Call of Duty: Black Ops [X360/PS3/PC]

[Uli]

can someone confirm the sound has been improved and that it's now possible to earn XP (or currency) and level up while playing offline or in bot-mode, respectively?

[Kubrick]

You can earn currency and XP offline, playing bots in Combat Training mode, but it's entirely seperate from the online side. If you want some cool perks and stuff to use online, that's where you'll need to earn them.

I must say, the Combat Training is actually more fun than it sounds. I stayed in it for a while before I even had an online match. It's pretty-much the normal multiplayer game without lag and with bots instead of humans. Plus, in a neat move, the bots adopt the gamertags of people on your friends list.

[Kubrick]

What's the movie clip recording feature like? Can't wait to use that to share clips of awesome kills.

Pretty similar to the Halo one and easy to use. There's a free camera you can position just about anywhere to capture the moment.

[Neon Ignition]

Spent some more time and things I've noticed:

-Levels don't seem to have as many hide aways or planned accessable areas as the IW titles did which keeps people moving a lot more

-The killstreaks seem to be a hell of a lot tamer than the last 2 games were. I've seen a Barebones option but even without that it's not the spamfest the last game was

-Only noticed 1 interactive map but it's a nice touch and doesn't break the map at all

-Perks also seem very toned down. The blast suit offers a fair bit of protection but bar that nothing too bad

-Lag can be a bit of a pain on some instances but that said I haven't tried region filtering it yet.

As far as I know the bot-mode lets you build and keep XP, not sure about offline. I need to try Wager and Zombies yet too. Going off the trophy list, it's fairly standard but some seem very fiddly so I'm erring on the side of not trying to bother with Veteran on this one.

[MJ]

What's the Vet campaign like?

[rmoxon]

I doubt many people will have played the veteran campaign yet, aparently its one of the easiest games in the series though, if that answers your question.

What Ive played so far on hardend would suggest Veteran isnt that hard, Ive only died once, and I like to mess about.

[MJ]

I doubt many people will have played the veteran campaign yet, aparently its one of the easiest games in the series though, if that answers your question.

What Ive played so far on hardend would suggest Veteran isnt that hard, Ive only died once, and I like to mess about.

Thanks. I thought MW2 was the easiest Vet campaign to that point, so if this is easier then it should be a breeze.

[Spatial]

Likewise I can only comment from my time playing through on Hardened, but it seems a lot easier than MW2's setting. I should imagine the same applies for Veteran.

[Uli]

You can earn currency and XP offline, playing bots in Combat Training mode, but it's entirely seperate from the online side. If you want some cool perks and stuff to use online, that's where you'll need to earn them.

are you saying i can earn XP offline but i can't purchase any upgrades for online play with them? then what's the whole point in this?


@ all

what about the supposedly improved sound? anyone?

[concretesnail]

i have found the sound to be better within black ops when compared to mw2. but rather than a more details soundscape the improvements seem to be in the crontol of levels and range of fequencies used for expressing each sound. i tried setting for tv and the putting it through my hifi setup (comparable to mw2) and then change it to 'large speakers' and put it through the hifi and it is much better.
i would guess that there is multiple audio tracks on the disc, which are tagged for use within each setting.

notes on play so far outside of sound.

I'm really enjoying this so far.
I spent a lot of time with cod4 and really enjoyed it, I liked waw multiplayer but never managed to get round to buying my own copy as I found the single player weak. I brough MW2 and MW2 frustrated me. I ended up only as playing it for a kick about with friends as I got frustrated with quickscoping players and the pace being quick like halo. I had my doubts about Black ops and couldnt decide wether to get it or not, as i didnt want another disapointment the issue was settled when the other half came back from town today and had brough me a copy.

So far I have found the pacing of the black ops multiplayer slightly slower and it feels better for it. Earning exp and the monoploy money works well and I quite like the cod cash system at the moment, buying what I want rather than having to chug through just to get the extras I want.
There is some nice touches to help you up the ranks; if you know that match is looming that you like you can strap on a contract and boost your cash gains from that particular match, and I'd like to give some credit to devs here; once you have pitched for a contract it locks. It doesnt matter if you pass or fail you wont be able to select it again for a period. It seems to be an attempt to control that boosting lot who sit in maps grooming points from the system.
The maps are good and from the ones that i have played they arent open to a lot of rpg spaming and random tubing which i am very glad of and there a quite a few little nooks and crannies to strafe round and pop people off.
On the weapons front I have only really been using the m16 and I have found it quite useful in all honesty. I've stuffed a silencer on it to keep the recoil down and it does the job. The only other weapons i have really tried are the tomohawk (the same as the throwing knives mw2) and i love them and the gas grenade, which I have found to be very useful for finishing off or in an extended scrap giving that little extra damage to help you out, but make sure you are wearing the mask.
I had a quick bash in wager match and played the game type with single bullit rules (sorry cant remember the name) and it was great. It felt like playing golden eye on the n64 again. golden gun rules with the one shot kills and limited lives. the only reason i managed to get a couple of games is that I ran out of money to play again so I have had to go back to death match to earn some readies.

[Uli]

well, both MW and MW2 sound like your weapons fire blank cartridges in 8-bit quality, so the difference in sound should be quite striking, even with a standard TV stereo setup.

is there any co-op mode in Black Ops?

[MJ]

is there any co-op mode in Black Ops?

Other than the Zombie mode having a co-op option, I can't see anything like MW2's Spec Ops mode. The Hardened and Prestige Edition's include four exclusive co-op maps, but I don't know what they are or what mode they're for.

[nonny]

The hardened edition co-op maps are the four zombie maps from COD World At War.

Only played MP so far but whilst I found the initial few rounds jarring due to the differences from MW2 I've soon found my stride. The gun sway, sprinting reaction time and sniper nerfing makes you play the game quite differently. You can run and gun but it isnt as effective as the hyperactive tendancies in MW2.

The whole MP moves in a more steady fashion, slightly slower pace and with more emphasis on gunplay. The RC car is a bit annoying at the moment but honestly I've only seen a handful of moments where it took out more than one person.

The region filtering is a godsend. I stuck that on after noticing it was there and since then I've been dropped into local aussie matches here with zero lag for the duration. The matchmaking has also been quick and painless. As it should be.

Its rough around the edges and I dont think it looks anywhere near as good as MW2. It's not as refined but it isnt ugly either. The only thing I will note about MP is the spawns are a bit off still and they need fixing. Too many times I've respawned too near my killer and got them back within seconds, likewise I've run around a corner to see a whole team respawning in that Nuke-Town map and mowed them all down a second time.

[rmoxon]

How do you play the top down dead ops arcade thing on this? do you accsess it by using the terminal that you can use if you escapse from your chair on the main menu screen?

Or do you have to complete the game first?

[nonny]

How do you play the top down dead ops arcade thing on this? do you accsess it by using the terminal that you can use if you escapse from your chair on the main menu screen?

Or do you have to complete the game first?

Escape from chair, go to the terminal and type in DOA