As a keen player of the gargantuan Call of Duty franchise, since the old CoD 2 days on PC, I heavily anticipated the release of this game. Sadly, with most things with great hype, they cannot live up to the expectation. Yes this game has sold millions upon millions of copies, but i feel this game does not have the same playability and style as previous CoD game, notably Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2.

Campaign

The campaign on Black Ops is better than a lot of people say it is. I like the mystery behind the storyline, and without giving much away, the ending was unexpected. Playing as the character Mason throughout (mostly) the campaign is helpful in defining the campaign. There are a variety of different missions in different terrains and environments, which have been included in the multiplayer maps. There are four difficulties ranging from recruit, for first time players, all the way up to veteran, where you will not survive. For the campaign i would give a rating of 4/5 as i throughly enjoyed the storyline and challenge of playing as Mason, and finding his fate.

Multiplayer

This is what the Call of Duty franchise prides itself on. Multiplayer. There are a variety of online game modes, were there are team or objective based games, as well as more individual game modes. As i mentioned earlier there are a variety of maps, ranging from Jungle , Arctic , Urban and Rural terrains. The maps are OK, not better than previous installments of the game. there seems to be an awful number of positions were a team can gain an unfair advantage, and annoy me or any other player in the process. The guns are great, there are very usable Assault rifles, SMG's,LMG's and Sniper rifles, as well as the ever frustratingly over-powered shotguns. The ability to progress by "ranking up" allows you to gain new guns, perks and attachments through their new and rather annoying "COD Points" system. You earn these points by playing well in online games.

Zombies

This is a highlight of the game. The three zombie maps already on the game, "Kino der Toten" , "Five" and "Dead Ops Arcade" are extremely addictive and fun, to play with a group of friends or simply solo. The aim of these types of games is to kill the zombies round by round, as they get stronger and more of them appear (My personal record is round 35, not bad may i add). Through the Xbox Live service there is downloadable content which at a cost of MS Points, depending on what you download, which allow you to get two newer Zombie maps, Ascension and Call of the Dead, as well as additional online multiplayer maps, such as Station or Berlin Wall.

Overall this game is not bad, but not particularly good either. The strong campaign is surprisingly not backed up by the rather annoying and weak online multiplayer. As ever the extra Zombies mode really gives an added fun bonus.