In a series which has essentially become an annual celebration of war's Greatest Hits of the West, it was only a matter of time before a Call Of Duty title turned its iron sights towards the paranoia-gripped Cold War era of the late 1960s. By doing so, Treyarch manages to cover off many of America's ongoing obsessions in one fell swoop, embracing Vietnam, Cuba, crazy Russian megalomaniacs and even the Kennedy assassination. At the buffet of war, Black Ops demands an extra large plate. With such a scattershot approach, its perhaps inevitable that Black Ops' seven-hour campaign struggles to focus on anything for long enough for any sense of coherence to emerge from the mire of screeching plot twists and the imminent threat of Soviet chemical warfare. Played out in particularly shouty flashback, Special Forces operative Alex Mason finds himself under interrogation, endlessly grilled about a mysterious series of numbers that only he can apparently decode. While the fate of the United States hangs in the balance, we get to run through some of Mason's and CIA Agent Jason Hudson's key engagements in the years leading up to this moment as a means of getting closer to the truth. Despite Treyarch's apparent determination to graft an immersive narrative onto its fourth Call Of Duty title, the basic run-and-gun gameplay template remains stubbornly rooted in familiar - and distressingly safe - territory. For the majority of the game's 15 chapters, you'll breeze through the usual linear procession of compact, well-signposted and highly-scripted levels. Taken at face value, though, Black Ops's single-player experience delivers exactly what most would expect from a COD title. It's a slick, highly polished blockbuster, and uncompromisingly relentless in its pursuit of giving players one highly charged action sequence after another. As usual, the basic shooting mechanics remain refined and near-flawless, aided enormously by the fluidity and responsiveness of its 60 frames-per-second technical prowess and the responsiveness of the controls. But having built the game on rock-solid foundations, Treyarch's latest stab at a solo campaign remains frustratingly mired in old-school thinking for the majority of the game. Thinking for yourself is rarely an option in Black Ops as you move between one routine set-piece after another, dispatching obliging clusters of enemies that behave with the same depressing Whack-A-Mole predictability that has been an accepted part of the mainstream FPS formula for way too long. On the rare occasion when you feel like there's another option available to you, the game smacks you down like an errant child, sometimes spewing out endless respawning enemies until you eventually figure out the prescribed solution. There are, of course, inevitable moments of variety that aim to add a much-needed degree of texture to the proceedings, but they feel like recycled props from other games. For the most part, Treyarch is content to simply retread the same well-worn path and repeat everything you've ever seen in a military shooter and vary the scenery. So, when you've had your fill of run and gun, the action invariably cranks up the explosive excitement with bursts of vehicular action, either putting you behind a mini-gun in a moving vehicle, be that a fleeing jeep, chopper or boat, or putting you in control of one of them. Of course, they're pulled off with that trademark Call Of Duty intensity - that's a given - but this far down the line it's also safe and horribly formulaic. There's rarely any sense of danger - the generosity of recharging health sees to that - and you're left with that grinding sense of inevitability as you mow down yet more brain-dead enemies that haven't worked out how to flank or remain in cover. It's only when the game dares to stray outside of its own engrained habits that Black Ops fleetingly threatens to live up to its lofty billing. Its occasional use of stealth, for example, helps ratchet up the tension no end, though most of these sections appear designed primarily as a vehicle for showing off needlessly grisly death sequences.
I might actually get him to do one. But for this one, I think you are kinda negative. How do you expect to change the FPS formula? The only different way of killing enemies is where you mostly HAVE to flank them, and the best game for that, without a doubt, is Brothers In Arms. Given games like: Halo Battlefield Bad Company 2 Call of Duty Planetside Section 8 (a new one is coming out in early 2011, for the veterans) Medal of Honor Brothers in Arms Operation Flashpoint
Halo - juggernaught Health for all characters where single shot weapons such as the sniper is much more effective. The gameplay isn't balanced to one team and often relies on players situations that defines which weapons and equipment they have access to.
Battlefield - Always a tactical game with much larger maps than other FPS's. This type of game allows significant difference between different classes where each one has a specific role('s) and can all be adapted enough to make one class fitting your liking (minimum). The flexibility with Battlefield for urban warfare ranging to the longest-range sniping you have seen in an FPS that requires extreme finesse is very good for calmer players who (quite literally) think outside the box.
Call of Duty - An adrenline run packed with explosions. This game has small maps that isn't entirely thought out with some games (bounces and glitches) but has very good parts where most of its games maintain Dedicated Servers and balanced weapons which produce a large customizable character that fulfills any role you wish. The only flaw in this is the size and structure of the maps whereas sniping isn't exactly realistic (then again, what is in CoD), this really doesn't matter as Call of Duty is made more for skill and adrenline, and not a simulation.
Planetside - One of few MMOFPS's to date. This MMOFPS features a world that ranges large expanses of fields to urban cities of battle. This allows essentially ANYTHING to happen and is stretched even better by the unlocking system featured in many other MMO's. Levels will grant you new things that doesn't specifically get better, but gets different and thus can better suit the role you wish to fulfill where in an MMOFPS, a large world filled by naive NPC's, and meaning "stealth" can really take its turn.
Section 8 - A blend of long-range warfare in Battlefield, adrenline rushing of Call of Duty, and the high health demands of Halo, this game is very unique in that its weapon system is very familiar to Battlefield, its Equipment system is larger than Call of Duty and its Vehicle variety is equal to Halo. This game allows much more mobility and thus you do not mess around trying to get to places. Objectives presented in many Battlefield games are introduced regularly by the DCM, which gives you objectives in different locations at different times which then presents the lovely situation of spreading your 18 units (maximum of 32 per server) throughout your holdout fortress or your convoy you must defend. The great thing about this feature is that depending on what side you on the objectives could be opposite, locations that need capturing, AI's that need hacking or convoys that need destroying could have a defense objective for the other side, this cause intentional and cataclysmic events to occur around the objective that creates tense situations between both teams - this allows much more gameplay to be run through smoother with friends.
Medal of Honor - A blend between Call of Duty and Battlefield. Medal of Honor features slightly larger maps than Call of Duty (making it more like that) but features well-done objectives that are dependent on the game mode. The weapons are familiar to Battlefield in appearance (especially the aim sights) but the feel is that of Call of Duty.
Brothers in Arms - A completely different kind of game to all of these. This puts strategy of Battlefield into much smaller locations and thus you are limited. You need to strike the hard way in this game as you order your squads through the area, encountering other enemies and needing to flank them. The problem is the amount of cover: If you attempt to flank the enemy across the road behind a blockade, you can set your suppressive squad on them as your assault team (and you) go around the back yard of a house. As you turn around the corner of the house to shoot at the unsuspecting resistance the wall to your side (or the house itself) catches the attention of your team as a grenade is thrown over it. What can you do? Boom.
Operation Flashpoint - This is pretty much like Battlefield except much more rural. Often an objective is presented through the game and one team supports the event, the other resists. The objectives are very diverse and provide a lively feel as you feel you are actually in the army. As you set up a small perimeter around your camp, prepared to defend against snipers in the treeline, you have a friendly counter-sniper hiding in a bush beside your camp roughly 400 paces away. This allows a significant sniping position that will undermine the enemies plan, however, they're not that stupid. Their assault team has been able to secure a thin but somewhat reliable perimeter around the camp without being seen, since this is in the night muzzle flash can be seen surrounding your camp and your sniper is killed. Most of the enemy snipers are killed, but their assault team is closing in from all sides, they are without cover, and you have plenty of it. However if you show yourself, you are bound to get killed by the snipers whom you are sure where their location is, what can you do?
Anyway, I done enough talking. That's basically all there is. Each one is a blend of eachother (nearly), and unless someone gives me a very unique FPS change that would certainly intrigue many players (that aren't Halo or CoD etc fanboys) then please, mention it.
doesn't matter as Call of Duty is made more for skill and adrenline, and not a simulation.
I wouldn't say it was skill. Since you health recovers and the maps are very small. It more of adrenaline and action with reflexes. BBC:2 I would say take more skill since it's realism make everything hard including killing people. Example gravity acts on sniper rifles so you have to compensate.
wow whats with the extremely long posts?
They have alot of time and are interested in the topics.
