Call Of Duty: Black Ops (COD 7)

[Dan Vito Corleone]

It's not impossible.

 

All I can be sure of is, at the moment, it ain't going to be Infinity Ward.

[Allan]

It's not impossible.

 

All I can be sure of is, at the moment, it ain't going to be Infinity Ward.

 

You wouldn't think so. I suppose it depends on who's left at IW that has been involved in the MW series to date. I think Activision will still have dealings with IW in the future, but they won't ever have a relationship with Respawn however.

[Allan]

Some more footage from the upcoming release.

 

TSeXwdZWbWM

 

Looks like there is a beta out there that Machinima directors have been playing.

 

Gun game

 

5UOLAzViP4w

YqJi1S5MmKg

 

TDM

 

fpaJ0VaDfL0

YAq35lOSqeo

[Mendoza]

I'm gonna get fucked up big time.

[Dan Vito Corleone]

I'm not excited about this one for some reason. This may change in a few weeks.

[Chairman Meow]

What is the difference between the Treyarch and Infinity Ward games?

 

Only got PS3 last week and Modern Warfare 2 yesterday which is the first game of the series I have ever played so very new to the games (and getting properly fucked over online).

 

Was looking forward to this coming out as been impressed with MW2 despite the fact I have finished the story already. Is Black Ops likely to be a step down then?

[Allan]

What is the difference between the Treyarch and Infinity Ward games?

 

Only got PS3 last week and Modern Warfare 2 yesterday which is the first game of the series I have ever played so very new to the games (and getting properly fucked over online).

 

Was looking forward to this coming out as been impressed with MW2 despite the fact I have finished the story already. Is Black Ops likely to be a step down then?

 

For me, Treyarch are better at developing the campaign mode, while IW were better at the multiplayer aspect.

 

I'd suggest renting, or picking up a cheap copy of, World at War to give yourself a feel for the Treyarch style of game.

[Allan]

Some more info, courtesy of Black Ops Wikia:

 

Multiplayer

General

 

* Highest level of rank is level 50 and prestige mode is still in online ranks.

* Vehicles will return, but they will be very different than those in Call of Duty: World at War; some are now killstreaks as opposed to map items, such as the Chopper Gunner.

* Some campaign levels will be based off multiplayer maps instead of the typical vice-versa. This change is because some multiplayer maps had been made before the campaign was finalized.

* The PC version of Call of Duty: Black Ops will feature dedicated servers. [10]

* Players can now record, manage, edit and upload in-game video clips to their file share via "theatre mode."

* Matchmaking is being changed so that it is easier for friends to play together.

* In-game currency will be used to purchase weapons and upgrades.

* In the Black Ops rank system, the player must level up to unlock weapons for purchase.

* Split screen online for the Xbox 360 has been implemented.

 

Confirmed Multiplayer Maps

 

* Summit

* Launch

* Radiation

* Cracked

 

Gametypes

 

* Team Deathmatch will return; however, points for headshots and other bonuses will be added to the team's score.

* Capture the Flag

* Search and Destroy

* Demolition

* Hardcore Team Deathmatch

* Headquarters

* Sabotage

* Domination

* Combat Training: Fight against enemy AI in a training mode.

 

CoD Points

 

CoD Points are a new major feature of Black Ops. CoD Points will become the new in-game currency and will allow players to buy weapons, attachments, and Contracts. In addition to this, players are also allowed to wager these points in certain game modes.

Contracts

 

Contracts are a new system in addition to the classic challenge system in Black Ops. A player is able to buy a contract with CoD Points, which will then direct them to complete an object. Completion of a contract will yield a higher CoD point payout than what was originally paid for the contract itself.

Wager Matches

 

A new mode with a separate ranking structure than the standard online modes, will allow players to gamble with their money. However, only the top three will receive the prize. They will be placed into one of four random modes:

 

* One in the Chamber - each player is given a pistol with one bullet and a knife. For each kill achieved the player will receive one more bullet. However, each player will only have three lives.

* Sharpshooter - each player is given the same random weapon. The weapon will be used for 45 seconds before being switched out for another one. Kills will award the player with perks and score multipliers.

* Sticks and Stones - each player receives only a crossbow, ballistic knife, and a Tomahawk. The catch in this gamemode is that if the player was able to hit an enemy with a Tomahawk, the enemy player will go "bankrupted".

* Gun Game - players start out with a pistol. For each kill they move up a level, granting them a better gun. First person to achieve kills with all 20 weapons wins. However, someone who is knifed will move down a level.

 

Create a Class

Create a Class in Black Ops.

 

* Create-A-Class 2.0 will allow players to customize their appearance in addition to their loadout. Players may see what their character looks like while choosing a class, as the player's basic appearance will be determined by their Tier 1 Perk. Players will also be able to choose a Facepaint pattern.

* Some sights such as the Red Dot Sight can use custom reticules which includes choice of shape and color.

* Gun camouflages will be featured in Black Ops and will be far more numerous than in previous Call of Duty games.

* Players' clan tags are engraved onto their guns.

 

Confirmed Perks

 

* Tier One Perks: Lightweight • Scavenger • Ghost • Flak Jacket • Hardline

* Tier Two Perks: Hardened • Scout • Steady Aim • Sleight of Hand • Warlord

* Tier Three Perks: Marathon• Ninja • Second Chance • Hacker • Tactical Mask

 

Killstreaks

 

* 3 kill streaks: Spy Plane, RC-XD

* 4 kill streaks: Counter-Spy Plane, SAM Turret

* 5 kill streaks: Care Package, Napalm Strike

* 6 kill streaks: Sentry Gun, Mortar Team

* 7 kill streaks: Attack Helicopter, Valkyrie Rockets

* 8 kill streaks: Blackbird, Rolling Thunder

* 9 kill streaks: Chopper Gunner

* 11 kill streaks: Attack Dogs, Gunship

 

The dogs are back!!

[Allan]

Article from the Guardian:

 

 

Of course, the important question was always going to be, how does it play? Two nights ago, Treyarch revealed some interesting details about the Black Ops multiplayer offering, including new killstreaks, perks, equipment and progression systems, but has the developer captured and maintained the immensely popular 'feel' of the CoD online experience?

 

The short answer is yes. At its multiplayer reveal event in LA, Treyarch unveiled four new deathmatch maps, and each of them is structured around the familiar components – lots of open areas for rapid-fire shoot-outs, all enclosed by built-up multilayered interiors, and overlooked by sniping cubby holes that are rarely entirely safe camping spots. This is CoD by the book (and design director David Vonderhaar told me that Treyarch actually does have a massive multiplayer design manual, explaining the architectural rules to its level creators) - but with a few intriguing new twists.

 

'Cracked' will be instantly familiar to Modern Warfare fanatics. Like MW2's Invasion and Kerachi maps, it's an obliterated urban landscape, densely jammed with crumbling shops and homes, the roads pockmarked by burned-out vehicles. There are anarchy symbols spray-painted on walls, rusted corrugated iron roofs, haggard, shrapnel-scarred window openings, with narrow views over open areas. It's a classic street battle map, accompanied by plenty of higher-level walkways and rooms for snipers to get a good view on the action.

 

In contrast, Summit is a remote mountain base, surrounded by sparse tundra. Howling winds send snow billowing through the buildings, and occasionally shattering large glass windows. There's a series of treacherous walkways hugging the mountains-sides – I found that chucking a flash-bang down here could lead to players accidentally running off the rickety planks into the abyss. Fun, but not particularly productive.

 

'Radiation' looks to be a Soviet nuclear facility, all gargantuan military-industrial machinery and blasted concrete buildings. 'Launch' is another ruggedly metallic complex, overlooked by looming scaffolding-covered towers. Glance up and you'll see an enormous rocket, which will actually take off during a bout – and woe betide any player caught beneath it when it goes.

 

These two levels also exhibit one of the new features Treyarch is toying with in this title: as Vonderhaar explains, "The innovation we're trying here – and this is something we've been wanting to do for several games and just haven't been able to get it done right – is adding a level of interactivity into the maps. In Radiation, for example, you can press a button and the blast doors open [these provide access to a subterranean area which leads into a tunnel system]. If you're playing team deathmatch you'll probably want to keep them open, if you're on CTF, you'll want them shut – we're doing this sort of thing selectively, we don't do it in every map, we do it if it makes sense."

 

The new killstreaks are fun, adding new forms of air power in the shape of the attack helicopters and gunships, but also providing the surface-to-air missiles for a bit of protection. The RC-XD car is tricky to manoeuvre, and its blast distance is limited, but it's great fun, and being chased down an alley by one is a fraught experience, like being cornered by a charging facehugger. They're just as tricky to shoot, too. As for new weapons, I got a few round in with the crossbow, which you think will operate just like a sniper rifle, but is much more demanding – the bolts seem to shift in the wind, affecting accuracy, though this makes successful kills all the more satisfying.

 

The Wager levels could prove to the truly addictive additions. Gun Game, in which you progressively work your way through each weapon type, levelling up with every kill, is just so demanding, engrossing and frenetic – and the betting element, in which you wager your CoD points on finishing in the top three, will really have you grimacing over every missed shooting opportunity.

 

On the subject of CoD points, a few comments on my news piece yesterday asked why purchasable progression couldn't have been employed using XP points. So I put this question to Treyarch community manager Josh Olin, who told me, "we did think originally about just using XP, but it's not practical. I mean, if you lose XP, does the game de-level or downgrade you? Do you lose the items you just unlocked? What if you've just customised them? It would just be frustrating, it would really annoy players. That's why we integrated a currency system."

 

So, a solid set of maps, exhibiting all the features we expect from a CoD multiplayer landscape, but with new stuff like interactive switches, and timed events. The killstreaks balance each other well – I didn't see the attack dogs, but apparently they're an imposing sight. There were no radical re-thinks of how a multiplayer map should look, but then this is probably a quarter of what we'll eventually see. From this evidence, the genetic throughline of the CoD multiplayer experience has been upheld.

[Section_31]

Don't think I'll be arsed with this, I've played all the others going back to the first one on the PC and it'll just be the same old shit.

[Thants]

Never understood the hype.

[Byrnie]

Any more new videos?

[Guest Scaramanga]

I'll (probably) be buying it because I heard it's got the zombie mode in it, and the single player campaign will probably be ok. But Treyarch can go and fuck themselves with the multiplayer and any of their overpriced dlc.

 

They fucking ruined the multiplayer for WaW. Cunts.

[Allan]

Any more new videos?

 

As it happens, yes, there are a few.

 

w0_r4-eTmlA

 

kg_8mPoloBo&

 

fQRoDrsRMq8

[Byrnie]

Cheers Al, I'm looking forward to this immensely. Those game modes look very intriguing. I like the variation on the different game types.

[Chairman Meow]

One in the chamber looks like it will be interesting.

 

Are there any details on what zombie mode will actually be?

 

I'll probably be pre ordering but not seen anyone being particularly cheaper than anywhere else.

[Allan]

Single player teaser trailer:

 

BFl1v4v247I

[Allan]

Another vid for you. This one focuses on the standard multiplayer aspect of the game, taking into account killstreaks and some other subtle changes Treyarch have made to try and improve on the foundations laid by MW2.

 

rhm6UTFHLXc

[Dan Vito Corleone]

The more I see, the better this looks. I was distinctly underwhelmed a month or so ago, now I think I've been convinced to get it.

[Allan]

The more I see, the better this looks. I was distinctly underwhelmed a month or so ago, now I think I've been convinced to get it.

 

I reckon that this has the potential to be the best game in the series by far.

 

It's combining aspects from the last 3 games, tweaking and improving bits here and there, and rolling them out in what hopefully will be an outstanding game.

 

You've got the non stackable killstreaks from COD4 and WaW, the improved map creation skills of Treyarch, the WaW maps were/are far superior to any maps IW have created in my opinion, and you have the engine from MW2, plus they've done away with the overpowered perks, Stopping Power and Juggernaught, so you're now fully reliant on your own skills with your weapon of choice, rather than knowing you'll win a gunfight purely because you have either of the aforementioned perks.

 

I can't wait for this.

[Dan Vito Corleone]

I was initially very wary of it because I just could not get into WAW online at all.

[aikido]

One in the chamber looks like it will be interesting.

 

Are there any details on what zombie mode will actually be?

 

I'll probably be pre ordering but not seen anyone being particularly cheaper than anywhere else.

 

Some game geeks I work with have said it's the same zombie levels that already exist on previous games. Although I find it hard to believe they will be nazis.

 

(Is nazis the plural of nazi, or am I being a tit? )

[Mendoza]

Gary Oldman and Ed Harris providing voices for the campaign

 

News: Black Ops: New campaign details revealed - ComputerAndVideoGames.com

[Chairman Meow]

Some game geeks I work with have said it's the same zombie levels that already exist on previous games. Although I find it hard to believe they will be nazis.

 

(Is nazis the plural of nazi, or am I being a tit? )

 

MW2 was the first ever one for me so never seen zombie mode before on an older one. I'll have a scout about on t'interweb later to see if I can find the old one.

[Byrnie]

Wow, that clip is really impressive looking.