Call of Duty Black Ops
November 9, 2010
Xbox 360
Activision
mature
First person shooter

Fun factor: When I started the campaign there is action right from the start as well as you learning the story as it unfolds. The game was very fun to play especially if you like to play first person shooter games. What made this game so fun to play is because the game is action packed from start to finish just like all the campaigns in Call of Duty. The campaign has a lot of twists and turns and a very strong story.

Learning curve: The game is pretty simple to play. It has the controls of most first person shooters. You can choose your difficulty before you start the campaign and as you play, if it gets to difficult you can change the difficulty as well if you want more of a challenge as you play. The campaign was a little difficult, so if you never played a call of duty game before then I would recommend to start on the easiest difficulty.

Graphics: I thought the graphics were strong. I never experience frame rate drops or had any problems with the graphics. The gore in the game was believable and all the shooting scenes seemed strong. In almost every mission there was explosions, shooting, and really well done cut scenes. The cut scenes did look better then when you actually took control of the characters.

Audio: The audio in my opinion was fantastic. The background music was on point throughout the campaign as well as the sound of bullets passing by. There was not any lag with the sound and motion of the graphics. The audio of the characters were spot on as well as the voice acting.

Controls: The controls were very easy to use. You can change the controls in the menu option to play as your type of style of controls. There are tutorials throughout the beginning of the game to help you as well you can go into the menu if you didn't know how to do a specific control. The controls were just like any other first person shooter game, so if you like those types of games then you would be very comfortable with it. The controls worked very well with the game, and I like to say I was very use to it very fast. The controls felt very comfortable and not awkward at all.

Story: The game starts out as you play Mason, who was captured by the Russians in the Cold war era. As you play Alex Mason, you go through flashbacks to see what happened when he was captured and to  see what he remembers. The story takes place in a interagation room, questioning Mason about his Past. Throughout the campaign there were a series of numbers that would flash through his head, But didn't remember what they meant. That is what the US military was questioning him about. Through the campaign you learn that the numbers were a broadcast to contact Soviate sleeper cells. Dragovich os the main villain in the campaign who in the end, Mason strangles him, and sinking the boat that had the broadcast station ending the threat of the sleeper agents.

Characters: The characters include Alex Mason, Special agent Jason Hudson, Captain Mosely, Major Neitsch, John F. Kennedy, Victor Reznof, Dimitri Petrenko, and Frank woods.

Level Design: The level design was believable and made the campaign feel like a cold war game. The weapons were from that time and didn't throw in anything that wouldn't feel different. Every level in the campaign was well created and had a path for you to follow so you always were headed in the right direction. Every level had the overall concept of that era and made the campaign that more interesting overall. The level design played very well to the learning curve ass well as the controls. It made the controls easier to adapt in gun fights as well in stealth missions.

Changes: Some changes I would like to add is maybe of added more guns from the multiplayer as well as being able to customize your weapons before you started the mission instead of being given certain weapons at the start of each level. Other than that I don't have to many complaints. The story was very well done as well as the characters story lines.

Recommendation: I would recommend this game to people who enjoy first person shooters. This game can draw in hardcore gamers like myself as well as casual gamers who just want to play a campaign for a few hours. The campaign is pretty short and you could probably beat in in just a few sittings. All in all I recommend this game to everyone and anyone who would like to challenge themselves to play in a cold war era game.