My hands down FPS of 2010. Yes, it is a better overall game than Black Ops and I don't play Halo so I can't comment or rate it against any Halo games. I'm sure Reach was an amazing game for its fans, but I never got into that franchise and just have never play more than a few matches on an older Halo, which I can't even remember which one it was.
So, what does a game have that's a better overall FPS than a Call of Duty (CoD) game? Well, a better campaign and a better online multiplayer experience. I'm a HUGE team player so this is exactly my type of game. The only problem is that not many of my own PSN or XBL friends own/play this game so I rarely get a chance to enjoy this game for a longer period of time. I'm usually pushed to playing NHL '11 or Modern Warfare 2 (MW2), which I still believe is the best CoD game in the entire series.
Let's start off with the campaign. If you've played the first Bad Company (BC), then you'd know where the story left off and where about it's about to pick up. If you haven't, it's impossible to get you into the story. In short, the main characters were criminals enlisted as an option against jail time in the military as a "secret" company (Bravo Company - the military denied their existence and wouldn't help them if they got caught or into deep shit in battle) and they battle their way through different missions, which are all awesome. The story was kind of short, but it was still fun and an overall good one.
Now, onto the bulk of what makes BF: BC2 the best FPS shooter. With its massive maps and its unique online modes, it's sure to have something for everyone. This is a team game, so if you're a run-and-gun noob then don't even try to play this game. Unlike CoD, you don't have "classes," but rather "kits." Each kit is a different "class." It goes Recon (sniper, but also should be used to scout enemy soldiers, tanks, helicopters, and other vehicles - the Recon kit also comes with binoculars to drop mortar strikes and C4 you can plant on vehicles to blow up), Engineer (some different specialty weapons, but also used to fix damaged vehicles to help your team stay alive and moving forward), Medic (self explanatory, but comes with light machine guns and medic kits to heal and/or revive downed teammates - if you choose this kit make sure you do exactly that), and the Assault kit (assault rifles, but also carry rockets and such so if you see an enemy vehicle, blow it up - the assault soldiers are the ones getting into the "trench fights" almost). These kits need to be evenly spread out amongst your squad AND your team. If you have an all Recon team, nothing is going to get done as it should. If a squad mate chooses Recon, pick something different. I almost always run with the Recon kit because I like to stay far back and take enemies out from afar. I also like dropping mortar strikes, scouting enemy soldiers/vehicles and calling them out, and just watching out for my squad/team.
In these huge maps, everything is destructible, meaning you can bring down EVERY BUILDING! This means if you put enough fire power into a building you can collapse it on top of any enemies inside and kill them. This works well if a building is becoming a nuisance in an objective or your team's getting killed too many times from there. Drop a mortar strike, shoot tank rounds, shoot rockets, etc. at the building and it'll surely come down and no longer be a problem. Also, anything on the map can be destroyed so if you have a patch of woods in your line of sight in a tank or as a Recon soldier, take them out and get that clear line of sight to be effective. Don't like the idea of having a bridge from one area to another? Blow it up and make enemies go around and take more time to get to the other side. Be careful in your decision(s), though, as this also means your team cannot use that bridge either. Just like a real battlefield, every action will not only affect the enemy, but your team as well. Destroy as much or as little as you want. That is ultimately up to you. If you're going to destroy shit, though, make sure your team isn't utilizing whatever you are destroying, especially in Hard Core modes as this will kill your teammates, too, and you'll receive negative points. Of course it sucks when you kill a teammate, but sometimes it happens and you can't help it. Apologize and move on. Try harder to not make that happen again.
I want to point out one of the most realistic parts of this game: the sniper rifle. If you've ever shot a gun in real life or even just know something about gravity and whatnot, you'd know that over time/distance a bullet will lose velocity and start to drop. You must take this into consideration in BF:BC2 as when firing bullets drop over a distance. This comes into play a lot when using the Recon kit. Want a head shot? Depending on the distance of your target, move your crosshair above the enemy's head. Problem: Your target is moving. Well, also like real life, you NEED TO LEAD YOUR TARGET! If he's running in one direction, aim in front of your target's path and slightly higher than your targets head and fire. You'll be pleasantly surprised on the end result. I've gotten some amazing head shots in this game just by being a good Recon soldier.
That leads me into something I don't really do, but I will just because it might help upcoming Recon soldiers or current ones that don't know this or want to try it out. My technique is that I use the binoculars to scout and find targets, call them out, shoot them, or drop a mortar strike. You never know what something might work so drop mortar strikes whenever you can in an area where there will most likely be enemies.
Two things I would have changed: allowed players to go prone (lay down) and allow players using the binoculars to use them to look through/scout after using the mortar strike (mortar strikes are limited and have a recharge time to be able to use it again). Those aren't huge because you can look through a sniper scope if you're using the binoculars and you can stand and kneel. Both would have been appreciated, though.
Now that I've been talking about this game, I just threw it into my 360 and am about to play a couple of matches. Recon here I come.
P.S. DICE, the maker of this game, released a "Vietnam" DLC that's absolutely AMAZING! If you weren't convinced before, this is more than worth getting the game.
Game Spot Score: 9.0 (Editor's Choice)
Critics Score: 8.9 (53 Reviews)
User Score: 9.0 (4,564 Votes)
My Rating: 9.0
Happy Gaming!
GeNiO
Wednesday, February 2, 2011
Call of Duty: Black Ops (2010) [XBOX 360/PS3]
Alright, it's been quite a few months now that Black Ops has been released (11-9-2010), so I wanted to give my review on it as I did the preview. I also realize that the first map pack was released early for XBOX 360 on 2-1-2011 so I'll go over that as well. By the way, I've already purchased and installed the first map pack, but only have had limited use on the maps so I'll give an additional review on it at a later date as well as any other map packs Treyarch may/may not release.
Let me first start off by saying I wasn't exactly expecting too much from another war game from Treyarch as World at War wasn't exactly the best first person shooter (FPS) out there when it came out. I think I've mentioned it before, but I almost always play through the campaign once to get a feel for the controls, weapons, perks, gameplay, etc. before jumping into any online mode(s). I just want to touch on the campaign first real quick because I feel like it was one of the two things that I think are the better points in this game. Back when preview videos were still coming out and live gameplay at E3 was going before this was released I was intrigued by the small portion of campaign played and it really didn't disappoint when I got it in my own hands. I actually skipped over the option of getting it on its release date and had the "Hardened Edition" shipped to my house, which came with additional downloadable content (DLC) and a "Black Ops" medal. It was a pretty cool setup, but I think they should have focused more on the multiplayer than the appearance of everything else. I'd definitely recommend checking the campaign mode out at least once before, during, or after you jump into the multiplayer.
Now, on to the online play. Well, I can't really say much about this, but there are maybe a few things that Treyarch has added that would have really made Modern Warfare 2 a near perfect FPS war game. Having the currency system was a neat change instead of having to get to certain levels to obtain weapons, perks, kill streaks, etc., but I can do without all the extra garbage that you can purchase. It's nice to have, but not at all necessary and a total waste of space, time, and there could have been other better features added/removed/changed besides those extra unnecessary features. I did not like, however, how you had to get to a certain level in order to play Hard Core modes. I'm a HC-Only player and that was extremely disappointing and annoying. Luckily, I got the game a couple of days after its release and some of my friends just invited me in the HC modes. One thing I ABSOLUTELY hate is the "Last Stand" perk. If I'm putting 5 or 6 bullets into you, you're not getting back up to fire a pistol most likely and the way they animated the opponents to fall then get a pistol out is just completely idiotic. If you've played this game then you know what I'm talking about. It's just aggravating. As for the maps, some of them are okay, but I'm not too fond of the majority of them at this point. That's about it for the online play right now. I don't want to seem like I'm completely bashing it.
Let's not end this review on a negative note, so let's talk about ZOMBIES!!! Yes, Treyarch is well known for putting zombies in World at War and they've returned in this one as well. If you bought the special edition game, you received the 4 zombie maps from WaW so there's a little more replay value in there. I still feel as if Treyarch could have made the actual act of killing zombies more fun and gruesome, but they stayed the same as WaW and that was kind of a let down, but the gameplay is usually always fun to play.
If you don't like the online play, buy/keep this game for the campaign/zombie modes. Try harder difficulties for the campaign and try playing with different amounts of people (yourself, another friend, 2 friends, 3 friends). The key to these types of games is communication. I will personally vouch that if you have an average team, but a superior communicative team you will have a very good chance at winning. If you at least have one or two above average players and the superior communicative team then you're almost guaranteed a win. In sports they say "Defense wins championships." and that's quite true here because if you're playing defense (communicating where enemies are/where you get shot/die, communicating where enemy equipment like claymores are, watching your teammates' backs, placing claymores in strategic places, sharing care packages/emergency air drops, etc.) your chances of winning dramatically increase. Remember, COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Yes, this means you absolutely NEED A MIC! It sucks when there are 1 or 2 people on a team with a mic and no one is communicating and everyone is just running around. Luckily, in CoD games, this type of approach can work unlike in other team-orientated games like Battlefied: Bad Company 2 where it's very hard to run and gun and also pull out a win. That's one game I'd say takes the crown over any CoD game. Yes, I said over ANY CoD GAME.
Game Spot Score: 9.0 (Editor's Choice)
Critics Score: 8.8 (65 Reviews)
User Score: 8.3 (4,900 Votes)
My Rating: 7.5
Happy Gaming!
GeNiO
Let me first start off by saying I wasn't exactly expecting too much from another war game from Treyarch as World at War wasn't exactly the best first person shooter (FPS) out there when it came out. I think I've mentioned it before, but I almost always play through the campaign once to get a feel for the controls, weapons, perks, gameplay, etc. before jumping into any online mode(s). I just want to touch on the campaign first real quick because I feel like it was one of the two things that I think are the better points in this game. Back when preview videos were still coming out and live gameplay at E3 was going before this was released I was intrigued by the small portion of campaign played and it really didn't disappoint when I got it in my own hands. I actually skipped over the option of getting it on its release date and had the "Hardened Edition" shipped to my house, which came with additional downloadable content (DLC) and a "Black Ops" medal. It was a pretty cool setup, but I think they should have focused more on the multiplayer than the appearance of everything else. I'd definitely recommend checking the campaign mode out at least once before, during, or after you jump into the multiplayer.
Now, on to the online play. Well, I can't really say much about this, but there are maybe a few things that Treyarch has added that would have really made Modern Warfare 2 a near perfect FPS war game. Having the currency system was a neat change instead of having to get to certain levels to obtain weapons, perks, kill streaks, etc., but I can do without all the extra garbage that you can purchase. It's nice to have, but not at all necessary and a total waste of space, time, and there could have been other better features added/removed/changed besides those extra unnecessary features. I did not like, however, how you had to get to a certain level in order to play Hard Core modes. I'm a HC-Only player and that was extremely disappointing and annoying. Luckily, I got the game a couple of days after its release and some of my friends just invited me in the HC modes. One thing I ABSOLUTELY hate is the "Last Stand" perk. If I'm putting 5 or 6 bullets into you, you're not getting back up to fire a pistol most likely and the way they animated the opponents to fall then get a pistol out is just completely idiotic. If you've played this game then you know what I'm talking about. It's just aggravating. As for the maps, some of them are okay, but I'm not too fond of the majority of them at this point. That's about it for the online play right now. I don't want to seem like I'm completely bashing it.
Let's not end this review on a negative note, so let's talk about ZOMBIES!!! Yes, Treyarch is well known for putting zombies in World at War and they've returned in this one as well. If you bought the special edition game, you received the 4 zombie maps from WaW so there's a little more replay value in there. I still feel as if Treyarch could have made the actual act of killing zombies more fun and gruesome, but they stayed the same as WaW and that was kind of a let down, but the gameplay is usually always fun to play.
If you don't like the online play, buy/keep this game for the campaign/zombie modes. Try harder difficulties for the campaign and try playing with different amounts of people (yourself, another friend, 2 friends, 3 friends). The key to these types of games is communication. I will personally vouch that if you have an average team, but a superior communicative team you will have a very good chance at winning. If you at least have one or two above average players and the superior communicative team then you're almost guaranteed a win. In sports they say "Defense wins championships." and that's quite true here because if you're playing defense (communicating where enemies are/where you get shot/die, communicating where enemy equipment like claymores are, watching your teammates' backs, placing claymores in strategic places, sharing care packages/emergency air drops, etc.) your chances of winning dramatically increase. Remember, COMMUNICATION IS KEY! Yes, this means you absolutely NEED A MIC! It sucks when there are 1 or 2 people on a team with a mic and no one is communicating and everyone is just running around. Luckily, in CoD games, this type of approach can work unlike in other team-orientated games like Battlefied: Bad Company 2 where it's very hard to run and gun and also pull out a win. That's one game I'd say takes the crown over any CoD game. Yes, I said over ANY CoD GAME.
Game Spot Score: 9.0 (Editor's Choice)
Critics Score: 8.8 (65 Reviews)
User Score: 8.3 (4,900 Votes)
My Rating: 7.5
Happy Gaming!
GeNiO
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