The Call of Duty series and I have had a rocky relationship. While I greatly enjoyed Call of Duty 3, and to a lesser extent World at War's brutal yet believable portrayal of the Second World War in the Pacific and Berlin, the series' modern offerings have both greatly disappointed me, finding little excitement with either campaigns and nothing but extreme frustration in Modern Warfare 2's multiplayer. Black Ops however, Treyarch's latest entry to the series, fits in between these two starkly different eras. Taking place during the Cold War, it shows warfare as secretive and rapidly evolving, and Treyarch's work to rebalance the experience is noticeable and impressive.
Black Ops' campaign is not what one would expect from a Call of Duty game. For a start, it's not simply following orders from a radio involving clearing out trenches or assaulting an 'anonymous Middle Eastern terrorist faction', nor is a hideous mess like Modern Warfare 2's single player. Instead it tells an edgy and perhaps controversial story of a US Special Forces agent who, having escaped torture and testing at a Russian labour camp, must root out and destroy the Soviet Nova 6 Project, a deadly gas weapon that is planned to be used against the USA. It has its fair share of clichés, such as the stereotypical 'big bad Russians' and the age old 'going rogue' plan, but it also delivers plenty of twists and turns amongst the action, and is in my eyes the best Call of Duty campaign yet. Gary Oldman reprises his role as Viktor Reznov from World at War, now a weathered veteran and a central role, and plenty of new and diverse environments (from Cuba to Vietnam) keep the experience new at every corner, as does the franchise's trademark character switching, which helps to see the tale unfold from both sides. My main issue with the campaign was some pacing problems - the game begins with a bang in an attempt on Fidel Castro's life, and this extremity does not let up throughout. Sure, the story is well told and you are always aware of what you are fighting for, but with little to no down-time, many climactic moments lack punch. What couldn't have hit harder, however, is the ending which was an utterly stunning twist that defied expectation, and was one of the finest conclusions to a plot I have seen lately.
Albeit my favourite campaign of any Call of Duty released, as always it is not a lengthy experience, spanning 7 hours tops, and naturally multiplayer is the focus of the title. Modern Warfare 2 was the most popular multiplayer game of all time, meaning Black Ops has the expectations of several million players to live up to, but it also has some major balancing issues to deal with that Infinity Ward left behind. These issues are what turned me away from Modern Warfare in the first place, and I approached Black Ops' online mode with apprehension. Fortunately, my fears were dashed away, and multiplayer on Call of Duty is finally, for me, the addictive and rewarding experience that I could not find since Call of Duty 3. A host of fourteen maps are evidently sculpted around certain gametypes, and it positively shows during matches. Killstreaks, while technically harder to get due to the new 'no stacking' policy, are satisfying and original, in particular the 11-kill Gunship which allows the player to have full control over a Russian Hind - gone are the days of a boring circling aircraft aiming at enemies through a infrared scope a mile away, as killstreaks feel more as if they're part of the battle rather than observing it. The most of Treyarch's work, however, is in the class customisation. Everything now costs 'COD points' to buy, meaning you don't just have to unlock new guns and perks, you have to earn them too. These COD points are made by playing and winning matches and can be made in any playlist, but most proficiently in the new Wager Match game types. As the name suggests, you pay COD points to enter, and if you win, you profit. You lose... well I'm sure you can work out the rest. What's different about these game types is that there is no death match, or capture the flag, or demolition, but instead totally different match types such as Gun Game from Counter-Strike, or One in the Chamber - an incredibly tense tactical mode in which you have one bullet in your M1911 and will only get more ammo by killing enemies. Don't miss. The changes made in the overall multiplayer experience go on, and Black Ops is several steps ahead of any other Call of Duty as far as customisation and diversity are concerned. Admittedly, there are a couple of things I would like to see patched, such as the overpowered RC-XD killstreak and most of the SMGs being underpowered, but even with these in mind this is still the most balanced of the lot, and frustrations are at an all-time low.
After World at War, there is one thing Treyarch couldn't leave out for Black Ops - zombies. The Nazi Zombie mode started off as a simple post-campaign level made as little more than a joke, but it quickly grew to be the most popular component of the game. Needless to say, the experience is repeated here, giving the player two maps to start with. One of them is a hilarious bout in the White House that sees JFK, Nixon, McNamara and Castro fighting together against the undead hordes, while the other acts somewhat as a continuation of Der Reise of World at War. The voices of Nikolai and Tank Dempsey return, as do teleporters and a Bioshock-esque environment. Personally, while I couldn't put any particular faults on the zombie mode, I didn't enjoy it quite as much as I did on World at War, perhaps because of the map structure, or because slow and heavy WWII guns seem to fit the survival theme, but on the whole it's still a great time holding off the endless flesh-eating freaks and those who enjoyed the mode enough to buy the maps in Treyarch's last title won't be disappointed.
I'll always have reservations about a Call of Duty title; I still think its mechanics are bested by plenty of other FPSs and to me its smaller map sizes will never beat the large-scale intensity of a Battlefield game, but after what I have seen since Call of Duty 4, Black Ops has been a very pleasant surprise for me. My enjoyment of the game was consistent across campaign, multiplayer and zombies, and personally it seems a sign that it's at least going in the right direction. It's the title that will once again trounce the Christmas gaming market, and people all over the world are going to be having a very cosy winter indoors this year playing a solid and refreshed shooter. 9/10
No comments:
Post a Comment