GAMING


Call of Duty: Black Ops


* Format: PS3 (version reviewed), 360, PC, Wii, DS * Unleashed: Out Now * Publisher: Activision * Developer: Treyarch * Players: 1-4 (offl ine), 2-18 (online, including splitscreen) * Site: http://www.callofduty.com/hub


World at War was a bit of a mess. Offline, grenade spamming; online, the unwise in- clusion of tanks and a few unpopular maps – all wrapped up in an over-familiar WWII dressing. Can Treyarch really have done much better with Black Ops? What must be said before anything else is that, in all fairness, the developers have put some real effort into giving you value for money. The campaign could last you up to twice as long as that of Modern Warfare 2; Zombies make a welcome return; there are two hidden games (twin stick shooter Dead Ops Arcade and text adventure Zork); and joining the CoD classics such as Team Deathmatch, Search & Destroy and Free for All are brand new online modes with some great ideas. Unfortunately, the fresh new ideas seen both online and off are in the clutches of stale old problems. The solo campaign is presented for the most part as a series of flashbacks. Kudos to Treyarch for capitalising on the opportu- nity to give the player a decent variety of environments and missions; yes, you’ll be running down streets, through corridors, and across battlefields with a gun in your hand. But you’ll also be piloting various


vehicles, taking part in semi-interactive cutscenes, playing stealth sections that are actually fun to play, and more often than not working closely with allies rather than acting as a one man army. There are even a few historical figures thrown into the mix. At its best, the Black Ops campaign gives you a feeling of being in the middle of a big-budget movie. Sadly, the highs are out- numbered by the lows. Of most concern is the AI – or rather, lack thereof. Friend and foe alike are completely unable to cope with unscripted behaviour. Grenade spamming is not an issue, but the equally undesirable boil of infinite enemy spawning is. On a related note, the invisible tripwires that activate finite spawn points are sometimes poorly placed. On three separate occasions, we saw enemies pop into existence before our very eyes. Of course the majority of players will spend most of their time with the multiplayer modes and again, it’s a mixed bag. CoD staples, deathmatches et al, don’t make the transition all that smoothly. The game- play is still recognisably and immediately CoD, but the guns don’t feel as varied as those in both Modern Warfares, nor do any of them feel like they pack the same punch. Worse still are the graphics. They’re no- ticeably inferior to MW2 and while this shouldn’t matter, it does. Firstly, the lack of sharpness makes spotting enemies from a distance harder than it should be. Sec- ondly, the dull and limited palette shared amongst player models and environments


can often make stationary adversaries (i.e. campers) difficult to see immediately. When you combine that with the fact that each map is crammed full of corners and hidey holes, we can imagine Black Ops deathmatches becoming as much about camping as a Graham Norton simulator would be. Hope is promised in the overhaul given to the online modes in other areas. The ‘CoD Points’ which you earn alongside, and in a much lower proportion to XP are used to ‘buy’ weapons (as usual, unlocked as you level up), attachments and perks (all immediately available for purchase once you’ve unlocked Create a Class). These points are also used to buy your way into ‘Wager Matches’, which is where the big- gest changes are apparent. The basic premise is: six player deathmatch – the top three players get winnings, the bottom three nothing. The game modes here are completely new, our personal favourites being Sharpshooter and One in the Chamber. These brand new modes are more than welcome, and great fun – but just six players? Free for All only? Black Ops is not a bad game by any means. It’s a good game. However, when the inevitable comparisons with Modern Warfare 2 are made, this falls just a little short in almost every way.


written by Critical Gamer’s Luke Kemp for more gaming news, reviews and articles: www.criticalgamer.co.uk 21


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