Call of Duty: Black Ops

Are the two M16s necessary? Are we really dual-wielding assault rifles now?

I never intended to get Black Ops. While I played, and enjoyed, both entries of Modern Warfare, I didn't developed much of an emotional attachment to the series. I mainly got into it to have something new to play with the Halo Nighters. But somehow, my mom managed to get her hands on a free copy of Black Ops (I assume she beat up some crippled kids) and sent it to me. My first reaction was to trade it in for Mass Effect 2, so that I could transition into it immediately after finishing the first game, making one seamless, 120-hour epic. However, Black Ops is supposed to be pretty short, and as long as it's in my house, I may as well get some enjoyment out of it. It will probably be good to have some sort of hiatus before indoctrination sets in.

I didn't realize until now that the Call of Duty franchise alternates developers every year. Infinity Ward takes the even-numbered entries, and helms the Modern Warfare half of the family, while Treyarch handles the odd-numbered "historical" entries (World at War and Black Ops). Makes sense, I suppose-- that's how they're able to keep up a Madden-style annual release schedule. This is my first experience with one of the Treyarch entries, so we'll see how it stacks up to Infinity Ward. Be warned, I'm only about three hours into this game (including time spent in multiplayer), so opinions are subject to change. I may append an update once I'm finished.

These guardrails are terribly ineffective. Safety inspection FAIL!

One of the reviews said that "Call of Duty games have always been about moments," and I think that's a pretty accurate statement. I've always felt that the Modern Warfare games used some very interesting storytelling techniques that you don't see very often in first-person shooters. Remember the opening level of CoD4, where you played the recently deposed president of a Middle Eastern country being shuffled to his own execution? Or sprinting through a Brazilian slum to leap into a rescue chopper? Watching the EMP hit Washington, DC from space? Those moments are burned into your brain. Which makes it all the more unfortunate that the overarching story of those games was so bland and generic. (Blah blah blah vaguely foreign terrorists, blah blah blah shadow conspiracy, blah blah blah sudden but inevitable betrayal from within. A lot like the Tom Clancy games, actually.) Plus, they overused the "kill off a player-controlled character" thing. It was jarring and memorable the first few times, but the long-term effect is that you never get emotionally invested in any of the main characters. Even the antagonists die off too fast for you to muster much hatred for them. The only character I can even remember clearly is Captain Price, and only because of his mighty mutton chops.

Like Forrest Gump, but with more dead bodies.

Thankfully, after playing three or four missions, I think that Black Ops is doing a much better job of telling its story than the Modern Warfare games. The story focuses on operative Alex Mason, who is being interrogated by some shadowy figures regarding his various wetwork exploits during the 60s, with each "memory" comprising a separate level. It's been done before, but it's an effective technique that allows the story to jump across time and geography, from covert missions in the USSR to the Bay of Pigs to the Tet Offensive (complete with a federally-mandated "helicopters landing while CCR plays in the background" scene). I love this 'historical' approach to the game, shining light on some less well-known covert ops from American history. I hope Treyarch continues this trend, it has a lot of potential. I'm picturing the next entries highlighting the 70s (maybe a mission based on Operation Eagle Claw?) and 80s (Iran-Contra affair?), perhaps showing the gradual decline of the Soviet Union and the rise of Islamist movements. It's probably wishful thinking on my part to wish for an action-FPS to behave like serious historical fiction, but a boy can dream.

Anyways, back to Black Ops. I find myself enjoying the campaign a lot more than MW2. The story is still pretty generic, but at least this time it has some more emotional resonance. Missions seem a lot more important when they're given to you by JFK. And maybe I'm just getting better at playing Call of Duty, but the campaign feels a lot easier this time around. I actually think that's a good thing. MW2 had some very frustrating moments, which I felt were due to bad level design rather than my own lack of skill. Black Ops has a lot more scripted sequences, and it also does some creative things with the scenarios you're thrown into. The second mission begins with you breaking out of a Russian gulag armed with nothing more than an improvised shiv. It's an interesting contrast in gameplay, but unfortunately the second half of the level reverts to a typical shooting gallery. Again, I'm only a few hours in, but I hope the campaign continues throwing in more new stuff like this.

Decisions, decisions.

Multiplayer is largely unchanged from Modern Warfare. You've played this before, and you either like it or you don't. Let's be honest, Call of Duty is Activision's cash cow, just as Madden is to EA. They're not going to let the formula change very much. All the perks and killstreaks are still there, albeit with a 1960s coat of paint ("spy plane" instead of UAV, etc.). However, Treyarch does manage to fit in a few very interesting changes here and there. For starters, completing challenges now earns you CODPoints (or CPs), which you can then spend to add specific guns to your inventory-- basically like the Armory in Halo: Reach. It's a nice touch, because now you don't have to spend time unlocking guns you hate to get to the ones you really want. (I'm looking at you, Uzi.) You're also able to buy cosmetic features like customized sites or face paint, giving you a lot more ownership over your in-game avatar. Oh, and one of the killstreaks allows you to send A PACK OF WILD FUCKING DOGS after your opponents, which might be the awesomest thing of all time ever. It also bears mentioning that they nerfed a lot of the most grievous Perk exploits, like Super Knife Guy.

But the two most interesting additions are Contracts and Wager Matches, both of which let you wager with your CODPoints. Contracts are basically single-match challenges, but you have to actually lay down CPs to purchase them. If you don't complete the challenge, you lose the points. Wager Matches allow you to lay down bets against your opposing players, with the top three winners taking proportional shares of the pot. What makes it more interesting is that the Wager Match gametypes are all zany and exotic. One in the Chamber starts you off with three lives, and one bullet in your pistol-- kills add one bullet apiece to your clip; Sticks and Stones give you a crossbow, throwing knives, and a tomahawk that reduces the target's score to zero; Gun Game gives upgrades weapon with every kill; and Sharpshooter changes your weapon every 45 seconds and gives you a Perk for every kill. I love these kinds of goofy gametypes, they remind me of the halcyon days of Halo Night. Laying down your hard-earned "cash" gives you a real incentive to play at the top of your game, but the amounts are never so huge that you feel frustrated when you lose.

Cold War Action Squad, assemble!

In addition to Campaign and Multiplayer, Black Ops also has a Zombie Mode, which is Treyarch's take on Horde Mode or Firefight. It's nothing to write home about, it basically feels like a budget version of Left 4 Dead, but it's nice that they included it. One of the levels casts you as JFK, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro defending the Pentagon, which is pretty awesome and worth playing for the dialogue. You can also play the full version of Zork, along with a top-down shooter called Dead Ops Arcade. It's the kind of thing that you'd normally shell out 800 MS points for on Xbox Live Arcade, but Black Ops includes it as a free extra.

All in all, there is a LOT of content on Black Ops, enough to make you feel like your $60 are well spent. If you're a fan of the franchise, it's definitely worth picking up. The future of Infinity Ward (and by extension, the Modern Warfare series) may be in doubt, but I feel satisfied that at least Treyarch will continue the trend of quality Call of Duty games. I only hope that in the future, they're given more creative license to stray from the established formula, since they clearly have some good ideas on how to move the series in new directions.