Tom Hasler investigates whether the hype surrounding Black Ops is deserved

As the seventh installation in the series - not counting the numerous spin off titles - Call of Duty: Black Ops may have trouble proving its worth to the larger gaming community, even if it has no trouble selling millions of copies. It is worth noting at this point that Black Ops was developed by Treyarc, who produced Call of Duty: World at War, and not the more respected Infinity Ward known for the Modern Warfare games. Given my initial skepticism, I was pleased to find that this is probably the best Call of Duty since 2007’s Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and, for at least some of the time, doesn’t feel recycled.

The single player campaign is often trivialised as an extra in Call of Duty games, and sometimes even ignored all together. This is perhaps a little unfair as the solo experience is usually spectacular, if perhaps a little short lived. Black Ops aims, quite deliberately, to deliver a cinematic single player experience; thankfully, it achieves this by literally making the game into a collection of scenarios that would not look out of place in Hollywood's next cinematic blockbuster. While most games nowadays try to give the player as much freedom and choice as possible, Black Ops removes almost all your freedom, allowing Treyarc to essentially choreograph your entire journey though a mission. The resulting experience is thrilling; you’ll be diving though a window, shooting guards in slow motion one minute, then riding a motorcycle in a chase sequence the next, before capping it off with a rampage in a helicopter. It is clearly apparant that a lot of work has gone into building these set piece moments and the quality is outstanding. It is a shame, however, that the more conventional shootouts have been left mostly untouched, with both your friends and enemies lacking any real intelligence. The fights often feel like the ‘whack-a-mole’ of shooter games, and you’ll grind through them just to enjoy some more of the aforementioned interactive cinematics.

The narrative presented to the player is also particularly noteworthy, which is rare for games in this franchise as the plot is often unintelligible if not just plain boring. Set over an 8 year period in the 1960’s Black Ops mission touches on almost every aspect of the Cold War, including the space program, the bay of pigs and an extended trip to Vietnam. The setting isn’t the driving force behind the narrative however, but rather a conspiracy has the player running into a handful of historical figures, as well as a extremely well executed tie in with the World War II era Call of Duty: World at War.
The presentation of the story is aided by the use of ‘avatar technology’, a tagline that has become increasable irritating, given its abuse from the film industry. Film nuts may remember hearing about the use of ‘avatar technology’ in films such as Saw VI or Resident Evil:Afterlife, then again you may have already forgotten those films ever existed. Still, I must confess the the motion capture technology is impressive, especially when you are having a face to face conversation. The game also features the option to play in 3D if you happen to have a 3D TV. Unfortunately I don't, so I can’t say if it’s any good. As if the technology from Avatar wasn’t enough, Treyarch also throws in the acting talent of Sam Worthington and an excellent supporting cast who give a solid delivery of the adrenaline pumped dialogue.