Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops

On the surface, Call of Duty: Black Ops is your typical first-person shooter, with the requisite battles on land, sea and air. That aspect is told with visual splendor and grim realism.

But at its heart, the game is a psychological mind game, with meditations on the Cold War, brainwashing and the meaningless aspects of conflict.

To be sure, the setting of Call of Duty: Black Ops is a new one. Set in the 1960s, the game takes full advantage of everything that era encompassed … the Vietnam War, the Bay of Pigs invasion in Cuba and the Cold War with the Soviet Union. It’s a setting whose time has come.

You begin the game as Alex Mason, one of an elite group of commandos sent into Cuba to kill dictator Fidel Castro. Your attempt fails and you are captured and sent to a Russian prison.

Years later, you and fellow inmates escape, leading to the quest for revenge against those who imprisoned you, including one who is a member of the traditional boogeyman of FPSs – the Nazis.

But as cutscenes reveal, Mason is really in captivity the whole time, being interrogated by unknown persons trying to discover the meaning of a series of numbers that repeat over and over. All of the action is played out in flashbacks as his interrogators try to solve the puzzle of the numbers.

All of the locations of the action are skillfully rendered. Of particular note are the action sequences in Southeast Asia, appropriately scored with songs by the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival and others. Swimming through the swampy rivers and creeping through the hazardous spider hole tunnels built by the North Vietnamese and Cambodians offer a unique take on the FPS genre.

Online play delivers the rock-solid Call of Duty multi-player experience, with a few tweaks.

Players can once again progress through the ranks, adding better weapons, armor and gadgets along the way.

But in Call of Duty: Black Ops, a mercenary element has been added, with players being paid for their efforts. The money (CoD points) can then be used to buy new equipment.

Adding to the mercenary aspect is the ability to purchase contracts. For instance, paying for a contract that if completed, returns more money. Contracts can be simple – like perform three kills without dying – but become much more difficult as ranking occurs.

Players who like to gamble with their skills can also wager points against other players – setting up wager matches, with winner taking all.

The game modes in wager matches present their own challenges. For instance, in the One in the Chamber mode, each player has a pistol and one bullet. If your bullet fails to kill an opposing player, you must then kill them through melee attacks. Killing an opposing player earns you another bullet.

In the Gun Game mode, players earn a better weapon with each consecutive kill. The player who makes it to the best weapon first wins.

Players can also apply three “perks” to their game character – items or skills that can customize their interaction with the game. These can make a player faster, quieter, tougher, etc. One new (and humorous) perk is an explosive-laden RC car. This steerable mini-vehicle can be exploded remotely, but can also be destroyed by gunfire.

Another slightly funnybone-tickling addition is the ability to launch yourself into a prone position. By clicking on the prone button while running, your player takes a flying belly flop into prone readiness. Watching a whole team do this around a flag in Domination gametype is comical.

Local multi-player, through system link or split screen, is also available.

The game is also the first in the Call of Duty series to offer 3D play, assuming one has a 3D TV on which to play.

Another popular Call of Duty feature returns again in Black Ops – zombie mode. In it, the player is trapped in a building with numerous unsecure entry points. The goal is to repair the windows and doors and keep the zombies out, while earning money to upgrade weapons and unlock new sections of the building.

Players who complete the single-player campaign also unlock a very special playable character for zombie mode – someone prominent in the 1960s with an unmistakable voice.

Black Ops also rolls out a theater mode, where players can download and edit films of past matches. Selecting from matches played in the previous 7 days, players can edit and post clips and screenshots for others to view.

The Call of Duty games are developed by two companies – Infinity Ward and Treyarch, with each company alternating releases. Most of the press over the past few years have been for the IW games – Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare II – with Treyarch mostly relegated to shopworn World War II scenarios for their efforts.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a breakout game for Treyarch. With this game, they demonstrate that they no longer are the second-tier game developer in the CoD fold.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is as good as – or even better – than anything put out by IW. And that’s saying something.

Platform: Xbox 360/Playstation 3 Rating: Mature Manufacturer: Activision Score: 9.5 n00b tube chilies