So I finally managed to get my hands on this for the break. I have to say, it certainly isn't bad.
The single player has a fantastic sort of flow to it that I have yet to see in the Call of Duty series. The levels in Call of Duty always struck me as arbitrary battles that really didn't have a real goal to the level. What I mean by that is, say the goal of the level is to destroy an artillery set up. In previous games, you would begin an unknown distance away from the artillery, and then you'd just sort of, like, stumble across the artillery by making your way from checkpoint to checkpoint. The thing I like about Black Ops is that the goal of every missions seems to be, so far, a very defined and recognizable goal. I don't feel like I'm moving from field to field and room to room. I feel like I'm getting closer to capping Castro, and I can see that rocket that I have to sabotage the entire time I'm approaching it, and I'm constantly having the steps of my escapes plan shouted by dozens of Russian prisoners as I progress. It's a sort of encouraging thing that I haven't seen in many Call of Duty games. Hell, I didn't realize the Whiskey Hotel was the White House until I was inside it in Modern Warfare 2.
I also feel that every level I've played so far as a very nice pace to it. Things escalate over the course of the level, usually having the player start with killing a few enemies very slowly, and then ending with an elaborate chase, a timed segment, or a much more challenging ending where the player is given a new, powerful gun. The escape from the work camp was absolutely fantastic. A fight between prisoners escalates to the total destruction of the entire detainment camp, I can't even describe how incredible it felt to slingshot impromptu grenades at the enemy while Reznov gave that speech. Especially after playing World at War.
That being said, the AI seems to be very disappointing. It seems like everyone is programmed to seek cover as their top priority. What this means is that you'll often see enemy soldiers run at you or your partners, only to have them keep going passed them to hide behind a crate... That doesn't even cover them... This actually proves to be even worse when your allies do it. I can't tell you how many times an ally has ran forward, with nothing attacking him at the moment, and as I followed him a whole lot of enemies that were hiding inches away from us not pop up and shoot me. It's a false flag, I think it's safe because my ally is moving into a situation that nobody, not even my invincible AI partner, should be dashing into. In previous Call of Duty games, I always felt that my allies were cemented in their positions until the coast was clear. It really throws me off at times.
I also feel as if there's a lot less feedback when I'm attacking an enemy. Animations seem to play almost randomly and with no real correlation to the sort of damage the enemy is taking. Something an enemy will only recoil in pain after taking several shots, and it seems that the animations for death by headshot seem too delayed, the enemy only beginning to fall after a few moments of whatever they were doing. The knife seems impotent, and it's very hard to tell when I'm hitting someone. There's not longer that lunge and stab, it's just a plain slash that has the same animation regardless what proximity I have to an enemy. This is a whole different can of worms online, of course.
Also, does anyone think the scream this guy makes when Sergei kills him is from Metal Slug? The scream that the soldiers make when they first spot you. That scream.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yAjPzZPSBqcThis is... a little sad, but not entirely surprising.
Some dude demonstrated that you can play through the entire first level without firing a single shot.
I see no issue here. At all. It's the first level, practically a tutorial. I died multiple times during that level on the same difficulty, probably because I wasn't belly-down behind a cement wall during every firefight. I can tell you that this shit wouldn't fly in any other level, why is it such a big deal that the player has a large group of AI partners to assist him during the first level of the game? The button prompts and explanations make it very clear that this is just a level for people to get their bearings, and doesn't provide any sort of challenge comparable to other levels. There are probably dozens of levels of Mario games that can be completed without killing an enemy, does that possibility make the game any less of a game?
I tried to not shoot anything during the airplane sequence myself, as a test, and I died. I guess sometimes you just get lucky. Your enemies are probably shooting at the totality of the plane, not just your little machine gun. At Hardened difficulty, it only takes a few shots in succession to kill you.
Boring game, incredibly stupid story and dialogue. Treyarch should give up.
mp is fun though.
As a fat disgusting baby, I completely agree with you.
This game did not have enough storygood. The dialogue was bad because this is not how soldiers talk. Soldiers would never say things like this and the story was bad. Why would a soldier utter a vulgarity. I nearly spit out the entirety of the frozen ham I was gumming on when I heard the main character curse. The story was bad. A bad story. There wasn't even emotion and at the end you don't even find out that your wife was still dead the whole time. Or that the princess was a nuclear bomb. The story was so awful I skipped all the cutscenes as I consumed seven packets of Fun Dip powder.
But the multiplayer was good, I guess. Just because half of the game is great doesn't mean the company that makes this shouldn't be sodomized by a bear. The twenty hours of enjoyment I got out of the fantastic multiplayer were dwarfed by four hour campaign that violated all of my senses. Except my sense of taste, that sense is an unspoiled sensation virgin who will only be bedded by the most wonderful and affluent men. Like this McRib here.
Fat baby out.
Peace and chicken grease.
Delicious, delicious chicken grease.
Player
