- Jan 24, 2011
- 9,378
Same guns, different faces
Those of you waiting with bated breath for Activisionâs fragile, sequelitis-ridden empire to come crumbling down, know this: It wonât be happening this year. Call of Duty: Black Ops is another solid entry in the publisherâs absurdly popular war-shooter franchise. And yet, for all that it is, it couldâve been so much more. Black Opsâ single-player, especially, falls short of its lofty ambitions, leaving us to sigh and ponder what could have been.
Weâre pretty sure the word youâre looking for is âouch.â
See, the central idea behind it is really quite interesting: You awake strapped to a chair in a dark room with a very loud man spitting questions in your face. Turns out, youâre being tortured. Mr. Doesnât-Know-How-To-Use-His-Inside-Voice wants answers, and he wants them now. What follows is a whirlwind trip through your memories, which includeâamong other thingsâbeing imprisoned in Russia, fighting in Vietnam, and attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro.
On a conceptual level, itâs pretty neat. The story weaves its fictional conspiracy into the very fiber of one of American historyâs darker periods, making for something far more compelling on paper than Modern Warfare 2âs hokey mess of an invasion tale. Unfortunately, the storyâs execution is an entirely different, well, story. It jumps all over the place, makes no effort to develop its characters beyond âBiceps! Stubble! Gruff shouting!â and comes off as a flimsy justification for your globe-trotting, time-traveling murder vacation.
The levels are decent, but if youâre hoping for a cascade of water-cooler moments to spice up your chats around the olâ watering hole, you probably ought to look elsewhere. Sure, there are a few instances where youâll pause the game, wipe sweat from your brow, and utter an awed âoh wow,â but all too often when a level feels like itâs really building to something special, it abruptly ends.
Read more
Those of you waiting with bated breath for Activisionâs fragile, sequelitis-ridden empire to come crumbling down, know this: It wonât be happening this year. Call of Duty: Black Ops is another solid entry in the publisherâs absurdly popular war-shooter franchise. And yet, for all that it is, it couldâve been so much more. Black Opsâ single-player, especially, falls short of its lofty ambitions, leaving us to sigh and ponder what could have been.
Weâre pretty sure the word youâre looking for is âouch.â
See, the central idea behind it is really quite interesting: You awake strapped to a chair in a dark room with a very loud man spitting questions in your face. Turns out, youâre being tortured. Mr. Doesnât-Know-How-To-Use-His-Inside-Voice wants answers, and he wants them now. What follows is a whirlwind trip through your memories, which includeâamong other thingsâbeing imprisoned in Russia, fighting in Vietnam, and attempting to assassinate Fidel Castro.
On a conceptual level, itâs pretty neat. The story weaves its fictional conspiracy into the very fiber of one of American historyâs darker periods, making for something far more compelling on paper than Modern Warfare 2âs hokey mess of an invasion tale. Unfortunately, the storyâs execution is an entirely different, well, story. It jumps all over the place, makes no effort to develop its characters beyond âBiceps! Stubble! Gruff shouting!â and comes off as a flimsy justification for your globe-trotting, time-traveling murder vacation.
The levels are decent, but if youâre hoping for a cascade of water-cooler moments to spice up your chats around the olâ watering hole, you probably ought to look elsewhere. Sure, there are a few instances where youâll pause the game, wipe sweat from your brow, and utter an awed âoh wow,â but all too often when a level feels like itâs really building to something special, it abruptly ends.
Read more
