this was biggest surprise of 2011 for me. this game was best story by far. woods and resnov are great supportive actors. mutiplayer was fun but its not really my thing.

It's all right I guess. There is more hype than fun with this game. I seriously do not see what's so fantastic about this game. It's a C at best. The campaign is boring. I didn't finish it. The multiplayer's probably the best thing about it

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a good first person shooter, It's a bit too similar to what has come before in the Call of Duty franchise but if you can get past that fact then you will find an action packed story, and some of the most addictive multiplayer out there, along with the great zombies co-op survival mode, This is a package that will give you tons of playtime, This was the last call of duty I played as I was starting to get bored of the franchise and therefore I skipped more recent entries, But overall Black Ops was a fun multiplayer game, It's not perfect but it's good enough to recommend, However if you are looking to join in on the Call of Duty franchise, You may be better off going for one of the more recent entries in the franchise where there are more active players.… Expand

What a Horrible game, this game, blops 2, and Mw3 RUINED the COD series and could never be the same. This can show that a company cant even spice it up a bit, with Blops 1 and 2.. they both have graphics and engines. They both suck. Dont BUY.

This game will always be a top game in my selection. This game is still fun to this day! I even like it a little better than BO2. Lets start with the campaign. The campaign had one of the best stories a Call of Duty could ever have. Characters are awesome and it really builds suspense, it also has a good length to it. Mulitplayer is amazing! The maps are well detailed and good sized. Has plenty of guns and equipment to chose from and aren't too overpowered. I like the fact that you can actually see the character. Zombies is by far the best mode in the game. Its challenging and fun if you play with your friends (Dont play online, people can get annoying). Also the map packs are awesome too! This is an awesome game worth buying… Expand

I am someone who went straight from CoD 4 to Black Ops, and let me tell ya, this game is TERRIBLE.

Call of Duty: Black Ops is VERY repetitive and takes no skill. The developers did not try at all to add variety to the game. It got so boring.

I still cant believe im playing this it is such an addicting game,with a great multiplayer and not bad campaign.
I highly respect this game and enjoy playing it for hours and hours

u shuld get call uv dooty blac cops too becuz its teh most epic gaem i hav evar plaid n u shuld play it to. teh releaz uv dis gaem iz proably teh gratist step mankind haz evar taykin. if u dont play this gaem, then ur probaly just a huge nurd who plays stoopid gaems liek wurld uv warcrap.

The game provides exactly what fans of COD would come to expect. The maps are interesting enough and zombies mode is a blast. The SP campaign is ok, nothing revolutionary. The mix of modern and cold war era weapons is fun. The flaws here are server issues and the overpriced DLC.

This was the first mediocre CoD game introduced to the franchise for me. It barely changes a thing from MW2, and the game just looked and felt terrible. I grew to like the game a little more as I progressed, especially with the improved and interesting Zombies mode, but it was still just an average game with many flaws for me. The weapons were really lazily created by the developers, with a lot of 'clone' weapons of just copy/pasted statistics but with a different skin. Famas was also overpowered beyond proportion. The technical optimization on this game was also executed horribly. They did fix quite a few problems with previous games in the series though, so I'll give them a point for that. But then again, they've just spawned some entirely new problems of its own. Overall, a 'meh' game with a few extra selling points, but still nowhere up to the standard of previous instalments in the series. Disappointment.… Expand

*UPDATED REVIEW* Call of Duty: Black Ops has a surprisingly better storyline/plot than the other games with a few surprising twists along the way, but the game is brought down low by it's ugly graphics, not feeling like a period game when it actually is and a lack of cohesion.

call of duty black ops is really funny! because it says stuff like this. gotta kill more freak bags first. but it says bad words. and has blud.

Pepole there's nothing new here!!!! In fact the game should be called Call Of Duty Old Ops. Did activision took me for an idiot? YES!, am i an idiot?? SOMETIMES, but not in this one!
Multiplayer IT'S OKay. Story is boring, gameplay its good,i mean, it have worked in the past so copy/paste. Fun for some short moments. Not worth the money. Get it used and sell it again. 3 points only for multiplayer.… Expand

This game overall is a pretty good game and had some good ideas such as gun game but the servers were inconsistent and the guns shot paper bullets half the time. its more like a 7.5

Black Ops was a good comeback for Treyarch, having lived in the shadows of Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare series. With plenty of fast-paced action and awing scenes, you will likely find it hard to put the controller down until it is beaten. Aside from the campaign, there are challenges to master, and for most people, the main fun comes with the online multiplayer. One thinga bout Black Ops that is both a blessing and a curse is that it is very balanced. It makes multiplayer fairer, but for some, perhaps too fair. Snipers are supposed to kill, and bombs are supposed to dismantle- but that's not always the case. All in all, it is a great game if you are into shooters. It has a great story to go with it's badassery, and for it's time, well designed and polished.… Expand

Call of Duty: Black Ops makes history as the first call of duty to be set in the 60s during the Cold War and is the direct sequel to Call of Duty: World at War. Campaign plot: Alex Mason is being interrogated to give up the secrets of the numbers but has no idea what is going on. He begins recalling events leading up to his interrogation which help him remember what is presently happening. Zombies plot: After Rictofan manipulated the teleporters into time machines, they reappear in Hitler's private theatre where he has given speeches fighting off the undead horde, as well as John F. Kennedy, Secretary Nacramera, Fidel Castro, and Richard Nixon defending themselves from zombies in the Pentagon. Multiplayer: For the first time in Call of Duty history, players use an in game currency system called Cod points in order to purchase loadout options as well as killstreaks, and titles and emblems. Also for the first time in Call of Duty history players can play multiplayer game types against CPU controlled players. Players can also play wager matches which gamble their Cod points in order to attempt to raise their wealth. My opinion: this game is fantastic and really brings you back to the scary nuclear arms race of the Cold War. It is thrilling to take part in the vietnam war and take part in the bay of pigs, an attempt to assassinate Castro. Anyone interested in history should play this game as well as any fan of Call of Duty.… Expand

I was excited to try this after a lot of publications said it was way different than the past COD games, which I got bored with after modern warfare 2.
Sadly this is only partly true. The single player game has improve quite a lot, but the multiplayer/zombies stays essentially the same.

First the story is a ton better....I was actually constantly looking forward to the next part of the story. There is a huge amount of suspense built throughout the game because you know that **** is about to hit the fan with a America's drone force attacking itself. I usually dont like stories that jump around, but this works very well. Each level is completely different, varied, and in a different location...and you dont get lost within the timeline. It is cool how it allows you to make "Choices", but this feels like it wasnt built from the ground up....rather it was thrown in afterword because the different way of doing things seems tacked on. Some have said there is an open world element to the game....THIS IS NOT TRUE AT ALL...by open world they must mean a field surrounded invisible walls and only 2 routes to take. This is not open world and actually makes the game worse. Scripted sequences have always made the COD games stand out for action movie-like breathtaking sequences....but I think its time to move on. Yes, some of the scripted sequences within gameplay make for great parts, but many times it feels like my skill/shooting/moving abilities dont even matter because things are just flying by so fast and it feels that I would have survived, lets say a chase scene where you are shooting from the back of a truck , without even firing a bullet. Also for a scripted game, I dont understand why there are sometimes unlimited respawning enemies....I will be at a part in the game where I am constantly killing bad dudes, and they just keep coming, because I am unaware that I am supposed to move forwards....This especially gets annoying when you spend time killing an unknown number of buddies, decide to move up, than a random grenade lands at your feet or your hit by a mortar. The random deaths in this game from random greades really pisses me off,

The multplayer is disappointing. The pick 10 feature is the only good new feature. Everyone has heard the arguments about why COD multplayer sucks now, so I will just list a few brief complaints...
1. There is no concept of a "front line" in this game....you will be facing a direction or moving in a direction for 15 seconds, and then suddenly someone has spawned behind your team and kills you with you not even knowing they are there. I know this cuts down on camping, but there must be better ways...I shouldnt have to keep looking behind at an area I just cleared.. FLANKING SHOULD BE A TEAM STRATEGY, not a spawning coincidence 2. First to be seen dies....there is really no point in aiming at heads because all the guns fire 100 bullets a second, and have no recoil....many people dont know that in console games there is a slight auto-aim in shooter games when your cursor gets close to a target. This is fine in games like Halo where you have time to dodge or take cover, but a slight auto aim with 1000 shots per seconds, 2 hit deaths, and shots going thru all walls, makes this game just plain stupid. ALL YOU DO IS SEE SOMEONE, SHOOT, AND IF YOU HAVE A FASTER FIRING GUN...YOU WIN! I realize that this game takes fast reaction time and reflex time, but I dont have that accuracy with my thumb...with a mouse I do, so it makes it so little teens with no IQ who only play COD ever have a chance of winning. You cant outsmart them because there is no way or time to....they see you first, you die, and they are probably behind you spawning in an area you just were in. It would be nice if there was any difference in the guns like in counter-strike GO....I mean I suck at that game on consoles because I dont have an accurate thumb from only playing COD all day, but I am amazing on PC...but atleast in that game there is actual RECOIL with the guns, and certain ways to shoot them...In this game you just aim in general direction and hold down bullet. I will admit that the multiplayer is addicting and a bit fun, but no other game makes me so angry. Its fun for awhile, but if I play multiplayer for more than an hour I am depressed and angry as ****....Battlefield 3, halo, counter-strike I would be having fun after an hour.. Overall. If you like modern warfare and black ops story, you will like this games single player a lot. Best story/characters/suspense/variation yet. If you hated most the other games single player story.characters then there is actually a chance you will like this. I you dont like call of duty multiplayer. you wont like this. If you like COD multiplayer, you will like this.

Story = 9.2
Graphics = 6.3
multiplayer = 6.5
Replay = 8
Sound = 7.5
Originality = 6… Expand

If you or your kid have been diagnosed with ADHD (Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or Kalnienk vision disorder this game is designed especially for YOU ! This is not the Black Ops game you were hoping for... This is Super Turbo Edition ! Treyarch came to the conclusion medium size maps are boring and not engaging enough.Play area has been shrinked significantly (on most of the maps) to accommodate extremely engaging close quarters play-stile of spawn chuck a grenade and then either kill something or get killed by whatever flew out of opposite side. Every map has been build around simple principle of tiny area and 3 corridors to flow the gameplay in the middle left and right side. I dont care about single player or will be talking about it but I assure you its Michael Bay style showcase from killing Vietcong soldiers, wing-suit flying all the way to some idiotic command and conquer RTS style mini-missions 0_o why ? I don't know... and YES ! There is dubstep, because every game in 2012 needs some of that wub wub. The only redeeming factor could be zombies, but why would you be willing to pay full price for it when there are more engaging brain eating themed games available for a lot less (L4D series) So far I've spend 5 hours in online battles and had no fun at all ! I'll try to sell this game by the end of the week or trade with somebody for something else. Meantime I'm going back to battlefield, maybe I won't have shiny 60 frames per second but at least game is not forcing me to have fun doing escapades inside rat maze size of a shoe box !… Expand

It all comes down to connection issues and lag comp. When the game plays well, it's incredibly fun. When it doesn't, it tests your frustration and temper during the wild inconsistencies due to being half a second behind other players. What you see and do on your screen doesn't seem to matter.

Overall, they've taken the best parts of Black Ops and the worst parts of MW3 and combined them into this game. Treyarch had the chance to really distance themselves and make a fresh superior game. This isn't it. But hell, at least it's better than MW3, but just barely.… Expand

I have to say that this title is the definitive Call of Duty of the series. I have played every Call of Duty since its release and this is the only one that I return to time and time again for a game of multiplayer. It has been released 2 years now and I still find myself having a game at least twice a week. A true classic in my opinion and Activision will never repeat the success of Black ops with any of its future releases.… 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

The weak and twitchy single-player - with many of the same old flaws - almost undermines all of the superb extra features and pretty much flawless multiplayer offering. Veterans and regular players still have the advantage over newcomers, but with Combat Training and the Zombie mode, there is plenty of fun to be had for even the most inexperienced players. Black Ops isn

This is my first XBox 360 review, as the only reason I had one was for Halo and COD games. For the most part I am now a 100% PC gamer, but I did at one point have 360 and this game. I have to say that I did enjoy it and I do like it better than Modern Warfare. The multiplayer in Black Ops is more solid, better guns, better maps, more realistic perks. Modern Warfare was alright but the followups were flops and currently the series has kind of fizzled out, COD: BO2 might change that. XBox Live IMO is much better than PSO but if I had to pick between the 2 it would be hard because the PS3 looks much better. If your a FPS fan at all, I believe this series is a must have, but I will now be moving to the PC for Black Ops 2.… Expand

The singleplayer campaign of the game is pretty solid and has some nice twists and turns, but it would have been nice if the story were changed so that you wouldn't be playing through flashback. What makes the game shine is the multiplayer and zombies mode. Zombies is ambitious, engaging, challenging, and a ton of fun. Multiplayer is hugely addicting. Honestly, I've had more fun with the multiplayer in BO than in any other CoD game.… Expand

I don't think black ops is not the best cod and i'm not really looking forward to black ops 2. Got to admit black ops had one of the best campaigns, easily in my top three. Multiplayer really sucked, i hated it. Zombies is good and all but is nowhere as near as good as WaW's. Campaign 9/10 Multiplayer 4/10 Zombies 7/10 Call of Duty Black Ops 6.5/10

The singleplayer was a masterpiece, the zombie mode was extremely fun to play, the multiplayer was a let down, the connection errors were always appearing, and it just wasn't as fun to play as other call of duty games, it seemed too dull.

While the single player was somewhat disappointing, the multiplayer and zo mbies made this game solid. Treyarch should be making the next cods instead of infinityward.

Despite what some people may say. This is not the best Call of Duty game. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 had the best levels. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare had the best story. Call of Duty World at War had better zombie levels. So all that makes this Call of Duty game worse than all the others that we have seen recently. Their is one good level on Black Ops, Nuketown. That's the only level that can compare with Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2's map such as: Iraq, Airport, and the first one's Overgrown. I have to say that Black Ops may add the most diversity ever seen from a Call of Duty game but some features like the emblem creator take away from the game play. This is how the emblem works. You are playing a match and you seem some cool looking emblem that looks like a perfect pokeball, alien, Eric Cartmen, or whatever; then you see three more of each of them. O Wait.. That means that looked it up on YouTube. Before you know it everyone is running around with the emblem. In MW2 players had to earn them; like my favorite one where you had to get 500 kills with the Rpg. People end up relying on YouTube when they want to out perform someones emblem. The games story makes you say what the hell until the last level. That's were you say "ooo..okay.. now I know what is going on." In the others you knew exactly what was going on weather it was a nuclear threat or you trying to stop the Germans. Some people may not know but some characters that were in Black Ops were in World at War. The zombie levels are not as good as World at War because their are special zombies now. If I wanted to play against special infected I would play Left 4 Dead 2. I don't want things crawling on the floor impairing my vision. The dogs are okay because it is well known when they are coming (lightning strikes everywhere). I also did not like how you can no longer look into the sky and figure out where the mystery box is. I loved being able to get a good gun in World at War, unlike Black Ops where you are stuck using your pee-shooter. Despite the qualities of this game that I don't like, their are a few good things. Bullet in a Barrel is lots of fun on Nuketown, Deathmatch is fun on Nuketown as well, all the other game modes are a lot of fun on Nuketown (I like Nuketown). Too bad you can only play Nuketown twice in a row before you are forced to vote for a different level which leaves you playing many levels that suck. With the confusing story, special zombies, and Nuketown!!!… Expand

Black ops is fun, but the campaign makes no sense. Besides the Campaign being confusing; you get to do a lot of cool things like fly a helicopter, ride a motorcycle, swim in a lake, and much more. Zombies can be really tough espeically by your self. It has cool guns like the Thunder Cannon. Co-op is really good. Black Ops has the first Co-Op Online Gameplay, so you can play split screen online. You can also go up against CPU charaters. While playing split screen in 'Mutiplayer' except for online you can get any gun, attachment and camo. Except for the Campaign this game is great.… Expand

A very bland game. This game is a copy of all the other call of dutys. Fail campaign and lame multiplayer..
everybody camps in corners. I suggest battlefield 3..

This is a game you have to get, it is a must buy. It has a great story, and outstanding graphics. The multiplayer is fun, and awesome. Zombies is great, the maps are awesome, my favorite is moon. This is a must buy people!

I will never buy a Call of Duty game made by Treyarch ever again. Sub-par campaign, horrific multiplayer, and the worst graphics i've ever seen. The only thing that i would prevent this from being an unrated review was the decent first 2 DLC packs.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. One of my favorite cods. The campaign is fantastic. The story is far different from cods typical war. It involves hallucinations of people and the images and sounds of random numbers into your head. The disturbing sight of your hand shaking and aiming a gun to jfk with a terrifying screaming in the background, or the multiple hallucinations in the second to last level as you stumble around an empty building as you realize one of your closest teamates was never really with you at all and had been dead for years. The mind bending story is not original, but its fun and different. The multiplayer is good and fixes many problems in mw2 involving balancing. No major flaws in my experience. It is trully an exciting and mind bending game.… Expand

To be honest i cant say i diddent have fun with the campain. It was pretty well made and had a nice cinematic flair. But there is where it falls flat it is just so generic and not super intersting. The mulitplayer is alwasys full of players that are willing to play with you if you enjoy this type of multiplayer Whitch i dont. I would try it out just for the pretty fun single player.

Again, I rate this game on it's two main features: campaign and multiplayer. Both have redeeming qualities one would expect from such a storied franchise. I rate the campaign a full 5/5 because I can honestly not find anything wrong with it. The story was amazing and unexpected, and kept you interested throughout. Graphics were good (if a little outdated on the engines part), and mechanics were just as good as they've ever been.

Online is a bit of a different story. I think the core online multiplayer deserves no more than a 1/2.5, because of severe synchronization problems. You can fire off an entire clip at an enemy and he will kill you with a single shot. When you look at it again in theatre, you aren't shown to be firing a shot. This shows that you are lagging behind the actual game time, and it can be a severe impediment in head to head battles. Sometimes, it works in your favor, but it's too big a factor to ignore.

Zombies is definitely a huge redeeming feature of this game, and for that it gets 2.5/2.5. One of the best 'swarm' style games I've played, and the innate black humour just makes it better. Weapons are amazing and the actual 'stories' behind the maps are engaging and sometimes downright hilarious.

My totals add up to an 8.5/10. Since metacritic only allows full number value ratings, I downgraded it to an 8, because I can't see a game with such an average multiplayer (main feature) being a 9/10.… Expand

Black Ops is the best COD ever. Thats still not saying much since I still only give it an eight, but when you compare it to anything that Infinity Ward has made, it is amazing. The Campaign is kind of silly, but fun. Zombies is amazing as always, and multiplayer is really balanced and overall, good.

This is the best COD ever , zombies is an absolute treat and overall the game is absolutely miles better than Modern Warfare.Treyarch simply put much more work into games and it is worth the money you pay , unlike with MW3

Black Ops was an interesting experience. I enjoyed the campaign, it actually was enjoyable, made sense, and had somewhat of a coherent plot. This game was well made and well thought out. Multiplayer is amazing! Recommend this game out of any CoD game out there!

The worst call of duty to date the controls are sloppy the graphics are awful the story line is boring and online is the same thing everytime. all the guns feel as though they do the same thing and the unbelievably unfair perks ruin online even for the people who are great at this game. The only thing really good about this game is figuring out the zombies hidden storyline

Decent game, the best Call of Duty for a very long time, with many mods, and fun to play with friends. I recommend it, specially if you have friends to play with, just get prepared for some occasional raging moments because of some lag/connection issues, but its variety of modes make up for it. Piece out!

masterpiece, amazing maps, zombie mode returns in stunning fascion, campaign was OK, to scripted for me..even for cod but the multiplayer is right up there with cod 4.

This is the best Call of Duty yet. It is diverse and balanced compared to any other one, and everythign about it is fun, just bought MW3, it's nothing compared to this game

One of most horrible games at all time, the game campaign horrible, short and does not contain anything interesting, the online gameplay is stupid with children everywhere.

This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. The Thing about this game is that I enjoyed it but there are so many problems that its hard to fully immerse myself in the game. The campaign was just so linear and you had like no control over the events that I felt like I was just playing an interactive movie. It was cool the first few times, especially the part where I got to use a mini gun, and the part where I got to slide down a zipline brandishing a Mp5k from the hip. But that gets old, and honestly I would like to control my allies, or at least have a wider choices of ways to kill people. but not that's not possible because it wouldn't make it seem like a Michael Bay movie. Anyways the campaign took me 7 hours on normal to beat, probably because I am too careful and like to move up slowly, but that's just me. Anyways Zombies is flawless, but I got bored of it, so I don't play it unless a friend comes over. Multiplayer is where the money is, and I don't care what people say I love it, my only two complaints is that sniping is near impossible, and I hate Second Chance sooooo much hahaha. I love the intensity. I love the emphasis on killing people and rewards, and if that makes me a psychopath oh well. The style of gameplay is what I love, and that's why I liked multiplayer… Expand

Call of Duty : Black Ops isn't by any means flawless , but it is definitely a game that anyone who enjoys a solid campaign and a rewarding multiplayer experience should pick up .

Just bought this for £10 & what a waste of money, horrible gameplay , unimaginative ways of making the game hard (infinite enemy spawns, grenade spam etc) all meaning you cannot use your own strategy to beat it , I should have learned my lesson from waw... no more cod for me.

ZOMBIES!!!!!!!!! That is all I have to say on the matter... Everything else is just meh. I mean decent single player and the only enjoyable part of multiplayer are the wager matches that are tense and exciting. ZOMBIES, however, make it a great package!!

Well-made, balanced and works. But is that a good thing? For any other game, maybe. For Call of Duty, this is by far the most boring, least satisfying, easiest but technically the best. A robot might like it, but a human gamer will soon grow tired of yet another CoD which although adds new features, it still doesn't make the game exciting. However, if you asked me which shooter i'd be happy to play on the longest, it would definitely be this. Everything works well, and there are practically no flaws with multiplayer. Zombies are very well done (the default ones anyway), if not a bit too dark in Kino der Toten. Overall, the campaign is excellent and interactive, zombies is fun and multiplayer is arguably the best in all of CoD. What more could you ask for? The campaign is much better than MW2 and WaW, with more interactivity, more variety in level design, a new environment and great scenes, characters and storyline. It is a little too short, but still packed with epicness, from stealth to piloting gunships. The campaign is much more of an adventure- a journey- whereas the previous ones were more predictable and straightforward. As far as multiplayer is concerned, it's flawless. There are no imbalanced weapons or perks or attachments. If anything grenade launchers are underpowered. The weapons are still varied for differentp laystyles. There are many attachments, pro perks, balanced killstreaks and modes such as Barebones, where it's straight up gun on gun. Private matches are a lot more fun given the wealth of settings which can be tweaked. One can also save replays of recent games and store custom game modes in file share. Wager matches add a new facet to the multiplayer experience by allowing players to compete in three free-for-all game modes for CoD points (in-game currency). Although many dislike CoD points, it encourages players to try out new weapons and attachments when prestiging and yes, challenges don't unlock anything but pro perks anymore but this eliminates boosting- a problem which MW2 had. Any problems which MW2 had have been addressed, but Second Chance/Last Stand still remains albeit with the kill going to the player who put the victim in last stand. The maps aren't great but they're good enough and work well. the same playstyle can be applied to every map, but this and the addition of CoD points mean that the game is fair and equal for all. Black Ops has really modernised the franchise and brought it up to Halo levels of complete package with its new additions such as the complete stats tracking for weapons, kills, deaths, leaderboards, score, killstreaks- EVERYTHING IS TRACKED. Understandably, people are sick of CoD franchise in general so it has low ratings, but as a game, this is by far the most modern and polished Call of Duty game yet in all aspects.… Expand

The only thing that saves this game from complete failure is the Zombies mode. Treyarch developers are great at the whole "copy and paste" game. Come up with some more original ideas and then maybe you could be considered a good developer like your big brother IW was before they lost West and Zampella.

Not the biggest fan of this game. I basically bought it for the Zombie mode in it, which is off the chain in my opinion. I enjoyed how the multiplayer was designed to encourage continued play and leveling up by having so many minor achievements that could earn you points as you played, but overall the multiplayer lobby system was such a failure that it is almost unplayable for me. Constantly getting kicked out of lobbies because the host could not be migrated is simply inexcusable. Same thing in the zombie mode multiplayer lobby, which is an even bigger problem, since sometimes you'll find the good fortune to find everyone else having a mic in your lobby, then you get kicked out and have to wade through all the other mic-less goofballs out there who seem to think that they can be Rambo and survive without communication with the rest of the group. Single Player campaign had a lot of "explosive" moments that fell short of any emotion or awe-inspiring feelings to me. I actually struggled to finish single player mode, and not because it was too difficult; it was too BORING!! I might be alone in this feeling, as most of my friends disagree with me on this, but there you have it. I recommend buying this game only if you are ready to shell out the extra 30+ dollars to download and play the zombie maps, which are very very fun to me, although I feel raped after looking back and seeing how much I payed for them all... Well, not really, but it's still a complete rip off, despite the fun that can be had from playing them. This game gets a 5 from me ONLY because of the zombie mode. Not worth the full retail price for the game; I wish I had waited until it cost less, about 30-40 dollars less to be more exact.… Expand

Good game, not inovative at ALL, but still a good game. Nice story (only 5 hours, if you don't know it) and great multiplayer. Zombies mode is cool. But, you know, as I said, not inovative at all, same CoD stuff. But way better than MW3.

black ops is OK. it's not that bad, but it isn't that good either. I enjoyed zombies, which most people didn't. The online mode was OK. Some maps were great like Firing range, Nuketown, and WMD. But some were unoriginal. But that's just me.

It is very much fanboyism around infinity ward who took the series out of the second world war and brought it to modern day. However Blackops has a great story line and according to me a much better multiplayer then MW2 without a million tons of crap flying in the air. all respect to Blackops.

Honestly at first all I did was compare this to MW2. I truly hated this game for quite a while. Eventually I actually went back to MW2, and could not stand it. I then realized this game is quite simply amazing. The graphics exceeded the predecessors, and so did the game play. I now compare MW3 to this one, and without a doubt the multiplayer in this game is still without a doubt better. This is honestly the best FPS I've ever played to this day.… Expand

Never Bothered with Single player, whats the point. They are all too short and usually suck anyway. Having played Modern Warfare and MW2 I thought I would pick this up... Graphically, It should have been a $15 XBOX LIVE download title. HUGE step in the wrong direction. Lots of cool options keep the multiplayer fun. Small maps keep the combat fast, but you are always in range of someone camping on the other side of the map. I was very disappointed when I bought it after hearing from friends and family how awesome it was, traded it in with in the 2nd week. I went back to playing the previous Battlefield. Maybe it could have been fun if I had never played a previous CoD game in the past, but like i said it looked awful and i felt like i had got shafted paying for an obviously dated add on to possibly an original xbox or ps2 game… Expand

A great addition to the Call of Duty series. I've had this game since day one, and I'm very pleased with it. the zombies mode is very fun and the campaign is original and exciting. Much rather play this instead of Modern Warfare 3.

Favourite COD to date. Got everything right, besides some unbalanced guns. (meh) Gives every type of player the ability to play how they want.. Very rushed based to! : ) When BO first came out I would have given it a 3 or 4. But after a year and seeing MW3's huge diappointment, I will give this a solid 10!! great game treyarch! hurry up with BO 2!!!

Call of Duty Back ops is a fun and very pretty game that has alot to offer. I am not a big fps guy or a big multiplayer player guy but I was satisfied by the amount put into this game. I like the little smash tv arcade style game as well as zombie survival even though I felt that since the main story was short they could have given us a single player story driven zombie game but that is just me. The graphics are good and kept be going in the game. I wanted to see what happen next and the production values we insane this game rocked.
+graphicsstorycontrolsubstanceplayability -short single player -depth of survival zombie mode. If you have a chance BUY this one and SKIP MW3 this is a better game.… Expand

For sure one of the worst Call of Duty -games released. I had my fun playing this game for a month and then I quit. Also, what's with the pointless amount of map-packs? And I don't understand why Treyarch tried to turn a Call of Duty -game into Battlefield. They took away the fun factor and tried to make it as realistic as possible. That just ruined the game! Although Theater Mode was a good invention.… Expand

True amazing experience online and offline.. now that mw3 has been released people will see how much off a good game this truly is!
Its cool to hate black ops , i cant think for one reason why !

Okay so there is veteran and then there is retarded. black ops decided to replace its veteran with retarded. i found myself scream at my television over the simple fact that Treyarch believes removing checkpoints from the game is fair under the idea that "because it's veteran we can make the game absurd." Treyarch already had enemy's on veteran that had 100% accuracy and could kill you in 5 shots now you have to go through areas that take 15 mins without a checkpoint that's retarded. story is interesting but gameplay will piss you off most of the time then none.… Expand

best of all the call of duty's 10 times better than mw3 rubbish keep up the good work treyarch hope you will be making another cod soon. im still playing it to this day awsome

Treyarch have out-done themselves,What an outstanding game, truly unforgettable. This game certainly show that Treyarch can deliver on the Call of Duty series. The Zombies maps were awesome and the Multiplayer and Single Player was fantastic. Nuketown is the best Multiplayer map I've ever played on any Call of Duty.

Love this game, and even more so since MW2.1 came out , Takes nothing away from this one, From Nuketown to Kowloon this one delivers high paced action....Multiplayer is a blast....don't listen to the haters. Just give it a few days you'll be hooked (I hated it at first) ....but I hate the killstreaks and quick scopeing BS, it's the only negative, and some maps are a bit small, otherwise good stuff!!… Expand

it needed a few fixes, it lacked coop missions a la special ops, but overall it's the best multiplayer experience so far. Worlds better than MW2 and universes better than MW3. Black Ops deserves praise.

A decent game for a cod fan, but if you dislike cod this game is **** The campaign was fun, its a mini campaign being about 6 hours long, but thats cod.It is kinda fun but it gets boring after a while.

I really enjoyed this game. The campaign is just ok. Multiplayer is very fun with a good mix of maps. Graphics seem great now that I have played MW3. I has a few minor issues but overall I would buy again

Okay. "Call of duty: Black Ops" is a game in a situation called "Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained". It's like copying MW2 into another CD and selling it back, except that it has different titles and more **** graphics. The zombies are the only stand-alone con that makes me play this game with my friends. Either than that, I'm ready to sell this ****

If there's anything I hate more than cats, it's hypocrites. Bear in mind that the following review is coming to you one day before the release of Call of Duty's next, and probably final, game, Modern Warfare 3. When everyone bought Black Ops, it was just about impossible to find someone saying, "Black Ops is **** in fact, I could hear nothing but glowing praise, praise that i'm inclined to agree with. But ever since around 3 months ago, it was like the entire gaming community turned on Call of Duty, and that's something that really pisses me off, because as far as i'm concerned, my fellow gamers all became the thing I hate most, Hypocrites. Review Starts Here. Campaign: While it maintains a lot less explosive, memorable moments than MW2, the plot of BO exceeds any previous expectations, I guarantee you'll play it through at least twice, probably once on Recruit and once on Veteran, and then there's all the achievements and intel, BO's campaign is some good **** Multiplayer: Since MW1, MP has been COD's undeniable focus, and with the exception of the less than loveable World at War, they haven't disappointed, the twelve mp maps that come with the game are the essence of variety and are endlessly playable, and to top it all off, a lot of the frustrations experienced in MW2 (Boosting, Butchering) have been majorly cut down, leaving only a manageable, minimalistic trace. Zombies: I guarantee this will have you coming back for months and months, survive for a.l.a.p against endless waves of the undead with up to 4 friends, buying new weapons and perks as you go along to compensate for the ever-increasing difficulty, Zombies mode is endlessly playable and undeniable fun, Black Ops' ace-in-hole. A must buy. ^The previous review was written three days after the release of Black Ops, but I decided to wait to publish it until now, and believe me when i say, I stick by every word to this very day… Expand

This game took a step back from MW2. The campaign can be fun, but isn't quite as epic as Modern Warfare 2 or even World at War. I don't like the currency system in multiplayer, or the decrease in the number of levels, but thats just me. I never really played Zombies much but on all accounts it's quite good. In the end, I just got tired of it and traded it in.

I made a new review , because I accidentally gave a 10 to this game when I meant to give this 4. It is the same Call of Duty and an interesting story. So the thing is rent it or not get it at all!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Campaign had a handful of bugs, which is too many. Heck, one bug is too many. The multiplayer would be alot more fun if it didn't constantly boot people out the party and glitch out so much. I love the modern warfare stuff, but black ops is underwhelming, and I'm glad that I waited till it was twenty something bucks on half.com to buy it. Otherwise, I'd be so pissed off and had a bad taste in my mouth about COD. They need to just make a zombie COD game and modern warfare 3 and that's it. Try something else.… Expand

You cod fans are trying to rate down bf3.. so I'm here to get back at chu all . AHAHAHAHAHHHHHAAAAAAAHHHHHHAHAHHAHAAHHAHAHHAHHAHHAHAHHAHHAHHAHHHA
AHAHAHHAHH

The game was good for at least 3 weeks when it came out but then the developers starting making map pack after map pack when one was just released their was just a "rumour" and "picture" of a new map pack which then made the game boring.

The guns in multiplayer feel weak and all the powerful ones are at a later level.
In my opinion the game isn't very good and I would suggest waiting for the new Modern Warfare 3… Expand

Quoted from my review of the PC version.
Daedra Oct 25, 2011 1 Oh you KNOW the **** drill about Post-MW games. The multiplayer is basically the same stuff as MW2, only with a WIKKID AWSOM new currency system. The only fun part about this is is the zombies, which is still rehashed from WaW. Zombies is the only thing saving this game from a zero.
I also forgot to mention that it uses a modified IDtech 3 engine, which has been out since 1999.… Expand

GOD DAMMIT, the biggest piece of crap i have ever seen, 12 year olds can make better games on gamemaker! The only reason it sells is because it targets brain dead monkeys. AHHHHHHH!

Call of Duty: Black Ops may not be as big of a hit as Modern Warfare 2 but it is still pretty good. The biggest thing about Black Ops is it's story, the story has a lot of heart and depth, unlike Modern Warfare 2's story. The story is actually memorable and so are the characters. However, this may be a falacy as with the action. The action is still good but it doesn't evoke an "whoa that was amzing!" type of feeling, it feels as if it has already been done but the story is still pretty good and it kept me interested, the voice acting and the sound are all stellar. The controls are like MW2's but that is all right because the controls are still really good. Zombies is a fun addition that keeps you playing and playing to get to higher rounds. However I wish that more types of zombies were put in like a beserker zombie or something, that would make Zombies more fun. The multiplayer experience of Black Ops is the bomb as the ability to choose your perks or gear is great, the addition of contracts makes the game all the more funner but I still see more improvements that can be made but multiplayer is still good. Overall, Black Ops is a game that is worth playing as you wait for Modern Warfare 3. Treyarch has shown with Black Ops that it can make good shooters and Black Ops is a game worth playing to quench your Call of Duty needs.… Expand

COD was a good game for the last decade. Now it is blatantly a regurgitated annual clone. It has no direction, it's plots are interchangeable and predictable. The campaign sports egregious graphical anomalies, such as helicopters that bounce like rubber balls when they hit the ground. Its a shame. Host advantage has completely ruined the multi-player aspect of this game. Dedicated servers are nowhere to be found, and though it is the most successful franchise ever it fails to deliver on this small piece of overhead. This game boils down to the same repetitive formula over and over, and its time is almost up. MW2 was better in every way, and after the IW scandal I won't be buying any further entrances into COD. I only got this game to play with my work friends but now we are moving to a more mature shooter that is due out very soon.

Time to make a new game with dedicated servers? Doubt it. Burn in hell, COD.… Expand

Haters are gonna hate. This game might not be the best call of duty game, but in my opinion it has so many things in it that keep me entertained that it's definetley worth the $60 price tag.

A stain on the Call of Duty franchise. A campaign that is short, forgettable and completely ridiculous, and multiplayer that to this day is still plagued with game breaking issues and lacking any kind of spark. Outdated graphics that look years old, and a most empty and hollow experience that left me bored after one week. The only redeeming quality, and the 1 point score of this review, is the Zombie mode, which is beginning to lose the originality and unique feel of World at War, and becoming victim to the money hungry Activision, where they believe quantity over quality everyday. The sooner this game is forgotten, the better off the gaming world will be.… Expand

Call of Duty: Black Ops is one hell of a great game, Its for anyone who is a fan of the Call of Duty franchise or first person shooters. Black Ops is a great game, but does have some flaws. First off the Campaign is one of the best of the series, it has a great story with many twist and turns, and strong characters. The Campaign just doesn't fell like a Call of Duty campaign, it has psychological type feeling to it and is not what a COD fan would expect. I'm not saying that its a bad thing thing to be different. You play as Alex Mason who has been hired to kill a Russian terrorist named Dragovich, accompanied by Frank Woods, a SOG soldier who in my opinion is a Bada$$. Black Ops has a lot of great missions, some that make you feel like you were dropped into the shoes of a Vietnam soldier, and others missions have you go to a facility where the soviets used to make Nova 6 gas during the Cold War. Next is Multiplayer which is what most people who play COD buy the game for. The Multiplayer is really good, but not the best in the series. It has a lot of new additions to killstreaks like a remote controlled car strapped with explosives, a pack of dogs to attack your enemies, or you can control your very own gunship. There is a lot of new things in the multiplayer, I really like all of the weapons and perks. There are so many perks to suit your own play style, my favorite is Perk 1: Lightweight Perk 2: Sleight of Hand Perk 3: Marathon. Which are all good for speed and agility in each match of multiplayer. The guns that I use with those perks it usually a SMG for added agility. Third is Zombies which is a round-based mode where you fight hordes of zombies on different maps, you can also buy the DLC maps like Call of the Dead which is my favorite map. In Call of the Dead, George Romero the director of the best zombie movies ever, is a zombie himself who is invincible until you get a certain gun. Zombies is really fun and there is a lot to do in each map. Now the flaws that I have found in Black Ops are when you are trying to kill someone and they are shooting at you, you can jump out of the way and be out of sight and still die and on the killcam it won't show that you even moved. Then sometimes you can shoot someone with every bullet in a clip and be reloading and the person kills you with one shot. There are a lot of problems but none that ruin the game completely. Call of Duty: Black ops is a must buy for any COD fan. Can't wait for MW3.… Expand

This is the same COD you know and love, but thats a problem. To familiar multiplayer, weird and irritating campaign, but zombies can be pretty good. Treyarck made what could be a great game, a lame game.

Pretty cool campaign, fun while it lasts, which isn't long. But what do you expect from a multiplayer game? Multiplayer is the same as the other CoDs, which I never really liked, except more balanced, so it's decent. Zombies is an awesome concept, however just a huge money grab. Zombies fans need to realize this. 15$ for each zombies map? I bought Team Fortress 2 for the same price! Would be better if there was more zombies maps at the start, and the DLCs were either made cheaper or had more maps in them, they are the worst value in the game market. By the way, Dead Ops Arcade is awesome.… Expand

With the short comings, bugs and glitches in the previous Call of Duty, I was apprehensive to purchase Black Ops. However, after playing through it for its entire shelf life I consider it a contender for the top spot in the series against World at War. There are still several issues with connection lag, hacks available to anyone with google and a USB thumb drive and naturally the immature and racist player base on Xbox Live. That notwithstanding, Cod:BlOps has turned into a decent game. The map packs and game modes have been refreshing and the developer listened to the player base offering new ways to play the game. It's too bad we need to wait for Modern Warfare 2 to (hopefully) resolve the quick-scope sniper, the noob tube and idiocy that is Ghost and Last/Second Chance.… Expand

Though not a flawless game, I actually preferred this to the killstreak whoring gameplay of MW2, also it didn't get released with a slew of game breaking glitches and extreme weapon imbalances. The singleplayer was pretty typical in COD fashion as far as length, the storyline had kind of a cool twist at the end, but the singleplayer isn't where Black Ops really shines.

I love the multiplayer compared to MW2, for the most part the map designs are better, its much harder for a team to killstreak dominate, and many annoying perks have been removed from the game. My only gripe would be the iffy bullet registry at times, and lack of GREAT secondary weapons.

For as many people I hear complain about this game, none of the arguments are usually credible, it's usually player preference. "I can't quick scope anymore", grow some balls and make a real setup, I like sniping as much as the next guy but sniper setups should not be mobile setups. "The guns are broken" Really? The Famas and AK74 are the only two guns that really stand out, but are lame in comparison to marathon/commando/lightweight setups, or pre nerf akimbo 1887's, or even the spas for that matter.

"No more one man army" Thank god, it should of never been in the place in the first game, it just encouraged an already bad community to noob tube even more.

In my personal experience, people who are legitimately good at the COD series, especially those that really liked COD4, liked Black Ops and thought it was a general improvement over MW2

In conclusion If you have not played this and just hear people hating on it, they usually just tend to be disgruntled MW2 pub stompers that were allowed to do well because of how the game was terribly designed, and they were unable to carry over that strategy to Black Ops… Expand

The singleplayer campaign expects you to read the storyboard's mind or else you die, making a supposedly thrilling experience an infurating trial-and-error experience. Not only that, but Treyarch's attempts to make a psychological thriller makes a story that is so confusing that it seems as if 300 different writers worked on whatever they felt like and pasted it all together. So beside the horrible singleplayer campaign, the rest of the game isn't that big of a redeemer. The zombies mode is a recycled, cliche, dull attempt to accomplish what games like Left 4 Dead and Killing Floor already succeeded, yet it is overrated beyond belief by Call of Duty's mindless, brainwashed zombies who take whatever is thrown at them. The multiplayer is the best part, and I occasionally find myself returning to the offline, but it becomes a "I have played longer than you, I have better guns" and "I can be selfish and make my team win when 20 dogs rush everybody".… Expand

Both the multiplayer maps and the campaign of Black Ops are weaker than its predecessor, even if its plot is slightly more interesting. Graphics are also slightly worse this time around. However, the inclusion of zombie modes and dead ops arcade mean that this is a game bursting with content. The Call of Duty formula remains enjoyable but this is not a must buy.

Call of Duty's strong point has always been its multiplayer. However, I think that Treyarch has made the most original story line in the Call of Duty series yet, not necessarily the best one, but by far the most unique. Game play (as always) is great, multiplayer can be addicting, original campaign, top notch voice acting, and satisfying graphics. All around, it's another winner for the COD series.… Expand

If I could give this game a negative score I would. Lets just say MW2 was near perfect (take out the auto run with the knifing and the noob tube and easy nukes), this game reversed EVERYTHING good with MW2 and COD franchise and nerfed it. Only 5 guns are competitve (OP more like it), shotguns, smgs, sniper rifles, and LMGs completely useless compared to a select few assualt rifles. No chieves, not nearly as good perks/killstreak awards. MP just isnt fun. (I also dominated on most games). This is coming from a hardcore CoD fan, played all the games b4 unlocking 85-90% of chievements in each.

Oh yea anyone giving this a 10 doesnt know jack or works for treyarch.… Expand

Call of Duty provided a much more interesting story that previous games, but it wasn't great and, sadly, the story was the ONLY redeeming quality. If you haven't been living on Jupiter for the past four years, you probably already know that after Call of Duty 4, there have been no major improvements to the Call of Duty series - yet Activision still manages to pump out a new copy of the game every year and charge the full $60 for each one. Call of Duty isn't a bad game, but it's just wrong to re-sell the same game every year like that! And now they've bumped up the map-pack price to $15! If you own any other Call of Duty, Black Ops is nothing new; save your money for something that actually has SOME value. Cooking Mama would probably be a better investment.… Expand

It gets boring after a while. LOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLOLO

For what it is, Black Ops is a decent experience that isn't a complete waste of money. The campaign is personally my favorite out of all the Call of Duty campaigns, and it really makes up for MW2's mediocre single player mode. It's a fairly lengthy campaign with a decent plot and fun missions. Of course, though, the main core of the game play lies on the multi-player, which I think is personally a bit more flawed compared to the single player campaign. Having the map packs actually helps a lot, as it adds a HUGE variety of maps (30+ IIRC) into the online multi-player. Most of these maps are straightforward, unfortunately, and they tend to be fairly campy, which easily allows people the abuse these particular spots. The motion sensor equipment doesn't really help either, which is basically a mini-UAV radar. Yes, I think Black Ops multi-player is mostly unbalanced. A lot of people say it's more balanced than MW2, but I'm just not seeing the difference.One thing that really makes up for multi-player though is the zombies game type. Having the map packs also helps with this, as those maps are actually very fun and entertaining to play. I just wish they could have added just as much effort to the multi-player's balance though. Overall, it's a decent game to play with your friends that like COD, but not Game of the Year material in my honest opinion.… Expand

Call of Duty Black Ops is the latest rehash shooter in the franchise. The game is basically World at War with improved graphics and a new story. The story is presented well, but it's total crap and too short. The multiplayer takes content out of World at War and just releases them as DLC. I highly recommend just buying World at War instead, then use the money left over to buy the map packs.

Visuals are probably some of the worst i've ever seen, bad gameplay, a horrible map level of effort, and overall, one of the worst Call of Duty games i've ever seen in my expiriences of playing COD

Boring gameplay, the charachers seem like homelesses, predictable acts but the worst thing is the multiplayer. Lots of cheaters and campers, suck at all

Let me just say,go back to 2007 call of duty 4 and play it.You will see a core of the same things there.There is still playing that game,thousands online after all this time and it is mid 2011 now.That is why COD 4 and COD 4 II won so many awards and are so good.I'm not going to be bias and knock it harshly on the review side over that but you can see my point.Black ops has an awesome campaign,great multiplayer,great graphics,ect..but for one I would rather put in COD MW 2 any time of the day and there is still up to 100,000 playing that game online and for being a 2009 game that is where you see some of the brilliance behind it.Black ops is a solid 8 but the two before it were perfect 10's so go figure.… Expand

+ Good - Bad -Same engine as World At War and CoD4:MW (rollback from MW2) obviously no innovation like critics claim -Short Campaign with weak characters -Really Buggy -To been there done that with the weapons selection (the weapons are fine its just I hate playing 3-4 games in a row with mostly the same weapons) -No innovation in Graphics (personally I don't care, but they didn't do anything to really make up for it)
+Return of Zombies
+Fun Multiplayer
-Any game is fun in Multiplayer with the right people
-Feels more like an Expansion and not a Standalone game
-Doesn't compare to other CoD games
-$60 on release, really should have been more like $40 on release (though personally after playing it I wish I had payed $20 and I were you I would refuse to pay more than that)… Expand

Probably the worst COD game, but it still is enjoyable... If you ignore it's many flaws, such as the overuse of the perk "Ghost", some weapons being overpowered, and "Blop" shotting, caused by a flaw in the perk "Second Chance".