Call Of Duty Black Ops
- Platform: PC/PlayStation 3/Wii/Xbox 360
- Genre: First Person Shooter
- Developer/Publisher: Treyarch/Activision
- Release: 09/11/2010
You’ve got to feel sorry for Treyarch. One of Activision’s unfairly derided workhorse developers, they’ve yet again got the task of working on what’s ostensibly the off year for the multi-million selling Call of Duty franchise.
But while Modern Warfare developer Infinity Ward struggles after its founders and leads were let go by Activision earlier this year, Treyarch has stepped up and created a game more than worthy to continue the franchise’s legacy.
the plot is a delightfully cheesy MacGuffin that enables the player to travel the world in gorgeous visuals filled with frantic action
Like its predecessors, Black Ops is a linear, heavily scripted rollercoaster ride. Sometimes the path widens but you’re never under the illusion that it branches. Enemies pop up from the same spots at the same time, something you’ll definitely notice when you constantly die on the game’s hardest difficulty, but that’s part of the fun. While it may seem old fashioned and linear next to a Halo or a Crysis, it means the game is tight and flows well. It’s a scripted world, like a movie set, and one helmed by director with suitable action chops. But like Modern Warfare 2, that director’s more Michael Bay than Francis Coppola.
Black Ops takes place throughout the 60s, in between the more serious World War 2 affairs of CoD 1-3 and the almost GI Joe level antics of Modern Warfare 2. Tonally the game is inconsistent. The globetrotting story sees you fighting the Vietcong through sparsely lit tunnels in sequences that are mostly serious and reserved (and look jaw dropping) as well as participating in cartoonish, improbable prison breaks, failed plots to assassinate Castro and trips to nerve gas filled, ice encased ships while the game slowly reveals its Manchurian Candidate-like plot through torture-induced flashbacks.
There are some surprises in the often silly story, though most of the twists and turns are clearly signposted. Treyarch also interestingly weaves a sort of 60s version of the World Wide Web into a hidden terminal accessible on the title screen.
Cold war conspiracies, assassination plots and brainwashing is one thing, but the most unconvincing part of the story is Sam Worthington. Despite playing Mason, the Alaskan lead protagonist, Worthington struggles with the accent so much that it may have been better to re-plot the game (or hire a better actor).
Ultimately the plot is a delightfully cheesy MacGuffin that enables the player to travel the world in gorgeous visuals filled with frantic action. There really is a wealth of locations in the game; Vietnam’s jungle sequences a highlight in showcasing both Treyarch’s artistry and Infinity Ward’s engine team’s technical brilliance. For a 3 year old framework with roots in the Quake 3 engine, it really does put others to shame, especially at a silky smooth 60 frames a second.
For the most part Treyarch follows the same template that has made the franchise such a ubiquitous success. Whilst the majority of gamers who bought the game did so almost exclusively for its wealth of multiplayer modes (including the much loved zombies mode, though I prefer Modern Warfare 2′s Spec Ops mode), the campaign is well made and puts well intentioned but shoddily scripted pretenders such as EA’s Medal of Honor reboot to shame. I play CoD games on Veteran, the hardest difficulty, which I feel is the most satisfying way to play, and while there were frustrating moments, I never felt as eye-gougingly angry as I did at parts of CoD4 or MW2.
When the credits rolled I felt the same satisfied, enjoyed feeling you get at the spectacle of a summer blockbuster. It’s not Apocalypse, Now, but it’s sure as hell more fun.
Verdict: 8/10
Female First Michael Moran
Tagged in Call of Duty