Black Ops’ campaign is told through the eyes of an imprisoned soldier named Alex Mason who’s being interrogated for information by some particularly rude baddies. The missions are triggered through Mason’s hazy, torture-induced flashbacks, which span from the deep jungles of Vietnam to the rooftops of Hong Kong. The plot is without a doubt the most expertly crafted of any Call of Duty game, complete with surprising plot-twists and a satisfying finale.
The campaign is fast, furious and fun, but I can’t help but feel like I’m playing what I’ve already been playing for years now. Apparently, developer Treyarch was fully aware we'd experience this de-ja-vu, and tried to compensate for the game’s linear, point-and-shoot nature by overloading the game with ridiculously over-the-top action sequences. As a result, the campaign fails to produce any truly shocking or stand-out moments, like Modern Warfare’s nuke scene or Modern Warfare 2’s airport shooting.
With the blur of Michael Bay-esque stunts crowding the campaign, I sometimes felt like I wasn’t even playing the game at all. I simply followed the onscreen button-cues as I was dragged by my eyeballs from a helicopter turret, to a jet-ski, to another helicopter turret, all the while being bombarded by a hail of RPG fire and screaming. It’s all a bit…over-the-top.
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| "Hold X to climb wall, hijack armored car, drive alongside low-flying helicopter, jump aboard, knife pilot in neck." |
Many gamers won’t even touch the campaign, however, and why should they? Black Ops achieves the impossible by creating an even more rewarding, inviting, and robust multiplayer than MW2. In addition to the usual leveling and prestiging, players now earn “CoD points” for a job well-done. The in-game currency can be used to upgrade weapons or to buy accessories, and with over 1,500 different ways to customize your boots alone, there’s no need to worry about Becky wearing the same dress as you to the party.
The new Wager Matches let players bet their hard-earned scratch for the chance at winning big. My favorite flavor of Wager Match is the “One in the Chamber,” game type, where each player has only one bullet-- talk about making every shot count. There’s also new perks, including an exploding RC-car, and new kill-streaks, including a helicopter that you can pilot yourself while mowing down opponents like weeds. Thankfully, all this gaming glory can be recorded for the world to see with the new Halo-style theatre. Throw in a stat-tracking system deeper than a BP oil well, a party-finding tool that would make e-Harmony jealous, and a bigger, badder return of the hilarious and addictive Zombies mode, and you’ve got enough Call of Duty to put you in shell-shock ‘til next fall.
The campaign may be a little seizure-inducing but the better-than-ever multiplayer more than makes up for the single-player mode’s sins. At its heart, Black Ops is still the same old shoot ‘em, stab ‘em and blast ‘em up Call of Duty we’ve grown so fond of over the past decade.
Happy COD-Day to all…and to all a good fight.
The Bottom Line
4/5 Ballistic Knives
