The Call of Duty series is one of the most storied in all of gaming, and for good reason. It not only challenged the Medal of Honor franchise during the height of its reign, but it surpassed it and went on to become the most dominant FPS IP ever created. No one would have predicted it from the series’ humble beginnings but here we are.
One thing that Call of Duty games have never failed to do is bring massive amounts of production quality and atmosphere to their games (as well as hefty doses of epic battles and engaging gameplay). Black Ops is no different in this regard. Bringing the Cold War era to life in a way that few games have, this Call of Duty title might be a bit aged for now but it is still solid where it counts.
How to Download Call of Duty: Black Ops
You can download the game from Steam. Check out also the sequels: Call of Duty: Black: Ops II, III, IV, and Cold War.
The Game Review
Kicking off what was to be a series of spy thriller-light games, the first Black Ops borrowed heavily from Modern Warfare in terms of mechanics. This is to be expected as the games do share a common origin but Black Ops nonetheless does have a different feel. Whether this is a good thing might be up to the player.
The weapons, for instance, don’t seem as powerful as in the Modern Warfare games and you often get the feeling that there could have been more time spent in making the weapons feel and operate differently from one another.
While this homogeneity does limit the interactivity of the game somewhat, it makes sense when you consider the peak-and-valley content that Black Ops presents. You are often thrust into set pieces that you need to complete to move on to the next phase. Think of these as Metal Gear Solid moments on speed. Balancing the need for adrenaline with the push to get the story out there, the narrative can give the single-player campaign an uneven experience.
Yet, as many people might point out, no one really plays Call of Duty for the single-player campaign. In fact, the Black Ops series would get rid of this entirely for its fourth outing. So how do we evaluated the multiplayer mode of a game from 2010?
This is still and competent if less-than-polished by modern standards mode. Everything that would become signature Black Ops material is also present. The only problem is that you won’t ever be able to experience this mode like it was at its peak and that’s heartbreaking though not a dealbreaker by any stretch.
Fans of the CoD campaigns and the stories they tell should pick up Black Ops if they haven’t already. Fans of Cold War thrillers should also give it a look. If you want the classic multiplayer gaming for which this franchise is known, you’re obviously not going to get that as the title is a bit long in the tooth at this point. That said, if you’re looking for an excuse to try something out in the Call of Duty universe, then we think this is a great starting point.
