Game Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

CALL of Duty: Black Ops is one of the biggest first-person shooter games of the year, thanks to a record-breaking first-week sales.

It´s technically the sequel to Call of Duty: World at War since it uses that game´s modified engine. The story goes back to the 1960s and is based on the missions of the special forces during the height of the Cold War.

Though wacky for some of its missions and equipment, Black Ops tries to stay true to the atmosphere at that time. Battles are fought from various locations, from dark alleys to swamps, to keep things fresh, despite the rail system (one-path mission completion system) it uses.


The excellent campaign story and voice acting should make any player happy, but for an FPS, what matters most is multi-player.

Again, Black Ops has shuffled the three Perk categories to avoid creating the ultimate Perk class. It also features a new Equipment section to add more arsenal to your class. These include a radar jammer, surveillance camera and motion detector.

Besides that, weapons, attachments, emblems and clan tags are now not given with level advancement - they have to be bought. Playing multi-player games, completing challenges and contracts will help you earn cash.

While the game environment leads you along a rail system, the developer has made all the multi-player maps open. So there´s no more choke points, like in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare and Warfare 2.

Multi-player is so much fun, isn´t it?

And there´s no longer any supreme weapon to help win the game as each has its strengths and weaknesses. Instead, Black Ops focuses on your skill set as an FPS player, albeit slightly augmented with the right Perks and upgraded weapons.

Tactics play heavily in multi-player games as enemies can outflank you. To win, you have to adapt to their tactics and the environment.

Now comes my gripe with the game: It´s terribly buggy, especially in multi-player. Expect at least 10 crashes in your two hours of play.

In a nutshell, if you´re looking to play Black Ops solely for the campaign and not so much multi-player, I think its price tag is too high. If you want a decent FPS multi-player that does not feel like an early beta, I also think it´s not for you.

But if you´re either the biggest fan of the series or someone with plenty of patience, give it a shot.