Call of Duty 7 Black Ops is another record-breaking game, following in the foots

teps of Modern Warfare 2 which was released only one year ago. The excitement we
are feeling is much the same as this time last year, when we were so close to t
he release of Infinity Ward s Modern Warfare 2. Before we kick off with this artic
le, let s remind ourselves of the success of last year s Call of Duty game.
Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 was certainly one of the most hyped games in hist
ory and set records. In the build up to release, you couldn t watch TV or use the
Internet without adverts and commercials enticing you to buy the game. As a resu
lt, many, many millions of people were enticed. In the first 5 days of release,
Modern Warfare 2 had smashed Grand Theft Auto IV s previous record, earning a reve
nue of around $550 million. By January 2010, it had taken over $1 billion in sal
es.
So, with the game being such a massive hit with the entire world, is it possible
that these records and benchmarks set by Infinity Ward could be met, or possibl
y even improved upon? Well, it was reported a while back that Black Ops had surp
assed Modern Warfare 2's pre-order numbers, and while this hints at a possible r
ecord-breaker, pre-orders officially account for nothing.
However, even though the huge sales would not suggest this, Modern Warfare 2 qui
ckly fell out of favour with many players. Whilst the game itself was undeniably
excellent, after a few weeks, several new issues became apparent as players mov
ed through the levels, including weapon imbalances, killstreak and perk combinat
ions, and of course, boosting. Infinity Ward did begin to combat these problems,
but after a dispute with producers Activision, many of the staff were fired or
quit, meaning there was not much of a team remaining to release patches.
Now, on with the article. As the title suggests, we are going to look at four of
the main ways that Black Ops may improve on Modern Warfare 2, not necessarily i
n sales, but more likely in gameplay.
One of the key issues that arose in Modern Warfare 2 is Multiplayer balance. Sev
eral weapons were, and still are, deemed as being overpowered , and some perk and k
illstreak combinations can frustrate players. Treyarch seems to have taken the c
ommunity s views into account when designing their Multiplayer, and this is reflec
ted in several changes that they have made.
Weapon balance David Vonderhaar has stated that every gun has it s own advantages
and disadvantages, and that higher levelled players who have access to more guns
will not have any clear advantage based on the weapons they can choose.Killstre
ak balance Remember the infamous Predator-Harrier-Chopper Gunner killstreak comb
o in Modern Warfare 2? Many players did not like the fact that when someone got
a 5-killstreak, they just went and camped and let their Predator and Harrier jet
do the work for them to get their Chopper Gunner or AC-130. Say goodbye to this
in Black Ops, as kills you earn from killstreak rewards to do count to your kil
lstreak, meaning that you must kill with your weapons or equipment to advance to
the next killstreak reward.Perk balance There were a fair few perks, and perk c
ombinations, that received a lot of negative comments from the CoD community. Co
mmando is one in particular, which enables the player to have an abnormally larg
e knifing distance. The One Man Arm & Danger Close combination was also hated my
many, which allowed users to constantly refill their explosives supply. The Bla
ck Ops perks have been reworked by a team at Treyarch Studios to ensure balance
is retained. Notable factors that will please many people are; Commando, One Man
Army, and Danger Close have all been removed, Scavenger now only replaces ammun
ition and equipment (no Grenade Launchers!), and Flak Jacket will protect you fr
om most explosions. Get suited up with Flak Jacket!
Most people should now know about the new level of customisation is Black Ops. H
owever, for the few people who are not aware of this, let s recap. Treyarch have g
one to new lengths to find suitable customisation options for their new Call of
Duty title. Let s have a look in a bit more detail at what we can expect to see in
Black Ops;
First of all, the Perk One tier decides how your character looks, rather than th
e gun you choose. So if you choose Ghost, you will be wearing a ghillie suit, re
gardless of what gun you select. This now allows someone who wants to use an ass
ault rifle to crawl around in long grass undetected.Titles and emblems are now g
one. However, fully customisable emblems will be introduced, and a wide selectio
n of backgrounds will be available, so your Player Card can be truly unique.Leve
l 16 The emblem you create can be stamped onto your gun.Level 19 Your clan tag c
an be etched onto your weapon once you reach.Level 22 All of Black Ops new camouf
lages are unlocked, and can be purchased in any order no headshot challenges req
uired. The golden camouflage makes a return.Level 25 Red-dot and Reflex sights c
an be customised both the reticle (dot) shape and the reticle colour can be cust
omised. There are 7 reticle colours and over 30 different reticle shapes to choo
se from.Level 28 The lens colour of your sight can also be changed. There are 6
lens coloursLevel 31 Facepaints for your character are unlocked, and can be purc
hased in any order. There are over 20 different patterns.
All of this customisation will cost you your hard-earned CoD Points though, so m
ake sure you spend them wisely! If you decide to Prestige, then you will lose ev
erything except for any emblems you have created, including all of your CoD Poin
ts. Before Modern Warfare 2, many people were calling for a character customisat
ion, but did not receive it only customisable killstreaks and the regular headsh
ot challenge camouflages were featured. Black Ops has seemingly answered this ca
ll.
A customised sight on an AUG
When it was announced that zombies would not make a reappearance in Modern Warfa
re 2, many players were disappointed, as the mode was certainly one of the most
popular features of Call of Duty: World at War. However, we were promised a bran
d new co-op mode, called Spec-Ops , which could be played alone or with a friend on
line or via splitscreen. Many people enjoyed this game mode, but it did not have
much replayability once every mission was completed on Veteran, most people nev
er played Spec-Ops again, because it seemed to lack the fun element that zombies
had.
Zombies are back in Black Ops though, and they re bigger than ever before! Three b
rand new zombie maps will ship with every edition of the game, including the bra
nd new Dead Ops Arcade mode. Also, the Hardened and Prestige Editions will ship
with a code that enables you to download the four World at War zombie maps, whic
h have been updated to work with Treyarch s improved game engine, and also feature
s the new Black Ops weapons.
Please note that there has been a lot of leaked footage containing a significant
number of spoilers regarding zombies, zombie maps and the Dead Ops Arcade mode.
This site does not report on leaked footage. So if you have seen leaked footage
, or have read spoilers, then we would appreciate it if comments regarding this
could be kept off the front page. Thank you
Nazi Zombies Return to Black Ops
Back to the article..!
Probably the biggest problem in Modern Warfare 2 was boosting. Players were able
to use a Tactical Insertion to spawn wherever they choose, therefore being able
to spawn right next to a friend on the other team, who would headshot the Tactic
al Insertor to gain killstreaks, camouflages, or just boost their Kill:Death rati
o. Players would often hide in twos or three in low-traffic areas maps to boost
quickly.
When it was announced that the Tactical Insertion would be featured in Black Ops
, there was an initial uproar from a lot of fans. The Multiplayer design directo
rs were barraged with questions about boosting, but Treyarch responded calmly. T
hey told the community of the measures that have been taken to ensure that playe
rs cannot use the Tactical Insertion to boost.
Tactical Insertions cannot be used in Free For All, where the majority of boosti
ng was performedBoosting for CoD Points in Wager Matches will be almost impossib
le, because all players are randomly selected, meaning no parties allowed.Player
s cannot invite friends into certain game modes where boosting could be commonpl
ace, such as Free For All.Most interestingly, players can report boosters in Bla
ck Ops to Treyarch, who will use the new Theatre mode to see if the reported pla
yer was indeed boosting. The booster s 10 most recent games can be viewed by the t
eam at Treyarch Studios, and if somebody is deemed to be boosting, they will be
banned immediately.
After looking at this, Treyarch seem to have taken the right steps towards kicki
ng boosting out of Call of Duty. Boosting ruined Modern Warfare 2's online leade
rboards, which meant that your rank was not representative of your skill level,
as most of the players towards the top of the leaderboards boosted to get their
score.
Say goodbye to boosting!
So there you have it, four reasons why Black Ops could potentially be a better g
ame than Modern Warfare, and possibly even surpass it s sales records. For now, we
can only look at what Treyarch and Activision have showed us, but Black Ops sur
e looks to take all the best features of Modern Warfare 2, such as gameplay, fun
, and intensity, and remove all of the features that many people feel ruined the
biggest entertainment launch of all time. We will have to wait until November 9
th and beyond to see if Call of Duty: Black Ops is as balanced and fair as Treya
rch say it is, but if I were you, I wouldn t be too surprised if they were exactly
right!