My official Call of Duty: Black Ops review *no spoilers*

Alright, after much deliberation (along with 13 hours of online game time, and counting) I have made up my mind about the new COD Black Ops. If you buy the game expecting another MW2, same graphics and gameplay and feel but better, you're going to be disappointed. Think back to COD's last Treyarch production, World at War. Basically, the visuals and sounds are exactly the same. Not as fluid or crisp as MW2, but the gameplay is nonetheless very entertaining. I have yet to decide, however, if this is because the game is that fun or because I've just been starved of a new playing experience as of late (unlikely, seeing as I also have Battlefield Bad Company 2 and Medal of Honor to satisfy my change of pace needs). I've only played the first level of the campaign mode, which in comparison to my recent experiences in the Medal of Honor campaign mode is insignificant at best as far as gameplay enjoyability. Medal of Honor's campaign is absolutely phenomenal. I would buy it all over again just for that. Black Ops' campaign I don't have an official opinion on yet, save for my utter distaste at the fact that the enemies are nigh invincible. If you score a leg, arm, or lower body shot you're gonna be looking forward to 5 or 6 hits before those boys go down. Not exactly realistic, and very frustrating.


In conclusion/recap, Black Ops is the spitting image of COD's World at War, with new levels and new weapons (it takes place during the Cold War of the 1960s). One really cool thing, though, is you can customize EVERYTHING. You can even carve your clan tag/symbol onto your gun, you can customize facepaint, gun paint, your outfit, the color of the red dot in your scope, the shape of the dot (you can change it to a skull or triangle or smiley face or the treyarch symbol and so on so forth). Customization is almost as much fun as playing the actual game, it allows you to slay the enemy in your own completely unique style. My ideal loadout: ghillie suit (I look like a bush), M14 semi-automatic rifle with a silencer and a blood-red paintjob. Throw in all the perks and add-ons a good Ninja like myself needs, I don't show up on enemy radar. Ever. I am the very definition of "Where did that even come from??"


So there you have it, Black Ops is worth playing but in my opinion not worth 60 bucks. Wait awhile.