Call of Duty: Black Ops Multiplayer Review (360)

A look into the deep multiplayer action

This is a bit unusual for us, but this review just covers the multiplayer aspect of Call of Duty: Black Ops. As it plays such a massive part of the CoD games, I have decided that it warrants its own review! Dave Rage

The Sequel to the bestselling videogame of all time: Will it hold up to its potential and expectations in the online world?

The history and story behind Call of Duty can be rather confusing. There are many different game developers that have been a part of making the ridiculously popular game franchise. Leaving out the older Call of Duty games, three different game developers have played a role in the creation of what would be known as the “hottest” video game franchise. Activision – the producers behind most of the Call of Duty games – Treyarch, and Infinity Ward are the main companies in charge of the franchise. Infinity Ward was directly responsible for changing the first person shooter game, releasing the first instalment of the Modern Warfare (MW) series in 2007. This game introduced a beautiful engine which captured the hearts and lives of many gamers around the world; however, this was just the beginning. One year later a game was developed by Treyarch: Call of Duty: World at War (WaW), this game was a takeoff of MW but had its own particular style and game play, it did sell well but lacked some important content. Subsequently, Infinity ward created arguably the greatest first person shooter (FPS) of all time – Call of Duty : Modern Warfare 2 (MW2). This game seemingly had it all.

I was not that hyped for Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, considering I was rather young at the time and just put together enough money to finally purchase my 360; however, after playing the game for days and days it became somewhat of a lifestyle that would be, in my eyes, almost impossible to replace. It had guns which would tear into your opponent, amusing kill streaks, an extremely satisfying reward system, amazing graphics, gratifying sniping and knifing, great maps which held dynamic fights whether free for all or domination; simply put, this game was the definition of a new age FPS. It really did redefine our ideas of FPS single player and multiplayer. Black Ops was given the daunting task of replacing MW2, that in itself deserves a good luck wish.

Treyarch has successfully delivered a game that honestly makes me proud

After playing MW2 for over 10 days you realized that it had many flaws, and balancing issues; however, it made for such an amazing game no one could honestly complain. The grenade launchers always put a sour taste in your mouth, the shotguns caused you to squeeze your controller in frustration, the UMP which was the submachine gun that could outrange a M16, the prestige lobbies which allowed people to pass you in levels with no skill, and the multitude of glitches were some of these problems. But with all these problems how and why was MW2 so amazing and how in the world can Black Ops do the same? Even the highest paid professional game designers have difficulties with answering that question, but I would say one of the most important factors is: tone.

Tone is the feeling, understanding, and general mood you experience when playing a game. For example: what do you feel when playing the game F.E.A.R – well I hope its fear. Tone is extremely important especially with any multiplayer FPS. The length, style, and width of a gun for example can completely change the dynamic and way you view the game. For example everyone knows the famous sound of the overpowered Halo: Reach grenade, or the sound the Scar used to make in MW2 when tearing into an enemy. Can Black Ops deliver that same trait which will ultimately stick around with us and define the tone of this multiplayer game? This is the issue when comparing the two games: Black Ops and MW2. Black Ops feels more like World at War then MW2 and for me this is a problem. If I may say, Treyarch kept their heads in their *** and forgot something really important: people enjoyed MW2 not WaW… However, this criticism can be easily disregarded when you look at what Black Ops delivers.

Let’s start with the first thing that I launched the night I purchased the game. Split Screen with my three friends after buying the game was surprisingly fun as Treyarch did something that was very intelligent. They opened all classes, customization and guns so that your friends, no matter what skill level can pick any combination in the entire game. This can also be useful for when you want to try out some new guns to see if you want to want to waste your money on it (quick tip there).

The next thing that I obviously did was cracked open the XBOX Live multiplayer game. As stated before I did play over 10 days of MW2 so you can see that I was fairly prepared for this game; however, what I found was a balanced system of guns and perks that allowed you to really show your true skill. At first this took me back to my early days as I was getting stomped by players. I was simply not prepared for a multiplayer system that does not allow anyone to hold a superior class. For example you must purchase each perk and their pro versions are difficult to obtain. No more Stopping power and you can’t quick scope as easily. This is just a few of the balancing changes Treyarch did to the MW2 perk system.

They really kept the clean, simple and useful interface of MW2, but actually added in a really deep stat bank in your combat information. This bank consists of stats like: What body parts you usually hit, what is your best gun, your kill: death, your win: loss, a graphical representation of your kill: death, so on and so on. The interface also introduced the currency system which is even more addictive and rewarding as the experience system as seen in MW2. Like myself, you can save up thousands of dollars and then just gamble it all away, or you can spend it instantly or neither. This adds a new type of value to not only playing each game, but essentially everything in the game.

Treyarch also decided to add in some ridiculously underrated game modes, as well as keeping with the core modes. Wager matches modes are the modes where you can gamble your money. If you finish in the top three you are “in the money” and you will win money for your hard work. The wager matches are as follows:
Gun game – a game where each time you kill you level up getting a new gun; however, if you are knifed you get demoted. The first person to level up through twenty guns wins the match and the 2nd and 3rd placed players make money as well.
Sticks and stones – you only have a ballistic knife, tomahawk and crossbow and the tomahawk “bankrupts” a player.
Sharpshooter – is only random weapons and combinations. Finally, one in the chamber – is one bullet kill but one bullet in your chamber and knives (a kill gives you a bullet).

All of these are just some of the things that Black Ops does right. These factors along with other great qualities deliver a tone that is exceptional and addictive. I don’t even want to mention World at War because Treyarch has successfully delivered a game that honestly makes me proud. I gave my full trust in this developing team to give me something that I would love and god damn they have, I have to tip my hat off to those bastards. They did a fine job.

If you think you can handle a harder multiplayer game then Halo: Reach and MW2 combined then put down that single player and Zombie mode and get started. Call of Duty: Black Ops delivers a vast and complete multiplayer, making the once god-like and revolutionary Modern Warfare 2 seem distant and sub-par.