Call of Duty: Black Ops Review Part 5 – The Verdict
It is now time for me to deliver my verdict on Call of Duty: Black Ops in the final part of my review. I’ve deliberately taken a break since writing the four feature specific parts of the review. The reason is that I wanted this to more than just a summary of the earlier parts. Instead I’ve spent a lot more time playing the game (mainly Multiplayer and Zombies) in order to see how my feelings toward and perceptions of the game would evolve, and evolve they have. In fact I’ve slightly amended two of the reviews and ratings to reflect that. In particular I’ve been able to do more research on the Multiplayer issues and gain a better understanding not only of the problems, but also the process involved in solving them and the way Treyarch approaches this.
Just in case you’ve missed previous parts of this review, here are the links to them along with the rating awarded to each feature. I’d recommend you take a look at these before proceeding so that you can understand how I have arrived at this verdict.
- Part 1 – 3D done the right way – 10 out of 10
- Part 2 – Campaign – 9 out of 10
- Part 3 – Multiplayer: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly – 7 out of 10
- Part 4 – Zombies – 9 out of 10
Call of Duty: Black Ops Review Part 4 – Zombies
Here is the penultimate part of my Call of Duty: Black ops review and the final feature-specific one. This time out I’ll be reviewing the insanely popular Zombies mode.
It all started two years ago when Treyarch took us all by surprise with the inclusion of Nazi Zombies in World at War. This was added to and refined over the lifecycle of the game through DLC and it quickly became a fan favourite. For those unfamiliar with Zombies the basic concept is that up to four players defend a map against never ending hordes of undead foes. Along the way you can access new areas and buy perks to enhance your abilities as well as buying and upgrading weapons.
Throughout the development of Black Ops there was a lot of speculation in the Call of Duty community as to whether the mode would return in some guise. Read more 
Call of Duty: Black Ops Review Part 3 – Multiplayer: The Good, The Bad and The Ugly
In this third part of my review of Call of Duty: Black Ops I will be looking at the multiplayer mode of the game. I’ve been delaying writing this particular part of the review as multiplayer is deeply flawed and I was hoping Treyarch would have issued some kind of interim fix already, but alas this hasn’t been the case and so I’ll look at what we actually have. I should note at this stage that I play the game exclusively on PS3 and as I understand it the PC and PS3 versions are the ones which are having the problems. So if you have the game on the XBox 360 your experience is likely to be significantly better. Read more
Call of Duty: Black Ops Review Part 2 – Campaign
Here is the second part of my Call of Duty: Black Ops review, and this time I’ll be taking a closer look at the single player Campaign mode. I’m not going to go into specifics about the storyline so as not to spoil it for anyone who hasn’t played it yet.
I’ll be the first to admit that in previous Call of Duty games I’ve largely ignored the single player modes. In World at War I think I got through to the last level but that was over a period of months and my friend did some of the levels, and in Modern Warfare 2 I did the first levels whilst I was away from internet access. But by and large I buy these games primarily for the online play because I enjoy the competition and sense of achievement through levelling up.
With Black Ops, however, I’ve already completed half of the Campaign in just two sittings and that has taken me somewhat by surprise. I only intended dipping into the mode for the purpose of reviewing it and checking out the 3D, but for some reason I just couldn’t stop and kept playing mission after mission. This is a testament to the compelling game Treyarch have put together here. Read more
