Friday 28 February 2020

Call of Duty: Black Ops



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Black ops differs from the other cod campaigns because its the beginning of a trillogy  sub plot about Alex Mason being brainwashed of some sort.  since youve been brainwashed , the game jumps around all over the place through various time period and thats probably the games biggest strength.   some missions youre in world war 2, others vietnam, others russian prisons and thigns like this, other levels youre hopping across buildings fighting government agents and others youre  fighting sections of a boat.  The constant change of pace is what keeps the missions fresh and exciting. it stays true to its name  in the sense  that its a bunch of different opearations and countries that you visit and experience.

The story does seem rather contrived and military style 'romdrom'  (romantic drama, but for men)   but its fine albiet  a bit silly at times THE NUMBERS MASON etc.   the biggest complaint I have  s that theres a lot of sections where the game takes control away from you, or little gimmicky  sections , theres too many to name.   like every 5 minutes theres another section where you have to climb a rope and do quicktime events,  or drive a vehicle,  or breach a door in slow mo, theeres just tons of them. and it feels like distractions from the actual game play.  theres a handful of driving / flying sections that i never enjoy in these games and it just feels like filler.

Also it appears theres a lot of  like 'smoke and mirrors' going on at times, where it appears theres a lot of stuff happening, but really youre not doing any of it.   like theres all this combat happening,  and it seems intense at first, but really all you have to do is walk forwards a little bit  and nothing else.      or like sections where enemies constantly respawn unless you inch forward.

theres some silly stuff shoehorned in such as Ice Cube voice acting and character similar,  president kennedy,  and its a bit bizarre to see them in a outlandish game like this.

it seems the main draw to Black Ops is its crazy MK ultra  story, and it is entertaining enough,  but after awhile you start to get a headache with all the flashing effects and flashbacks and crazy psychological shit all over the screen . its non stop. i get that it makes you want to feel like youre in his spot, but its very seizsure enducing.

and it does become numbing  the nonstop screaming constant machine gunshots and "niner niner bravo alpha multiple attachments" jargon.  the sound effects are particularly not great.  theres never a moment without the constant sound effect of thin  dull machine gun fire its like they program all the NPC's and enviorment to seem like its an intense hell zone with constant barrage of sound effects and explosions, but really its just an illusion.

theres only a dozen enemies to fight at once, and really the combat doesnt feel too great.  theres no hitmarkers when you attack enemies and theres no satisfying 'oomph' when you kill them, the guns sound tinny and lack a punch, and you have so much ammo that the best route is to usually just spray n pray constnatly.  You can literally hold down the mouse button and spray constantly and you will never run out of ammo cause you will keep picking up ammo in abundance. 600 bullets.

most of the guns youll be using are machine guns and theyre not that enjoyable because of the lack of satisfying kills, no hitmarkers, and general abundance of ammo. you just spray everywhere.  also since its mostly machine guns using single shots isnt that great or effective espeically since you cant even tell if youre killing anyone half the time.  its fine, but a bit below the standard cod gun play I would say.

it has a checkpoint system like all other cod games, i played on hardened and some checkpoints are just stupid. enemies will spawn behind you and you end up playing some checkpoints 10x in a row not because you suck, but because the game saved at an unfortunate point.

The  campaign is enjoyable, mostly for the story and all the twists and turns, the gunplay is kind of sub par for cod, and the level design and variation is its strong point. the twist at the end is fun, but kind of predictable. but really, i dont care how good the story is. I dont play cod for the story, or even games in general for story. I like to have constant control, and feel skillful and experience the gun combat. so games like doom for example, no story, no bullshit, no frills, just you and the mechanics. call of duty tends to take you out of that often, and throws a lot of cutscenes at you, takes control away, introduces gimmicky sections constantly, etc.

6.5/10

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