First Call Of Duty: Black Ops impressions are in

SystemLink: Following a request from Activision UK PR, in which we were informed that the content from Official PlayStation Magazine UK in question was not a review but an extended preview 'verdict', we have changed the title and part of the content of this article to align this oversight. We apologise for any inconvenience caused.

[Fishy Fingers]

Cries of bias incoming. Roll on November.

Some scans would be nice :)

[PhilipLarkin]

Scans are illegal, unfortunately. D=

[Fishy Fingers]

Haha, you think that will stop people uploading them? Give it 24 hours.

[Winter47th]

Call of Duty's taking the form of an annual sports game and frankly I see nothing wrong with that, it's all about competitive multiplayer, it's what keeps the hundreds of thousands of players all around the globe coming back to challenge each other, I don't see any difference between this, Fifa, NBA & Madden when it comes to the principles of competitive play. People have no problem supporting those games even though they have minor changes each year, Call of Duty IS regarded as a sport FPS imo.

So the people moaning about "bot this ze same as teh game frum last yeeahr lulz sheeps!1" should just suck it up. It will break records, people will love it, it'll sell by the millions, every company thinks twice before releasing anything close to its deadline, every publisher wants a piece of the Call of Duty pie so they tack-on a copy-paste MP in their games to attract its crowds.

It's not merely an FPS anymore since COD4 as much as the addictive MP and the countless hours of competition it offers.

[tacosRcool]

Over hyping?

[SephireX]

@Winter
Maybe you should accept other people's opinions. A lot of people don't like CoD and I'm not a big fan of it myself. Since 4, it has been going down hill year on year, unlike Fifa which is on the rise. I don't find the multiplayer particulary entertaining. Not enough team work and too much glitching. Also, Treyarch don't have a great record. Maybe they can change that this time round.

[Hydrolex]

God ! Moh was a joke, I cant believe they tried to compete with Cod

[acky1]

As gamers, we shouldn't stand for yearly instalments of games that change little in their gameplay and graphics.

Sport games could and should just release dlc every other year to update the database of players cos that's the only difference from the previous version really.

I really don't understand why people are willing to pay full price for something which hasn't changed from last time round.

The only thing tempting me to buy this one is the splitscreen online cos everything else I can get from cod4.

[DecoyOctopus]

so is pirating and murder but people still do it

[TheBlackSmoke]

.

[STONEY4]

"Call of Duty's taking the form of an annual sports game and frankly I see nothing wrong with that, it's all about competitive multiplayer, it's what keeps the hundreds of thousands of players all around the globe coming back to challenge each other, I don't see any difference between this, Fifa, NBA & Madden when it comes to the principles of competitive play. People have no problem supporting those games even though they have minor changes each year, Call of Duty IS regarded as a sport FPS imo."

You know what's absolutely hilarious? Starcraft is a bigger sport than all of those, and they only just made their second game. Calling COD a sport is honestly a joke. There's no point in making a yearly release for a "sport FPS". In 2005, over 120,000 people were in a stadium... for a Starcraft championship. That's a sport. It's called making an amazing, deep game, but the COD devs are always too focused on gimmicks and such that it'll never be that way, since they're extremely focused on pleasing the casuals now.

Activision just wants their money, simple as that.

[evrfighter]

Wow @Stoney

doin work.

[Nitrowolf2]

Stoney

he didn't call it a sport, he said its becoming like an annual sport game meaning there one released every year now
which goes a long with that last part of your comment

[SonyPS360]

Still waiting on the real reviews with a new game, like always.

[PS360fanboy]

Were you expecting anything less than 5/5 for both single and multiplayer?!

Yeah, me neither. If there's one thing these guys are good at is devilering an outstanding FPS experience.

Can't wait to get my hands on it!

[acky1]

In this instance I really think the name is getting the score and not the game.

[SonyPS360]

I think you're both wrong. Wait for real reviews first.

[Jamegohanssj5]

Fake review. This game is a 2/5 at best.

TGSI

[chilled2m]

Wow. As of now, five of you actually agree with this idiotic comment?
How can this be anything else but trolling? The game hasn't even come out yet and this kid is talking 2/5..

Ah well, one less person to have to worry about come November 9th

[Jamegohanssj5]

Who in the fuck wants to play the same god damn game that gets released year after year after year? You bitches complain aboot Activision and you say you're done buying their games yet every fall you end of buying one. You're all fucking idiots.

YOU MAD lol

TGSI

[PS360fanboy]

Who wants to Play God of War? I don't know, you tell me!

[Microsoft_Spokesman]

What's TGSI?

[TengkuAmir10]

TGSI means trans global internet services

[gtamike]

Black Ops does not look like a big change from cod4/mw2 it looks more like a mod only.

Now this is a big change
http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[getonmylev3l]

I really don't see a big change bruh. still looks fuckin amazing though

Edit: (comment is about your video)

[gamer8179]

Figures that people already have it set in their mind that this is a bad game. Why not wait untill it comes out and play it for yourself with a open mind. Then you can give a honest opinion. Don't be a dumbass and claim that this is just like mw2. Its call of duty, of course its going to look a little like mw2. Look at how Uncharted 2 looks like Uncharted 1. But most people agree that Uncharted 2 is much superior. Why not just give black ops a fair chance

[AEtherbane]

Black Ops looks fun. I find it ironic that i was never really excited for MWF2, but im excited for this.

[Call_me_Ishmael]

woah a 5/5 for multiplayer,and wth,that was a short review

[Winter47th]

Get over it, Treyarach listened to the community and actually deleted/modified most of the problems that plagued MW2.

No Commando is an instant 5/5 by me, and having the guts to delete Stopping Power gives MP a fresh new take & now you need to depend on the +/- of each weapon instead of having a plan B in the form of a perk.

"MP: 5 out of 5. Better match types, less cheating, better experience."

[visualb]

that will only be noticeable when game is being played by thousands on a daily basis over time

lets hope so though

[wicko]

I don't understand why they're saying less cheating. Of course there will be less cheating when the general public doesn't have their hands on it.. Hacks won't pop up until shortly after it's released, makes no sense to expect cheating during a review period.

[Winter47th]

They're referring to Tactical Insertion, it's been shafted from FFA, and the care package spamming glitch, also, Treyarch's renowned for their support for WAW & patching it constantly so expect the same thing for BO.

[acky1]

No commando won't change the fact that knife kills will be glitchy as hell.

Why do you refer to perks as a plan B, the whole point of perks is to give a certain part of your game an advantage.
I really don't understand why some people have complained about martyrdom, juggernaut, double tap and all these perks...they were actually well implemented and could be counteracted by another perk leading to a pretty balanced game.
The thing that's usually unbalanced in cod games are the guns...the ones you unlock are never as good as the ones you start with and there's always one that is disproportionately powerful, like the MP5 in cod4.

[Soldierone]

So they get a 5/5 for purely fixing issues in the last game? You do know other developers release things called "patches" that fix these issues, for something called free?

Not bashing the game, but saying it deserves a perfect score (perfect? really?) just because they released a patch doesnt make sense at all.

[xXxSeTTriPxXx]

with the 10's being slaped on this game like it's the second coming.not much has changed yet viewers will make excuses for it.

[byeGollum]

for being good

[visualb]

blame reviewers for being too generous with review scores

this applies to many games now days

[TengkuAmir10]

Yeah...Exactly...When it's Uncharted 3, or Killzone 3, all of you will be riding up the dev's d!ck but since you get killed too much on MW2 multiplayer, you hate it too much to even talk good about it.

[CoxMulder]

Didn't I buy this game back in 2007??

Looks the same to me..

"but since you get killed too much on MW2 multiplayer, you hate it too much to even talk good about it."

lol thanks for the chuckle..

[AssassinHD]

Actually a lot has changed with regards to multiplayer. The core gameplay is still largely the same, but Treyarch has made many positive balance changes.

[wicko]

Balance is one thing, but the things reviewers say are a bit ridiculous. Sure, it has great MP, but it is not the second coming. I wouldn't say that about any MP game unless it did something really genre defining and unique.

[InTheKnow]

People talk about the " X " factor...not sure what that is but COD has it starting with COD:MW. Black ops continues this strategy and Activision, as of right now has a lock-down on it. Maybe when Respawn gets around to making there shooter things will change but COD is here to stay...here's the latest trailer fresh off of XBL...enjoy!!!

http://www.youtube.com/watc...

[chilled2m]

Really? because when reviewers gave MOH scores hovering around 7, all the fanboys were in a rage and claimed that the reviewers didn't give the game a chance. Now we've got the other camp that says reviewers give artificially high scores to hyped up games.
Which one is it n4g? can't have it both ways.

[Sweeet]

"not much has changed yet viewers will make excuses for it"

Now that just proves your ignorance... a massive amount has changed and since when was anyone making excuses? All I see is people praising Treyarch for actually listening to the community and removing all the bulls*it that made MW2 an aggravating mess.

Here let me list a few of the changes;

No Stopping Power
No Commando
No One Man Army
No Danger Close
No Slight of Hand with Sniper Riffles
No Tactical Insertion in FFA
Shotguns are now Primary Weapons
Wager Matches
Kill Streak reward kills no longer count towards your Kill Streaks, so less camping
Hacker Perk (same as SitRep except now it also allows you to hack enemy equipment and use it as your own)
Customizable looks
Diving to Prone (takes time to recover so can't be used offensively)

The list goes on... yet all you MW2 haters spout crap out your mouths like you know what you're talking about just because want to see Black Ops's fail... So much hate over a game you obviously know nothing about is just sad...

[xXxSeTTriPxXx]

those are called tweaks dumbass.and this is how reviewers will make excuses for it, by making tweaks (something thats done in patches) seem like major gameplay changes.and this is not a morden warfare game, so i don't hate morden warfare dumbass.activision doesn't own the rights to the MW licence, only the COD licence.

[cleanhealthy12]

you're a fking idiot.

"tweeks"

yes, new story, new zombie mode, new multiplayer maps, new weapons, new modes new perks, new customization, new points system, new theater mode, new inclusion of bots, new streaks + the countless number of FIXES and IMPROVEMENTS over the last call of duty.

im sure you're just one of those losers that hate because in the "nerd world" its cool to think youre a hardcore gamer. youre not, youre small time kid.

im sure killzone 3 is so fking different from killzone 2. (fun fact, cod4,5,6 each on either system have more active players than killzone 2) maybe sony hardcore nerds should talk less and play more?

[Sweeet]

Just because people blindly agree with your first post doesn't make you right, lol. And how exactly is removing major features and introducing new ones considered a "tweak"? You really are kidding yourself if you think you can pass that off as an intelligent thought process. It's an entirely different game made by an entirely different developer you moron, just because it's labelled as Call of Duty doesn't mean it's a carbon copy of MW2 as you obviously believe...

Where does all this hate come from? I haven't seen you post an intelligent thing about Black Ops and I've looked at all your comments. Nada, nothing, just blind fanboy hate which really is quite sad.

Don't pay attention to reviews, look at FACTUAL information then make up your own mind. I know Black Ops will be nothing like MW2 because I've done the research and I'm not an idiot. I wouldn't mind so much if you could attack me with a proper sentence but you're not even capable of that...says it all really.

[mcmmaster]

OMG...............5/5, its the god damn same game every year

[byeGollum]

Have you played Black Ops?

[mcmmaster]

actually yes it is, modern warfare 1, world at war, modern warfare 2 and this....... all of them, are the same frigging game, they come out every year, not enough time to give the fans a breather, just idiotic fans out there that dont know **** all about the gaming industry (Activision being greedy **** releasing a new CALLLLL OOOOOFFFF DUUUUUUTTTTTYYYY EVERY YEAR), give it a 2 year gap then maybe we could say its not the same game

Same with smackdown vs raw and fifa, all the same games every year with minor improvements

[mastiffchild]

Naturally it's the same damn game. Thing is the reason sports game get away(to some extent)is that squads and competition lists and kits change yearly and people want to see the right payers in the new kits in the right comps in their sports games, no?

COD does'n't have that excuse, does it? No. Also tweaks to the MP and a couple of modes could be released any time as paid for DLC upgrades couldn't they? A decent sized year later than main game release(and have a game every other year)DLC with these changes and upgrades would be better than a full retail release where people are actually paying, mainly, for what's spent on the SP that 90% of COD players couldn't give two craps about. It's a daft set of yearly events to me.

I'm not knocking the quality of COD MP-too many people love it and I enjoy it even if not as my main MP game myself-but just think the yearly gravy train is preposterous and if people looked at5 what they're actually paying for they would baulk a little at buying the same thing every year to a large extent. Naturally if Treyarch/Acti added something proper like dedicated servers(which it's a DISGRACE it doesn't have already on EVERY platform)this year I'd say fair enough but as the main reason , that I've seen, for people to rejoice is that it's more COD4 than MW2 this time round I'm left thinking why not just play COD4 and save the cash? It's still likely to be the best of the bunch anyway.

[DTG_The_Man]

Well, I said it once and I'll say it again. The franchise is crap. They just shove the same CoD game from '07 and say, "Oh, it's different!" and then people buy it. Seriously, people! YOU'RE FUELING THE MONSTER!! (Bobby Kotick)

God, I'm so friggin' tired of this franchise.

[Fishy Fingers]

Ahhhh.... tissue?

[360nPS3rTheSAME]

the monster are the fools who buy dlc that could have and should have came on the disc. Buying the game itself isn't the problem and by the looks of black ops it looks to be more balanced than mw2. Got to give treyarch credit dude. At least they learned from mw2 mistakes

[chilled2m]

lol fanboy rage is so funny to read.

Do you have some sort of personal stake regarding how good this game does? Does the world end if too many people buy the game?
You don't think it's worth your money? No problem, no one will miss you come November 9th

[Nihilism]

*raises hand politely*

Does this game have any kind of BOT matches for offline play ( pc version specifically )?

@360nPS3rTheSAME

So I should buy it to find out that it doesn't have the thing that would make me buy the game?, back to the kids table for you.

[360nPS3rTheSAME]

find out since you care for nothing :)

@nihilism: back to the dictionary for you cause you don't seem to know the meaning of your username OR my friendly joke is simply beyond your ken

[dannybohy]

yes it does have offline Bots gameplay

[smash1031]

Wow. Shortest "review" ever.

[TruthBTold]

Nice pic.

[Snakefist30]

VERY NICE PIC :D

[LiquifiedArt]

Love the pic.

[Crusade]

bubbles for pic

[Mafia2200]

^^ bunch of pervs

[DTG_The_Man]

Bubbles for the pic and bubbles to everyone, but Mafia2200 for not being attracted to hot ass.

[Acquiescence]

Nah, just kidding. Boner-inducing image y'all!

[bviperz]

Wow, nice assets...

I'm sorry smash, you were saying?

[JLeVRT]

I mean... picture... ass.

[tony6767]

O_O Nice ASS!!

[OhMyGandhi]

smash1031, that pic gave me temporary amnesia.

[Codeman420]

less cheating huh. thats because nobody is on the servers yet to cheat.

[Trunkz]

LEss cheating?! Seriously this is what helped them give it a 5/5? The game isn't even out and there was no beta, give it time when it's out and people will find the glitches.

[bigboss911]

yes there was a beta. it just wasn't a public one.

[TroyAndAbed]

I won't state my opinion on Treyarch, as opposed to Infinity Ward. I'll just say I'm surprised that this game is being met with such a warm reception.

After COD3 and WaW, I thought everyone was done.

Black Ops looks like a much better entry for them and I'm glad they've had time to perfect it. :)

[tiny1114]

ya but no one complains about a new Zelda or Mario game or even a new Killzone....Its a franchise idiots..as long as a developer can take the original and make it better...IMO this is a drastic improvement on MW2...And if Treyarch puts their dlc at a lower price than IW...all the better..

[Thepro318]

treyarch have no control of this game DLC price activision may raise the prices of the dlc if the sale pace is way better then mw2

[duplissi]

im pretty sure plenty of people complain actually, in fact im one of them..
and uh since when has killzone come out every year?

[DeathMetal]

kilzone 3 did not take long and looks exactly like number 2 soo..

[cleanhealthy12]

killzone 2 - 2009
killzone 3 - 2011

iw*
cod4 - 2007
modern warfare 2 - 2009

treyarch*
world at war - 2008
black ops - 2010

all 2 years apart

maybe if killzone had a good multiplayer and a good fanbase, it would create enough demand to have 2 different teams making games.

[duplissi]

nice way to spin it... lol

regardless of developer outside of sports franchises call of duty is the only game to release every year, in fact its been that way since 2003

call of duty 1 came out in 2003, and call of duty black ops which is the seventh COD comes out in 2010. thats seven games in seven years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wik...

[TengkuAmir10]

I hate how people praise Killzone and yet fail to see anything in COD which is a much more "fun" game to play. Better online, better controls, doesn't look too grayish, more friends play the game, killstreaks and perks etc etc...the list goes on....

[duplissi]

^
no offense guy but everything you said is entirely subjective.

[Paradise Lost]

I can't wait to pick this game up. Everybody should trade in their mw2 copy (If they still got it)

[scar20]

Any one else think kotick pays the reviewers so they can give it good reviews so people think it's a good game.

[Mafia2200]

Yep i do

[no_more_trolling]

im getting it
i hope it wont be a shitfest as MW2

lets hope, i love shooters online, so i am looking forward to this and hoping for the best

[Der_Kommandant]

Im only buying this because of Treyarch

[gypsygib]

I'll buy it if it's good - F brand loyalty. You hear that fanboys!

[DTG_The_Man]

Treyarch's so much better than Infinity Ward. At least in my opinion. IW seemed too "fake". All of their games don't even have blood. Maybe a spurt when you kill them, but never limb-loss. Treyarch had some balls with the franchise, but I doubt I'll be getting this if it has a short SP. I've given up on uninteresting multiplayer.

[NickX]

lol at people getting upset that this game might be good. Wanting a game to be bad makes you a sad ****

[duplissi]

ill be upset... know why? ACTIVISION. i refuse to fuel that piece of shit company.

i might get it used.

[Xbro]

Got the mag today.

This isn't a review, it's a feature review of when he went to play it at a press event. Review is next month, it even says near the back pages.

[gypsygib]

Less cheating??? The games not even public yet.

[Paralex]

"...less cheating, better experience." How the hell do you know? It's not even released to the public yet.

[Thepro318]

this game has duel wielding light machine gun LOL i seen the beta footage im not lying

[bayport]

I thought it was funny that it said "less cheating"...

The game hasnt even been released to the masses.

Once the game is released just give them some time. People ALWAYS find cheats for EVERYTHING

[turnerdc]

COD series is a great franchise. The reason they don't change the core game play mechanics is because they WORK! Same reason why the Mario, Zelda, Virtua Fighter, Tekken, Killzone, Grand Theft Auto, Halo, etc, etc franchises have remained, for the most part, vastly the same. They've got a great formula that the majority of people love. I find it funny that people whine about "IT'S ALWAYS THE SAME GAME" but then a developer introduces changes *cough*SEGA with Sonic and Square with Final Fantasy*cough* and then they moan saying they want the old game play back. People don't realize that changes are not always a good thing, if you've got a formula that works, then don't fix what's not broken!

[duplissi]

your defenitely right, but what i didnt like about mw2 was not the gameplay.. it was the atmosphere and feeling, with mw2 the soul was gone.

[cleanhealthy12]

look how much R2 sucked in comparison to rfom, they tried to make it too much like call of duty and halo and that made the game worse in comparison to the 1st.

major changes in gameplay a franchise with a fanbase = not always a good idea

[turnerdc]

I 100 percent agree. The main reason people stick with established franchises is because they already know what to expect.

[XabiTheHumble]

Hmm... might pick up black ops when its around 40 dollars or something.

[ballsofsteel]

gotta say very impressed by treyarch i had them pegged and Infinity wards little brother just following in their footsteps but with zombies and all the new additions to MP like wager matches and treyarch is no longer hideing in infinity ward's shadow and i think are a force now in the FPS/Multiplayer world. i hope they get a chance to make their own game with now restrictions in the future.

[KonigXero]

What a terrible "review".

[Kran]

"Multiplayer 5/5"?

Im surprised theres anyone on at that time. Maybe a few peeps, yeh xD

[NYC_Gamer]

does anyone really expect reviewers to score this game low?it'll get that mainstream pass even if it does have faults

[xg-ei8ht]

Why bother reviewing it.

It'll sell millions.

[Word2BigBird]

is the multiplayer. They can release it in parts and I would only buy the multiplayer. That's how good it is.

[Senecarton]

All videos from Call of Duty Black Ops leaked. Deleted on Youtube? See it here! http://bit.ly/9NcwVl #cod7 #codbo #leak #gameplay #leaks

[dante-]

fake

[Close_Second]

...has become the same thing as taking a second hand car, giving it a new coat of paint and selling it as new. As long as people believe its a new car they'll keep selling it.

[Scenarist]

I just pre ordered this today... nuff said...
even tho i hate the milking business

Ive been playing FPS over 10 years (doom and enemy territory).. and COD has been my fix for the last few years > almost everything else

Ive been playing COD since part 1
the last few were about the same (since mw1) .. im hoping the stuff they added to this one keeps me entertained. and doesnt make me feel like mw 1.9.9

if so i made a new steam account to buy this game on XD and will not hesitate to sell it

[nishuone]

welcome to :

=== http://tinyurl.com/22lpksn ===
This is a shopping paradise