Call of Duty: Black Ops

ActivisionPlaystation 3, Xbox 360, PC

Among hardcore players, Call of Duty is the juggernaut of video game franchises. Black Ops carries with it as much expectation as any game out there, and thankfully for the hordes of fans out there, it doesn’t disappoint as Call of Duty hits another home run.

The single-player campaign takes place in the 1960’s, following the story of Alex Mason, a soldier caught between a rock and a hard place – interrogated by captors he doesn’t truly know, for information he can’t truly remember. Your missions are Mason’s memories, and as the campaign progresses, each memory gets pieced together to form a coalesced picture. As your character begins the game confused, there’s a lot of uncertainty in the flow of the game. Though this style has the potential for disaster, it is instead handled admirably, and the uncertainty actually adds to the intensity of the campaign. As fun and action-packed as the campaign is, it is just too short to be considered a great campaign. Some may not care that it only takes six hours to beat, playing the game more for the multiplayer side of things, but those looking for an in-depth single-player adventure will be a little disappointed. Regardless, as short as it is, the story may very well be the best in the series.

The production value of this game is incredible, on all accounts. While the environments and characters are all highly detailed (though there are occasional minor hiccups on certain levels), your ears may be the most pleased with the experience. The soundtrack hits the right tone, bullets and grenades hit their mark with authority, and best of all, the voice acting and script is phenomenal. The voice talent – including such film stars as Gary Oldman, Sam Worthington, and Ed Harris – take it to a whole other level of greatness.

For most gamers, multiplayer is the reason to get a Call of Duty game. Black Ops feels a lot like Modern Warfare, which isn’t a bad thing, but a few tweaks and added features make it even better. The biggest change is the addition of CoD Points. You get CoD Points as you gain levels and experience, which can then be spent on a number of different things, like weapons and bonuses. Gaining levels still gives you access to custom classes, new modes to play, and its own set of weapons, but how you spend your points all add to the customization, giving you even more control into your style of play. But beware, you can’t undo a purchase and get your points back; once they are spent, those points are gone. Spend your points wisely.

There’s more to the point system than being mere currency. With your points you can buy contracts, which are high in risk but high in reward as well. You are given a challenge – like killing three in a row with a certain weapon – and receive a higher payout if you succeed. For example, if you kill three in a row with an SMG, it costs 50 points, but you get 3,500 back if you succeed. The risk, of course, is that if you fail to complete the challenge, you’re out 50 points.

As cool as this extra is, what’s even better is making contracts, or wagers, with other players. In wager matches, you put an entrance fee up of 10, 1,000, or 10,000 points. There are two kinds of play modes in wager matches: one gives you nothing but a pistol and one bullet, with only three lives to live. The other is great for frontrunners, where the guns get progressively better with each kill you make. The winnings are split among the top three finishers, while everyone else gets nothing. Hard to get as intense as a 10,000 point wager when all you have is a single-bullet pistol.

Black Ops introduces a new mode, called Combat Training, that’ll certainly please beginners to the game. Want to get better at multiplayer but don’t like having to battle against merciless, better players? Then Combat Training is the way to go. In this mode you fight against AI opponents that you can change difficulty for.

Black Ops builds off what made Modern Warfare II so good and spices it up a little bit. It is not entirely as groundbreaking as Modern Warfare was, but the new CoD point system and fun new weapons – RC Car bomb anyone? – make Black Ops one of the best shooters of the year.