It's that time of year again, as Activision release what is usually a disappointing equivalent of Christmas for casual gamers across the globe in the form of a new Call of Duty. After being disappointed to say the least at Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 I promised myself I wouldn't buy the next, but it being developed by Treyarch, makers of my former favourite CoD3 and the grizzly and atmospheric World at War, I decided to give it a rental. I'm happy to say that not only have Treyarch decided not to ride Infinity Ward's wave of success into multi-million dollar sales by rehashing either Modern Warfare title, but have given the series new life and a new edge in storytelling.
I won't go into a great amount of detail, as I'll save it for a review, but the campaign is for me the best yet in the series. It doesn't get off to the greatest of starts but the mission in which you escape from the Russian labour camp Vorkuta is where the action truly kicks off. The scale and the brutality of it is totally astounding, giving much-needed adrenaline to World at War's extreme bloodiness. Common appearances from Viktor Reznov (easily my favourite Call of Duty character) and great voice acting compliment a fantastically deceptive, unravelling plot, and the twist at the end was a great surprise.
The multiplayer is what people stay for when it comes to Call of Duty, and Treyarch deliver here too. The new COD points system for class customisation and the emblem creator, the Theater mode and the Wager matches are simple components that simply put Black Ops above any other Call of Duty in terms of content, and in gameplay hundreds of tweaks and fundamental changes have been made to balance the game. With the exception of the RC-XD killstreak and the long range of the knife, frustration in the game is at an all-time minimum, and that's really saying something in this series. Playing with friends is a total blast, and while it hasn't quite beaten the good times I've had in a party on Bad Company 2, it remains as a great multiplayer title of this year.
My review for the game should show up within a couple of weeks. In the meantime, I'll be reviewing Castlevania: Lords of Shadow, which in my opinion is second only to Red Dead Redemption for a single player campaign in 2010. I also plan to rent Assassin's Creed Brotherhood, though I resent it for being a cash-in and a half-sequel, and I will buy Need for Speed: Hot Pursuit. Mixing the feel and freedom of NFS: Most Wanted with Burnout's aggression sounds like a good idea to me.
