CoD: Black Ops

[Techmonkey]

Just started playing this last night. Cracking game so far and well worth hype.

I have only played one version before (CoD 4) which I thought was excellent, but lacked a little in terms of play time, so will see how this one goes.

Anyone else got it?

Whats your gamertag?

Mine is: darrenjmccabe

[Cadet]

cadetuk ,

not got a copy yet though as my deviously plans of getting a cheap copy fell through :/

[Cadet]

Black Op's also has 2 hidden games

http://gamerant.com/call-of-duty-black-o...yce-51858/

[Techmonkey]

Ooooh nice, hurry up and get a copyif my marathon session last night was anything to go by I will be on to multiplayer soon

[Techmonkey]

Anyone who is thinking of getting this and is looking for a cheap deal on CoD Black Ops could do worse than checkiong this thread at HotUkDeals.com

http://www.hotukdeals.com/misc/vb1-call-...-co/795307

Quote:Cheapest Price (Major highstreet retailers):

PC World* - £29.00 - At PC World's close to Best Buys with stock. See proof pic.
Best Buy* - £29.99 (Store Locator)
(*Best Buy - Online, Lakeside, Croydon, Aintree, Derby, Merry Hill, Hedge End)
Asda - £36.97 (Store Locator)

Confirmed Prices:

PC World* - £29.00 - At PC World's close to Best Buys with stock. See proof pic.
Best Buy* - £29.99 (Store Locator)
Asda - £36.97 (Store Locator)
Sainsburys - £37.97 (Store Locator)
Tesco - £39.90 (Store Locator)
Morrisons - £39.99 (Store Locator)
HMV - £42.99 (Store Locator)
Argos - £44.99 (Store Locator)
Game - £44.99 (Store Locator)
Gamestation - £44.99 (Store Locator)
Blockbuster - £44.99 (£42.99 PreOrder) (Store Locator)

Unconfirmed, but probable/potential pricing:

Makro - £NOT STOCKING (Membership required) (Store Locator)

Check before travelling etc etc yada yada...

Offers:

Tesco: Available for £25 at Tesco with the purchase of a 2100 Microsoft Points card, 3 month Xbox Live subscription or £20 PSN card
ASDA: Trade in either Fable III, Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2 or Fallout: New Vegas - purchase the game for £4.97.
Blockbuster: Will sell the game for 99p when trading in one of two games from Medal of Honour, Fable III, MMA, Fallout: New Vegas, MMA, F1 2010 and Star Wars: The Force Unleashed 2
Sainsburys: Spend £30 then purchase the game for £27.97.
Morrisons: Will discount £10 from the standard price making it £29.99
GAME: Will sell the game for £24.99 when bought with another PS3 or Xbox 360 chart title, or with a trade in of either Halo: Reach, Dead Rising 2 or FIFA 11.
Gamestation: Will sell the game for £24.99 when bought with another PS3 or Xbox 360 chart title, or with a trade in of either Halo: Reach, Dead Rising 2 or FIFA 11.

So with the right offer you could puck it up for £5

[hedges]

For what is essentially my first CoD game I can't quite understand what all the hype is about. Woo, run down effectively a corridor with invisible walls to a set piece/cut scene, rinse, repeat ad infinitum... after a whole 4-5 hours of playtime I finished the single player... I am disappointed so far, overly hyped and an intensely predictable plot that sniffs of hollywood's worst writing. I did find the little secrets good though, really enjoyed playing Zork and having to remember old DOS commands.

Kudos for whoever chose the songs for the soundtrack as well, that I can't fault (Creedence and The Rolling Stones suitably catch the mood of the era the game is based in).

Will have to see what the multiplayer is like tonight and also to see if I can prevent the Lag/Crash Issues the PC version has shipped with.

[hedges]

Just to add my further thoughts to this game.

Having tried for the last few weeks desperately to like the game and also get it to run efficiently on my computer I have given up on Call of Duty. If you are considering purchasing this for consoles, by all means go ahead, but for those of you thinking about the PC version the issues still remain.

Occasionally the game is playable for a period of time during multiplayer, however I've had to drop the resolution down to 720p resolution and the lag spikes still remain to the point where you will be playing and warp back a considerable distance back to where the servers think you are.

My computer easily exceeds the recommended specs for the game and yet is outclassed by a considerable margin by battlefield: bad company 2 both in terms of gameplay and quality.

If I was to give CodBlops/PrawnFlaps/TurbotBaps a score out of 10 it would only warrant a 6 for the inclusion of wager matches, but the main game is tired and predictable has moments where skill is not rewarded because it would break scripted sequences and is the first game to completely lock up my system with 90% useage on all 4 cores causing it to overheat and reboot.

[Techmonkey]

I have to say while I do agree that the game is predictable in terms of Gameplay I think that is what draws people to it, they know what they are getting and they love it.

The Single player certainly lacks in terms of long term game play, but it's all about the multiplayer.

The problems you describe are why I decided to give up on PC gaming. Regardless of how well specced your PC is and regardless of how it meets the specs there are always problems with certain and problems that make no sense.

Console means put the disc in and play - win.

I do miss keyboard and mouse action though and my kill to death ratio is laughable

[hedges]

I think the major issue with PC gaming is the current focus on the consoles as lead platforms.

When a game is built from the ground up for the PC then in general they run well, however it all falls apart when the console comes first as the developers almost approach it with a theory of "well it works on the Xbox, it should just be a simple copy and paste job with a hint of QA testing". It's especially prevalent in franchises like CoD where the release date is set in stone and requires an amazing turnaround time from the development team, something which must be commended. But I'd rather they hold back on the release of the PC version to ensure the additional testing required prevents the need for multiple patches within the first days of release. In fact patching in general appears to be happening on release days with amazing regularity nowadays, even on consoles.

As we all know, PCs are very individual creatures and there is usually a much bigger task required for the teams to attain high quality on the variety of setups that could be out there. In the case of CoD though, the game is running on a 4 year old engine (built for CoD4) and as such you'd have thought that all of the testing required would have been done with each new iteration of the same technology for the games, with a simple test for the major component releases within the year. Modern Warfare ran brilliantly on my PC, Prawn:Flaps does not, which makes me wonder what has gone wrong with the franchise.

Sadly, Turbot:Baps is also not a simple case of insert disc and play for quite a few of the console owners either. There are reports of lag issues on PS3 and 360, sitting alongside well known glitches and a variety of other problems. I wish that we didn't have to pay through the nose for what is effectively an extended beta and then we'll eventually get the full working version within 1 month or 2 of the day the game gets shipped.

Luckily, this second, rather sour tasting dabble in CoD has left a mark so indelible that I will not be purchasing any more parts of the franchise and will instead be looking forwards to the multitude of new FPSs destined to hit consoles and PCs next year. I will continue to have fantastic team-based fun with Battlefield: Bad Company 2, especially with the Vietnam expansion about to hit the game.

I think it might just be my taste in games, but I just don't get the allure of the CoD multiplayer, having played it this weekend by shifting my resolution down to 1024x768. I get a much more rounded and rewarding experience from BFBC2, which has all the elements of CoD, but a better game engine, better graphics, more open gameplay/environments and something that encourages a team working together for a single objective, rather than rewarding lone-wolf tactics like CoD does. I also like the fact that in BFBC2 if you hide behind a wall you're still at risk, one well placed grenade and the wall is rubble and you have to quickly get the hell out of dodge.

Just to give you an idea of some of the new FPSs on the way next year:

Brink
Deus Ex: Human Revolution
Bulletstorm
Portal 2

I would highly recommend checking these games out as each of them appears to bringing something new to what was becoming quite a stale genre.