Right well I thought it would be a good change of pace to do a review on another video game and this is one of my favourite games in recent years, Call of Duty Black Ops. So get on the armour, get the guns (I seem to say that alot on here!) make our way into the jungle and look at this un....
So a little bit about the plot (don't worry it will be just one paragraph!) as the story follows Alex Mason (voiced by Sam Worthington) who is a special forces operative, who in the 1960s engaged in some black operations behind the enemy lines, run by the CIA. The ops take place in various different locations, and Mason works with other operatives, Frank Woods, Joseph Boden, and a Russian born operative, Grigori Weaver. The story is told in a series of flashbacks as well as main focus of the exposition comes from 1968 where Mason is held captive by unseen captors who ask a series of questions about a numbers station. Mason recalls several previous missions he was on in an attempt to answer the questions. Mason's missions include Operation 40, which was an attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro during the bay of pigs, 1963 where he embark on a mission to Kazah SSR to disrupt the space program and later 1968 where Mason was sent into Vietnam. The crux of these latter two missions were to track down a Russian defector named Dragovich, who later is revealed to smugglign shipments of a lethal nerve gas, Nova 6. Off and on throughout the game, Mason also encounters an ally of his, Victor Reznov (voiced by Gary Oldman) who helps fight during the missions. But as the game progresses we soon discover the truth behind what happened to Mason, who his captors are and what happened to Reznov, and can they stop Dragovich....
After the tremendous success of Call of Duty 4 Modern Warfare, which saw the series being modernised, Black Ops continued with another different take on the series dealing with the Cold War and Vietnam, and with the main character being interrogated with the flashback sequences it makes for a compelling narrative, which keeps the player guessing as to how it will unravel. The single player campaign in itself is superb and it makes for an exciting and thrilling experience where the player is immersed in some very intense battles and the missions are very varied as well. The multiplayer campaign will also offer much enjoyment for multiplayer game fans and there is also the fun inclusion of the Zombie campaign, where you get to play John F. Kennedy who fights against zombies who break into the Pentagon!
In terms of the gameplay and combat its all pretty similar to what went before in the previous games where the player can movement wise run, walk, crouch, go prone as well jump over walls etc. And one thing where Blacks Ops has real variety is in the choice of weapons such as sub-machine guns, uzis, assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles, silenced pistols, grenades and a new addition to the game is the crossbow, which uses explosive bolts as well. The game also uses the same health warning system as before when the player takes alot of gunfire the screen starts to glow red to indicate the player's health is being damaged, but it gradually reduces when the player takes cover. The player can also kill enemies in the game with melee weapons such as knives or crowbars, which can be triggered by using a specific button on the controller (or keyboard if you use the PC) when they get in close. The game also features some scripted inscreen cinematic cutscenes and even some bullet time moments, one example is in the Operation 40 mission where Mason kills Castro's decoy.
Moving onto the games graphics Black Ops looks stunning and is based on the World at War game engine except a more enhanced version and the game features some advanced lighting effects and shadows, which are put to great use in the game's darkly lit sequences. The game's environments like most today are very varied and very well detailed and feature different settings such as America, Cuba, Russia, Vietnam and Kowloon. The character models are also excellent and while they might not quite approach lifelike quality they still look pretty good for their time. The game itself also features some explicit content and graphic violence, which can actually be limited in the game's settings where some of the game's more violent scenes are toned down with the blood and gore removed (this is the same for the game's strong lanugage which is also adjustable in the game's menus).
Voice acting wise Black Ops is also excellent and it featues a top cast that includes Ed Harris as Jason Hudson, the CIA agent, Gary Oldman who reprises his role as Viktor Reznov, the former Red army soldier, Ice Cube as Joseph Bowman and James C Burns as Frank Woods. And Sam Worthington who isn't the best actor of all time is actually surprisingly good as well in his voice acting role as the main character, Alex Mason. The game itself is pretty intense and serious in tone and there is little room for humour but there is one amusing scene in the game where Hudson tries to debrief Bowman who arrives in Vietnam and greets Woods and they just totally ignore Hudson who just sighs as they walk off (as neither of them are a fan of the CIA). The Vietnam intro scene also features a good exchange between Mason and Woods as they await for Woods's arrival and when he choppers they see how he is covered in muck and blood stains and Mason says to Woods "Woods, you look like hammered shit!" and Woods says "Looks don't count for shit in the jungle! This is 'Nam baby!". The game's music score is also excellent and was composed by Sean Murray, who worked Word at War as well and his score is very intense and atmospheric as well, and the game also makes good use of The Rolling Stones "Sympathy for the devil" in one scene during the Vietnam missions where the American army launch an attack on the VC by sea as they ride through the river.
As for flaws.... well Black Ops doesn't really have any worth moaning about too much, except maybe the simple fact that despite the setting and the excellent story, it doesn't really offer much else new to the series than what we have seen before. And in this respect it feels like what the player is getting is just revamped version of the previous game but that I guess would apply to all the Call of Duty games since the original. Depending on the player's taste the game's violence can also be quite strong and graphic (well its war of course!) and it does some disturbing moments in the single player campaign such as the horrible scene where Dragovich betrays Reznov and his friend Dimitri Petrenko and exposes Petrenko to the Nova 6 gas and traps him in an enclosed cell and the player is forced to witness his gruesome death. So the game certainly isn't for the faint of heart as the story is pretty intense stuff overall but then again you have to expect that from a war video game. Another criticism is that the single player campaign is fairly short as it clocks in at roughly six hours gameplay which means if you put in a pretty rigorous gaming session there's a fair chance you might get the campaign completed in two sittings at the most! There also some moments in the game where you are actually forced to watch the cut scenes and you can't skip them, which can be a bit annoying especially the one where Mason arrives at the Pentagon to speak with President Kennedy, which seems to go on forever and in that time you could make yourself a cup of tea by the time its done! There were also some software issues with the PC version but they were eventually ironed out with patches which made for a frustrating gaming experience at the time but in most cases Call of Duty is probably best enjoyed on a gaming console i.e. Xbox 360 or PS3 (although aiming your weapon is easier on the PC it has to be said using a mouse).
But that all aside Blacks Ops is an excellent addition to the Call of Duty series and it also saw the series take another refreshing spin on the warfare themes as well as the time period which made a welcome change.
So with that I shall good night!
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