adonisdemon's ponderings

Single Player

Right off the bat, in the interrogation room, I just knew it was going to be him on that chair, being interrogated and recalling what was going to happen. That was the full story. There was no incline of mystery or anything. And yes, I was right. Whilst playing it through was fun at times, the lack of interest meant I finished the game and wasn't too happy with it. The clichéd plot is now scraping the barrel for all FPS games which look at World Wars and try and re-enact them. That's what started the franchise and it's never really moved away. Will it ever? Don't bet on it.

Multiplayer

After around 1 days worth of play, I was already bored of it, this was in comparison to Modern Warfare 2, despite it's annoyances, it took me over 20+ days worth of game play to get bored. What's fundamentally wrong with Black Ops Multiplayer is the real fact that's clearly there, but everyone seems to be ignoring it; it's World at War with a facelift, nothing more nothing less. The lighting in the game, the hit detection the lack of anything significant to the physics of the game. It's just plain clear. This was Treyarch's cash cow to join the billion dollar club, which the public obliged to.

There are many inconsistencies with the game, which to me don't make sense. First and foremost the main 3 things;

• Shitty Servers. Yes the lag and shit servers ruin basically everything in the game. The fact there wasn't a public beta for this, just show the amateurish approach from Treyarch.
• Hit detection. I've gone too many games unloading full clips into the back of an enemy's skull, only for them to turn around and kill me with one bullet. Absolute. Fucking. Joke.
• Last Stand. Why on earth did they keep this in the game is beyond me and many others. It's the most ridiculous, pathetic display of human cowardliness. And used by exactly those. Would I have a problem if it worked as it was designed to? No. But I do, because it doesn't work as planned. Unloading a whole clip into an enemy and getting killed while one has to reload and be killed by this pathetic excuse for a player with two bullets. Is this why it was put in this game? If it was, then Treyarch really are amateurs of epic proportions. Not that they haven't displayed this already.

There are many, many other things that are wrong with the game; matchmaking, unbalanced teams, glitches, bugs, shitty graphics (they're basically the same from World at War) and the ridiculous Zombie mode. The less said about that, the better.

What's Good About It

Whilst on the whole, the game itself is a travesty of epic proportions. There are a few nice features which perhaps can offer some respite;

• The Theatre Mode is amazing, watching all the games one has played with replays, slow motion and full control is fabulous. It makes analysis much easier and life a lot easier for many of those Youtubers who do commentaries. But the 30 second clip limit sucks balls, it really should be 1-2 mins minimum. Me thinks yet again it's cost saving on their part.
• Combat Zone is by far an amazing addition. The stats in there are in depth, detailed and what's best is that anyone can look up anyone else's stats. It's pretty intensive too, there are shit loads of stuff to check out in there.
• COD Points is a nice addition, I'm glad they put this into it. It gives more freedom to unlock what one wants, rather than the systematic approach from previous games. I do find the lack of camouflage variants a bit poor, also making custom ones would be immense.
• Playercard is also a nice addition. Customising and showing off your own custom emblem is a nice touch. Makes the community more diverse and allows them to be more creative.

Conclusion

In the end Black Ops promised so much but delivered very little in the way of enjoyment and refining it be more of a fun game. Also the lack of intuitiveness with the game's UI is lacking massively. Menu's are poorly designed, there is lag in the main menu due to the game retrieving statistics from their servers, which really no one would give a monkeys ass about. It's just another example of them trying to show off to the world about how their game is great, it should be optional, especially if it affects the user from navigating through the menus.

Treyarch recently announced a first DLC for the game. Which really goes to show how detached they and the gaming world are from the players (consumers) in respect to appreciating their fans and customers. I would have preferred them to be fixing the issues with the game, adding dedicated servers, giving some free DLC expansions first to show their appreciation, instead of trying to squeeze even more milk from the cash cow that Call of Duty has become.

I for one won't be buying any other Call of Duty series again, and also will be watching what types of games I purchase from Activision too. The gaming industry is becoming what the music and movie industry already has. All about the money and no passion or appreciation. And that usually means more people pirating shit. History is there for examples.