Review Roundup: Black Ops

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Posted November 9, 2010 by Danny O'Dwyer in Editorial
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The embargo has been lifted, which is just as well because the game is on sale now. So have Treyarch “gone and done a Treyarch” or have Activision managed to inject something new in the Call of Duty series. Let’s find out (oh and check back for updates over the day)

Giant Bomb 4/5
http://www.giantbomb.com/call-of-duty-black-ops/61-26423/reviews/
Jeff Gerstmann says it’s a familiar affair with largely unchanged multilayer experience (save for some extra modes and changed leveling system) with a standard single player mode.

CVG 9.3/10
http://www.computerandvideogames.com/article.php?id=274409
CVG’s Andy Robinson say’s it’s the best single player game of the Call of Duty franchise. It should be interesting to see if anybody else agrees with those sentiments.

Telegraph 10/10
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/video-games/8110970/Call-Of-Duty-Black-Ops-video-game-review.html
Oh hello mainstream press. Top points for a highly marketed game, what a surprise! A varied and intense single player game and the multiplayer comes off well too.

GameKult 7/10
http://www.gamekult.com/tout/jeux/fiches/J000096529_test.html
Anybody know French?

Video interlude! – The Beast!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OBDfPVe-S7U
Just a reminder of why Call of Duty is awesome. The insane-ass people who play it!

Guardian 10/10 http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/gamesblog/call-of-duty-black-ops-review
Even the lefties love it! Apparently Black Ops could “quite probably” be the pinnacle of the COD franchise.

IGN 8.5/10
http://xbox360.ign.com/articles/113/1133005p1.html
IGN agree with CVG and hail Black Ops with the best storyline of the series.

Eurogamer 8/10
http://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2010-11-08-call-of-duty-black-ops-review
The Italian Eurogamer gave it a whopping 9/10, but vanilla EG weren’t as impressed.

Gamespot 9/10
http://uk.gamespot.com/xbox360/action/callofduty7workingtitle/review.html?
GS turn up late to the party with a 9/10. Must say the title of the game in the URL made me giggle.

We’re updating this over the day but if you’ve spotted another review we haven’t covered, post it in the comments.


About the Author

Danny O'Dwyer



  1.  
    Tamoor
    November 11, 2010 at 12:17 am

    I got the game and completed the campaign in the same evening, took around 7 hours. I think the campaign is better than MW2 but I still think CoD4 is the high point in the series.

    Played a little MP just now and it’s good, more of the same but that’s enough to get me addicted again.

    Reply



  2.  
    Matthew Woolley
    November 10, 2010 at 7:43 am

    Nope. Not going to pick it up. I’m gonna buy an FPS for the gameplay and not the story and the gameplay will be pretty much a carbon copy of MW2.

    There’s a gamespot review by the way.

    Reply



  3.  
    richiepunx
    November 9, 2010 at 5:00 pm

    God those reviews are pretty decent but to be honest I can’t help but feel that just maybe the CoD series has that similar ‘Halo’ problem where there is so much hype that the actual game itself is overlooked, and there is such a loyal fanbase out there that call of duty branded soiled underpants would probably outsell fresh water in certain parts of the world.

    To be honest I am getting bored with the FPS genre lately, especially those of the ‘war’ variety. I admit that I bought into the whole craze myself when modern warfare 2 came out last year but since then it’s been a resounding meh. Nothing is bringing anything new to the table, it just seems to be a reskin every time, featuring a different war. Then it’s a clusterfuck of epic set pieces featung vehicles/RPG infantry/obilgatory sniping section/clearing an area for an LZ etc etc interspersed with jockish american catchphrases and a storyline so thin and cliched you couldn’t use it to stick a stamp to a bee’s arse. . . . It just feels to me that I’ve done it all before about a million times.

    I also hate call of duty MP so I’m definitely not going to be going near this game until it drops in price ( which it probably won’t ever do ) I had better go buy a pair of those underpants so

    Reply



  4.  
    November 9, 2010 at 4:45 pm

    I went to the midnight release and won an xbox and a free copy oft the game.any1 want xbox elite and black ops harderned edition for 220 euro?

    Reply



  5.  
    Arthur
    November 9, 2010 at 2:42 pm

    Hehe, the only thing these reviews are doing to affect my decision is the way they help me put how high i put black ops on my ”to buy” list (let’s be honest, i am going to get it sooner or later)

    Reply



  6.  
    Denis Walsh
    November 9, 2010 at 1:35 pm

    Seems an even crazier decision to have the embargo lift after release, when the scores are pretty fantastic.

    Now I know the guys in marketing and what have you, know alot more about this than I do but it just seems unneccesary and overly cynical to me, and in fact counter productive to hype.

    Even if the embargo was lift 1/2 days before launch just when the hype is hitting fever pitch and then it goes into overdrive when big sites are giving it great reviews.

    My 2 cents, think it sets a poor precedent.

    Reply



  7.  
    Danny
    November 9, 2010 at 9:48 am

    Gotcha, cheers for the UPDAE! ;)

    Reply



  8.  
    November 9, 2010 at 9:24 am

    Eurogamer gave it an 8, and is updaing really a word :P

    Reply