Call of Duty: Black Ops

"Call of Duty: Black Ops" is a first-person shooter that takes the celebrated CoD franchise back to the days when a historical storyline was developed to support a single-player campaign. Players who long for the "Medal of Honor" and CoD 2 style of gameplay will find something similar in Black Ops, which is based on events surrounding the Cold War and the Vietnam War. Unlike other CoD titles that solely focused on multiplayer action, Black Ops not only includes a single-player campaign but also features Hollywood actors, a digital currency system, and even a wild storyline involving zombies.

For the most part, Black Ops is a welcome entry in the CoD franchise, particularly because developer Treyarch injects very close attention to detail for the purpose of immersion. The storyline is a bit convoluted but plausible and not entirely removed from historical events; the game focuses on controversial actions taken by the United States Central Intelligence Agency during the Cold War, and the plot of the single-player campaign admonishes some of the excesses during the turbulent geopolitical climate of the 1960s. The production of this game is highly polished; players get a few songs from the era, and they get also get some modern tracks when they switch to the zombie storyline, which is pretty wild. Unfortunately, the enemy AI is not as polished as the rest of the game.

As for multiplayer dynamics, there are some issues related to bugs and Activision server performance, which is a shame since the team-based Capture the Flag and Deathmatch modes are very satisfying to play. The Black Ops Points system introduces a new challenge that enhances the traditional experience points; plus, this was the first CoD game to feature a "film director" mode to record and edit scenes from multiplayer matches to share with friends.

Since Black Ops launched a new era for the CoD franchise, Treyarch developers made sure that the game was worthy of praise. To this day, it remains one of the CoD titles with the best reviews, and it is certainly worth downloading and installing for more than just nostalgia. Some games just happen to age well, and Black Ops is one of them.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Pros

• Interesting soundtrack that combines Cold War songs with modern tracks.
• Terrific voice acting and cinematic cutscenes.
• Engaging storyline.

Call of Duty: Black Ops Cons

• Enemy AI could have been better.
• Server performance lags compared to other titles.