Quick look at the review: Conclusion: Wish i had not purchased this, it certainly shouldn't cost $60 and it was a big let down Pro: Story line was engaging Cons: A quick summary if you dont want to read below: Graphics are the same but run worse (ya i don't get it either, go figure) Shorter than the first, took me 4 hours 20 minutes to beat on Hardened collecting all but 2 pieces of intel.
Multiplayer is buggy and laggy, constant kicks, crashes, disconnects make it close to unplayable.
for $60 you get a poorly made expansion that will let you down.

Now I'll explain it a bit more for those who want to know my reasoning

The graphics of the game are the same as the first, It looks the same, nothing new, if anything i almost feel like they pushed the bar even less. Really no moments that are visually stunning. Given that somehow they've managed to make it run less efficiently. During my setup for single player graphics i experienced instense lag, my screen would flash yellow and i had to lower the settings down on AA AASA. At this point the game still had moments of extreme choppiness though i could play with the settings further because of the poorly done menu. Every mutliplayer game i've joined has people lagging out or crashing because of graphical issues. I run a Nvidia 480GTX, Quad-core Intel, 8GB of ram and I STILL get lag in this game (yes i have the latest drivers). The game play is the roughly the same as the first but it feels less fluid, the AI does nothing but get in the way the entire time, you basically feel like your just running through a movie and only you down know the script. You end up having to kill everything you see as your AI squad members really dont do anything except follow their scripts. In this game they've simply reused what they had and spent even less time on making it feel "epic" and even less time on the menu system of the game which at this point its so PC unfriendly that it makes me want to cry.

The list of complaints tends to drag on but over all the fact that this was a $59.99 for an even shorter game than the first, using the same engine, same everything is really just criminal. I regret spending my $60 for something that should have been in the $30 price range as an expansion.

To the Critic's that have reviewed this. Did you even play Modern Warfare 2? How can people even suggest that this "tops" that? You had to crawl through a trench under heavy machine gun fire in front of the WHITE HOUSE in the first one, nuclear war, defending the homeland they managed to hit every button to get people to connect with their game. The story of this game is a giant flash back, that has nothing to do with us, and lets just say the ending was a joke.… Expand

I'm sorry I bought this game. I've never been a big fan of the campaign but I have always loved the multiplayer of the COD franchise. But I felt this multiplayer lacks when compared to the previous titles. The graphics look worse than MW2, and the game play is EXACTLY the same. They added a few new killstreaks and call it a NEW game? The maps are small and boring, and I refuse to pay 800-1200 Microsoft points to get new maps when they come out. Overall I wish I could have my 60 bucks back. I hate when major titles change developers, it ruined the Final Fantasy series and now the COD series. Bottom line.... Black Ops effin' lame.… Expand

Most people buy this game for the online play. The truth is that Black Ops is a failure for multiplayer use.
Lobbies are never synchronized....leaving huge gaps in aiming and target hit markers. Often times you can be killed without ever having actually been in view of the enemy. The spawns are horrible. Enemy players can sit where you will spawn in front of them, allowing them to shoot you without a chance of even getting one step taken. Poor design and a waste of money. I will NEVER buy a Treyarch game again.… Expand

This game is pathetic. I'd say it was a let down but I didn't expect much. The only reason I play COD is because it's ally m friends play for weeks after it comes out. I hate that the COD franchise is the flagship of gaming. It' such a disgrace and i miss the days when good games were what brought people to gaming. Not this junk that gets spit out in front of it that is always the same game with new skin and a new title. I mean look at halo. In every sinlge one of their new games, they made leaps and bounds and pushed their limits. Even someone who doesn't like halo has to admit that the games are very different from one another and the graphics are at least always upgraded from the previous installment, unlike this game. Don't waste your money. I don'tlike anything in the cod franchise other than number 2, but if you really want a copy of black ops, just take a sharpy, write black ops on the cover of your modern warfare 2 case, and scratch the disc a little so it doesn't run as smooth. And bam, you just got your very own copy of black ops for free.

Whole franchise is whack as hell.… Expand

This doesn't surprise me, since I saw it coming for a long time. Long story short: Black Ops is practically the same thing as MW2. I hated MW2. So, why should I be surprised?

Single player is horrible with same generic linear gameplay trying to tell a strory, but it falls in horrible ai and lazily scripted event with not even close ot enough triggers to make gameplay fluent and ai teammates to feel real. This is which breaks the flow of the game and cant really get into it no matter how hard i try. Same problems still exist to every cod game after COD2. Teammates keep emptying clips at visible opponents without actually killing anything until player finds the trigger which gets the teammates to move forward.

Multiplayer is very normal cod quality though making snipers unusable makes the game faster which is better in arcade shooter like this. The new game modes are fun but not enough to merit buying this if you already own mw1, bc2 or even mw2.… Expand

All this game feels like is that Treyarch is getting a piggy back ride from Infinity Ward. The game still feels of the old eras like World At War and it still feels like they have taken everything from infinity ward and added in a few more things here and there, personalized it and called it a game. When in reality, they add remote controlled toy cars, guided rockets, flame throwers and more unbalancing, unrealistic items to the game. In my opinion the design in these games and even the graphics seem somewhat... Stale. Treyarch has gone way down in my expectations and I won't be buying a game from them, and yes even if it has a very successful name above it like 'Call of Duty'... Over hyped, overrated and took way too much credit where simple indie developers deserve better.… Expand

Total waste of money. Just like they added new maps and crappier skins to MW2. Stick with MW2 and save your money. They should ditch Treyarch, they are killing the series softly.

It is hard to know where to start with this game, due to it's massive failings and the new things it brings to the Call of Duty franchise.

Graphically it is not even as detailed as Call of Duty 4, with chunky objects not smooth ones, washed out colours, really blurred textures. In fact the only models that have anywhere near enough detail are the guns and the players, everything else (explosions, cars, walls, crates, buildings) should look far better than they do. I would compare it's graphics to COD 3, another one of Treyarch's feeble creations.

To constantly see people saying how good the graphics are leads me to believe that the reviewers/general people, have never played COD4 or COD MW2. To say the graphics compare to Modern Warfare 2 is near blasphemy, and also incredibly ignorant. (My earliest COD purchase. Black Ops was my first title in the COD series developed by Treyarch, however I have played COD 3, 5 and obviously own Black Ops.) Looking back at COD 2, the graphics there are almost on par with Black Ops, at least online that is. However Let's be realistic, how many people seriously bought Black Ops for the campaign mode?

The Music in Black Ops is suitably atmospheric, however it never captures the mood anywhere near a similar level to Modern Warfare 1 and 2, such as the epic finales of both games. As such it never renders any real level of connection with the character, unaided by the fact that the voice of the main character (Mason) was clearly done by Sam Worthington i.e. Jake Sully (Avatar), Marcus Wright (Terminator Salvation), Perseus (Clash of the Titans). This makes the game feel fake, and whilst the voice acting itself is good, the whole lot never meshes together fluidly, so you feel that you are an observer, nothing more.

Now comes the really disheartening part. As if the poor multiplayer graphics were bad enough, the game engine lends the title no favours. The aiming system online is poor. There is almost no response as to whether you are aiming at someone, movement feels clunky and jerky, aiming is not the best experience either, and neither is the damage calculation. Suffice to say that if you have taken any damage whatsoever, falling off a ledge more than your character model's height, pretty much results in instant death. The melee system hits almost 100% of the time, whether the other person was actually aiming at you or not, and the response time between pulling the trigger and the gun firing is very noticeable.

It feels like the game engine was also ripped straight from COD 3, and is so unrefined as to cause my Xbox to actually have to slow down. I have never had this problem on any other Call of Duty game I have ever played. Modern Warfare 2 runs flawlessly on my machine even after hours of play, whereas 10 minutes of Black Ops causes my Xbox to struggle even when there is no lag and I have a 4 bar connection. This is a major blow to the Call of Duty series, as Infinity Ward pride themselves in remaking the game each time they bring a new title out. Call of Duty 2 was well received and was one of the best FPS on Xbox for a long time. Call of Duty 3 barely even got mentioned, as it is basically the ugly sister: an unpolished, unfinished, unmotivated attempt at taking what Infinity Ward created and effectively cutting and pasting with a few lack lustre additions that negatively affect the game.

Conversely, Treyarch have consistently shown that they can take a ready made and highly refined game engine and produce a sub par end product. Read: COD 3, COD World at War, and now COD Black Ops. Everything that Modern Warfare 2 brought, Black Ops seems to have removed. Highly detailed graphics, Smooth running game engine, innovation and addition to the famous multiplayer Call of Duty experience, taking the best of COD 4, and improving on it. Except Infinity Ward made a whole new game engine for MW2, they didn't copy the COD 4 engine, unlike Treyarch, who did copy it for World at War and managed to produce a low quality product from something that originally was done so well.

Black Ops does bring new ideas to the Multiplayer area, such as the COD currency to buy perks, weapons, emblems, camoflagues etc. This could be refined slightly more, however as it is a new addition to the COD franchise, I will not be to picky about it, as it does work, and it is useful to stop everyone having the best weapons possible.

This however does not make up for s seriously lacking game. Single player is good for about 2 hours, and multiplayer is fine for however long it goes on being repetitive until you become bored. Should still be at the drawing board, not as a fully released title, especially not in the COD franchise. Treyarch continuing what they probably always will do....… Expand

ALLLLLLLLLL HYPE.


Farmer ate sucks , graphics far inferior than MW2 that came out a year ago, MP lacks excitement and oooomph, don't even get started on the sound effects, they're horrible , explosions go off with just a generic pop, you barely hear people shooting from 10 feet from you , on a big map you you never get to hear anything unless you're shooting, chopper gunner can be right on top of you killing you and you don't hear anything!!! I would not **** as much if the game was at least fluid , but it controls clunky and just like WAW!! They just used the same mechanics with new guns that's all! And since they used the same graphics engine from more than 2 years ago and they tried to add more detail they ended up making everything blurry it looks almost like you're playing in standard definition TV and also as a result causing the game's frame rate to constantly drop giving you a headache if you play too long. This is coming from a guy that has played previous installments to death and was very much looking forward to this one. I'm so angry and disappointED . I mean Activision should have the funds to make a graphics engine from the ground up and could have made the game run and look at least as smooth as MW2. Now we're stuck with a mediocre COD game until who knows!!!!!… Expand

Wow all I can say is that the single player in Black Ops is a huge disappointment. I agree that the story is good and I enjoy the fact that the main character is re-living the memories of what happened. But that is where is kind of ends for me. The graphics are not good and I am being gentle with that description. The collision detection is horrendous. I don't know how many times I have been stuck to the wall, a brick on the ground, or one of my own idiot partners. The constant spawning of enemies and grenade spamming is ridiculous. I would like for a little more reality when I am in a situation and people keep showing up from out of nowhere. Tossing smoke grenades is absolutely useless. I have been killed every single time I have tried to employ the strategy of using a smoke grenade to clear a room or hallway. It is as though the enemies have heat vision. I can't vouch for any part of the multiplayer as that is not my bag but I can tell you that Treyarch really lacks the know how when it comes to making a great single player experience. I had these same exact issues with WaW. I really do not recommend playing the single player. The 4 hours it took to play through Medal of Honor was more fun than this piece of garbage.… Expand

Yet another dissapointment hyped up pile of yack. Really (although it won't happen) we need to boycott these rubbish developers and stop buying thier sub par graphics and gamplay. As already mentioned it's like playing a game from 6 years ago with glitchy textures to boot, waste of money.

Poor Sound, Bad Graphics awfully Buggy and laggy. On PC this game is shockingly bad. Taking it back for a refund. Activision should be ashamed.

Many of the good reviews are I think for xstations and wiiboxes. Of course it will probably seem better on those since the graphics are locked in and its doubtless less buggy.

Do you like the enemy spawning 2 feet behind you after you kill them, then spawning 2 feet behind them after they kill you? If so, this game is perfect for you!

The reviewers obviously just see the cod logo and say ten. if any of them spent more than 10 minutes on they game they would realise how broken it is. it is nigh on impossible to play more than one game in a row in the same lobby and pretty difficult just to get into a game. once in a game you then get to the real heart of the problems. if you manage to get into the game without being kicked out you will soon find yourself killed instantly by an impossible to avoid claymore or camped by someone sat in a corner with a motion sensor covering an objective. all this is ignoring the awful graphics as i am a big believer that aslong as the gameplay is sound graphics don't matter but to say they are sub MW2 is an understatement. from what is one of the biggest games of the year i find this a great dissapointment. Between the small frag friendly maps and the awful RC-XD i find it hard to continue playing this game. But the game does have a few game changing features one of which is the split screen multiplayer which keeps me from going back to MW2 the far superior game. aswell as the split screen we get wager matches which while i do not see them as better than normal game modes are a nice distraction. finally the theater mode is good as it allows you to save any of those wow moments.… Expand

Campaign pretty good: 7 out of 10
Multi player: 2 out of 10 i was expecting a lot more i just feel like i own this game already. (MW2) 60 bucks to play MW2 again?...
zombie mode is a sweet addition though

It's another call of duty game, save your money and put it toward something good. The graphics look like a N64 game. The game play is terrible being a call of duty game that was pretty much a given. The on-line is still completely broken and cheaters are everywhere. This is a complete waste of money and I truly feel sorry for anyone who wastes there money on such a poorly developed game.

My main complaint is Graphics. Why release a new game in the series when it actually looks a lot worse than the last installment? Treyarch failed to deliever good looking game. I just played CoD4 and it actually looks better than this game. And I'm not even talking about MW2. Just look at those gun models! They look cheap, the same as WaW! Not recommending that game to anyone.

I remember my first Call of Duty experience, fighting in the pacific, thinking "Wow, its really unique how these Japanese forces rush you so aggressively." Then as the years wen't by, I realized that this wasn't a unique take on island warfare but simply how every single AI in COD games operates.

Then I played MW2, and fell in love. You felt free to act, and on veteran, the game was still challenging. The worlds were large, and the enemies didn't re-spawn to infinity. This allowed you to actually be creative in your strategy, instead of tunneling. You could fall back, flank, snipe, or rush. Level design facilitated all strategies and the AI responded. Some levels set up better for different strategies, but the important thing is that it felt organic. When players died, they felt they could do something different--that they had control.

A majority of the positive reviews for this game focus on its numerous improvement over other Treyarch offerings, which is a valid statment. The graphics, story, voice acting, and music are a step up, as well as the addition of some "cool moments," and extras like Zombies. However, there are serious problems that get brushed over. I feel like multilayer issues have been covered. So this review will tackle single player.

On easier difficulties, it does seem fluid. The fundamental problems only express themselves at the more difficult settings. This is largely due to the fact that Treyarch uses infinite enemy spawns to compensate for poor, predictable level design and sub-par AI. Eventually you realize that besides a few "cool" roller-coaster moments type moments--fun but there's only one track, most of the game consists of a long corridor or enclosed "box" with predictably placed pieces of cover. Yes, you are in a box. Even though there are things going on outside the "box" and the graphics seemingly connect them, you cannot interact with them. Visually its a large world; in practice it's claustrophobic. Enemies advance mindlessly in single file from the back of the cover to your position, eventually charging recklessly from the last piece of cover. To "kill" them you need to toss smoke grenades, sprint past some imaginary line, and hunker down. If you get unlucky and get shot in the face, prepare to live the last 5 minutes of your life over and over again.

Lets be frank--in the early versions of the game, this was a necessity because of inherent technical limitations. The "box" existed because large interactive environments weren't possible. The endless spawns were needed because AI was terrible. It was necessary to have smoke grenades because these other compensations made certain configurations of enemies and cover frustrating. Purists might say "This is Call of Duty," but how many other games get bad marks for refusing to innovate from their predecessors?

In Black-Ops it feels like you just got unlucky playing the exact same interaction over and over again in the only way possible to play it. More specifically, it feels like you are forced to engage in the same interaction, requiring the same strategy with the same probability of success again and again. You are bound to get unlucky and die, even doing the right thing. When you do, unpredictable load points reward you with the with the same set of identical interactions and identical solutions.

Throw smoke and run into it seems like a poor mechanic after a while. In IW games you throw smoke to get a tactical advantage, get a way, or provide temporary cover to move to a new position. In Treyarch games, you do it because its the best way to stop infinite spawns. The former feels immersive, the latter feels like band-aid for poor game design.

Halo got a lot of crap for repeated area designs, but at least there were multiple ways to attack each situation. As Bungie put it, it was the same â… Expand

What the hell happened to this game! It used to be greatness on a disc now itâ

................................more of same......... single player sucks, Multiplayer sucks, graphics sucks, Treyarch sucks...................................

Im really disapointed but at the same time i feel sorry for treyarch considering they have had some big shoes to fill against infinity ward but starting with the good stuff the online experience is very good different and most of the maps are decent and being able to buy your perks and guns through cp is agood idea too. Now the bad stuff... the campaign was average a good story but the same epic feel i get when i play modern warfare 2 and cod4 their was something more special about the feeling when you play with soap cpt price etc. u feel more inrolled with the game, at lot of first person shooting with very very little vechile control included which is the right to go with call of duty unfortunately treyarch included a lot of vechile controlled missions which i hated. There was tooo many way to many epic moments in black ops and i felt as though the game was doing most of those moments for me especially the ending and i was feeling more and more like i just wante to know the ending and thats it. whereas MW2 their was an objective the whole way and 1 twist in Sheppard turning againt you i was building more and more excitement towards the endand the ending itself in MW2 was really well done with nikoli and price expertly leading onto mw3. I think and really hope that infinity ward make the next mw3 because they know best.… Expand

With a single-player campaign that, thanks to the frequency of cut-scenes and barely-interactive "action", Black Ops hardly qualifies as a videogame, and certainly represents a retrograde step even from the original Call of Duty. With a confused multiplayer suffering from featuritis and a lack of variety or coherence in its maps this is an inferior deathmatch experience to Modern Warfare or Modern Warfare 2, though the wager matches, particular One in the Chamber and Sticks and Stones add some interest. If this isn't the final nail in the coffin for the franchise, then they've at least measured-up the corpse.… Expand

I'm gettin tired of these contrived, senseless, and empty, new Call of Duty games since 2008. Black Ops is a lot worse than MW2. The game is just as unbalanced as ever, no character development, trying to put the JFK conspiracy. I don't have much to say on this this because the game is so small its not funny. It offers nothing new to shooters and this game just comes to show that Kotic will just eventually kill this once good franchise into dog **** Black Ops is so just... It's better World at War, but that's not sayin much. Call of Duty is just done. Long live a good franchise that once existed. My guess, we'll never see it ever again thanks to games such as Call of Duty: Black Ops.… Expand

I played this game for a couple of hours........incedible letdown.....same old same old......graphics are actually WORSE than MW2......rinse repeat.....UGH!....Battlefield Bad Company 2 craps all over this......

This game sucks. Seriously. I returned it within 2 days. NOT FUN. Back to medal of honor, or Halo reach for me. This is a big step back for the franchise. DUMB!

Graohics and game play are early 2000. The game is totally abysmal when compared to such titles as crysis and mafia ii. It feels as if the game reviewing industry sold out its reader base. I have no other explanations for the rave reviews it got from such sites as GameSpot. Watch out - don't waste your money on this title.

really enjoyed the single player, i would advise anybody who likes cod to rent it and play the single player, but they ruined the multiplayer, its not even close to as mw2 or cod4, its just like waw but slightly updated. the snipers are almost usless, the maps are shocking in general. even zombies isnt as good as in waw. this is the last treyarch cod i buy.