As of this moment, I'm not impressed with Black Ops. It's hard to put my finger on since I've only played through the campaign once and dumped a couple hours into the multiplayer, but I'll try...
Memento did it best...
Campaign wise, I feel like it was a pretty weak story overall. For the sake of spoilers, I won't go into specific story details, but I didn't like the story structuring. The flashback nature of starting each mission worked pretty well as a means to diversify the gameplay (new locations, etc.) but as it's own I always have felt this be a very lazy way to construct a story. If done well, this narrative layout can be extremely powerful, but if done as a justification, it comes off feeling a little bit forced.
Why can't you be like your older brother?
Multiplayer is probably my biggest disappointment so far. I remember hopping into MW2 and getting giggly with 3N3MY over how cool it was. As time went on, we obviously found things that annoyed us, things that we would have done differently, but I still distinctly remember that feeling of knowing that I had something special in my hands while I was playing. It wasn't perfect in the end, but that initial response really set the tone for the whole experience, and for the most part, it was accurate. Black Ops just hasn't done it for me yet. It almost feels like it wants/wanted to become it's own new multiplayer experience but was left with a strong sense of obligation to look and play as much like MW2 as possible.
Missed Opportunities
My experience so far in Black Ops is already riddled with so many lost chances to do something cool and unique...
- Should we clean up the messy pile of killstreaks and perks we had in MW2? Nah...
- Should we add in some social and political commentary into this incredibly controversial point of American Military history? What?
- Should we use the F-word more? Mos Def.
I'll do some more playing with the Multi before I dive into details about it all. It wouldn't be a fair review it now - I'm dead tired and haven't past level 7 yet, so it wouldn't be all that beneficial to discuss it...
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After writing this, and laying down to fall asleep, I realized that I come off really harsh in this. The most fair way that I can really put it, is that I really was hoping for something new out of the experience.
ReplyDeleteI think the experience will change pretty drastically when I play it with people I know, and start to unlock the perks and guns that let me play my own style. I was playing it alone, and I was totally stuck with the base level guns most of my night. Oh well.
Obviously these are first impressions and should be taken with more than a few grains of salt, but I don't think a majority of the gamers out there would be impressed with Black Ops had it not been for the success of the preceding Call of Duty titles. Maybe I'm just too close to it though, and can't see the forest from the tress.
I have over 9 hours logged online and have played maybe 1.5 hours with brjahu and while it's more fun playing with him I'm still having a blast going it alone.
ReplyDeleteI think that once you figure out the guns and perks you like you'll like it more.
I know what you mean about the "giddy" feeling we got when we played MW2 for the 1st time. As much as we loved it at first it eventually was shown to have many problems. The reason you don't have that feeling anymore is because of the similarities between the 2 games, but honestly Black Ops is the much more solid package. From balancing, maps, game modes, customization it's just the better game.
I think that the game would still be a success, but obviously not as large of one if it didn't have CoD stamped on it.
I don't think that the massive success of this game warrants as much of a beating as we've (myself included) given it now and in the past. Ultimately, the massive success of the game is due to the lack of other high quality MP FPS games on the consoles. Almost every other shooter that launches has a much smaller budget or a hey we have a MP too component added. Blacksite, Bioshock 2, Riddick, Singularity and Quake 4 are all amazing games that have a tacked on MP that is far lacking in comparison to CoD.
Halo and Battlefield are the only 2 games that can even compete as far as polish and execution go. You all know my thoughts on Halo, but I still love Battlefield. It was Battlefield 2 that brjahu and I dumped dozens of hours into before anyone else got the 360.
Basically, you're right on many points, but I think you're wanting to find something wrong with this game because you're annoyed with the consumer base and the obvious whoring and gluttony from the publisher.
It's a great MP game that I look forward to playing for a LONG time because for me....there isn't anything else worth playing that has this much depth or is nearly as well built.
I guess we will all have a right to complain about these cookie cutter shooters when we all start playing other MP shooters more. FEAR 1 and 2 have awesome MP, but they'll never be given a chance by us or other gamers against such giants.
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ReplyDeleteCrapping double post....sorry.
ReplyDeleteAlso, I was level 4 after my 1st round so the fact that you're level 7 shows that you've played the game for less than an hour.
ReplyDeleteYou don't know the maps and are stuck with crap gun setups.
Have some faith.
See for me it was the exact opposite... I felt that way about mw2 (probabley because I played the crap out of mw1). I felt like it really didn't add a whole lot to the series but I still enjoyed it. The new wager match and currency system are nice additions black ops, but what really made me fall in love with the game is the sense of balance... the game doesn't punish you for using the weapons, perks, and attachments I want... I don't have to use "cold blooded" or "stopping power" on every single class or suffer overwhelming defeat in this game. Just my take on it lol. Look forward to hearing your opinion on the multiplayer.
ReplyDeleteGo and play against some bots and practice, learn some maps, learn the guns and perks. I got to play 2 rnds on a buddies computer and I just went against some bots on regular. It was a lot of fun and I can't wait to be able to play my own copy.
ReplyDeleteMW was full of spammage, nads everywhere, aimbot choppers. WaW took some of that out by adding larger maps and I enjoyed WaW much better. MW2 came out and was a ton of fun and then was conqured by hackers and noob tubers that you were helpless against. For me, Treyarch takes what Infinity Ward does, fixes (some of) their mistakes and fine tunes it.
Infinity Ward is the beta while Treyarch is the final product...
Also, your annoyance with perks and what not is unfounded.
ReplyDeleteNot only are they more balanced, but there's an ENTIRE matchmaking section dedicated to games with no perks or attachments. Straight up guns and grenades.
Wow, a lot happened while I was at work.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree about giving it more time. Cory and I will be rocking it out later, so we'll see how it goes.
I wish there was a better way to define it, especially because I try not to play to the crowds too much on this, but it feels very Treyarch-y. I don't even know what that means... I have the same sensation I have when I was trying to fall in love with World at War, which ultimately, I didn't. I played it a lot, found guns I liked, had a pretty good success rate with it, but never clicked with it the same way I have in either of the Modern Warfares.
Something I'm looking forward to seeing once most people have unlocked the higher level stuff, is how the killstreaks will balance out. Almost every game I played last night there was a Spy Plane perpetually moving. There may have well been a Halo style motion tracker on the map. It was like that in MW2 at first as well, but as soon as the greater streaks were unlocked, it became much easier to move around the map with freedom.
Well, time to jump back into the fray. For the record, I'm not trying to have a pessimistic attitude about this. I've accepted that COD is a staple shooter franchise, and for the most part, enjoyed all I've played. Nothing is without it's annoyances... I guess it just comes down to which annoyances we want to live with or not, and which ones we feel dirty enough to use to our advantage. ::cough-cough-KNIFE-cough::
Ballistic Knives and the large amount of Claymores are my biggest gripes.
ReplyDeleteAlso, ALL killstreaks are unlocked. You just have to buy what you want.
I use the rocket launcher a TON to bring down spy planes, helis and care package planes. Get's a ton of XP.