This game instead of taking place in modern times or World War II takes players to the times of the Cold War in events such as the Vietnam War, Bay of Pigs Invasion and even the Cuban Missile Crisis. This also marks the return of the Nazi zombies, and also with new maps and DLCs for those who want to play in Multiplayer or zombies mode.
Plot. On Feburary 25, 1968, an SAD/SOG operative named Alex Mason is strapped to an electric chair in an interrogation room. Unaware of where he is, he is bombarded with question about the location of a numbers station. Alex Mason's missions usually take place from 1961 to 1968 during the Cold War, in many events such as the Bay of Pigs Invasion, Vietnam War, and the Cuban Missile Crisis. Some parts also include a flashback from World War II.
Players can duke it out with others in multiplayer mode once again and can level up to certain levels. As they level up they can also make upgrades to the classes they have created such as giving them armor, weapons, speed, and more. This game also includes the Zombies mode, in which players can play as Reznov, JFK, Fidel Castro, Richard Nixon and Robert McNamara in the White House shooting various waves of zombies until reaching the power station in order to restore power and win the game. There are also DLC's which includes special real life celebrities such as; Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, and Michael Rooker, and fight against the father of the Living Dead franchise, George Romero.
Concept. In Single Player mode, you get to take part in various missions of the game's story, starting from Operation 40, taking place during the Bay of Pigs Invasion and also headed to other locations as you progress such as Cuba, Kazakhstan, Vietnam, Laos, and so on. And also, you must stop the main antagonist Kravchenko from unleashing a powerful killing virus into the United States known as Nova-6.
Design. Treyarch is the developer of the game, and this game apart from taking place in modern times and in World War II like in previous games, this is the first one in the franchise to take place during the Cold War. The game runs on an enhanced World at War engine (which itself was improved from Call of Duty 4's) at 60 frames per second on consoles. It features a streaming texture technology (also seen in Modern Warfare 2), making bigger levels possible such as "Payback" where the player controls a helicopter. Lighting effects have been improved as well. Call of Duty: Black Ops supports 3-D imaging rendered by the engine itself. This feature is available on the PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 versions.
Sound and Audio. Many songs such as Sympathy for the Devil by The Rolling Stones, and Quimbara by Celia Cruz can be heard in the game, and since I was a fan of both, I really liked how they added these songs since both Celia and the Rolling Stones were very popular in the 1960s. In terms of the audio, Sam Worthington known for his roles in Avatar, Clash of the Titans, and Terminator Salvation is the voice of Alex Mason, Academy Award nominee Ed Harris is the voice of Hudson, Ice Cube voices Bowman, and Gary Oldman returns as the voice of Reznov. Other famous names include Emmanuelle Chiriqui, George Romero, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Danny Trejo, Michael Rooker and our favorite Freddy Krueger actor, Robert Englund.
Sequels. Black Ops is the sequel to World at War, which took place during World War II and was also developed by Treyarch, however recently, Call of Duty Black Ops II was released taking place 57 years after the first Black Ops.
Rantings. Ok, even cool games got their flaws most of the time. Now some things I did not like about Black Ops is the continuing repetitive gameplay of the franchise. Sometimes I think that changing between playing and cutscenes where the questioning occurs wasn't like THAT necessary at times. Although the zombies mode was fun to play, sometimes you never knew where they came from, since I ain't accustomed to fighting zombies in first person mode but in third person.
Good Aspects. The story was very well written, and one of my favorite weapons was the crossbow since of course it was like if you changed from bolts to explosives like with your guns when you changed from bullets to grenades with the grenade launcher. The music was also really well made and adding old songs from classics was a great addition and it fitted well with the game's timeline. This game's replace value is moderately high and I'm starting to think that Treyarch is better than Infinity Ward and Sledgehammer Games.
Overall. Call of Duty Black Ops is a very good game in the COD franchise, my final score is an 8 out of 10.
God Bless and Play Hard Gamers!