2010 video game
2010 video game
Call of Duty: Black Ops is a 2010 first-person shooter game developed by Treyarch and published 🤑 by Activision. It was released worldwide in November 2010 for Microsoft Windows, the PlayStation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360, with 🤑 a separate version for Nintendo DS developed by n-Space. Aspyr later ported the game to OS X in September 2012. 🤑 It is the seventh title in the Call of Duty series and the sequel to Call of Duty: World at 🤑 War.
Set in the 1960s during the Cold War, the game's single-player campaign follows CIA operative Alex Mason as he attempts 🤑 to recall specific memories in order to locate a numbers station set to instruct Soviet sleeper agents to deploy chemical 🤑 weapons across the United States. Locations featured in the game include Cuba, the Soviet Union, the United States, South Vietnam, 🤑 China, Canada, and Laos. The multiplayer component of Black Ops features multiple objective-based game modes that are playable on 14 🤑 different maps included with the game. Improvements to loadout options and killstreak rewards are made. A form of virtual currency, 🤑 COD Points, allows players to purchase weapons and customization options for their in-game character, as well as attachments and customization 🤑 options for their weapon.
Development for the game began in 2009. Whereas Treyarch worked on both World at War and the 🤑 tie-in video game for the James Bond film Quantum of Solace simultaneously, they focused specifically on Black Ops during this 🤑 development cycle. Different teams within Treyarch focused on a certain game mode. Black Ops runs an enhanced version of the 🤑 IW 3.0 engine used in World at War. The improvements made allowed for bigger campaign levels to be made as 🤑 well as enhanced lighting. Music was composed by Sean Murray, with licensed music by the Rolling Stones, Creedence Clearwater Revival, 🤑 and Eminem appearing in the game. Avenged Sevenfold also recorded an original song for the game as well. The marketing 🤑 of the game began in April 2010.
The game received generally positive reviews from critics with praise for its story, voice-acting, 🤑 darker tone and multiplayer modes, although some criticized it for its linear gameplay and technical issues. Among other awards and 🤑 nominations, Call of Duty: Black Ops was nominated Game of the Year by numerous media outlets and award shows, including 🤑 the Interactive Achievement Awards, British Academy Games Awards, and Spike Video Game Awards. Within 24 hours of going on sale, 🤑 the game had sold more than 5.6 million copies, breaking the record set by its predecessor Modern Warfare 2 by 🤑 some 2.3 million copies. The game had sold over 25 million copies worldwide, making it, at the time, the best 🤑 selling game of all time in the United States,[4][5] and it remains one of the best-selling games of all time. 🤑 A sequel, Call of Duty: Black Ops II, was released in 2012. Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War, set 🤑 between Black Ops and Black Ops II, was released in November 2024.[6][7]
Gameplay [ edit ]
Black Ops is a first-person shooter, 🤑 retaining the same gameplay mechanics as previous Call of Duty titles. The player assumes the role of a foot soldier 🤑 who can wield various firearms (only two of which can be carried at once), throw grenades and other explosives, and 🤑 use other equipment as weapons. A player close enough to an enemy can kill with one knife blow. A character 🤑 can take three stances: standing, crouching, or prone. Each affects the rate of movement, accuracy, and stealth. The player can 🤑 drop to the prone stance from the standing stance while running (colloquially known as "dolphin diving"), and can momentarily sprint 🤑 before stopping.
The screen glows red to indicate damage to a player's health, which regenerates over time. When the character is 🤑 within the blast radius of a live grenade, an on-screen marker indicates where it is in relation to the player, 🤑 helping the player to move away or to throw it back. Among the weapons new to the series in Black 🤑 Ops are crossbows with bolts and explosive ammunition, Dragon's Breath rounds and ballistic knives.
A screenshot of Alex Mason firing a 🤑 SPAS-12 Dragon's Breath round
The player assumes the role of various characters during the single-player campaign, changing perspectives throughout the story. 🤑 The playable characters are covert operatives conducting black operations behind enemy lines. Each mission features a series of objectives that 🤑 are displayed on the heads-up display, which marks the direction and distance towards and from such objectives as it has 🤑 been in the earlier versions. The player is accompanied by friendly troops throughout the game. Although primarily a first-person shooter, 🤑 certain levels feature sequences where the player pilots a Hind helicopter and guides friendly troops from a SR-71 Blackbird reconnaissance 🤑 aircraft.[8][9][10] In addition, the campaign features several scripted cinematic moments.
Multiplayer [ edit ]
Players can customize their weaponry in the game, 🤑 as seen with this customized FAMAS.
The online multiplayer mode of Black Ops usually revolves around two teams on a specific 🤑 mission. For example, in Team Deathmatch the team with the most kills wins, while in Capture the Flag, players take 🤑 the other team's flags and return it to their base. Additionally, there is Free For All in which players are 🤑 not separated into teams. Not including Downloadable maps, there are 14 different maps.
Black Ops retains the experience points and unlockable 🤑 reward system that has been kept since Call of Duty 4. The multiplayer focuses on socialization and customization. "Create-a-Class 2.0" 🤑 allows enhanced personalization with appearance items as well as upgradable perks;[9] weapons are extensively customizable with writing, emblems, attachments, and 🤑 camouflage painting. Even reticles can be modified.
There is more than one style for an attachment, which allows for a lot 🤑 more personalized weaponry; for example, the player can choose between a red dot sight or a reflex sight, both of 🤑 which share many of the same traits, although the red dot fills up less of the screen (something desired by 🤑 many players). Character models depend on the first tier perk instead of the weapon's type. Furthermore, face paints can be 🤑 unlocked.[11] New custom killstreak rewards include explosive R/C cars, guided missiles, and controllable attack helicopters.[12]
A currency system has been implemented 🤑 allowing players to buy weapons, accessories, and clothes. Players can gamble with their "COD Points" in a free-for-all based playlist 🤑 called "Wager Match", which is composed of four game modes.[13] Time-limited objectives known as "Contracts" can be purchased to gain 🤑 more currency and experience points.[11] The progression system is not featured in the local split-screen multiplayer. In the local split-screen 🤑 play, all character customization options are already unlocked. Players can no longer define game rules such as win conditions.
Players can 🤑 play alone or with friends against AI opponents in "Combat Training" with a separate progression system.[14] Online split-screen is re-introduced 🤑 on Xbox 360 and PS3. The guest account can rank up but is reset after each sign out. Only on 🤑 Xbox 360, a second Gold Xbox Live account can be used to keep the second player's progression.[15] Aside from the 🤑 Combat Training mode, Xbox users can also have up to four players in split-screen mode play against AI opponents even 🤑 without having an Xbox Live account. This is done by configuring the Local Split Screen settings and setting the number 🤑 of enemies to a value greater than zero.[16]
For the first time in the series, clips from online gameplay can be 🤑 recorded. Some specific features that have been removed from the PC version of Infinity Ward's Modern Warfare 2 return, such 🤑 as lean,[17] mod tools, the developer console,[18] and dedicated servers.[19] Dedicated servers are exclusively provided by Game Servers.[20] Steam is 🤑 the exclusive platform for Black Ops on PC, and the game is protected by Valve Anti-Cheat.[21]
The Wii version of the 🤑 game includes in-game voice chat. This is the first Call of Duty title to include the voice chat feature for 🤑 the Wii. Nintendo and PDP have partnered to release the first headset to be used with the Wii known as 🤑 PDP's Headbanger Headset.[22]
Zombies [ edit ]
A zombie co-op mode, titled "Zombies", can be played with four players online or as 🤑 a two-player split screen co-op mode. Originally featured in World at War, it was revamped to be included in Black 🤑 Ops and future titles.[23]
In this mode, one to four players fight an unlimited number of waves of zombies, beginning with 🤑 an M1911 pistol. Players earn points for killing zombies or repairing boarded-up windows, which are used to expand areas of 🤑 the map, access stronger weapons, or upgrade existing weapons. Zombies routinely break the windows to enter and attack the players; 🤑 if a player is attacked enough times, they fall and will need to be "revived" by another player in a 🤑 certain time, or will respawn in the next round with their weapon progress reverted if they are not revived. The 🤑 game ends when all players are damaged enough to fall. The base game features three maps, "Five", "Kino Der Toten", 🤑 and the unlockable "Dead Ops Arcade".
"Kino Der Toten" takes place in an abandoned Group 935 facility located within a theater 🤑 in Berlin during 1963. The playable characters in this map return from the World at War Zombies mode: Edward Richtofen, 🤑 a mad German scientist, Takeo Masaki, an officer of the Imperial Japanese Army, Nikolai Belinski, a Red Army soldier, and 🤑 Tank Dempsey, a Marine from the United States.
"Five" takes place in The Pentagon during a chain of events that differ 🤑 from the storyline of the campaign mode. The playable characters, John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel Castro[24][25] 🤑 are interrupted from negotiations by an outbreak of zombies.
Dead Ops Arcade is an unlockable game mode that the player can 🤑 unlock by typing "DOA" within the data terminal of the main menu.[26] Once unlocked, the player is transferred to play 🤑 a retro arcade version of the main zombie's game mode. New elements like extra lives, unique mini maps, and zombie 🤑 bosses are present within the game mode. Dead Ops Arcade includes co-op playthrough through either Xbox Live or split screen 🤑 of up to 4 players.[27]
The game also includes four downloadable content packs. One of the DLCs is "First Strike" which 🤑 includes the zombie map "Ascension". This map takes place in a Soviet space center with new perks such as PHD 🤑 Flopper and Stamin-Up that enhance player abilities. New features were added, like the Gersch Device and lunar landers. The Gersch 🤑 Device sucks in zombies when used, and lunar landers allow the player with possession to access the portal between different 🤑 areas of the map.
The second DLC is "Escalation" which includes the zombie map "Call of the Dead". On this map, 🤑 players are in a snowy, foggy landscape. This map stands out for its celebrity guest appearance and the wonder weapons, 🤑 Scavenger and Vr-11. The Scavenger is a sniper that creates explosive damage, and the Vr-11 turns zombies into humans. The 🤑 map ultimately serves as a homage to the works of George A. Romero which had already been drawn from as 🤑 inspiration for the mode. Romero features in cutscenes and is the primary antagonist of the map. The in-game incarnation of 🤑 Romero has fostered a reputation of infamy, as many players expressed their annoyance at the challenging boss.
The third DLC is 🤑 "Annihilation" which includes the zombie map "Shangri-La". This map is in the Himalayan jungles, based around an ancient temple. “Shangri-La” 🤑 has deadly traps such as swinging spike traps and mudslides. The wonder weapon is the 31-79 JGb215 (known in the 🤑 game files as "Shrink ray" and affectionately called the "Baby maker" by fans") which is used to shrink zombies down 🤑 to a small size, allowing them to be killed when a player walks into them.
The fourth DLC is "Rezurrection" which, 🤑 unlike the other DLC packs, is Zombies only. It includes the new zombies experience "Moon" and four remastered zombie maps 🤑 from the previous Treyarch game World at War. On “Moon”, gameplay takes place primarily on a Nazi facility on Earth's 🤑 moon. The moon's low-gravity surface allows players to jump higher and cover larger distances quicker. The Wave Gun is this 🤑 map's signature weapon, which, when shot at a zombie, will release a laser that makes the zombie have a zero-gravity 🤑 effect and explode mid-air.[28][29] This DLC pack added the new Perk-a-Cola "Mule-kick" to "Moon" as well as all previous maps. 🤑 The Perk allows players to carry 3 weapons at once.
Plot [ edit ]
Campaign [ edit ]
Characters and setting [ edit 🤑 ]
From left to right: Alex Mason, Jason Hudson, and Robert McNamara
Black Ops takes place between 1961 and 1968 during both 🤑 the Cold War and the Vietnam War, 16 years to 23 years after the events of World at War. It 🤑 portrays a secret history of black operations carried out behind enemy lines by the CIA. Missions take place in various 🤑 countries around the globe, including Cuba, the Soviet Union, the United States, South Vietnam, China, Canada, and Laos. The single-player 🤑 campaign revolves around the CIA's attempts to stop Soviet sleeper agents embedded in the US, to be activated via broadcasts 🤑 from a numbers station, from deploying an experimental nerve agent and chemical weapon known as "Nova 6".
The player controls the 🤑 protagonist, CIA SAD/SOG operative and former Marine Force Recon Captain Alex Mason (Sam Worthington). Other characters are occasionally playable, such 🤑 as CIA paramilitary operations officer Jason Hudson (Ed Harris). Mason is often joined by fellow operatives Force Recon Master Sergeant 🤑 Frank Woods (James C. Burns) and Navy UDT Chief Joseph Bowman (Ice Cube), while Hudson works with Grigori Weaver (Gene 🤑 Farber), a Russian-American field operative. Viktor Reznov (Gary Oldman), a character of the Soviet campaign in World at War, returns 🤑 along with protagonist Dimitri Petrenko (Boris Kievsky), now no longer silent or faceless. Oldman also voices Daniel Clarke, an English 🤑 scientist assisting in the development of Project Nova. Opposing the CIA are the leaders of Project Nova: Soviet Army Major 🤑 General Nikita Dragovich (Eamon Hunt), Colonel Lev Kravchenko (Andrew Divoff), and ex-Nazi scientist Friedrich Steiner (Mark Bramhall). Black Ops also 🤑 features several historical figures; during the story, Mason meets Fidel Castro, Robert McNamara, and John F. Kennedy.
Story [ edit ]
In 🤑 April 1961, Mason, Woods, and Bowman participate in Operation 40 to assassinate Fidel Castro and assist the CIA-sponsored Cuban exiles 🤑 during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Mason kills Castro's body double and stays behind, allowing Woods and Bowman to flee 🤑 in an extraction plane. He is captured by the real Castro, who gifts him to a Soviet Army Major General 🤑 named Nikita Dragovich. Imprisoned in a brutal gulag known as Vorkuta, Mason befriends a former Red Army soldier named Viktor 🤑 Reznov, who gives him the identities of their enemies: Dragovich, Colonel Lev Kravchenko, and ex-Nazi scientist Friedrich Steiner. In October 🤑 1945, Reznov, Dimitri Petrenko, and their platoon were sent to extract Steiner, who wished to defect, from a secret Nazi 🤑 base on Baffin Island. Upon being rescued, Steiner provided the Soviets with the location of a disabled cargo ship carrying 🤑 the weapon he had originally developed for Adolf Hitler. However, Reznov and his men were betrayed by Dragovich, who wished 🤑 to see the effects of the gas first-hand; Reznov was forced to watch Petrenko die horrifically, only being spared himself 🤑 when British Commandos, interested in also acquiring Nova 6, attacked. Reznov detonated the V-2 rockets onboard the ship during his 🤑 escape, destroying it and Nova 6, only to be captured by the Soviets and imprisoned in Vorkuta. The Soviets later 🤑 recreated Nova 6 using British scientist Daniel Clarke.
In October 1963, Mason and Reznov spark an uprising to flee the prison; 🤑 Reznov stays behind to facilitate Mason's escape. Upon his return to the US, President John F. Kennedy authorizes a mission 🤑 to assassinate Dragovich; Mason is plagued by anxiety and murderous visions during his meeting with the President. Mason, Woods, Bowman, 🤑 and Weaver are dispatched to the Baikonur Cosmodrome to disrupt the Soviet space program and eliminate members of "Ascension", a 🤑 Soviet program giving sanctuary to Nazi scientists. The team destroys the Soyuz spacecraft, while Dragovich is seemingly killed in a 🤑 car explosion.
In January 1968, Mason's team is sent to Vietnam as part of MACV-SOG. After defending Khe Sanh from a 🤑 North Vietnamese assault, they recover a dossier on Dragovich from a Russian defector being held by the North Vietnamese Army 🤑 in Huế during the Tet Offensive; the defector is revealed to be Reznov. When Dragovich resurfaces, the team penetrates Laos 🤑 to recover a Nova 6 shipment from a downed Soviet plane, but are captured by Viet Cong and Spetsnaz forces 🤑 at the crash site. Bowman is later executed during a forced game of Russian roulette, but Woods and Mason escape, 🤑 hijacking a Mi-24 Hind and crippling a part of the Ho Chi Minh Trail before rescuing Reznov from Kravchenko's base. 🤑 They confront Kravchenko, but he primes grenades strapped to his body, forcing Woods to push himself and Kravchenko out of 🤑 a window; Mason presumes the two dead.
Hudson and Weaver interrogate Clarke in Kowloon Walled City, with Clarke revealing the location 🤑 of a facility in Mount Yamantau before being killed by Dragovich's men. Hudson and Weaver infiltrate and destroy the facility 🤑 before receiving a transmission from Steiner requesting to meet at Rebirth Island, as he suspects Dragovich will kill him in 🤑 order to cover up Nova 6. Mason, now going rogue, travels there with Reznov to assassinate Steiner, succeeding just as 🤑 Hudson and Weaver arrive. It is revealed that although Mason supposedly witnessed Reznov executing Steiner, Hudson and Weaver saw Mason 🤑 carrying out the act alone while calling himself Reznov. With Steiner dead, Mason is now the only individual left who 🤑 knows the location of the numbers station, prompting Hudson and Weaver to interrogate him.
Hudson explains that Dragovich has sleeper cells 🤑 stationed within each American state capital, which, when ordered by the broadcast of a series of numbers from his station, 🤑 will release Nova 6 and pave the way for a Soviet invasion. In response, the US, now at DEFCON 2, 🤑 is preparing a pre-emptive nuclear strike on the Soviets. Hudson reveals that Mason was brainwashed by Dragovich at Vorkuta to 🤑 serve as a sleeper agent and assassinate Kennedy. Reznov died during the breakout, and the Soviet defector was killed; Mason's 🤑 visions of Reznov are an illusion caused by the brainwashing. Prior to his death, Reznov reprogrammed Mason to kill Dragovich, 🤑 Kravchenko, and Steiner to complete his own revenge. Mason finally remembers the location of Dragovich's broadcast station is a Russian 🤑 ship named the Rusalka in the Gulf of Mexico. An assault on the ship is carried out the next day, 🤑 with the US Navy called in to destroy it. Mason and Hudson confront Dragovich in the underwater submarine base protecting 🤑 the ship, with Mason killing Dragovich before the two escape.
Footage of President Kennedy before his assassination on November 22, 1963, 🤑 is shown, revealing Mason was among onlookers who watched him arrive at Dallas Love Field, suggesting Mason may have carried 🤑 out his initial programming.
Zombies [ edit ]
Characters and settings [ edit ]
The Zombies story takes place over various eras of 🤑 time, mostly during the final year of World War II and the 1960s. The story mainly follows four soldiers: "Tank" 🤑 Dempsey (Steve Blum) of the United States Marine Corps, Nikolai Belinski (Fred Tatasciore) of the Red Army, Takeo Masaki (Tom 🤑 Kane) of the Imperial Japanese Army, and Doctor Edward Richtofen (Nolan North) of the Wehrmacht. Other characters include Doctor Ludvig 🤑 Maxis (Fred Tatasciore) and his daughter Samantha (Julie Nathanson). The map "Five" features historical figures: John F. Kennedy (Jim Meskimen), 🤑 Robert McNamara (Robert Picardo), Richard Nixon (Dave Mallow), and Fidel Castro (Marlon Correa). "Call of the Dead" features the appearance 🤑 of celebrities: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, Michael Rooker, all playing themselves and George A. Romero.
Story [ edit 🤑 ]
During World War II, Doctor Ludvig Maxis formed Group 935, a group of scientists intended to improve the human condition. 🤑 Lacking funds, they soon turned to creating superweapons to aid the Nazis. Their discovery of Element 115 from a meteorite 🤑 in Japan led to zombies' creation. Maxis and his assistant, Dr. Edward Richtofen, also work on other projects, leading to 🤑 the creation of teleportation devices and 115-powered weapons. Attempting to use himself as a test subject, Richtofen accidentally teleports to 🤑 a catacomb within the Moon, where he comes into contact with a mysterious pyramid device that causes him to hear 🤑 ghostly voices, slowly taking away his sanity. He is later teleported to an exotic jungle known as Shangri-La, where he 🤑 spends three weeks studying the Vril energy force. Upon returning to Germany, Richtofen secretly forms a plan to kill Maxis 🤑 and gathers many members of Group 935 to build a Moon base known as Griffin Station. While maintaining his cover 🤑 with Maxis and the rest of Group 935, Richtofen manages to capture three soldiers: Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo 🤑 Masaki; he begins to experiment with Element 115, causing memory loss for all three soldiers.
Maxis continues his work on other 🤑 experiments, attempting to use his daughter's dog, Fluffy, as a test subject for his own teleportation device. However, the experiment 🤑 fails, and Fluffy is transformed into an undead Hellhound. Richtofen takes the opportunity and traps Maxis and his daughter Samantha 🤑 inside the teleporter with Fluffy, believing they will die. Richtofen escapes as Der Riese is overrun by zombies with his 🤑 three captured soldiers and arrives at the Rising Sun research facility in Japan, where Element 115 was first discovered. After 🤑 gathering a sample of 115 at the site and recovering a weapon known as the Wunderwaffe DG-2, they return to 🤑 the Der Riese factory in Germany. In an attempt to escape the zombie horde, the group accidentally overloads a teleporter 🤑 with the DG-2, sending them forward in time. They arrive at an abandoned Nazi theater in the 1960s, where Richtofen 🤑 discovers several recordings left behind by Dr. Maxis. Samantha, having survived and managing to control the zombies, continues raising the 🤑 undead to hunt down Richtofen.
In 1963, the United States government manages to grab hold of several of Group 935's inventions, 🤑 keeping them hidden in the Pentagon. Zombies breach the Pentagon, trapping John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara, and Fidel 🤑 Castro inside and forcing them to fight their way out. Meanwhile, Richtofen's crew arrives at a Soviet Cosmodrome site, where 🤑 Richtofen intends to travel to Group 935's Moon base, Griffin Station.
The crew is contacted by Gersh, a member of the 🤑 Ascension Group who requests to be freed from Samantha's grip. After freeing Gersh, the four of them are teleported further 🤑 in time and arrive at a Siberian lighthouse sometime in 2011, once used by Richtofen as a secret lab. However, 🤑 they are trapped within a locked room and forced to rely on four movie actors: Sarah Michelle Gellar, Danny Trejo, 🤑 Robert Englund, and Michael Rooker, who are filming a zombie movie on-site along with director George A. Romero, who had 🤑 been infected as well. Richtofen requests the four celebrities to find a golden rod, a Vril generator device, which he 🤑 then uses to fix the teleporter.
He transports himself and the other three soldiers back to Shangri-La, leaving the celebrities behind 🤑 to continue fighting Romero and the horde. At Shangri-La, the group discovers two explorers, Gary and Brock, who died trapped 🤑 within a time loop while trying to discover the secrets of the mythical Agartha realm. The group saves the explorers' 🤑 lives by traveling back and forth in time, altering the environments of the temple in the process. They discover an 🤑 altar within the temple with Richtofen's name written on it and a piece of a meteorite containing Element 115. However, 🤑 the explorers remain stuck in the never-ending loop.
With the Vril generator and the meteorite piece, Richtofen believes he can control 🤑 the zombies and returns to Griffin Station. Here, they attempt to activate the MPD, a machine that controls the Aether 🤑 energy, which opens to reveal Samantha inside; instead of dying by Richtofen's trap, Samantha is teleported to the moon while 🤑 Maxis is sent somewhere else. Samantha accidentally triggered the MPD and was trapped within the device, but this also allowed 🤑 her to enter the Aether realm. Maxis, who was retrieved by Group 935 scientists, apologized to his daughter and committed 🤑 suicide in front of her, prompting her to assume control of the zombies and seek vengeance on Richtofen. Richtofen fuses 🤑 the golden rod and the meteorite piece and, using it to switch souls with Samantha, takes over as the new 🤑 zombie controller. This causes his former allies to feel betrayed, and they ally themselves with Samantha (who now resides in 🤑 Richtofen's body). Maxis is revealed to have become a sentient artificial intelligence living within the systems of Griffin Station, and 🤑 he guides his daughter and the three soldiers to launch three missiles at the Earth. This severs Richtofen's link with 🤑 the Aether, but the launch results in the catastrophic destruction of the Earth while still leaving Richtofen in control of 🤑 the undead.
Development [ edit ]
In May 2009, publisher Activision was rumored to be looking for licensing regarding Vietnam War-era music 🤑 which led to speculation that Call of Duty 7 would be set in Vietnam.[30] In May 2009, Treyarch employee David 🤑 Kim revealed on his LinkedIn profile that he would work as a senior animator on Call of Duty 7.[31] In 🤑 November 2009, only a few days before Modern Warfare 2's release, Activision officially announced a new Call of Duty title 🤑 for 2010 through their third quarter financial call.[32] In February 2010, a casting call for Call of Duty 7 led 🤑 to speculation that the game would be taking place during the Cold War era with some battles taking place in 🤑 South Vietnam.[33] On April 30, 2010, Black Ops was officially announced.[34]
The game runs on an enhanced World at War engine 🤑 (which itself was improved from Call of Duty 4's) at 60 frames per second across all platforms, excluding the Wii.[35] 🤑 It features a streaming texture technology (also seen in Modern Warfare 2), making bigger levels possible such as "Payback" where 🤑 the player controls a helicopter. Lighting effects have been improved as well.[36] Call of Duty: Black Ops supports 3-D imaging 🤑 rendered by the engine itself.[37] This feature is available on the PC, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 versions.[38]
For Black Ops, 🤑 Treyarch focused only on this game unlike past practice. However, it had different teams, each working on separate game modes.[39] 🤑 Treyarch used a motion capture technology similar to the one used in James Cameron's film Avatar, which allows accurate facial 🤑 expressions, capturing the whole performance of the actor.[40] The studio also consulted special forces veterans from both belligerents of the 🤑 Cold War: Major John Plaster (US Army-Ret.) who served in the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War, and former Soviet special 🤑 forces operative Sonny Puzikas.[41] The latter taught Treyarch how Spetsnaz soldiers would react in combat, such as rolling out of 🤑 the line of fire. Spetsnaz AIs in the game have been modeled after him, from his tactics and his movements 🤑 to his face.[42][43] Although having a historical background, the classified aspect of these Cold War black operations allowed the studio 🤑 to create its own fictional story.[44] The game also allows players to turn down the blood and turn off the 🤑 profanity.[45]
It was announced on November 9, 2024, that Black Ops would become backwards compatible with the Xbox One.[46] It was 🤑 originally meant to be available for backwards compatibility in December 2024, but the date was later changed to some time 🤑 in 2024.[47] Black Ops was originally the sixth-most requested Xbox 360 title to become backwards compatible with the Xbox One.[48] 🤑 On May 17, 2024, the game was made available through Xbox One's backward compatibility.[49] Shortly after, it was reported that 🤑 sales of the Xbox 360 version had increased by 13,000 percent.[50]
Audio [ edit ]
Black Ops features the voices of Sam 🤑 Worthington as Alex Mason,[51] Ed Harris as Jason Hudson,[52] Gary Oldman reprises his role as Viktor Reznov from World at 🤑 War and also voices Dr. Clarke,[51] James C. Burns voices and provides performance capture for Frank Woods[53] and Ice Cube 🤑 voices Joseph Bowman, whose appearance is likened to him as well, and is also the multiplayer announcer for the SOG 🤑 faction.[54][55] Gene Farber voices Grigori Weaver, Emmanuelle Chriqui plays a live-action character called Numbers,[56][57] Eamon Hunt voices Nikita Dragovich, Andrew 🤑 Divoff voices Lev Kravchenko and Robert Picardo voices Secretary Robert McNamara. Dimitri Diatchenko, an American born actor and musician voices 🤑 the Spetsnaz faction and several other characters due to his strong Russian accent.
Call of Duty: Black Ops features Vietnam War 🤑 era music including "Sympathy for the Devil" by The Rolling Stones[58] (played during a gameplay sequence, the credits, and as 🤑 an easter egg in the multiplayer map Nuketown) and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Fortunate Son".[59] Eminem's "Won't Back Down" (featuring Pink) 🤑 is used for the credits as well, and additionally appears as an Easter Egg in the Zombie map "Five". In 🤑 the Call of the Dead zombie map the song "Not Ready to Die" by American heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold 🤑 is featured as an easter egg.[60] The original music was composed by Sean Murray, who also composed Call of Duty: 🤑 World at War while Kevin Sherwood composed music for the Zombies mode. The soundtrack was released on November 9. The 🤑 use of The Rolling Stones' music in the game has seen a significant increase in the band's music sales since 🤑 launch. "Gimme Shelter" sold 2,000 copies in the week before the launch trailer was revealed, 5,000 the week after, and 🤑 11,000 the week after the game's release. "Sympathy for the Devil" experienced a similar boost as gamers discovered the band's 🤑 music.[61][62]
The game's score was composed by Sean Murray, and the official soundtrack was released on November 9, 2010.[63][64] In addition, 🤑 a soundtrack for the Zombies mode was released on January 25, 2011.[65]
Marketing [ edit ]
Black Ops was first officially unveiled 🤑 when the website for the game went live on April 30, 2010[34] prior to the release of its debut teaser 🤑 trailer on GameTrailers TV Episode 310.[66] In early April 2010, an unmarked envelope was sent to various gaming news publications 🤑 as well as high-profile Call of Duty fans via mail. It contained a USB flash drive with sound and text 🤑 files. These files were codes to be decrypted, only to find a mysterious teaser site for an unknown game. Other 🤑 codes were updated periodically.
Similarly to Modern Warfare 2's marketing, the first full-length trailer of Black Ops was aired after the 🤑 3rd quarter on ESPN during the NBA Eastern Conference Finals on May 18, 2010.[67] During E3 2010, studio head Mark 🤑 Lamia opened the Microsoft conference by playing Black Ops on stage.[68] It was also announced that the timed Xbox 360 🤑 exclusivity for additional content of Call of Duty titles, which began with Modern Warfare 2, extends until 2012.[69] A remixed 🤑 version of the ESPN trailer with Eminem's "Won't Back Down" was released on June 14,[70] prior to the E3 Activision 🤑 conference for which he also performed.[71] A multiplayer teaser trailer was released on August 9, 2010, revealing killstreaks, weapons, and 🤑 other in-game multiplayer features. A full multiplayer reveal took place on September 1, 2010, and revealed many multiplayer features from 🤑 the game.[72]
Chrysler produced a limited-edition Call of Duty Jeep as the Wrangler is featured in Black Ops.[73] In late September, 🤑 viral site GKNOVA6 was updated revealing fuzzy footages of zombies.[74] On October 11, a single player trailer aired on ESPN 🤑 during the New York Jets versus Minnesota Vikings NFL Monday Night Football game.[75] The same trailer was aired the next 🤑 day in the United Kingdom at half time of the England versus Montenegro 2012 European Football Championship qualifying game. On 🤑 October 29, the official launch trailer was released online. The same trailer aired on October 31 during the New Orleans 🤑 Saints versus Pittsburgh Steelers NFL Sunday Night Football game. The trailer features the song "Gimme Shelter" by The Rolling Stones, 🤑 and was directed by Rupert Sanders, who later went on to direct Snow White and the Huntsman and Ghost in 🤑 the Shell.[76]
Retail versions [ edit ]
Like Modern Warfare 2, "Hardened" and "Prestige" limited editions are available: the Hardened Edition includes 🤑 a SteelBook case, a medal with its display case, four exclusive co-op levels and an Xbox Live or PlayStation Home 🤑 avatar outfit. The Prestige Edition offers, in addition to the Hardened Edition's content, a real RC-XD remote-control vehicle modeled after 🤑 the in-game killstreak reward, which gives video and audio feedback to its controller.[77] In Japan, the game is distributed by 🤑 Square Enix. Two versions are available: subtitled or dubbed,[78] released respectively on November 18, 2010, and December 16, 2010. Both 🤑 have dismemberment censored.[79] Gore is censored as well in Germany in addition to the removal of "Sympathy for the Devil" 🤑 and Nazi symbols considered "anti-constitutional" in the country.[58]
Downloadable content [ edit ]
Treyarch released the "First Strike" Map Pack on February 🤑 1, 2011, for the Xbox 360. The PlayStation 3 received the map pack on March 3, 2011, and the PC 🤑 version was released on March 25, 2011, through Steam.[80] The Map Pack includes additional maps that can be played in 🤑 the multiplayer mode. These maps include "Berlin Wall", "Discovery", "Kowloon" and "Stadium" and a map for the Zombies mode titled 🤑 "Ascension" which takes place in a Soviet launch site.[81]
On April 11, 2011, a second map pack called "Escalation" was announced 🤑 by Activison and Microsoft. It features 4 new multiplayer maps named "Zoo", "Hotel", "Convoy", "Stockpile" and one new zombies map 🤑 named 'Call of the Dead'. This map is based on the movies by George A. Romero, the revolutionary epic-zombie-horror director. 🤑 The trailer for this map shows the four playable characters: Danny Trejo, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Robert Englund and Michael Rooker. 🤑 The name is a reference to the immensely popular Dead Series created and directed by Romero. The trailer also offers 🤑 a sneak peek of a zombiefied version of George A. Romero himself, lurking out of water. The map is set 🤑 on a ship, but with the ship's crew as zombies instead of Nazi zombies. It was released on May 3, 🤑 2011, for the Xbox 360, June 2 on the PC and June 10 for the PlayStation 3.[82]
A third map pack 🤑 called "Annihilation" was released for the Xbox 360 on June 28, 2011,[83] and on July 28, 2011, for the PlayStation 🤑 3 and PC.[84] It contains four new multiplayer maps named "Hangar 18", "Hazard", "Drive-In", "Silo", and a new zombies map 🤑 named "Shangri La", which takes place in a legendary shrine lost in an exotic jungle.[85][86]
The fourth map pack, "Rezurrection" was 🤑 released on August 23, 2011, for the Xbox 360,[87] and September 22, 2011, on PlayStation 3 and PC.[88] The Rezurrection 🤑 Map Pack is made up of 5 Zombies mode only maps. It includes the first 4 maps from Call of 🤑 Duty: World at War ("Nacht Der Untoten"/"Night", "Verruckt"/"Asylum", "Shi No Numa"/"Swamp", "Der Riese"/"Factory") fully remastered. It also includes a new 🤑 map called "Moon". "Moon" allows players to fight zombies in zero gravity with both the player and the zombies under 🤑 zero gravity influence.[89]
Reception [ edit ]
Call of Duty: Black Ops received "generally positive" reviews, according to review aggregator Metacritic, except 🤑 for the DS, where it received "mixed or average" reviews.[90][91][92][93][94] GameSpot awarded it 9.0 out of ten and wrote "Call 🤑 of Duty: Black Ops bears the series' standard superbly, delivering an engrossing campaign and exciting competitive multiplayer."[102] Edge magazine was 🤑 less positive, giving it a 7/10, writing that "As polished and pretty and fun as Black Ops often is, it 🤑 feels more like a yearly update than a sequel [which] isn't distinct from its predecessors in any important way".[119] Several 🤑 reviewers also complained that the game felt too much like a rail shooter, with PC Gamer branding it "barely interactive".[120][121][122][123]
Reviewers 🤑 also noted that the PC version of the game was buggy and had "a number of frustrating problems", including a 🤑 lag in multiplayer modes which for some players rendered the game almost "unplayable".[124][125][126] Players have also reported serious bugs with 🤑 the PlayStation 3 version, including compatibility issues with 3D televisions.[127] PC World magazine noted that user reviews of the game 🤑 were much less positive than those of critics.[128] As of November 12, 2010, three days after the release, PC, PS3, 🤑 and Xbox 360 versions of the game held average user ratings of 3.1, 3.1, and 1.8 stars on Amazon, respectively 🤑 (on a 1 to 5 scale),[129] with many PC users complaining about lag, stuttering and bugs.
In January 2011, to a 🤑 player complaining about the remaining connection problems for the game on PlayStation 3, an Activision customer service representative threatened that 🤑 they could shut down the servers for the game for the PlayStation Network at any time.[130][131][132] After some days and 🤑 following some game media heat,[133] Dan Amrich, Activision Social Media Manager, declared that even if they could kill the servers, 🤑 they did not plan currently to do it.[134]
The Daily Telegraph praised Black Ops as its "meaty kick of the guns, 🤑 the blistering pace of the action and the sterling soundtrack of explosions, gunshots and whistling bullets all serve to quicken 🤑 the player's pulse and tighten their grip on the controller", and how the game is "compensated for by [the] nail-shredding 🤑 tension and creepy atmosphere".[118]
Official Nintendo Magazine awarded the Wii version 90% and said "Black Ops on Wii is a fantastic 🤑 shooter packed with all the features of its HD brothers, with the only exception being split-screen multiplayer."[135] Martin Gaston at 🤑 VideoGamer gave the Wii version 6 out of 10, complaining of Treyarch's reworking of in-game sequences as movies, poor AI, 🤑 and gameplay problems from lower-resolution graphics.[115]
In February 2011, the Xbox 360 version was named the Xbox Live's top title of 🤑 2010 by GameSpot.[136]
At the 14th Annual Interactive Achievement Awards (now known as the D.I.C.E. Awards), Call of Duty: Black Ops 🤑 was nominated for "Game of the Year", "Action Game of the Year", "Outstanding Achievement in Animation", "Outstanding Achievement in Online 🤑 Gameplay", and "Outstanding Achievement in Visual Engineering".[137]
Sales [ edit ]
Within 24 hours of its release, Black Ops had sold 4.2 🤑 million copies in the U.S. and 1.4 million copies in the UK, surpassing that of Modern Warfare 2 and establishing 🤑 a new record for largest entertainment launch.[138] Compared to the much anticipated opening of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows 🤑 – Part 1, the game earned more than twice as much as the film, earningR$360 million.[139] Only five days after 🤑 its release, sales from the game worldwide reached US$650 million, surpassing the previous record achieved by Modern Warfare 2 which 🤑 earnedR$550 million in five days.[140] By November 22, the game remained the bestselling title in the United Kingdom, despite sales 🤑 dropping by 85%.[141] Some estimates had placed sales of the game as reaching 18 million units sold, earning a revenue 🤑 ofR$818 million. This would fall about 2 million copies andR$182 million short of Modern Warfare 2.[142] By December 22, worldwide 🤑 revenue of Black Ops exceededR$1 billion.[143][144] Sales remained strong months after the game's release, remaining at the top-seller list in 🤑 February 2011.[145] On March 3, 2011, the news magazine The Hollywood Reporter also reported on the best selling video games 🤑 ever. It announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops was the best-selling game ever in the United States of America.[146] 🤑 Black Ops was the best-selling game of all time in the UK until Grand Theft Auto V overtook it in 🤑 November 2014.[147] In August 2011, Activision announced that the game had sold more than 25 million copies.[148] By November 2013, 🤑 the game had sold 26.2 million copies.[149]
Controversy [ edit ]
Cuba has condemned the game for its depiction of American special 🤑 forces trying but failing to kill a young Fidel Castro, killing instead a body-double.[150][151] The Cuba-based pro-Fidel Castro website Cubadebate 🤑 said the game "encourages sociopathic attitudes of American children and adolescents, the main consumers of these virtual games."[150][152][153]
Mobile phone version 🤑 [ edit ]
Black Ops was also released for both mobile phones and smartphones.[154] This version is a side-scrolling shooter. It 🤑 features a different storyline, a different set of characters, and is set in the Vietnam War in 1967. The game 🤑 was developed by Glu Mobile and published by Activision.[154][155]
Notes [ edit ]
