Dec 13, 10:00 am
COD: Black Ops: First Impressions of a Love Child
COD: Black Ops seems like the love child of Treyarch and the late great Infinity Ward: it has distinctive features from both parents, but brings qualities all its own. Black Ops as a game holds in its hands a terrible power over the future of the COD universe: If it rocks, it may breathe much needed life and hope into the COD franchise, but if it turns out to be awful even diehard COD fans may finally give up on this series. Does Black Ops have what it takes to keep the COD family together?
As this is still the honeymoon phase of the game, it’s hard to answer that question. But here are some first impressions and highlights of Black Ops so far.
No Campers Allowed: Treyarch seems to have listened to the cries of the gamers and leveled the playing field in many ways. For example, the removal of both Stopping Power and Painkiller/Juggernaut, the elimination of one shot sniper kills (except of course for headshots), and maps structured to favor run n’ gunners seem to bring fresh gameplay to the arena. And thank you Baby Jesus, I was only killed by a Noob Tube once last night! (Disclaimer: I play primarily objective-based games like Domination and Headquarters, so I cannot vouch for TDM or Hardcore anything yet, so I don’t know if they are like the camp-fests I experienced regularly in MW2.)
They Go to 11: Killstreaks, still in full effect, top out at 11 kills. I dig this, as this decision may discourage Nuke Camping and make people work harder for their kills. There are always places for people to hide out above the map, windows they like to sneak to and pop you in the head. But as an added anti-camping-measure, the adapted Scavenger perk prevents the picking up of claymores, so you can usually root out that sniper-type without encountering a Claymore garden.
Gun Talk/My New Boyfriend: Customization options for gun attachments are available instantly if you have the cash. And the price of buying new guns/attachments/goodies may make you stick with one weapon longer and get to know it, take it on dates and romance it a bit. And then if you like it you can bring it home to meet the family, or buy it pretty things, suppressors and red dots and shotguns oh my! Or, if you’re a playah, you can just buy every gun that comes along until you find that special one with which you want to spend the rest of your life. At the moment, the AK74u and I are getting to know each other and I’m pretty excited. I don’t want to jinx it, but I think it could be love. He looks good in a suppressor and a grip, shoots fast and doesn’t ask questions. I like that in a gun.
In addition to customization, Black Ops gives detailed statistics on your personal gameplay. Want to know where you hit people most, how accurate you are with every used weapon, want to replay a kick-butt match and share it with friends? It’s in there!
To Prestige or Not to Prestige: Always a good question! Black Ops offers 15 prestiges, with 50 levels to experience in every prestige. The choice to prestige can be painful: you lose all your cash money/previously purchased guns and equipment. But it can also be a rush starting over from scratch in a veritable Weaponry-Birthday Suit, all shiny and new! Something you DO get to keep is the player emblem you’ve painstakingly created from buyable icons/pictures that range from letters and numbers to eggs and bacon. Speaking of bacon, here’s a pic of my emblem, a bacon Loving Sparkle Unicorn!
Only Beef: My only beef with the game so far is getting large parties into a game. Thankfully, Treyarch has supplied timely updates addressing problems that have popped up, including this one! This is good news, as COD: Blops takes a trusted team of your own making to strategize and dominate, so when you can’t get your team in, you’re more vulnerable to getting rocked. And it’s just not as much fun without your friends!
Only hours upon days upon months will tell if this game is everything everyone hoped. As for me, I’m having a blast. I’d love to know what you think of the gameplay so far as well!
Hope to see you on the Battlefield, my AK74U and Sparkle Bacon Unicorn will be waiting!
