Call of Duty: Black Ops (Sony Playstation 3, 2010)

In October 2010, Treyarch released the seventh installment in the hugely successful Call of Duty franchise. So far, the game has gone on to break sales records worldwide, ultimately becoming the video game equivalent of Avatar in terms of sales. Black Ops has been huge, but sometimes the best games are not always the highest selling.
Black Ops has three main game modes, the single-player campaign, the multi-player online mode, and the single- or multi-player zombie mode. The first main game mode is the campaign.
Black Ops campaign is the most cinematic Call of Duty campaign I have ever played. By cinematic I mean that it is presented like a movie more than any other Call of Duty games. This is a good thing. The story is clearly fiction, but that is a good thing for a shooter like Black Ops. The voice acting is solid, featuring several well-known actors such as Sam Worthington, Gary Oldman, Ed Harris, and Ice Cube. At the beginning, the campaign can be a bit confusing due to the mystery that is not revealed until later on in the game. Other than that and the repetitiveness of the missions, the campaign is very good. One other minor quarrel, even though the campaign is actually pretty short it did tend to drag a little. Also the replay value is minimal because the "shock factor" is gone. However, the campaign is not the main dish in this meal.
The main part of Call of Duty: Black Ops is the multi-player a.k.a. online, which, in this case, is also the best part. Compared to Modern Warfare 2, the game does some things better and some things worse. One major improvement is the leveling system. In previous Call of Duty games, if you wanted the good guns you basically had to give up your life to get them. Not so with Black Ops. In addition to having only 50 levels compared to Modern Warfare 2's 70, it takes much less time to level up in Black Ops than Modern Warfare 2. This is a very good thing. In addition, the widely regarded "best" gun is unlocked at level 14, so no longer do you have to work so hard to unlock the best gun. For the most part the gameplay is identical, the graphics are touched up a bit from Modern Warfare 2 and the game is set in the Cold War instead of modern times. Other than that, the games are almost identical in gameplay. The other major difference between Black Ops and Modern Warfare 2 is the COD points system. A new addition to Black Ops, the system lets you buy any attachment you want for any gun as soon as you unlock it; opposed to having to earn a certain number of kills for every attachment, you can just buy an attachment for a pre-set number of COD Points. Also, COD Points can buy numerous character customization options, also new to Black Ops.
The final part of Black Ops is the zombie mode. This is a survival comedy-horror mode where you and three companions fight off endless waves of the undead. Besides getting more complex, this mode plays just like the one in Call of Duty: World at War.
Overall, Black Ops is a great game. I still believe that Modern Warfare 2 is better, Black Ops is still great. If you like shooters, you need to pick up this game; I highly recommend it.

This game has really good potential and has great modes to keep things interesting, but the multi-player fails to deliver the advancements that should have been made since Modern Warfare 2.

The most enjoyable features of the game are the campaign, the main menu, the split screen options, and Zombie Mode. At the bottom of the barrel is the on-line multi-player games.

As far as FPS campaigns go, Black Ops is shaping up to have the richest set of campaign and Easter eggs that I've seen in a long while. Though the campaign lacks some features that would really make it shine, the story is told in such a way that makes you want to play though the onslaught of enemies just to advance the storyline. Where the campaign sputters is the lack of complete environmental immersion and destructible objects. Most of the interior scenes so far seem like 2D drawings of a room. If I lob a grenade at a wall where a desk is sitting, the papers stay neatly stacked next to the telephone on the desk. On the upside, shoot through a window or plate glass wall, and the glass shatters. Shoot at a mainframe tape library, and the equipment explodes. Treyarch did a good job, not a great job.

The main menu.... oh my goodness..... the main menu.... This is the best menu is game history, and is my primary enjoyment of the game due to the link to the campaign. It wasn't until I started playing the campaign that I realized that the main menu is a torture room (more politically correct: interrogation room). Then, I found that you can break free from your restraints and walk around the main menu.... from there, I was just a button press from locating what reminds me of a C-Shell UNIX system. Navigating around the directories, I found some executable binary commands that unlocked a whole new aspect of the game: hacking. Reminiscent of Enter the Matrix, only better. You have access to a computer with multiple accounts and mailboxes, and the teaser to be able to remote login to other computers on the network. You can even enter some commands that unlock additional zombie modes as well as my favourite part of the game: a tops-down 1980s style arcade game. There's also a popular text-based adventure game built into the menu. The programmers were really geeking back to their roots with this one, and if it weren't for the shoddy multi-player, this game would have ranked higher.

The split-screen options are really nice for off-line co-op play, but to sweeten the pot, you can play split-screen in Zombie's mode, too! This is such a refreshing feature and it gives you twice-the-fun when your friend (i.e. girlfriend) wants to jump into the Zombie fray with you! How sweet is THAT?!?

Which leads to Zombies: what else is there to say about Zombies? It's really addicting, and multi-layered as well. Now there is the challenge of turning on the power and linking teleporters (which have their own Easter Egg qualities about them!).

Alas, the part of the game that brings this review from an excellent or good, to just an average rating, is the multi-player. If multi-player looked and felt like the campaign, the rest of my game library would be gathering dust. Unfortunately, the small advancements that Teryarch has made since their lay foray into a FPS title don't seem in-line with where the Industry is heading. While the gameplay is enjoyable, its just not up to par.

Overall:
The campaign gets a great score of 9
Game modes get a score of 8
Multi-player scores a 6.5

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great overall package that has a ton of content to enjoy. The multiplayer modes are largely based on what was established by Modern Warfare, but the twists that Treyarch throws in work well. My biggest issue with the multi player is that the new Wager Matches, while fun in their own right, don’t compare favorably to the high-quality and addictive leveling system and game modes from Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Single-player is as exhaustingly fast-paced as ever with large set pieces that try to take the attention off of the lackluster AI of both friends and enemies. Than...Read full reviewkfully, the story is the best I’ve ever seen from a Call of Duty game. Couple both of those substantial offerings with more Zombie content than some full-fledged zombie games and Black Ops is certainly worth your time, even if you aren’t already a fan of the series.

9.0 Presentation
Top-notch as always. Voice acting expertly delivers the story that’s presented in an innovative way. Plot gets just a little bogged down towards the middle. Some design issues hurt mission direction.

8.5 Graphics
Some strange texture issues pop up every now and again and some levels are more impressive than others. I enjoyed the wider array of colors than what’s in most COD games and some scripted events rock.

9.5 Sound
There’s maybe one line in the entire game that could be called cheesy. Everything else you hear is a true delight and the soundtrack fits in with the events of the game nicely. Time to crank it.

8.0 Gameplay
You can’t help but feel that both the single- and multiplayer could use some new life beyond just adding bigger and badder explosions (like smarter AI). Still, Call of Duty provides plenty of fun.

9.0 Lasting Appeal
There’s more content than most other shooters. Customization is massive; from Create-A-Class to private matches online. Multiplayer will take you months even if the new content comes at some expense.

8.5
OVERALL Great (10 out of 10)

Different story line. Actually a pretty good story line.
Haven't tried online play, but the COD series has not impressed me with online play. That is just me.
I always buy the COD games for the campaign play, and this one is lacking. What it does have is really good, just way, way too short.
I completed the whole thing in under 8 hours.
If you cut out all the animated scenes, there is like 6 hours of play, maybe.
So that is like $10.00 and hour to play this thing (retail new soon after release).
So I am wondering if all this wiz-bang pretty video is part of the reason the game is short. They need to go back to the length of COD 2, 3 and 4.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great overall package that has a ton of content to enjoy. The multiplayer modes are largely based on what was established by Modern Warfare, but the twists that Treyarch throws in work well. My biggest issue with the multiplayer is that the new Wager Matches, while fun in their own right, don’t compare favorably to the high-quality and addictive leveling system and game modes from Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Single-player is as exhaustingly fast-paced as ever with large set pieces that try to take the attention off of the lackluster AI of both friends and enemies. Thankfully, the story is the best I’ve ever seen from a Call of Duty game. Couple both of those substantial offerings with more Zombie content than some full-fledged zombie games and Black Ops is certainly worth your time, even if you aren’t already a fan of the series.

9.0 Presentation
Top-notch as always. Voice acting expertly delivers the story that’s presented in an innovative way. Plot gets just a little bogged down towards the middle. Some design issues hurt mission direction.

8.5 Graphics
Some strange texture issues pop up every now and again and some levels are more impressive than others. I enjoyed the wider array of colors than what’s in most COD games and some scripted events rock.

9.5 Sound
There’s maybe one line in the entire game that could be called cheesy. Everything else you hear is a true delight and the soundtrack fits in with the events of the game nicely. Time to crank it.

8.0 Gameplay
You can’t help but feel that both the single- and multiplayer could use some new life beyond just adding bigger and badder explosions (like smarter AI). Still, Call of Duty provides plenty of fun.

9.0 Lasting Appeal
There’s more content than most other shooters. Customization is massive; from Create-A-Class to private matches online. Multiplayer will take you months even if the new content comes at some expense.

8.5
OVERALL Great (out of 10)

For full review please refer to IGN
http://ps3.ign.com/articl​es/113/1133112p1.html