Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch, published by Activision and released worldwide on November 9, 2010 for Microsoft Windows, Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, Wii consoles, with a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space.Announced on April 30, 2010, the game is the seventh installment of the Call of Duty series. It is also the first to be set in the Cold War and the fifth to be set in World War II. It is the third in the series to be developed by Treyarch, and is a sequel to the developer's Call of Duty: World at War.
Within 24 hours of going on sale, the game sold more than 5.6 million copies, 4.2 million in the U.S. and 1.4 million in the UK, breaking the record set by its predecessor Modern Warfare 2 by some 2.3 million copies.A subtitled version was released in Japan on November 18, 2010. A Japanese-dubbed version was released on December 16, 2010. After six weeks on release, Activision reported Black Ops had earned $1 billion in sales.On August 3, 2011, Activision confirmed that the game had sold over 25 million copies worldwide.
Gameplay:
Black Ops is a first-person shooter, retaining the same gameplay mechanics as previous Call of Duty titles. The player assumes the role of a foot soldier who can wield various firearms (only two of which can be carried at once), throw grenades and other explosives, and use other equipment as weapons. A player close enough to an enemy can kill with one knife blow. A character can take three stances: standing, crouching or prone. Each affects rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. The player can drop to the prone stance from the standing stance while running, and can momentarily sprint before having to stop. The screen glows red to indicate damage to a player's health, which regenerates over time. When the character is within the blast radius of a live grenade, an on-screen marker indicates where it is in relation to the player, helping the player to move away or to throw it back. Among the weapons new to the series in Black Ops are crossbows with bolts and explosive ammunition, Dragon's Breath rounds and ballistic knives.
A zombie cooperation mode, titled "Zombies", is included in the game. Originally featured in World at War, it was revamped to be included into Black Ops.It is a four-player online and two-player split screen co-op mode (which can also be unlocked online). In the map "Five", players take the roles of John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro as they fight zombies at The Pentagon.There is one map based on the original game called Kino der Toten ("Theater/Cinema of the Dead" in German). This map features the characters from World at War -- Edward Richtofen the German, Tank Dempsey the American, Takeo Masaki the Japanese , and Nikolai Belinski the Russian. Limited editions of the game offers four zombie maps from World at War.There is an unlockable top-down, two-stick arcade-shooter version of Zombies known as Dead Ops Arcade.
Included in the First Strike Map Pack is the Zombie map Ascension. Ascension takes place in an abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome, and like Kino der Toten, features the characters from World at War. Additionally, it includes two new weapons (the Gersch Device and Matryoshka Dolls), as well as two new perks (PhD Flopper and Stamin-Up), and one new power-up (the Random Perk Bottle).A new enemy, the Space Monkeys, appear in this map, replacing the Hellhounds and the Pentagon Thief.
Included in the Escalation Map Pack is the Zombie map Call of The Dead. Call of the Dead takes place in an abandoned part of the Soviet Union, in which is in an arctic environment. This map features new characters. They are: Danny Trejo, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Michael Rooker.It includes new weapons (the Vr-11 and the Scavenger), and a new perk called Deadshot Daiquiri. Another new enemy, George Romero, replaces the Hellhounds, Pentagon Thief, and Space Monkeys of previous maps.
The fourth and latest map pack, Rezurrection, is made up of only zombie maps. The Rezurrection Map Pack includes the first 4 maps from Call of Duty: World at War (Shi No Numa/"Swamp", Nacht Der Untoten/"Night", Verruckt/"Asylum", Der Riese/"Factory") and a new map called "Moon."
Included in the First Strike Map Pack is the Zombie map Ascension. Ascension takes place in an abandoned Soviet Cosmodrome, and like Kino der Toten, features the characters from World at War. Additionally, it includes two new weapons (the Gersch Device and Matryoshka Dolls), as well as two new perks (PhD Flopper and Stamin-Up), and one new power-up (the Random Perk Bottle).A new enemy, the Space Monkeys, appear in this map, replacing the Hellhounds and the Pentagon Thief.
Included in the Escalation Map Pack is the Zombie map Call of The Dead. Call of the Dead takes place in an abandoned part of the Soviet Union, in which is in an arctic environment. This map features new characters. They are: Danny Trejo, Robert Englund, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and Michael Rooker.It includes new weapons (the Vr-11 and the Scavenger), and a new perk called Deadshot Daiquiri. Another new enemy, George Romero, replaces the Hellhounds, Pentagon Thief, and Space Monkeys of previous maps.
The fourth and latest map pack, Rezurrection, is made up of only zombie maps. The Rezurrection Map Pack includes the first 4 maps from Call of Duty: World at War (Shi No Numa/"Swamp", Nacht Der Untoten/"Night", Verruckt/"Asylum", Der Riese/"Factory") and a new map called "Moon."
Characters and setting:
Call of Duty: Black Ops takes place during the Cold War, in the 1960s. The story focuses on the CIA-backed clandestine black operations carried out behind enemy lines. These missions take place in various locations around the globe such as the Ural Mountains in central Russia, Cuba, Kazakhstan, Hong Kong, Laos, Vietnam and the Arctic circle. The single-player campaign revolves around an experimental chemical weapon codenamed "Nova-6".
The player mainly controls SAD/SOG special forces operative Alex Mason and occasionally CIA agent Jason Hudson, as well as other characters. Mason often works with Frank Woods and Joseph Bowman, while Hudson teams up with Grigori Weaver, a Russian-born field operative. Viktor Reznov, a key character from the Soviet campaign in World at War returns. Its Russian protagonist Dimitri Petrenko also makes an appearance. Black Ops features several historical figures: Mason meets John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro.
The player mainly controls SAD/SOG special forces operative Alex Mason and occasionally CIA agent Jason Hudson, as well as other characters. Mason often works with Frank Woods and Joseph Bowman, while Hudson teams up with Grigori Weaver, a Russian-born field operative. Viktor Reznov, a key character from the Soviet campaign in World at War returns. Its Russian protagonist Dimitri Petrenko also makes an appearance. Black Ops features several historical figures: Mason meets John F. Kennedy, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro.
Plot:
On February 25, 1968, SAD/SOG operative Alex Mason is strapped to a chair in an interrogation room. Unaware of his whereabouts, he is bombarded with questions by his unseen captors about the location of a numbers station. Most of the missions in the game are presented as the flashbacks of Mason between 1961 and 1968.
In 1961, Mason, Woods, and Bowman attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as a part of Operation 40. Mason apparently succeeds in the assassination, but their exfiltration goes awry, with Mason staying behind to protect the extraction plane. He is captured by the real Castro, having shot a double. Because of an alliance with the Soviet Union, Castro hands Mason over to General Nikita Dragovich. Mason is then held captive at Vorkuta Gulag for two years. During his imprisonment, Mason befriends Viktor Reznov, a former Red Army soldier. Reznov recounts to Mason the identities of those involved in Mason’s torture: Dragovich, Lev Kravchenko (his right-hand man) and Friedrich Steiner, an ex-Nazi scientist who defected to the Soviet Union. All three share a connection to Reznov: in October 1945, Reznov, Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Dimitri Petrenko were a part of a unit sent to locate Steiner, hiding with a unit of the SS in the Arctic Circle. During the operation, Reznov was betrayed by Dragovich, who used Steiner's creation, a nerve agent known as "Nova-6" on Petrenko. Reznov was spared the same fate when British commandos attacked the Russians. During the confusion, he destroys Nova-6. However, it was later recreated by Steiner and a British scientist named Daniel Clarke for the Soviets. Shortly afterward, Reznov is imprisoned in Vorkuta. Mason and Reznov spark a prisoner uprising to escape the gulag, but only Mason escapes.
One month later, President John F. Kennedy authorizes the assassination of Dragovich.
In November 1963, Mason, Woods, Bowman and Weaver are dispatched to Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR to disrupt the Soviet space program and eliminate members of the Soviet Ascension program, Nazis who had been given sanctuary in Russia in exchange for their knowledge. At the start of the operation, Weaver is captured and Mason sees Kravchenko torture him, stabbing his left eye, but Mason and his team later rescue him, while still destroying the Soyuz spacecraft as well. Dragovich eludes assassination, prompting Mason to search for him over the next five years. By 1968, the MACV-SOG was established in Vietnam to investigate the Soviets' presence. After defending Khe Sanh, the SOG is deployed to Hue during the Tet Offensive to recover a dossier with information on Dragovich from a Russian defector. The team recovers the dossier, while Mason encounters Reznov, who is revealed to be the defector. The SOG then penetrates Laos to recover a Nova-6 shipment from a downed Soviet plane. At the crash site, they are overwhelmed by waves of Viet Cong and Spetznaz soldiers, eventually getting captured. Mason and Reznov escape, but Bowman is executed and Woods dies while killing Kravchenko.
Meanwhile, Hudson and Weaver interrogate Dr. Daniel Clarke, the engineer who stabilized Nova-6, in Kowloon. Clarke identifies Steiner as part of the conspiracy, and reveals the location of a hidden facility in Mount Yamantau before being killed by Dragovich's men. Hudson and Weaver head to Mount Yamantau to destroy the facility and apprehend Steiner. During the mission, Hudson receives a transmission from Steiner requesting to meet him at Rebirth Island in the Aral Sea to learn how to halt a numbers broadcast that would send instructions to sleeper agents to release Nova-6 gas in American cities. Mason and Reznov head to Rebirth Island to assassinate Steiner. In the present, Mason is adamant that Reznov executed Steiner, but Hudson had witnessed Mason carrying out the deed. At this point, Hudson and Weaver are revealed as Mason's interrogators. Hudson realizes that Dragovich brainwashed Mason to understand the numbers broadcasts, effectively becoming a Soviet sleeper agent. Out of options, Hudson deliberately sets Mason free in order to follow him. It is revealed that the real Reznov died during the Vorkuta break out, and Mason’s visions of Reznov are a result of a dissociative disorder caused by the traumatic brainwashing program. Reznov had, in fact, reprogrammed Mason to assassinate Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner instead of President Kennedy prior to the Vorkuta breakout. Hudson plays the numbers recording for Mason a final time, prompting him to remember the location of the Russian cargo ship Rusalka off the coast of Cuba.
By dawn, the team launches an assault on the Rusalka, with Mason and Hudson infiltrating an underwater broadcast station protected by the ship, a Soviet submarine station intended to be used as a staging point for US invasion after the planned Nova-6 attack. Confirming that the Rusalka is the numbers station, Hudson calls in the US Navy to destroy the ship and its underwater base. Mason and Hudson finally find Dragovich in the lower levels of the facility and manage to kill him before the destruction of the base, swimming for the surface during the destruction of the targets. Weaver declares victory, but Mason is unsure, haunted by his last conversation with Dragovich.
Archive footage of President Kennedy prior to his assassination are shown, with the broadcaster and Mason narrating random numbers. After a second play-through of the archive footage, Mason's appearance in the crowd, as well as Dragovich's final words, suggest that Mason followed his original programming.
In 1961, Mason, Woods, and Bowman attempt to assassinate Fidel Castro during the Bay of Pigs invasion of Cuba as a part of Operation 40. Mason apparently succeeds in the assassination, but their exfiltration goes awry, with Mason staying behind to protect the extraction plane. He is captured by the real Castro, having shot a double. Because of an alliance with the Soviet Union, Castro hands Mason over to General Nikita Dragovich. Mason is then held captive at Vorkuta Gulag for two years. During his imprisonment, Mason befriends Viktor Reznov, a former Red Army soldier. Reznov recounts to Mason the identities of those involved in Mason’s torture: Dragovich, Lev Kravchenko (his right-hand man) and Friedrich Steiner, an ex-Nazi scientist who defected to the Soviet Union. All three share a connection to Reznov: in October 1945, Reznov, Dragovich, Kravchenko, and Dimitri Petrenko were a part of a unit sent to locate Steiner, hiding with a unit of the SS in the Arctic Circle. During the operation, Reznov was betrayed by Dragovich, who used Steiner's creation, a nerve agent known as "Nova-6" on Petrenko. Reznov was spared the same fate when British commandos attacked the Russians. During the confusion, he destroys Nova-6. However, it was later recreated by Steiner and a British scientist named Daniel Clarke for the Soviets. Shortly afterward, Reznov is imprisoned in Vorkuta. Mason and Reznov spark a prisoner uprising to escape the gulag, but only Mason escapes.
One month later, President John F. Kennedy authorizes the assassination of Dragovich.
In November 1963, Mason, Woods, Bowman and Weaver are dispatched to Baikonur Cosmodrome in the Kazakh SSR to disrupt the Soviet space program and eliminate members of the Soviet Ascension program, Nazis who had been given sanctuary in Russia in exchange for their knowledge. At the start of the operation, Weaver is captured and Mason sees Kravchenko torture him, stabbing his left eye, but Mason and his team later rescue him, while still destroying the Soyuz spacecraft as well. Dragovich eludes assassination, prompting Mason to search for him over the next five years. By 1968, the MACV-SOG was established in Vietnam to investigate the Soviets' presence. After defending Khe Sanh, the SOG is deployed to Hue during the Tet Offensive to recover a dossier with information on Dragovich from a Russian defector. The team recovers the dossier, while Mason encounters Reznov, who is revealed to be the defector. The SOG then penetrates Laos to recover a Nova-6 shipment from a downed Soviet plane. At the crash site, they are overwhelmed by waves of Viet Cong and Spetznaz soldiers, eventually getting captured. Mason and Reznov escape, but Bowman is executed and Woods dies while killing Kravchenko.
Meanwhile, Hudson and Weaver interrogate Dr. Daniel Clarke, the engineer who stabilized Nova-6, in Kowloon. Clarke identifies Steiner as part of the conspiracy, and reveals the location of a hidden facility in Mount Yamantau before being killed by Dragovich's men. Hudson and Weaver head to Mount Yamantau to destroy the facility and apprehend Steiner. During the mission, Hudson receives a transmission from Steiner requesting to meet him at Rebirth Island in the Aral Sea to learn how to halt a numbers broadcast that would send instructions to sleeper agents to release Nova-6 gas in American cities. Mason and Reznov head to Rebirth Island to assassinate Steiner. In the present, Mason is adamant that Reznov executed Steiner, but Hudson had witnessed Mason carrying out the deed. At this point, Hudson and Weaver are revealed as Mason's interrogators. Hudson realizes that Dragovich brainwashed Mason to understand the numbers broadcasts, effectively becoming a Soviet sleeper agent. Out of options, Hudson deliberately sets Mason free in order to follow him. It is revealed that the real Reznov died during the Vorkuta break out, and Mason’s visions of Reznov are a result of a dissociative disorder caused by the traumatic brainwashing program. Reznov had, in fact, reprogrammed Mason to assassinate Dragovich, Kravchenko and Steiner instead of President Kennedy prior to the Vorkuta breakout. Hudson plays the numbers recording for Mason a final time, prompting him to remember the location of the Russian cargo ship Rusalka off the coast of Cuba.
By dawn, the team launches an assault on the Rusalka, with Mason and Hudson infiltrating an underwater broadcast station protected by the ship, a Soviet submarine station intended to be used as a staging point for US invasion after the planned Nova-6 attack. Confirming that the Rusalka is the numbers station, Hudson calls in the US Navy to destroy the ship and its underwater base. Mason and Hudson finally find Dragovich in the lower levels of the facility and manage to kill him before the destruction of the base, swimming for the surface during the destruction of the targets. Weaver declares victory, but Mason is unsure, haunted by his last conversation with Dragovich.
Archive footage of President Kennedy prior to his assassination are shown, with the broadcaster and Mason narrating random numbers. After a second play-through of the archive footage, Mason's appearance in the crowd, as well as Dragovich's final words, suggest that Mason followed his original programming.
IMDb: Rated this game with an 8.5/10.0.
According to IGN: "Treyarch's latest is a white-knuckled action romp that doesn't disappoint.", rated "Great" with an overall score of 8.5/10.0 and ranked #346 out of 16783 PC rated games.
IGN Ratings for Call of Duty: Black Ops (PC):
- 9.0 "Presentation"
Top-notch as always. Voice acting expertly delivers the story that’s presented in an innovative way. Plot gets just a little bogged down towards the middle. Some design issues hurt mission direction.
- 8.5 "Graphics"
Some strange texture issues pop up every now and again and some levels are more impressive than others. I enjoyed the wider array of colors than what’s in most COD games and some scripted events rock.
- 9.5 "Sound"
There’s maybe one line in the entire game that could be called cheesy. Everything else you hear is a true delight and the soundtrack fits in with the events of the game nicely. Time to crank it.
- 8.0 "Gameplay"
You can’t help but feel that both the single- and multiplayer could use some new life beyond just adding bigger and badder explosions (like smarter AI). Still, Call of Duty provides plenty of fun.
- 9.0 "Lasting Appeal"
There’s more content than most other shooters. Customization is massive; from Create-A-Class to private matches online. Multiplayer will take you months even if the new content comes at some expense.
Reviews:
Call of Duty is the Goliath of the video game world. The series has sold millions of copies and catapulted itself from a solid, World War II shooter to the sprawling multiplayer playground and Hollywood-style campaign that we know today. Call of Duty: Black Ops takes much of what made Modern Warfare 2 great and slightly expands and modifies it. That's not to say that there aren't mistakes to be found within Black Ops, but I think Call of Duty fans are going to be happy with Treyarch's latest effort.
"The only thing I'll say about the storyline is that it's the best of the series."
You begin the game as Alex Mason, a soldier being interrogated for information that he can't remember. You play through Mason's memories in search for information. Sam Worthington, Ed Harris, and Gary Oldman deliver expert performances and really nail their respective characters. There are twists, some of which work better than others, and the plot seems to get bogged down and slightly disjointed towards the middle. But unlike Modern Warfare 2, Black Ops does a wonderful job of cleaning everything up for the finale.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great overall package that has a ton of content to enjoy. The multiplayer modes are largely based on what was established by Modern Warfare, but the twists that Treyarch throws in work well. My biggest issue with the multiplayer is that the new Wager Matches, while fun in their own right, don't compare favorably to the high-quality and addictive leveling system and game modes from Modern Warfare 1 and 2. Single-player is as exhaustingly fast-paced as ever with large set pieces that try to take the attention off of the lackluster AI of both friends and enemies. That withstanding, the story is the best I've ever seen from a Call of Duty game. Couple both of those substantial offerings with more Zombie content than some full-fledged zombie games and Black Ops is certainly worth your time, even if you aren't already a fan of the series.
Published by: Activision
Developed by: Treyarch
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Number of Players: 1-18
Release Date:
Europe: November 9, 2010
PEGI: RP
Also Available On: Nintendo DS, Wireless, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii
Developed by: Treyarch
Genre: First-Person Shooter
Number of Players: 1-18
Release Date:
Europe: November 9, 2010
PEGI: RP
Also Available On: Nintendo DS, Wireless, PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, Wii
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