| Platform | OVERALL |
|---|---|
| PlayStation 3 | 5.20 |
| Overall | 5.20 |
|
This is a campaign review of CoD: BO. I hardly played multiplayer, what I have played feels great. Tons of options and loads of modes, seems like an excellent online mode. I have also played zombies and its really fun. Obviously most people will buy it just for that and it seems worth it. I borrowed the game to play the campaign. I enjoyed MW1 and 2, I even found enjoyment in WaW. This is easily the worst CoD campaign I have played. It takes all the worst elements and makes an entire campaign on that. All CoD games are linear BUT the MW games have a certain level of care that goes into the game design where there is always something different to do at the right moments. Those games were well paced with a nice amount of variety and they even had some great modes for single player to go along with it. This game has none of that. It is the most boring kind of FPS, the ones I hate where all you do is run in a straight line and shoot mindless enemies. The entire game is a shooting gallery, there is no subtlety to it, no attempt to mix up the action on a constant basis. Its level after level of slowly moving forward and gunning down anything that moves. I didn't care for any of the weapons, usually their iron sights obscured my view more than helped it. This is a game where you can get through it with any one rifle, no need for a mix of weapons cause there is no strategy to this game. It might as well be an arcade game. Like all CoD games you are taken to a new environment every 25 minutes or so, just before the ADD sinks in. Not one is as memorable as the levels in MW1 or MW2. You go through random jungle, random snowy base, random muddy prison. There is one moment that actually felt right, that was a segment where I said "this is the CoD I enjoy", its a jungle mission in the heart of Vietnam. Its very well scripted where you and your team silently take out a base and afterwards you join the entire platoon down a river and you control a boat while the Rolling Stones plays. Where was this game all that time, why can't the whole game be this good. Soon after you are back to crappy corridor shooting. Oh there is also a decent helicopter segment later on, so the last third is definitely better than the first two but a little too late at that point. The story was potentially interesting but the way its told is a mess. Basically you are captured and are being interrogated by unseen guys, apparently World War 3 will soon break out unless you remember something in your past, so you play the memories of the character. There is a twist that is telegraphed a mile away, crappy execution of a potentially interesting story. The game looks nice but not as nice as MW2. The licensed music is fantastic, they should have used it more in the game. The orchestrated stuff is good but not as memorable as MW2. The campaign is still like 5 hours long, thank god cause I couldn't take any more of it. Some cool moments and a game that isn't broken keeps this score above the 5 mark. It's just a really boring, uninspired campaign. Again I am sure the rest of the game is fantastic but this kind of online FPS is not my thing. |
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Posted by Dvader Tue, 22 Mar 2011 20:15:16
Then you have the cognitive dissonance aspect that we've talked about before, where people who are inclined to like a franchise overlook the weaknesses of a game (which I concede happens to me all of the time).
For the most part though I find myself agreeing with critics and the public -- I just know I can't expect to go outside of my genre comfort zone and still like a game. For example, Starcraft 2 sounds from all reports like it is an amazing accomplishment of game design. If I played it today, I am sure I wouldn't be able to enjoy it, and I'd pick it apart while admitting that "it's a quality game, but not much fun".