Call of Duty: Black Ops Initial Impression
November 10, 2010 Leave a comment
It’s November, and that can me only one thing, It’s time for another entry into the first person shooter series known as Call of Duty. Every year we are treated to another game in the series from alternating companies Activision, and Treyarch, and this year it’s Treyarchs turn with the subtitle Black OPs. If you visit most video game websites and browse the forums you’ll usually find that popular opinion favors the Activision titles more, however I am actually on the opposite side of this argument as I greatly enjoyed Treyarch’s World at War game which had great co-op and introduced the now famous Nazi Zombie game mode. So how does this one measure up?
The game has only been out a day at time of this writing and I picked it up after work last night so this initial impression is base on about four hours of gameplay, all of which is multiplayer as I have not even started the campaign yet. First thing I did after loading it up was try out Zombie mode split screen with my girlfriends son. We had a good time doing this for the first twenty minutes or so and then decided to try out another cool feature this game brings which is combat training, a mode in which you can play a replica of the online multiplayer but with bots instead of live people. This mode is great for honing your skill before trying out the real thing, and actually captures the feel of online play really well. A nice touch to this mode is it uses the names of those on your friends list for the computer controlled opponents, which leads to things that would never be possible like me killing my brother Wilddogg multiple times in a single match. The AI difficulty can also be bumped up as you get better as well.
After trying those offline modes it was finally time to try some online competition and earn those ever so sought after credits and xp, which are used for arming and customizing your character. The game says there are millions of players online but I found myself waiting at least five minutes to get into a lobby. However once in going from game to game was quick enough, except when wanting to change to another game type and then it was another five-minute wait. The waiting issues should be resolved with a patch or when more people buy the game which I’m sure won’t be long.
When all is said and done I am really happy with this purchase, and I haven’t even touched the campaign mode as well as the hidden games that I have heard about including a Zombie mode featuring Ex-Presidents. At this point the multiplayer seems to be balanced as people are still learning the maps and ranking up, which is a real pleasure when compared to playing Modern Warfare 2 where you have to hide inside structures and camp for fear of being sniped the moment you expose yourself. I’m sure in time people will find exploits and cheat in some way, if they haven’t already but for the moment I’m going to enjoy it while it lasts. I recommend this game very highly for fans of first person shooters, there’s enough here for everyone to enjoy and I am sure there will be even more content released down the road if World at War is any indication.
Love to hear any opinions on this game as well, leave them in the comments area.