I love reading the in depth reviews for products and games, but sometimes I like the short and sweet versions too. So for those who want the quick summary, this game rocks! Best Call of Duty to date. It engages the player, has A LOT of customization features, and comes with 3 zombies games.
It really is by far the best Call of Duty to date, in my opinion. Modern Warfare was great, then World at War topped it, but then Modern Warfare 2 was just the next game; not the newest and best, just the next. Having played COD:MW and COD:WAW enough to earn 980/1000 and 1460/1500 achievement points, MW2 left me bored and disappointed. I stopped playing it shortly after achieving only the first Prestige level online. If any of you have similar feelings about the lack of new content introduced in MW2, and have not yet played Black Ops, GO RENT IT. You won't be disappointed.
The campaign mode - introduces you to a lot of the new weapons and a very interesting storyline. In previous games I would skip the cut scenes to get right into the mission. In Black Ops, the cut scenes are actually really good and directly engage the player as part of the storyline. I didn't skip a single one on my first play through. It made me want to know what's going to happen next. Pretty cool feature if you ask me.
Online play - is very much like the previous COD titles in the sense that it's a first person shooter. The unique part, however, is that you can customize everything (more or less). Each match you play earns you money. The money lets you buy everything you want to use. Certain weapons and customization features are unlocked as you level up, but the variety that you start with is pretty good and you unlock new gear relatively quickly. In each class you can choose your primary weapon, it's accessories (such as silencer, red dot sight, etc) and their own custom features, a secondary weapon, and it's accessories, a main grenade, a secondary grenade, a piece of equipment, a tier 1 perk, a tier 2 perk, and a tier 3 perk. There is also a custom player emblem feature that lets you create your own custom artwork for your emblem, by using a slew of clip art pictures. I don't want to go into specifics because they are much cooler to discover/unlock on your own.
Zombies - are unlocked when you start the shooting games. Well, one zombie map is, anyway. So if you want to dive right into a zombies map, you don't have to beat the campaign to do so. You unlock a second zombie map by beating the campaign, and unlock a third by breaking out of the chair and hacking the computer. You can Google this if you don't care to hack it yourself. If there is any more than these 3 I haven't found them yet, or Googled to find them.
So to sum it up, Black Ops brings a lot to the Call of Duty title. It offers tons of character customization in multiplayer online, has a pretty good campaign storyline that you actually want to follow, and the new style zombies game is super fun (the third one you get after hacking the computer). It's going to be hard for the next game in the line to keep up with Black Ops. And if you aren't a fan of the COD games, but loved Team Fortress or Counter-Strike, you might actually like Black Ops. So give it a try, I don't think you'll be disappointed.
Starcraft Latest Review
