Answering the Call again... Hello? Damn spam phone calls
The joke with Call of Duty is that if you've played one, you've played them all. The truth is if you've played one you've played them all..... Wait that's the joke again. Although used against COD by people who don't play them, the joke has an undeniable hint of truth about it. Has Black ops changed, yes has it changed to the point it feels like new experience, well no. At the core it plays like another COD, sure you can dress it up and disguise it all you want but it's about as effective as placing a pumpkin on your head in the effect of it being guillotined, it's not fooling anyone.
There's new abilities, new tech, new guns and now you can run along walls. Sure these additions change things up but its COD, COD and not the battered kind but either is good. It's throwaway entertainment sure and this time next year it will be disposed of for the new toy, an endless cycle of gaming tedium until we die.
I know this isn't the most uplifting thought but sometimes there's nothing wrong with just sitting down and enjoying some mindless explosions, after all isn't that the whole demographic for Michael Bay films. This year it's Treyarch and despite them having a rather large group of followers who say their CODs are the strongest, I cannot fathom why. What Treyarch do have going for them is the attempt at changing things, they're always the most ambitious but they fail. It's not through lack of trying but at the end of the day you're measured on the quality and success not on intentions. Take the first Black Ops, maybe the most ambitious story in a COD campaign but it falls flat on its face with inconsistent pacing, plot holes the size of angry mobs after servers fail for five minutes and all the subtle grace of a British pantomime. It was mired by an overwhelming sense of 'me too' after the success of MW2. Same went with Black Ops II and surprise of the year award goes to.... Black Ops III which yet again has lofty ambitions in it's narrative and then proceeds to have woeful dialogue exposition techniques such as the main character forgetting where he is just so the player can be filled In on the plot *eye rolls*, did he forget his name too because it's just simply listed as 'player' in the subtitles. Not exactly a unforgettable name... Or face either, if I had pinned the fates of humankind on someone who was named player I might be weighing our chances lowly. For all this talk things could pick up and if the severs start working for five minutes (angry mob incoming) I might find out if the online is at least competent. Or I might just go to the chippy and get some COD fish, at least there I won't be made to listen to dreadful language and dialogue from some loathsome people..... Oh wait.
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