"What happened?" That was my first thought upon completing of Call of Duty: Black Ops' campaign mode, running in at just under six hours. If you have been craving a flight in the helicopter seen making mincemeat of a Vietnam settlement at the demo in E3 2010, then crave no more: it's here in full. If you've been hoping that the story would get that much deeper so as to give the long-running franchise some legs, don't worry: the impossible has been done by Treyarch. But for every silver lining there has to be a cloud to necessitate that clichéd metaphor's discovery, and in the latest COD there is one heck of a gaping cloud that makes frequent requirement of silver linings, never more apparent than in the aforementioned examples of expectation. Yes, the helicopter section is still here, and it's fun...while it lasts, which is the best part of around ten minutes. Yes, the plot is deeper, throwing in a major twist which this reviewer could not have anticipated, but a twist that makes the plot seem utterly pointless in many ways, not least that it's been used before in different context. Worse still, Treyarch fail to make any meaningful connection with the gamer of the horrors of Vietnam battle, simply avoiding the mention of the bad stuff and playing music of the time to seem 'cool'- big mistake! The much-vaunted Nazi Zombie mode does make its return as promised, but bar new locations there's nothing different on offer here, to the point that it feels like filler for the lack of Modern Warfare 2's excellent Spec Ops campaign. As ever, if you loved last year's online multi-player, then next-to-nothing has changed here and thus you'll love it again. That last sentence can be applied to most of Black Ops; in fact, many fans will just be sheerly outraged that so little attempt has been made by Treyarch to differentiate from Infinity Ward's excellent Modern Warfare 2 (9.5/10)! I'm giving credit here for the same great graphics, replay value and gameplay that Call of Duty still possesses, but overall this feels like a misstep for the franchise, and should force FPS developers to be more creative!
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Sunday 14 November 2010
Call of Duty: Black Ops Review (7/10)
"What happened?" That was my first thought upon completing of Call of Duty: Black Ops' campaign mode, running in at just under six hours. If you have been craving a flight in the helicopter seen making mincemeat of a Vietnam settlement at the demo in E3 2010, then crave no more: it's here in full. If you've been hoping that the story would get that much deeper so as to give the long-running franchise some legs, don't worry: the impossible has been done by Treyarch. But for every silver lining there has to be a cloud to necessitate that clichéd metaphor's discovery, and in the latest COD there is one heck of a gaping cloud that makes frequent requirement of silver linings, never more apparent than in the aforementioned examples of expectation. Yes, the helicopter section is still here, and it's fun...while it lasts, which is the best part of around ten minutes. Yes, the plot is deeper, throwing in a major twist which this reviewer could not have anticipated, but a twist that makes the plot seem utterly pointless in many ways, not least that it's been used before in different context. Worse still, Treyarch fail to make any meaningful connection with the gamer of the horrors of Vietnam battle, simply avoiding the mention of the bad stuff and playing music of the time to seem 'cool'- big mistake! The much-vaunted Nazi Zombie mode does make its return as promised, but bar new locations there's nothing different on offer here, to the point that it feels like filler for the lack of Modern Warfare 2's excellent Spec Ops campaign. As ever, if you loved last year's online multi-player, then next-to-nothing has changed here and thus you'll love it again. That last sentence can be applied to most of Black Ops; in fact, many fans will just be sheerly outraged that so little attempt has been made by Treyarch to differentiate from Infinity Ward's excellent Modern Warfare 2 (9.5/10)! I'm giving credit here for the same great graphics, replay value and gameplay that Call of Duty still possesses, but overall this feels like a misstep for the franchise, and should force FPS developers to be more creative!
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