Call of Duty: Black Ops

Now I know what you were probably thinking the instant you saw this pop up, and that is probably "What unbalanced bullshit will they throw into this one and never fix"

Well I'm here to post a long winded topic telling you what unbalanced bullshit their throwing into this one for the sake of killing time and for the fact that all of the other cool forums are doing it.

This will basically just talk about the Multiplayer, since the Single player doesn't really have that much to talk about as of yet.

Create-a-Class

Treyarch have made a huge overhaul to the Create-a-class menu, right down to the smoothness of the transitions. First thing to note is that the level of customization has increased a ridiculous amount. While it is unknown (and doubted) to have any sort of feature-specific body customization, there are many facepaints that you can put on your character, which touches up the customization a bit. Another new feature is that blue perks now change your outfit (e.g, the Ghost perk gives you a Ghillie Suit), so now you don't even need to look at the killcam to see what annoying perk their using.

Now of course, there are the mandatory new Attachments and weapons. One of the most notable attachments is the Underbarrel Flamethrower, which sounds as awesome as it is. It's a short-range, high damage flamethrower back from World at War and attached to the underside of the Assault rifle of you're choice. There are quite a few new weapons as well, but they have reduced the amount of weapons from MW2 by about 10, which allows for easier balancing in the weapons. Here's a copy and paste from the Facepunch thread of all of the confirmed weapons:

Pistols

M1911
Colt Python
Makarov
CZ-75
ASP

Submachine Guns

MAC-10
Heckler & Koch MP5K Prototype
Sa vz. 61 Skorpion
SITES Spectre M4
PM-63
MPL
AKS-74U
Uzi

Assault Rifles

FAMAS G2 FELIN
AK47
IMI Galil ARM
Steyr AUG
Colt Commando
M16
M14 Rifle
Heckler & Koch G11
FN FAL
Enfield XL64

Shotguns

Franchi SPAS-12
Ithaca 37 Trench Gun
KS-23
Over and Under Shotgun
Olympia
HS-10

Light Machine Guns

RPK-74
Heckler & Koch HK-21E
GE M134 Minigun - Deathmachine
M60

Sniper Rifles

L96AW- AKA AWP
Carcano M91/38
SVD Dragunov
Walther WA 2000

Launchers

RPG-7
XM191
M72 LAW
China Lake grenade launcher

Miscellaneous Weapons

Crossbow
Flamethrower
Ballistic Knive

Emplaced Weapons

M60
M134 Minigun
Browning M2HB
Unknown MANPADS

Grenades and Lethal

Semtex
Willy Pete(White Phosphorus)
Tomahawk
Nova Gas
Flash Bang
Concussion Grenade
Decoy


There also don't seem to be any new Perks, just swapped and tweaked ones. Which is good, because MW2 got so blatantly desperate to get an all-new perk that it created Commando.

Speaking of unbalanced things that no competent developer would ever put into their game, Let's have an akward segway into

Killstreaks

Now, this is what everyone who's jumped on the "Let's hate Call of Duty because it's a cool thing to do" bandwagon thinks of whenever someone brings up CoD, and for good reason. Luckily, Treyarch have done what they can without removing the tiresome things all together. There is no longer any nuke, so now all the kids can complain about some other killstreak. and Killstreaks no longer count towards other killstreaks, which means less hiding in a corner of your spawn with air support doing all the work for you.

New Killstreaks include (In no particular order):

An Explosive RC Car at 3 kills
A Rocket launcher with 2 guidable rockets at 7 Kills
A Blackbird, which tracks all enemy players' positions and where their looking at all times at 8 kills
A Napalm Strike at 5 Kills
A SAM turret, which shoots down offensive air support (most likely automatically) at 4 Kills
A mortar strike, which will target 3 seperate player-specified areas on the map at 6 kills
A player-controlled gunship at 11 kills
And MOTHERFUCKING COCKSUCKING Attack Dogs at 11 kills.

There is said to be an unannounced 15 kill streak, but it's only a rumor.

Now that that's over with, let's have another abrupt segway into

Gun Customization and Emblems

Gun Customization has been upgraded a fair bit. While it's not as deep as it may seem from afar, it's still much better than the straight-forward Camo leveling in MW2, which made Camos less personal and more of a dick-waving competition.

First thing to note is that you can now etch your Clan Tag onto your gun, a feature which will surely be ruined by 11 year old boys that are trying too hard to be cool with clan tags like "666", "DETH", "MLG" and the ever-redundant "MW2", "COD" and "BO".

The more personalized part of the new Customization options comes in the Emblem creation. First, there is a menu which has many pre-made emblems on it, all a boring deep-green. You can chose any of these and put them down as a new layer for your custom emblem, from there you can rotate it, resize it, change it's color and lot's of other little neat things. You can also get another emblem and put it as a new layer over your current one, allowing for lots of customization. This will then appear next to your title and on the visible side of your gun in-game.

This all allows for a lot more variation in emblems, especially for the more creative type.

And now for possibly one of the biggest additions to Black Ops:

Call of Duty Points

CoD Points are the new in-game currency for Black Ops. You no longer simply unlock weapons with each rank, instead, you unlock them with rank, but then need to purchase the weapon with CoD points. This doesn't apply for just weapons though, It applies for just about everything unlockable. Attachments, Perks, Emblems, Title Card Backgrounds (Which have replaced the terribly unfunny titles in MW2) and killstreaks all cost some amount of CoD points. While this isn't exactly the most necessary addition to the CoD series, it does add a little bit more depth to the unlockables in the game.

Which brings me to another great addition.

Wager Matches

This is one of the most hyped parts of Black Ops, and for good reason. This mode splits off from the Objective-based modes in which nobody does objectives in favor of K/D ratio and the typical FFA and TDM modes. These modes are all FFA-based modes with no Killstreaks, Equipment or Perks. The main reason that they are called Wager Matches is that each time you play them, you put your CoD points on the line, the default amount appears to be set at 3000 CP. If you are in the top 3 players, you will be "in the money", with the top player getting the full 3000 and the others getting a smaller amount of it. The Wager Match types are as follows:

One in the Chamber

One in the Chamber starts everyone off with a pistol (Shown in the trailer and gameplay videos to be a Makarov) with one instant-kill bullet in the pistol. Shooting someone and successfully killing them will earn you back said bullet. However, if you miss the shot, you will need to rely on your knife to get you a kill and another bullet. It is most likely that you will not be able to stack bullets with the knife, as the hud even has a custom bullet icon to inform you of weather or not you have a bullet.

Gun Game

Don't worry, Treyarch have given the credit to CSS and have stated that it was not their idea, but it is the exact same thing as CSS GG. You start of with a Colt Python (equipped with the Snub Nose attachment, allowing for more accuracy with less damage) and each time you get a kill, you get "promoted" to the next weapon in the rotation, the first to reach the end of the rotation wins the match, there is even an icon in the bottom left to tell you where you are in the rotation.

Sticks and Stones

You are equipped with nothing but an explosive-tipped Crossbow, a Ballistic Knife and a Tomahawk with standard FFA rules. The only exception to said rules: Being killed with the Tomahawk will bankrupt you, putting you at the bottom of the scoreboard. And yes, the Tomahawk is faster than MW2's Throwing Knife

Good luck

Sharp Shooter

In this game mode, all of the players in the match start with one random weapon, and all of them start with the same weapon. Everyone will stay with that weapon for a small amount of time until the game swaps everyone's weapons to another random weapon. With each kill, you will earn a random perk, and eventually a score multiplier.

Pretty simple, and pretty fun sounding.

And now onto something that fans of showing off lucky kills may like.

Theater Mode

This is almost identical to Halo 3's Theater mode. Every game you play is recorded, and stays recorded for about a week. In playback, you can go into free mode to see that lucky Tomahawk throw, you can follow any player in the game in Third or First person to see what that tryhard asshole was doing to kick your ass, and you can slow it down, speed it up and some other things. It is unknown at this time where saved clips will be uploaded, or if you can upload full games or if you can only upload short clips.

One last little thing that some of you who aren't too fond of the public community will probably like

Combat Training

This mode allows you to add difficulty-adjustable bots to the game. These bots have no title card background or emblem (The emblem being amusingly replaced by a loading icon), and can be played against with friends. It is unknown weather or not you can use these in a private game with custom rules, but it is confirmed that it's ranking system is seperate from the Online Ranking (It is believed that your stats from online ranking will carry over to Combat Training, but XP/CP earned from Combat Training does not transfer to online ranking)

Split Screen Online has also been confirmed.

Now on to the FAQ, for those worrying about balance issues.

FAQ

Q: The RC Car is hard to hit, Explosive and only a 3 kill streak? Wow, that's horribly overpowered.
A: While it is hard to hit and explosive, it is also hard to control, has a very small explosion radius (In the multiplayer teaser, it hit someone head on, and didn't kill him), and will self-destruct if you don't detonate it in 30 seconds.

Q: Is Commando back in?
A: No, Treyarch have fixed all of the blatant balance issues. Machine Pistols and Shotguns are now Primaries, Marathon is no longer infinite, Commando, One Man Army, and Danger Close have been removed from the game, and Killstreaks no longer build towards other killstreaks.

Q: Tactical Insertions are in again? It's going to be boosting hell again, this is no different from MW2!
A: Tactical Insertions have been fully removed from FFA gametypes to avoid boosting, and as an added bonus, You can now cancel a Tac Insert during a killcam if you know that someone will camp your Tac Insert.

Q: That Explosive-tipped Crossbow exploded even when it didn't hit someone! This is the new propipe!
A: It's probably going to have a smaller radius than a Grenade Launcher grenade, and it only has 2 bolts. I wouldn't worry too much about it.

Q: Are they going to use another horribly laggy poorly programmed matchmaking system on PC Versions for no reason again?
A: Nope, PC players will be getting much more support than the last go-around. PC is confirmed to have Dedi servers, a server browser and post-launch mod tools.

Q: Motherfucking killstreaks/perks/attachments are unbalanced
A: Good news on this one, as there is now a confirmed "Barebones Pure" Playlist, which fully removes Killstreaks, Perks and Attachments. The only propipe here is the China Lake (The less stupid Vietnam-Era version of the Thumper)

Q: Ballistic Knife looks OP due to it's Instant-Kill damage
A: It also has a small delay between pressing the fire button and actually firing. It also looks like you will need to lead into your shots.

Q: Modern Warfare 2 had next to no Community support and took forever and a damn day to fix the horrid glitches, what about this one?
A: Treyarch is giving a ton of community support this time around, although it's still up in the air weather or not they will fix the inevitable balance issues. They have confirmed that they will give lots of post-launch support (See: Mod tools), and have used many community suggestions to make the game better (See: Barebones Pure, Gun Game, RC Car Timer). Believe me, Treyarch is trying to do the best they can to clean up the huge mess that IW made.

Q: Will there be a beta/is there a beta?
A: No and No. Treyarch have confirmed many many many times that there will be no Public Beta. However, there is an absolutely massive internal beta, with thousands of Treyarch and Activision employees playing the game day-in day-out. Although this doesn't avoid the fact that most of their mentalities are "how can we have the most fun." While the mentalities of CoD players is "How can we exploit this the most to win", so there will still be balance issues and glitches. Just not as bad as MW2 was.

Media

Multiplayer Overview



Wager Match Trailer



In-Depth Create-a-Class Overview

See, this is what's good. Based on the feedback and complaints multiplayer in MW2 got, treyarch decided to fix all of it.

That's why I'm seriously considering buying Black Ops.

Oh looky, another game for the 12 year old boys who think being a soldier and shooting people is awesome and those games are just like real life!

I completely agree with Psycho. Cod is populated by retarded 10 year olds that think more guns and enhanced blood effects makes a game better than the previous version.

In other words, Cod has always sucked due to the fact it's populated by idiots.

Apostrophe wrote:I completely agree with Psycho. Cod is populated by retarded 10 year olds that think more guns and enhanced blood effects makes a game better than the previous version.

In other words, Cod has always sucked due to the fact it's populated by idiots.

Welcome to xbox gaming.

:/

I stopped liking them after 4.

I like the campaigns >.>
It's fun, I just don't like playing with retards who complain when I kick their ass at a game they've been playing for 500+ hours.

You see, this is the reason I get this kind of game. Ever since Modern Warfare, CoD has become probably the most trolltastic game series I have ever played next to Halo.

Although I will still probably like this for the game as well if it holds up. World at War had an extensive campaign that was fun as hell (Especially in Co-op), and their actually attempting to balance a lot of things unlike Infinity "Let's not test this game at all" Ward.

The reason I'm hyping on this is because I would really like to see CoD get back up to standard. CoD 2 was probably the best one out there, with fun maps, stable servers, a great campaign and a good community. I'd go as far as to say that CoD 2 was the last game in the series before they just started making shitty cash-in spinoffs and the employees at Infinity Ward all had a full-frontal lobotomy.

Also, this is actually adding new things. good new things, and will actually get post-launch support beyond taking months to fix even the most minor of bugs. As a bonus, it also had almost double the development time of MW2.

Tl;dr, Rent it, give it a chance to redeem itself. If it doesn't hold up, Psycho is pretty much right in every way.

lol cod.

I liked cod up until cod4

I like the stuff that treyarch is doing to black ops, i was a bit skeptic at first cause the E3 footage didn't impress me. But after seeing the currency system and loads of customization, i am thinking about getting it.

But if it ends up with the same horrible community as mw2 then im rage quitting from the cod series

Operation Flashpoint: Dragoon Rising.

lol cold war derp.

My opinion is that CODBO will in fact be the best Call of Duty in the whole entire series. It's actually based off of something, so you have more of an atmosphere. Now, with technology, the graphics look outstanding and they're seriously taking notes off of CODMW2.

A few more things are that it's customizable, but it's not overdoing it. I also LOVE how they have killstreak rewards but they're NOT outrageous. Many more things like the guns, new game modes and and old war setting. What more could you possibly want?

This'll definitely be the best one, you should (everyone) try it.

meh

Psycho wrote:Oh looky, another game for the 12 year old boys who think being a soldier and shooting people is awesome and those games are just like real life!

I disagree with you on this point.
Some people like FPS shooters of this kind because it's just to relieve stress after a long day of school or work to go home, finish homework, and just relieve stress.

Call of Duty, battlefield, are just a couple of those kinds of games. And your opinion is EXTREMELY general, cause my dad and I play Call of Duty together since he lives in france and me in new york.

Therefore, I beg to differ.

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:my dad and I play Call of Duty together since he lives in france and me in new york.

I forgot to mention (And I should probably edit into the OP) that Black Ops actually caters pretty good to this kind of play style. There is now a feature called Combat Training, which allows for one or more players to play against bots. It's unknown how much customization can be used with the bots, but it is known that there is a difficulty setting. There is also now Split-Screen online for consoles, so Treyarch is certainly catering to those who like to just goof off with their friends in these kinds of games.

Also, I don't think I can blame anyone for being skeptical about this, even with all of the new stuff. Although the simplest strategy to avoid raging at the community is to get the PS3 version, turn the voice volume all the way down and then play, it's still pretty hard to ignore how annoying any given one of the 12 year old boys are when most of them end up with some drug-related thing with a million numbers and fancy characters in their name because it's "rebellious" or whatever. Sometimes it gets so bad you can practically see their fat punchable face and smell their godawful stench through the screen. I would have liked CoD 4 a fuckton better if it weren't for every game starting with some kid squealing in my ear about how he's "MLG Pro" or something.

I know this thread is outdated but they are also bring back the extremely popular "zombie mode" from world at war.

Let me accurately sum up almost every modern FPS game out there:

The campaign is fun, the multiplayer can get frustrating, (but enjoyable at times), and the community is mostly shit unless you play with friends.

Now can we talk about the Arcade Mode? Or maybe ZORK?

I personaly like the Dead Ops Arcade. You can have up to four people split screen on it.

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:I disagree with you on this point.
Some people like FPS shooters of this kind because it's just to relieve stress after a long day of school or work to go home, finish homework, and just relieve stress.

Call of Duty, battlefield, are just a couple of those kinds of games. And your opinion is EXTREMELY general, cause my dad and I play Call of Duty together since he lives in france and me in new york.

Therefore, I beg to differ.

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:Some people like FPS shooters of this kind because it's just to relieve stress after a long day of school or work to go home, finish homework, and just relieve stress.

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:just to relieve stress

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:relieve stress

You messed that up

Game Zombie wrote:

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:I disagree with you on this point.
Some people like FPS shooters of this kind because it's just to relieve stress after a long day of school or work to go home, finish homework, and just relieve stress.

Call of Duty, battlefield, are just a couple of those kinds of games. And your opinion is EXTREMELY general, cause my dad and I play Call of Duty together since he lives in france and me in new york.

Therefore, I beg to differ.

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:Some people like FPS shooters of this kind because it's just to relieve stress after a long day of school or work to go home, finish homework, and just relieve stress.

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:just to relieve stress

[ƒcƒc] Purple Cock Fox wrote:relieve stress

You messed that up

I don't know what you're talking about, Call of Duty isn't frustrating at all. What with it's competent, regular and intellectual community that understands that games are designed for recreational purposes and not to obsess over. And it's competent developers that optimize their PC releases very well with patches being released every day while their community manager pays good attention to the PC community. Oh, and don't forget it's balanced matchmaking that pits you against player of your own skill level and not against complete randoms that can easily kick your ass.

All unfunny sarcasm aside, It's certainly better than MW2 and better than I expected. It's just not all that well designed. I think I only really created this thread because I was over-excited about CoD getting back on it's feet, but it's still not quite there. Perhaps if the PC's Dedicated Servers weren't a load of over-advertised bullshit and if the console's matchmaking had an ounce of balance, people might not be as frustrated with it and it might actually relieve stress instead of adding to it.

I think it would also be better if the community wasn't filled with twats, but I really doubt that will ever happen.

Hello Toast person that i haven't seen in awhile

My opinions on Black Ops:
Being me, I always rate games by their campaign, then multiplayer. The campaign for Black Ops kicks ass, best in the series. There have been moments in the plot where i was confused and said to myself "o that's stupid," but overall this one actually made sense unlike Mw2's campaign.
The multiplayer is more balanced then Mw2's, but i still encounter wtf moments. The community isnt as irritating, and i really, really, really, love the amount customization. Another thing that makes Black Ops good is the zombie mode (Jfk, Fidel, That Secretary of State guy, and nixon fighting zombies = win). Treyarch really blew me away with this one. I dont Black op is the best game ever made, but it is really fun. If your a campaign whore like me, you'll probably enjoy this game.

I'll say the campaign was certainly good presentation-wise, but the gameplay really feels shallow. It's more or less just room clearing or heavily scripted stealth sections. It's still all very fun, and a lot more rewarding than MW2's campaign, but it's not very open-ended.