365//365: Day 359 – Call of Duty: Black Ops (360) [PP]

"Proof that the franchise doesn't have to be modern for it to be worthy."

I’m not a fan of Treyarch first person shooters. World at War’s time frame and weaponry felt clunky and not even close to engaging. Black Ops however, felt like a more connectible experience than World at War.While a modern warfare feels more fleshed out in general, the settings in Black Ops (for the most part) work well enough, outside the annoying Vietnam portions. The story is fascinating, though the protagonists bears a striking resemblance to default Shepard of Mass Effect fame. The audio and visual qualities match those of the Modern Warfare line, with just slight degrading here and there. The biggest change however comes with multilayer. Players can jump into Combat Training to hone their skills against a set of horribly unbalanced CPU combatants that either take 3 seconds to fire at you after putting you in their sights (Normal) or have 100% lock on accuracy and can completely taint the experience (Hardened). The meat and potatoes though, aside from some questionable spawn points, is surprisingly almost as fulfilling as the Modern Warfare line. Instead of unlocking weapons and perks with each level gained, you amass credits with each milestone and end game bonus, allowing for a more complex customization for your character. The system works quite well, as it gives more of a sense of diversity than anything before it within the Call of Duty franchise. Finally you have the underwhelming, over-saturated zombie inclusions. Zombie mode is as flaccid as ever for those that didn’t get into it in World a War, and still a thrill for those that find this overly abused gimmick something engaging. The other zombie inclusion is an “arcade” shooter in the same vein as Zombie Apocalypse, which is quite an enjoyable bonus, regardless of the gimmicky feel. If you want a Moder Warfare thrill with a 60′s flair, Black Ops will be a perfect fit for your shooter needs. While there are faults (severely uneven Combat Training AI, graphical and audio qualities remains mostly stagnant, multiplayer spawn points need attention, zombie mode is useless) the bulk of the experience is worth the time and effort, and will keep you entertained until the next big FPS drops.

Rating: 8.4