Black Ops is the game in which Treyarch has truly found their style. They took a shot by giving the Call of Duty protagonist a voice, and surrounding him with a character-based, conspiracy-theory-ridden plot of epic proportions. They did a great job—what a gripping story, and right from the get-go too! The first two Modern Warfare games took a bit to get going or hitting their stride, but Black Ops begins telling its story from the moment you launch the game, the opening cinematic, the menu, everything about the presentation of this game feels purposeful, and it all comes back around at one point or another. It's probably my favorite type of storytelling, and I never thought I'd see it done so well in a Call of Duty game of all things.
It manages to avoid many trapping of Treyarch's previous game, World at War. The Vietcong aren't just these loud caricatures, they're people genuinely fighting with everything they got, the game doesn't focus on their way of fighting and doesn't hyperbolize it with loud noises or jumpscares. Mason is as much of a superhero as Dimitri, but not only does his character have more depth, but they also adjusted the style of the presentation to fit such scenarios. There is still brutality, but it isn't reveled in, it's all kept within the calculated precision of a special operations unit. Reznov makes a return, as entertaining as before and is utilized incredibly well. If I were to highlight one complaint, I don't really think the ending was that necessary. I'm sure they take this thread somewhere in the future games, but I'd rather not end on such a note, or present it differently, with a bit more mystery behind it. Maybe don't follow the scene where the main antagonist drops such a bombshell with this EPIC MUSIC, LOOKING AT THE SUNSET AND THE DESTROYED REMAINS YOU LEFT BEHIND YEEHAW. There's times this game shows restraint and it benefits a scene greatly, and I wish the ending was one of them.
The gameplay is perhaps more varied than ever, which appeals to me greatly, and designed for constant fun. Not since Call of Duty 3 (also a Treyarch game) have you had so much freedom in controlling vehicles. Some might say the helicopter-steering is a bit simplified, but if you ever tried to control a helicopter in other, "realistic" games, you'd know to be grateful. Jumping from shootout to shootout to a little gimmick, all with many unique, memorable weapons at your disposal (several missions have entire stashes for you to choose from before charging in). Treyarch definitely pushed for machine guns to be the main type of weapon, but so many of the weapons have different versions, attachments that not only feel good to play around with, but add that much needed diversity throughout the campaign. The flamethrower attachment is the only one that feels truly underwhelming. I personally never found the use for the shotgun one, but I'm sure someone else could. They once again outdid themselves with the PPSH you get for just one level, so all can be forgiven.
And another banger of a Veteran campaign at that, though I definitely felt frustrated a few times (I believe you can get one-shot randomly if the enemy hits you in the head, because I had this happen to me at some of the tougher checkpoints quite a few times) but the checkpoints are generous and the freedom of approach, as minimal as it may be, allows for tackling a situation from multiple angles. Still, I wish they could get the AI of the companions down by now, I can't stand looking at an enemy run past an ally to shoot me right in the head this much during one campaign.
I even spent a bit of time on Zombies this time around. Fun mode, I can totally see why it became such a hit, I mean they throw you into it right after the campaign and you play as freaking JFK right then and there. It's ridiculous, like the campaign but even more so—the mode fits the overall style like a glove.
Black Ops, though it wasn't the terrifying potrayal of war that Modern Warfare was, is perhaps an even better game. It found its lane and truly owned it, I can't imagine how satisfying it must have been for Treyarch to come out of Infinity Ward's shadow, and I cannot imagine what a time it must have been for the fans of the CoD franchise, to finally have these two companies rival each other in the quality of the product they put out.
It manages to avoid many trapping of Treyarch's previous game, World at War. The Vietcong aren't just these loud caricatures, they're people genuinely fighting with everything they got, the game doesn't focus on their way of fighting and doesn't hyperbolize it with loud noises or jumpscares. Mason is as much of a superhero as Dimitri, but not only does his character have more depth, but they also adjusted the style of the presentation to fit such scenarios. There is still brutality, but it isn't reveled in, it's all kept within the calculated precision of a special operations unit. Reznov makes a return, as entertaining as before and is utilized incredibly well. If I were to highlight one complaint, I don't really think the ending was that necessary. I'm sure they take this thread somewhere in the future games, but I'd rather not end on such a note, or present it differently, with a bit more mystery behind it. Maybe don't follow the scene where the main antagonist drops such a bombshell with this EPIC MUSIC, LOOKING AT THE SUNSET AND THE DESTROYED REMAINS YOU LEFT BEHIND YEEHAW. There's times this game shows restraint and it benefits a scene greatly, and I wish the ending was one of them.
The gameplay is perhaps more varied than ever, which appeals to me greatly, and designed for constant fun. Not since Call of Duty 3 (also a Treyarch game) have you had so much freedom in controlling vehicles. Some might say the helicopter-steering is a bit simplified, but if you ever tried to control a helicopter in other, "realistic" games, you'd know to be grateful. Jumping from shootout to shootout to a little gimmick, all with many unique, memorable weapons at your disposal (several missions have entire stashes for you to choose from before charging in). Treyarch definitely pushed for machine guns to be the main type of weapon, but so many of the weapons have different versions, attachments that not only feel good to play around with, but add that much needed diversity throughout the campaign. The flamethrower attachment is the only one that feels truly underwhelming. I personally never found the use for the shotgun one, but I'm sure someone else could. They once again outdid themselves with the PPSH you get for just one level, so all can be forgiven.
And another banger of a Veteran campaign at that, though I definitely felt frustrated a few times (I believe you can get one-shot randomly if the enemy hits you in the head, because I had this happen to me at some of the tougher checkpoints quite a few times) but the checkpoints are generous and the freedom of approach, as minimal as it may be, allows for tackling a situation from multiple angles. Still, I wish they could get the AI of the companions down by now, I can't stand looking at an enemy run past an ally to shoot me right in the head this much during one campaign.
I even spent a bit of time on Zombies this time around. Fun mode, I can totally see why it became such a hit, I mean they throw you into it right after the campaign and you play as freaking JFK right then and there. It's ridiculous, like the campaign but even more so—the mode fits the overall style like a glove.
Black Ops, though it wasn't the terrifying potrayal of war that Modern Warfare was, is perhaps an even better game. It found its lane and truly owned it, I can't imagine how satisfying it must have been for Treyarch to come out of Infinity Ward's shadow, and I cannot imagine what a time it must have been for the fans of the CoD franchise, to finally have these two companies rival each other in the quality of the product they put out.