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Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 06/08/2013

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Wii U, Xbox 360. Tagged: 3, 360, activision, black ops ii, call of duty, fps, Microsoft, multiplayer, Nintendo, online, playstation, ps3, shooter, Sony, treyarch, wii u, xbox. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Treyarch

Release Date: 11/18/2012

Also Available On

Here we go again, another Call of Duty. When will it ever end? Before you start the hate-mongering, just know this, Call of Duty still has some of the best online multiplayer you can get. At least Black Ops tried to change the series a bit with new modes and experimented with what Modern Warfare established, it also had a much more interesting storyline and decent characters. Black Ops II is the same way, but it’s too late to really matter.

The game picks up from where the first left off if you haven’t played it, good luck figuring it out. Alex Mason is searching for a man named Raul Menendez. This is one sick puppy. This guy is a terrorist and more evil than you can imagine. The story jumps around from Mason’s son, Alex, to David Mason back in the cold war. If you notice something, this game is more futuristic. It’s set in 2025 so there is some cool tech that’s just out of reach for today. Things like cloaking devices, VTOLs, and various other guns. The game just jumps between the first cold war and the second. During the first one you are trying to figure out what made Menendez crack, you later jump to the second one with Mason and Harper using the info you got from a guy who was in the cold war with Mason. It’s a bit confusing and seems pretty boring at first. Later on, the story really picks up and gets really interesting, I actually liked it. It’s not fantastic and it’s no Assassin’s Creed, but it’s pretty good for an FPS.

The campaign is still a shooting gallery, but it doesn’t seem that way thanks to great level design, and a lot of cinematic one-off moments. Moments like jumping on turrets, and driving various vehicles and aircraft, among others. It’s all fun and not a single level feels the same, but the underlying core is still there: shoot everything that moves. The AI is still pretty dumb, but I like how you can customize your loadout before a mission. There are many unique and fun guns, unlike the Modern Warfare series. Later on, you will be able to play through special side missions called Strike Force Missions, which is pretty much just a capture-and-hold mode or siege. Those side missions all feel the same and are pretty repetitive. It’s not as fun as online because of the dumb AI, you have to do everything yourself.

After you finish the entertaining story it’s multiplayer time! The old Black Ops modes return like One in the Chamber and Last Man Standing. Of course, all the others from the entire series are here. Honestly, the biggest change is that killstreaks have been replaced with Scorestreaks which I prefer. It was so hard to get more than 3-4 kills in a row for most players. Now you get streaks based on your score which lets you be able to use the cooler more powerful ones more often. However, I found the maps to be pretty mediocre. I learned to like a few, but they are lacking a bit in some way.

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Zombies returns and is as fun as ever, there are more modes, and 8 player co-op, it also has a full-on online component, unlike the previous game. There’s quite a bit of content here and you will be coming back for hours to come. I just don’t understand why Treyarch couldn’t break the mold a bit more. I like the multiple endings and how choices in the story can change the ending. But there are things here like Jimmy Kimmel’s likeness at one end and Avenged Sevenfold at the end of one. I mean really? Are 14-year-olds really going to buy this because Avenged Sevenfold is in it? I really hate how developers do this and can’t just use their own ideas. It’s a cop-out/sell-out whatever you want to call it. I also don’t understand why the campaign can’t be a bit more intelligent gameplay-wise like Battlefield 3. I blame the young gamer’s instant gratification issue on that, but who knows.

What’s here is a solid game, and hopefully the last of the Black Ops series. The Wii U version looks a bit better than consoles and you can play the whole game on the gamepad which is nice, no shoehorned gimmicks for it. I did notice that the gamepad’s analog sticks are a bit sensitive and I had some trouble adjusting.

Game of the Year is one of the hardest decisions because so many games are created every year. But to come out on top the game must be excellent in its genre (usually re-define it) and have great production values, and not feel repetitive, and usually, it changes the way we think about games.

Red Dead Redemption

What sets Red Dead apart from all of these other excellent games is how authentic its world is. It feels so real and feels just like the wild west. With excellent voice acting, a huge open world to explore, lots of missions, and it’s just the subtle details that make it a winner. Hunting, gambling, horseback riding, even down to the drinks, attitudes of the people, clothing, accents, it just all adds up to something spectacular and really shows what a game can do. It’s Red Dead’s subtle details that truly make this game shine over the others.

Runner-Ups

Heavy Rain

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God of War III

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Mass Effect 2

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Castlevania: Lords of Shadow

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Bayonetta

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Call of Duty: Black Ops

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StarCraft II: Wings of Liberty

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Super Mario Galaxy 2

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Alan Wake

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Fallout: New Vegas

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Dante’s Inferno

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Civilization V

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2010 Game of the Year Awards — Genre — Best Shooter

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/18/2010

Posted in: 2010, Game of the Year Awards. Tagged: 2010, 2k games, activision, apple, awards, bad company 2, battlefield, bioshock 2, black ops, call of duty, dice, ea, fps, frostbite, game of the year, halo, iOS, iphone, ipod, irrational, itunes, Microsoft, multiplayer, online, pc, platinum games, playstation, playstation 3, reach, Sega, shooter, Sony, steam, touch, treyarch, vanquish, xbox, Xbox 360. 1 Comment

Shooters probably take the most flak from gamers and tend to be the most hated. Most gamers don’t like shooters due to their true-to-life reenactments, or just killing people with guns doesn’t sit well with most. No doubt shooters helped push consoles graphics-wise, and have some great stories to tell, and excellent cinematic moments.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Black Ops not only has astounding multiplayer, but the single-player campaign is probably one of the best this year when it comes to shooters. Most shooters have shallow stories, but Black Ops’ Vietnam/Cold War story is gripping, with some of the best set pieces seen in shooters. Excellent graphics, memorable characters, and awesome weapons make this a winner.

Runner-Ups

Halo: Reach

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Battlefield: Bad Company 2

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BioShock 2

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Vanquish

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Call of Duty: Black Ops

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 12/12/2010

Posted in: Editor's Choice, Mac, Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Playable, Steam Deck Verification, Wii, Xbox 360. Tagged: activision, black ops, call of duty, cold war, fps, Microsoft, multiplayer, online, shooter, treyarch, xbox, Xbox 360. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision

Developer: Treyarch

Release Date: 11/9/2010

Also Available On

Military shooters tend to take the most flack because they tend to be the same, linear, sometimes boring, with questionable multiplayer, but when Modern Warfare came out four years ago it really shook the ground and shooters have been copying it ever since. Black Ops also has something that surprised me, and this was a solid memorable single-player experience. Blasphemy right? Wrong! The game has lots of varied environments, tons of epic moments, and a few vehicle sections are thrown in, as well as the best helicopter-based missions in any game ever. The game also doesn’t start out as a regular shooter with Alex Mason (Red Faction: Guerrilla anyone?) strapped in a chair, and a disguised voice yelling at him to remember numbers. The whole story only makes sense at the end and reveals a lot of plot twists and is beautifully crafted and shows developer Treyarch isn’t the weak link in the CoD series.

The game has a lot of new weapons that are true to the Cold War/Vietnam era and even the art style shows. The game is beautiful with great sound, voice acting, and the actual plot mentioned above. The game has memorable characters that you get attached to through the 7-8 hours campaign (yes it’s also a tad longer than most campaigns in shooters) and even memorable moments themselves. The storming of the Vorkuta prison in Russia and many other levels are memorable. Of course, the game has some issues that Treyarch is known for such as not knowing what to do, poor directions, respawning enemies, and some a few glitches here and there. Despite that, the campaign is solid and well worth the wait, and the money, but of course, it’s multiplayer that most people will keep coming back for.

And oh boy is the multiplayer sweet. With new maps, a whole new approach to customization, and even the new Wager matches. Black Ops multiplayer is probably the best in the series, and the best FPS multiplayer ever made. The game has the same overall playstyle as Modern Warfare 2, but instead of receiving fixed unlocks the game adopted a currency system and you can buy everything from perks to weapons, to visual add-ons, you name it. This is a great approach to changing up the game and making it more about what you want. On top of this, the Wager matches are ingenious with players betting on a match and the top three get some money and the rest lose their bet.

There is one in the chamber which gives you one bullet and a knife. If you kill someone you get a bullet but run out and you are left with your knife. This is a great and intense mode because it does not shoot the first and aim later like the regular models. Gun Game has you start out with a pea shooter then you move up in tiers of guns with each kill. Not every gun is good because a sniper rifle vs. a machine gun won’t be very easy. The next mode is Sticks and Stones which gives you a crossbow, a tomahawk, and a ballistic knife. Hitting a player with a Tomahawk resets their score to zero and the most points are awarded for crossbow kills. Sharpshooter has your weapon switch every 45 seconds and it’s random, but every player has the same weapon. These are fun and just amazing modes that never get old.

On top of that is the zombie mode that Treyarch made a cult hit in World at War. You play as Nixon, Kennedy, and two other characters, and along with surviving the three maps, and the hilarious political banter the characters speak (Nixon when spending points to remove a barrier: This is taxing me like the Democrats). Players, but fight off hordes of zombies in multi-tiered maps, and points are awarded for barricading windows and shooting the zombies. Points can be spent to buy weapons and ammo, and unlock new parts of the map. It’s intense and trying to survive rounds gets heated (most won’t survive after round 10, and past round 5 alone). With four players playing cooperatively it’s a great departure from the seriousness of the rest of the game.

Call of Duty: World at War

Posted by BinaryMessiah on 10/05/2009

Posted in: Microsoft Consoles, Nintendo Consoles, PC Reviews, PlayStation 3, Sony Consoles, Steam Deck Unsupported, Steam Deck Verification, Wii, Xbox 360. Tagged: activision, call of duty, fps, japan, Microsoft, multiplayer, online, shooter, treyarch, world at war, wwii, xbox, Xbox 360. Leave a comment

Publisher: Activision Blizzard

Developer: Treyarch

Release Date: 11/10/2008

Also Available On

Call of Duty is probably THE best WWII FPS series ever made and there are many reasons why. If you rewind back about six years Call of Duty was released on the PC and console gamers envied this exclusivity. CoD offered cinematic gameplay, great characters, and amazing visuals. At the time Medal of Honor reigned supreme, but not for very long. With Medal of Honor, Brothers in Arms, and Wolfenstein being the top competitive WWII FPS games CoD always remained on top. With each new sequel, CoD added better graphics, a more realistic, cinematic experience, and overall great multiplayer. Throughout CoD’s six-year life cycle Activision has used many developers to keep the series going strong, and it was also the first WWII series to stray away from WWII and lean towards modern warfare (no pun intended really!). Now that CoD is back on the WWII front line it finally hit the nail on the head and this is what CoD should have been years ago…World at War.

I thank the WWII Gods that listened because we finally for the FIRST FREAKING TIME get to go through the trials and campaign of Japan and not just the bombing of Pearl Harbor in Hawaii. The game starts out in the jungles of Japan with banzais rushing after you with bayonets, strange rifles never seen before in a WWII game, amazing visuals (slightly updated Modern Warfare engine to be exact), great enemy AI, and just absolute mayhem. The first thing I noticed was the new weapons. Yes, you have the Kar98, MP40, Thompson, BAR, MG42, Springfield, Enfield, etc. What I picked up was an Arisaka, a variation of the Kar98, a flamethrower?!, a bayonet?!, the ability to toss motorheads like grenades, molotovs?…insane. I couldn’t believe this. Someone actually added something NEW. Not only are the graphics amazing and extremely cinematic, but the level design is awesome. There are cool sniping missions (think of the one in MW), tank missions (they drive great for once by the way), and missions where you run through Japanese mortar pits and just torch the hell out of EVERYONE. How fun is that? Well, let’s just say it’s so fun you won’t want to use another weapon during those levels.

You don’t just fight in Japan though you also fight on the European front as the Russians overtaking the Reichstag all the way to planting the flag yourself. If this isn’t enough to sell you try out the air mission where you’re shooting down Japanese boats and pulling in survivors of the Pearl Harbor bombing on your way back home from Japan. If that’s not exciting enough…oh boy I don’t know what is.

What makes the return to WWII so great isn’t just the new content or the cinematic gameplay. It’s the detail put into the level design, the characters, the ambiance, the dialog, and the voice acting it is all top-notch, and not even the first CoD had this much detail put into it. After playing WaW you will WANT more WWII games and this is the revival we’ve all been dying for (sorry MoH Airborne was TERRIBLE). If the single-player isn’t enough to sell you how about multiplayer?

While I didn’t get to try it I was involved in the beta multiplayer and it was pretty amazing. It’s just like Modern Warfare but set in WWII instead. There’s plenty of incentive to go back and play the game again thanks to its fair difficulty and amazing visual experience. World at War has so much detail put into it I wouldn’t be surprised to see another MoH, BiA, or Wolfenstein copy any of it. Thank you Treyarch and Activision for reviving this great series…now everyone shut up.