10 Reasons to Buy CoD Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops launched today, and it’s guaranteed to be absolutely massive. Last year’s entry in the series – Modern Warfare 2 – turned out to be one of the most successful video games of all time, and the well-received Black Ops seems set to follow suit. You’ve probably got a copy already. If you haven’t, here are 10 reasons why you should definitely be interested:

It’s set in the Sixties

That’s right – the Swinging Sixties. Black Ops is nestled in the same decade as Elvis, Woodstock and the Moon Landing, but instead it spends most of its time dwelling on the Vietnam War and the Kennedy assassination. Which is probably for the best – I don’t think Call of Duty would work as a screaming Beatlemaniac simulator.

The action’s as good as ever

The Call of Duty series has always been about fantastic first-person action, and Black Ops is no different: if it can explode, it usually will. Booming sound effects and intricate set-pieces ensure the pace pulls no punches, plus the focus on globetrotting means there’s plenty of variety to blast your way through. It’s an exciting way to spend a few hours, that’s for sure.

The Vietnam levels are amazing

There are 15 levels to be had here, which should be enough to keep most players busy for 6-8 hours, but the standout highlight is when you take a trip to Vietnam in the middle of the game. Fighting through a burning Hue city is absolutely phenomenal.

It’s a mystery

Let’s be honest: plenty of people will likely end up preferring Modern Warfare 2’s contemporary, politically-charged campaign. That’s fine, but Black Ops isn’t without its own charms. You spend most of the game as Alex Mason, who’s being interrogated about secrets in his head which even he doesn’t know about. Unravelling that mystery is the focus of the single-player campaign.

There’s loads of voice talent

Sam Worthington takes the leading role of Alex Mason, but the supporting cast is also stacked with some top-tier actors. Ed Harris is sunglasses-toting CIA agent Jason Hudson and Gary Oldman makes his second appearance (after 2008’s Call of Duty: World at War) as world-weary Russian Viktor Reznov. There’s even rapper Ice Cube as Corporal Bowman.

Zombies are back

Okay, so a bonus co-op mode where your fight off never-ending waves of the walking dead might not exactly fit with the serious tone accompanying the rest of the game, but Zombies mode is actually a whole lot of fun – and surprisingly deep, too. One tongue-in-cheek map has you and your chums playing as JFK, Nixon, Castro and Robert McNamara and defending the Pentagon from undead invasion, for instance.

CoD Points let you get exactly what you want

The series’ epic multiplayer makes its return, with an RPG-like system of gaining XP and levelling up key to the experience. The versatile range of weaponry needs to be unlocked (by reaching a certain level) as always, but in Black Ops it also needs to be purchased with the new CoD Points currency. You also spend CoD Points to buy weapon attachments, such as the ever-useful Red Dot Sight, instead of having to access them via longwinded challenges – which lets you get your preferred load-out as soon as possible.

Wager Match keeps you on the edge of your seat

Alongside favourites such as Team Deathmatch and Domination, Black Ops adds the new Wager Match mode. Here you gamble your CoD points to be entered into a 6 player free-for-all game with novelty rules (one has everyone using crossbows and ballistic knives, for instance) to fight for the chance to win big. It gets particularly tense when your hard-earned CoD Points are on the line.

Customisation options are plenty

Modern Warfare 2 let every player pick from a selection of icons and titles – it was an absolute stroke of genius, and most of us spent ages unlocking new titles. Black Ops takes that one step further, letting you paint your own icon from a range of stencils – which, of course, also have to be unlocked. You can also change your crosshair, lens colour, weapon colours and even your character’s model.

The multiplayer levels are impressive

Treyarch’s previous work – Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War – were alright, but their multiplayer levels were usually inferior to those of Infinity Ward’s (creators of Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2). Not so in Black Ops: Treyarch has definitely focused on creating a fantastic set of multiplayer maps, on par with Infinity Ward’s best. There’s an incredible amount of variety on offer here.