, you can also choose to use your knife to cut them down or
hit them with the butt of your gun. In some sequences, you can also engage
in some stealth maneuvers at certain points and attack guards from behind
without alerting their foes. As usual, the game allows you to take control
of several vehicles during the missions with jeeps, tanks and even
motorcycles at your disposal. You can fire at enemies while driving, which
makes for some pretty exciting combat sequences. The controls in these
sequences are remarkably intuitive and most players will have little
trouble performing these actions. Switching between weapons and using
items such as grenade launchers and the crossbow are fairly
straightforward as well, making the game very easy to play. Most of the
missions unfold in a predictable way with a standard section of ground
combat unfolding in the initial stages of battle. This makes for a game
that, despite its new and improved graphics engine, feels very comfortable
and familiar immediately. There should be little in the way of a learning
curve for experienced players and even newcomers should be able to get the
hang of things quickly.
You're usually fighting against a
platoon consisting of standard soldiers who don't have very sophisticated
AI and don't put up much of a fight. Their tactics and movements are quite
predictable and even when they stray a bit from expectations, most players
should be able to counter these moves with little effort. While there are
some sections where they stream at you from all directions, most of them
can be taken down by waiting for them to come into the open, making them
easy targets. They occasionally throw grenades at you and you usually have
to clear out an area completely before you can move on, but they usually
don't pose much of a threat individually. Players can also wait for their
squad mates to clear out most of a section or use other tactics to keep
themselves safe during some of the game's more intense combat sequences.
There are some fairly intense sections where you find yourself coming
under attack from all directions, but you can usually survive by finding
cover and waiting for them to make mistakes. When you take cover behind
objects, its usually a good idea not to stand there too long, since the
enemy can make quick work of you if they find out your location. When you
get hit, the screen fills with blood splotches but the character can
rejuvenate by taking cover in a safe area for a few moments. Your
objective points are typically easy to find using your radar and you can
also follow the other main soldier around which makes the missions much
easier. In some ways, it feels a little bit too easy, since you don't have
to do much exploring to find your next locations. The maps feel a little
bit too linear in places. While the combat sequences in certain sections
of the game can be intense, there are many areas where you feel like
you're just shooting sitting ducks. It gets better if you play on the
harder difficulty levels, but Black Ops still feels a little bit too
linear.
However, Black Ops isn't all ground
combat and there are several cinematic sequences on each level that help
to break up the action. These usually involve the player taking over a
fixed-position weapon or a large missile. Aiming the weapon at a 'boss'
style foe such as a group of oncoming tanks or a guard tower allows you to
take a bit of a breather and also leads to some of the game's most
exciting and dramatic set-pieces. For example, there's one sequence where
you have to aim a guided missile at a prototype missile and stop it before
it launches that is quite breathtaking in its production values. Another
area has you rappelling down a zipline to enact a dramatic rescue, which
gives these end-of-level sequences quite an impact. The single player mode
definitely has some impressive set-pieces as you traverse the storyline,
but the unfortunate thing is that this mode is a bit short and can be
completed on moderate difficulty in only a few hours. While the cinematic
pacing and style is definitely impressive, there's not enough in terms of
length to make this a truly satisfying long-term shooter. While there has
been a long-term trend among developers to shorten the length of solo
games to concentrate on making a better multiplayer mode, it's still hard
not to feel shortchanged when its over. This is true despite the elaborate
level design and decades-long, world-encompassing storyline. This is
disappointing and the linear nature of the game's levels come back to
haunt it since it undermines the motivation you might have to go back and
replay the game once you've seen all its bells and whistles unfold.
While
solo gamers might feel a little bit cheated by the game's short length,
Black Ops effectively compensates for this with a robust online mode
that's superbly executed. Its definitely as good or better in many areas
than Modern Warfare's with a smooth, slick interface that makes logging
on, setting up matches and fragging intuitive and quick. There's an array
of options that allow you to play in a variety of modes. These include a
versus mode where you attack any and all opponents you see on the field, a
Team Deathmatch mode where teams of players face off against each other
and an interesting Zombie mode where your team faces off against waves of
zombies. In this mode, you have to kill as many as possible before you are
over-run. It's definitely one of the most entertaining parts of the game
and makes a nice change of pace from the usual combat modes. What makes
the online play so addictive is the fact that you can earn upgrades and
unlock additional abilities as you play through the game. The way the game
builds on itself and rewards success makes it much more compelling. You
earn weapons and player classes by winning matches, which can then be used
in later matches to increase your score even more.
One of the more interesting aspects of
this approach is that Black Ops' system allows players two distinct
upgrade paths. The first involves earning experience points that you can
use to upgrade your basic abilities. It increases slowly as you get into
the game but you can add more quickly by beating opponents and surviving.
The second way to unlock items is by earning money - which is then used to
purchase additional items and upgrades. This is a new approach for Call of
Duty and it works well to add another layer of motivation for the online
player. Black Ops' currency system also allows a new gameplay mode -
called Wager Matches to unfold. In these games, you can risk your
accumulated money against other players, which allows you to earn a
potentially great deal of money - or lose a lot at the same time. This
makes for an addictive mode with very high replay value. A large part of
the enjoyment in Black Ops' multiplayer mode comes in the fact that it
matches the slick beautiful production values seen in the main game. Since
multiplayer uses the same maps as the main game, this should come as no
surprise. You can choose which of these to use and they offer a variety of
tactical advantages and locations so the gameplay is both varied and
challenging. It hasn't changed much from last year's edition, and
Treyarch's implementation of it matches the quality of the game's online
component. Despite some worries, Black Ops definitely keeps the high
standard set in previous installments in the series intact while adding a
few new twists and innovations of its own.
It's hard to make a real overall
judgment on Black Ops without considering both experiences separately. The
game's single player mode offers a cinematic tour de force with some truly
memorable set-pieces that definitely showcase a powerful graphics engine.
It's smooth HD visuals are quite impressive throughout and make you feel a
visceral part of the action. A varied set of vividly detailed environments
ranging from Vietnamese jungles to Russian tundra offers an incredible
array of places to fight. Its character models look incredibly lifelike
and the acting and plot are surprisingly sophisticated in many sections.
However, the single player mode is a bit short and the story's pacing
ranges from good to erratic depending on the situation. Its short length
and somewhat superficial play in parts make the single player game
somewhat of a disappointment. On the other hand, Black Ops also has a
solid multiplayer experience that benefits from sharing the same robust
graphics engine. The game's online mode offers plenty of replay value and
incredible amount of depth and several innovative gameplay modes. The end
result of all of this is that Black Ops is decidedly definitely geared
more towards the multiplayer base. On this front, it successfully brings a
new set of locations, weapons and modes to an already solid experience
while not compromising on the basic mechanics and quality players have
come to expect. This ends up being a somewhat mixed verdict - Black Ops'
single player mode is exciting and entertaining but offers little
motivation to play once completed while the robust online game is
excellent and well worth your time. In the end, its superb production
values and innovative features make Black Ops an excellent title, but the
game's long term appeal is definitely tilted towards multiplayer.
-
Michael Palisano
