Fresh out of the box, it’s evident the game has a lot going for it. Boasting smooth visuals and gameplay rife with tension, the high-impact feel that traditionally encompasses Call of Duty efforts is immediately noticeable. When it comes to locales, Black Ops takes a slight twist as its war-ridden campaign unfolds over an often overlooked era — at least in video games — the Cold War.

To start, you step into the shoes of Alex Mason, a Studies and Observations Group (SOG) member, who endures extreme torture and interrogation. Through this, he is forced to relive and revisit his past military operations, all of which have a seemingly simple end-goal — find and dispose of ‘Dragovich,’ the leader of the Russian forces.

While in true Call of Duty fashion you step into more shoes than your own, the core plot remains focused on Alex throughout, who travels across the world in his search, ending up in some fairly scenic locales such as Cuba, Laos, Russia and even a brief stint in the Vietnam War. While the ‘hunt down a specific enemy’ approach might sound like an all-too familiar staple of the Call of Duty series, it is executed in such a brilliant way that it feels quite fresh and innovative.

Story and action elements go hand in hand throughout in Black Ops, so much so that it hits a perfect balance. Nothing feels stilted or forced, there is never too much dialogue, and the voices of Gary Oldman and Sam Worthington are perfectly suited to the game. Even the musical overtones in the background blend in with the scenes. The only criticism over the entire single player experience is the at times awkward vehicle controls.

While most games even in this day and age thrive on their single player aspect, a very large portion of the community are aching for only one thing — multiplayer. Here, Treyarch deliver on every front imaginable, offering a wealth of maps, weapons, and customization options that truly set it apart and in front of anything that came before.

Fans of the series might be happy to note that instead of having to skip a map, players now vote for which map they would like to play – something that feels like it should have been added a long time ago. Each map is extremely varied, playing to many strengths and weaknesses… from the small, visually vibrant Nuketown, to the thick lush jungle of…well… Jungle.

Black Ops is no slouch on the personalization front either. Players can dabble with face paint and tune up weaponry to their liking. You can truly make your weapon your own; with the ability to etch your clan tag into it as well as emblems, camo, and even your optional red dot sight can be changed at whim. Tier 1 perks affect your outward appearance, adding a deeper meaning than just choosing the one that suits your play style.

Perks have made a radical shift from that of previous games, with there no longer being anything that gives the player extra health or increasing the damage one can dish out. There are plenty of new surprises too – with many of the pro perks adding interesting results (such as hacker, allowing you to sabotage enemy equipment). Finally, many of the perks have changed tiers, making the choice of what goes in what tier even more difficult to make.

Prestiging (where you start from level 1 with no unlocks, after reaching the max level) has in the past been only a trivial affair, gaining you extra class unlocks. This has changed in Black Ops, to the point where there are actual in game perks outside of extra classes to sweeten the deal. There are also 15 of them, although with a level cap of 50 players might find they reach the final prestige faster than in previous games… but the benefits are completely worth it.

Black Ops feels great, with a lot of new features that have been added to smooth out issues that were present in previous games. Quick-scoping (the ability to kill a person without fully transitioning into the scope) has been nixed, as has the invulnerability enemies would have when going prone or transitioning into Last Stand. A new ‘dive prone’ move has been added, allowing moving players a prone option that doesn’t seem stilted.

With a new Call of Duty comes change, and one of the changes that have been made are the addition of CP or CoD Points. While players still gain XP to level up in the traditional sense, levelling up by itself does not unlock new weapons and equipment, instead these need to be purchased using CoD Points, which are gained by the completion of challenges, levelling up, and also gambled in two new ways, Wager Matches and Contracts.

Outside of the core multiplayer component comes Combat Training, a way for players who are perhaps not very comfortable with their multiplayer talents to practice against AI opponents. This mode is great for beginners and veterans alike, allowing for the practice of new guns, tactics, and strategies against fairly realistic opponents.

Yet one of the most anticipated parts of the game is Zombie Mode, a Left 4 Dead-esque cooperative mini-game that sets up to four players against larger and increasingly deadly hordes of zombies. The best part about it is the fact that in certain zombie-laden maps, like the Pentagon, you can go rambo as world leaders like JFK or Fidel Castro. It’s a bizarre, yet awesome addition.

Black Ops is truly a daunting masterpiece, lovingly crafted with such fine attention to detail that it’s evident developer Treyarch, responsible for Call of Duty 3 and World at War, went to remarkable heights to appease fans. From an ‘on the edge of your seats’ main story, to frantic paced cooperative Zombie mode, and a competitive multiplayer aspect that has offered the deepest, most customizable experience yet, it hardly comes as a surprise that publisher Activision is touting it as the “biggest entertainment launch” of this year.

Like
- A story that feels epic straight from the moment you start
- Multiplayer customizability at its finest
- Every game can do with Zombies; this one does so with world leaders.

Dislike
- Vehicle controls feel a little strange and unfamiliar at times.

From Exophase

This is the best looking part of the game!

First off, let me just say “WHAT THE FUCK”! Seriously, this is the exact same fucking game that came out 3 years ago. Way to go Ruffian Games and Microsoft. You made the worst sequel to ever come out in the history of gaming. The game itself isn’t terrible, but its a repackaged game with a few new twists. Get ready to get pissed the fuck off.

Let me start with the graphics. SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT SHIT! I honestly feel like I could have shit out a better looking game. When was the last time the first game in a series looked better than a sequel. NEVER, unless it was on a stupid hand held. What the living FUCK Ruffian. Seriously what are you thinking. What the hell have you been doing the past 3 years, dicking around and frolicking? It honestly feels like they just sat around and milked the first Crackdown to death. Have you ever wanted to puke at a video game? Crackdown 2 will make you do that instantly.

Story
Again what the FUCK. You get a quick briefing at the beginning of the game that talks about saving the world from some dumb-ass zombies. ITS NEVER MENTIONED AGAIN THE REST OF THE MOTHER FUCKING GAME. Great job team! The robotic character that you control, who just so happens to look like Robocop on crack , is boring and you feel absolutely no connection to him. The only thing I truly liked about the story was the kick-ass announcer who would tell you that your kicking ass. Other than that its just SHIT.

Gameplay
Is it possible that I could possible be surprised by this? Nope, no fucking way. This is the exact same mother fucker from 3 years ago. They didn’t just shit out the graphics, but the shat out the same game. Sure, its still can be fun as hell but there is really nothing new except for guns and vehicles. There are actually some really cool vehicles, but then again there are some shit ones. Also there are some kick-ass mother fucking weapons but it still is the same game. The most fun I had playing this game was being the Orb Bitch. There are some challenging orbs to get and with each one you can upgrade your Robocop. It is quite addicting. But you are still being an Orb Bitch. How can collecting glowing shit be more fun than playing the actual game?
Dumb.

Multiplayer
Pretty much the same fucking thing. You can have 4 people fuck around at once, but other than that its as dumb as a retarded monkey. Its just shit. Really nothing different than the first one other than having 2 more Robocops.

The Verdict
If you want to play the exact same fucking game from 3 years ago, than this is you man. The only people I can recommend this game to are people who have never played Crackdown before. Save yourself 40$ and get the used or new copy of the original Crackdown

Rating
I give it

6.5 – Fucks out of 10

I remember when Battlefront II came out I think I played that game for about 200 hours and I’m still not sick of it. Pandemic really did a good job at making a third person shooter in the StarWars universe. Then when renegade squadron came out I noticed it was made by a different company, Rebellion and I thought to my self “all right that’s cool”. Renegade squadron had a few little quirks but it was over all a good game, But then came Elite Squadron and I was very disappointed.

Single-Player: The Campaign was a good solid story about a two clones who was cloned after a jedi and therefore could use the force, and when Order 66 was issued one turned evil while the other one joined the rebels. Now I can’t say much more for it will give the story away. Single-Player has a few other modes such as the default Instant Action and Galactic conquest. Overall the Single-Player is the same as all the previous games except that it has a bit deeper storyline

Rating 8/10

Multi-Player: The Multi-Player is the same as its always been except online. The Online is just a mess, Everyone who plays it seems to have a hacked game save and  use light sabers have the force and generally destroy anyone who does not have a hacked game save. Even with a hacked game save the game becomes less fun for it does not require any skill to play and gets boring very fast.

Multi-player:  4/10

Graphics and animation: The Graphics and animation seem to lack the polish as the previous games and have little things that make it look unfinished(like when you land a empire carrier the wings jerk into landing position and the colours become darker in the animation then in the rest of the game). There are also little animations the really make the game look bad like when you are turning in a walker it is also very jerkey.

G&A 6/10

Game-play: The Game-play for this game is almost flawless for rebellion has kept the same game-play from the older games and its like a shining beacon in a very dark world. The only thing that is bad about is the melee system the add which feels again very unpolished.

Gameplay: 8/10

Acting: The voices in this game are nothing special but there not bad and they help you feel like you are in the starwars universe

Acting 8/10

That pretty much wraps up this review and I must say that you should definatly try this game out before you buy it to make sure you like, If you don’t well I don’t blame you because I sure didn’t like it.

Overall 6/8

Elite Squadron came out on Nov 3 for the DS and PSP

Now this is one of my toughest reviews, not because of the quality, but purely because of the nature of the game. Yes, I’m not the biggest of football fans, which means I don’t really care for, or bother playing any football titles. Having said this though, I have had some experience with Fifa games recently, and although in many minds comparing the two franchises is like a mortal sin given the fact there seems to be one of those fanboy fights about which is better, who better to compare the games then someone completely objective such as myself.

To dive or not to dive?

For obvious reasons, there is no plot to a game like this, and even if there was one, it would probably be pretty lame such as those you find in NBA 2K titles. Having said that though, you as a player, do get spoiled for choice with regards to different game modes. You have choices such as the traditional choosing of your favourite team and taking them through a season, managing your team through a season, and even making your own player working your way up into bigger teams to become the best player in the world. This would be great, if Konami could actually get the licenses to name the teams in the way they’re named in reality. I can imagine that seasoned veterans in the game would know which team is which, but for a novice, it’s particularly horrible trying to find the team of your choice. Not only is the licenses an issue, but so is the serious lack of stadiums to play in, all of which get a bit boring after time.
Moving onto the graphics and gameplay in particular, you can definitely see the differences between PES and Fifa. You might say that graphics are quite excellent in PES2010, and that player movement isn’t entirely horrible, only if you haven’t played Fifa recently. Comparing the two is like comparing BMW to Audi, one is great and looks and drives like a dream, but once you step into that BMW, you notice that everything is just that little bit better whichever way you look at it. PES is the Audi of the football gaming world, it just never quite cuts the mustard. Graphics are not quite as good and it’s not as pretty as its rival, and gameplay feels too arcady to be 100% enjoyable. Player control feels laggy and you’re never quite sure whether you landed that through ball by luck or by skill.

Stiff challenge

Control of players and their defensive capabilities are where PES falls short of the mark. You could forgive the graphics as it’s pretty up to standard, but gameplay feels too much like you’re getting lucky passes and tackles in instead of proper ball and power control as well is the ability to intercept and defend with a relative amount of ease. It all feels like a chore in some ways and players themselves don’t feel realistic as compared to their actions in real life as you feel all players in the game are on the same skill level where no talent exists whatsoever. You don’t really ever get a chance to play around with the ball or move it around with much ease, but then again, at times it feels better not having the opportunity to do so because player control is so bad.
Another issue I have with the game is the lack in difficulty, I decided to challenge myself and choose a slightly high level that most beginners playing a game for the first time wouldn’t usually do. Notice the surprise I got when it wasn’t actually difficult at all, well at least I don’t think winning 11-1 in a short match is very difficult in all honesty, as the AI seemed quite retarded and even more laggy then humans. This however doesn’t mean trophies are easy to achieve as there are quite a few and most of them require quite a bit of time to achieve, so don’t expect a platinum trophy too quickly and by the time you’ve earned it you’ll probably be so fed up with the actual game that you’ll be using it as a Frisbee.

Head and shoulders above the rest?

One of the biggest aspects of this game is its online mode, but then again, which game these days doesn’t have an important multiplayer mode? Unfortunately I never got the opportunity to give this a go, but as far as I can imagine, it can’t be much different to the single player gameplay besides the fact you’re playing a friend or stranger who’s not a retarded bit of AI, but is actually a human. This either makes things very easy or very difficult, well in normal games at least. If you’re a skilled veteran I’m sure you can defeat most people with relative ease, you do get the feeling that many things in a game are purely based on luck as opposed to actual skill which tends to be frustrating.

Classy finishing required!

Conclusion

Although I’ve been pretty hard on the game, it’s not entirely bad, it has many good points about it and you can see why it has gained so many fans over the years. It is unfair in many ways to compare it to a giant as big as Fifa as you know, in a sense, that it will never realistically be able to compete fairly. At the end of the day you’ll either love it or hate it, however the answer to why more people hate it as opposed to love it is purely because it just doesn’t cut the mustard against its rival, it never feels as good, looks as good or plays that good, it just feels a step and a half behind and in a game, that’s what can make all the difference.

Gameplay: 6/10
Graphics: 7/10
Fun: 8/10
Sound: 6.5/10

Total 7/10 Not fantastic, but not bad either.

A big thanks to Ster-Kinekor for making the game available for review.

The game that I will be reviewing to day is called Madballs in… Babo:Invasion(MiBI). The characters are  based of a series of toys called Madballs from the mid 80′s. Although it only has two original Madballs , the rest where made up for the game.

Released by PlayBrains in August 2009 the game provides a short single player campaign and several different Multiplayer modes which I believe are the highlight of the game.

The Singleplayer campaign is entertaining and you do not need to know any of the story to play a mission however you do need play through a level to play it in other game modes such a time attack. Personally I don’t even know what the story is for I don’t even know what it is about. Between hordes of enemies and interesting puzzles the Singleplayer is worth playing especially if you just got the game for you can unlock things to use in multiplayer.

Singleplayer rating 7/10

The Multiplayer in this game is what it’s all about with 50 different things you can unlock(you can also unlock them in singleplayer) and an interesting ranking system, it is obvious this is where Playbrains put there primary focus. With 7 different gamemodes (skirmish, team skirmish, capture the flag, base attack, and invasion) and 5 different classes(assault, support, heavy, flyer, and runner) you can stay busy for hours on end.

Multiplayer 9/10

The Graphics in this game are very bright and cartoony making them highly enjoyable but it’s nothing new and exciting.

Graphics 8/10

The Controls are very easy to get a hang of and with a well balance class system the Gameplay is well done

gameplay 9/10

Over all this game is highly enjoyable and I found my self playing it for hours and I would recommend it to anyone who enjoys a change from most modern shooters of today. It can be found on Steam and in the Xbox MarketPlace

Overall Score 8/10