Call of Duty: Black Ops

I'm not done with the campaign yet as I'm just too busy to play for more than an hour a day. I might be a quarter of the way through at this point having gone through the Bay of Pigs and a few other situations in Russia that I'm not familiar with and finally getting to some Vietnam action in Khe Sahn and the Tet Offensive.

I can't make final judgment on the campaign but I'm pretty sure I do have at least a fairly good initial impression that I'm sure won't be changed a whole lot. The game is good. I'd give the single player campaign an 80 right now. It's very different from any other COD including Treyarch's previous foray's into the franchise. I didn't like the first 3 they made but I was pretty impressed with World at War. I like WWII based shooters and there aren't very many based on the Pacific Theater. The zombie game offers unlimited replay value. Very cool gameplay mechanics.

Black Ops is more story driven than any other COD, including IW's. The story and cut-scenes it is told through are interesting and original. Not the typical news reel footage of past games. The action is fast and it all moves along at a nice clip. There are some different weapons and situations from a typical military shooter like one bit where you have to use a sling shot to hurl bombs at targets.

The graphics are kind of a mixed bag. They look nice enough but some things, such as the Huey gunships, look like they belong in a Saturday morning cartoon. There is a lot of clipping as well which bothers me in this day and age. I'm no programmer but I've played plenty of games where that sort of thing is virtually non-existent. I don't think there's a good excuse for jaggies either. I also encountered a glitch in the first level of the game because I was too busy looking at the scenery instead of moving forward which in the few seconds I didn't move a cinematic event was triggered which caused me to get stuck and have to start over.

While the action is fun there isn't much intensity. I also don't like the hand holding. Every objective is labeled and highlighted which makes me feel like I'm playing a tutorial.

It's good and I like it and for Treyarch it is an accomplishment but they are no Infinity Ward. I'm not sure if Infinity Ward is up to their old standards after the changing of the guard either though. So this could be about as good as it gets.

I still need to finish the campaign and then play the zombie games and multiplayer but so far it's nothing mind blowing. I definitely liked Modern Warfare 2 more.

As far as single player campaigns go the new Medal of Honor is superior. I love it. It is very intense and I like its more honest interpretation of the war in Afghanistan. I don't think it's fair to compare COD to MoH. COD is more like a Michael Bay film whereas Medal of Honor feels like Black Hawk Down and Operation Flashpoint, which I truly love, is a documentary.

That's how I feel after 5 hours anyway.