It's been a few years since I talked about the games I am currently(or recently) playing, and while I know I talked about playing the original(aaaaah my lovely and dearly missed crossbow, I knew you well) I skipped over the second black ops. This one is more of the same, but with the added twist of some of the mechanics of Cod(Call of Duty for casual and non gamers) Advanced Warfare, which I didn't actually play. I think at the time I was either CoD burned out, or else I just wasn't in the mood yet. Anyway kind of fresh off the presses(It came out November 6, 2015), I pre-ordered it, picked it up day one, did the day one software update(I don't know why every game has one now adays but they do) and booted it up.
Now I know I have mentioned it before but I don't really play these games for the story mode, some of them are fun, and nice, hell you can even get a decent understanding of how to play the games from them, but honestly I am here for on-line play. Both major systems have adequate multiplayer set ups so this isn't like X-box vs Playstation 2, regardless of system you can get your frag on. Anyway
there is a new set up in black ops, instead of just having you have a basic character whom you level up, keep the guns, hit certain levels and earn skins for your guns, you actually pick a character who already has abilities that you ramp up the better you are at killing(and they are all different and take some getting used to), as well as your normal kill streaks. Plus your kill streaks are now activated on a points system NOT just how many people you have killed in a row, which to be fair can be hit or miss. If you have found a way to mow down 5 people and you expect to get the old 5 kill streak, the way you killed them may not have earned you enough points, but at the same token if you have captured various objectives in a match you may get to said point goals faster.
Like any other CoD or FPS you die your "counter" is reset. Doesn't matter how many points you have scored at the end of the match if somebody guns you down you have to start over. To make matters worse you get a badge for stopping a kill streak(badges aren't as big deal as they used to be, they have a point total for both the match and leveling up but it isn't like an achievement or trophy) so there are people out there not just killing you to win the match, but killing you to rack up on those streak stopper badges. You also get badges for being efficient with your special ability, or basically killing someone while they are using theirs, or even better stopping them before they even get a kill with theirs. I'm sure you have seen the trailers and commercials, but if not here yes the graphics look sweet, yes the sound is awesome, and oh yes matches happen at a frenetic pace. They have also expended on the surprisingly popular Zombie Mode, which is basically you and 4 other players attempting to finish objectives while fighting off waves and waves of zombies.
If you are familiar with twitch, ustream, and the newcomer youtube gaming it has kind of replaced demos on both X-box and Playstation. I mean there really is nothing like a hands on play through of a game to let you know if you really do like it or not, but if a game is not NORMALLY your deal this gives you a decent heads up as to what you can expect. Now yes, watching the top player of any game might make you feel like, pfft piece of cake I will wreck you only to find out that you and death become constant companions, but it will at least show you some of what happens in game. As well as allow you to peruse any glitches, bugs, and sometimes get a few "pro tips" to help you through if you decide to pick a game up. I haven't streamed in a while, but I may again in the future just depends on what game I am playing. I typed all that to say there are plenty of people streaming CoD and right now there is a new Zombie map available(not that I have beaten the FIRST Zombie map, I sometimes take a few lives to get going so while I do play Zombie mode that isn't my strength) on PS4 first because they paid the money for that not some much exclusive but for that first dibs so to speak.
Which for most gamers is really a non starter while it would be NICE for everyone to get the maps at the same time as they haven't really worked on crossplay yet(play between systems, so a PS4 gamer vs an X-box one Gamer and possibly vs a PC Master Race{inside joke for gamers} gamer) it doesn't really hurt you. I mean it's not like you are going to play against a friend who owns a PS4 and they try and take you to a map you don't have, hell as one of the streamers for the X-box Alive network showed the other day on twitch you really just offer X-box gamers a free preview before it hits their system, and sometimes forewarned is forearmed and for a gamer Forearmed tends to mean somebody is gonna get fragged. You level up weapons in both zombie mode and in regular mode, the difference is in Zombie mode you buy the weapons during the round versus buying them between rounds and constantly having them equipped in the regular multiplayer mode.
Of course there is a story mode, but as I haven't touched it I can't tell you squat about it. Now I will always warn people, don't swap from shooter to shooter, I know your friends may send you an invite but not everyones controls are the same, and the last thing you want to do especially in say a "hardcore mode" is run up on somebody trying to melee them and toss a grenade instead or vice versa. Cause if you are trying to toss a grenade and you mistakenly swing your gun butt, bye bye Gracie(and yes that has happened to me before). The reason I say Hardcore is because most hardcore modes include team killing, which is a nice way of saying friendly fire, AND a nice way to screw your whole team over if you hit the wrong button at the wrong time. Most multiplayer matches are 6 on 6, with hot swapability which can be good or bad. if you have a dedicated squad rolling with you as long as there are enough slots you can gone ahead and face off against another either organized or potluck team. If you are buy yourself you run the risk of say entering a game after guys start ditching because they are getting smoked, not that this is a totally bad thing. It can allow you to get some experience WITHOUT taking a loss as Black Ops has a setting in it that if you join a game in progress(ie both sides have already done the initial team spawn and waited through the count down) it doesn't count as a loss against you. You still suffer those deaths though, so if KDR is important to you then you might also want to ditch if you see your team is getting dumped on. Personally I don't care, I want to have fun hell if it's close enough maybe I can turn the tide. Also it's free XP(Experience Points XP, has just become the default gamer/game jargon) which means that while I get the win if I do help the other team come back I still get however many points I earn that round to level up my guns and myself. Maybe that helps me get to that better Kill streak reward, or a new personality, or even a new perk. Yes perks are still here, but some of them have to be earned, and I guess because it is so helpful Scavenger is way up there in the 40's I believe.
For those who have never player CoD you don't just automatically pick up ammo in call of duty anymore, if someone has the same gun, tactical device, or ballistic weapon as you, or the same secondary scavenger allows you to pick up their leftover ammo. And trust me, you want to be able to run over and pick up someones else's leftover ammo. Nothing worse than being in the middle of a fire fight with another team and being completely out of bullets so that you have to run out with your fists, you think it's bad bringing a knife to a gun fight, thing about fists. You can at least throw a knife ONCE, just ONCE(yes I had to, and if you haven't seen Johnny Dangerously netflix, amazon prime, and youtube are your friends) and possibly get a kill before somebody empties the clip on you. Granted there is a banner unlocked(Knuckle duster) if you get enough fist kills. Nope I don't have it, nor am I trying to get it, if I want to box I'll guy buy whatever the latest fight night clone is, no seriously I will run around and find one of my or your teammates guns before I try and punch you to death.
If you happen to play black ops, or other games and you wonder if we are facing off X-box live it's Primaldata 2005, and PSN it's Primaldata2010, I haven't been a PC gamer is years IF I decide to buy a gaming PC, I will eventually post that gamer tag as well, and yes it will be Primaldata something
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