Introduction:
After the huge success of Modern Warfare 2 then the dispute between the
developer Infinity Ward and publisher Activision, the other studio that
is responsible for the series Call of Duty, Treyarch, has reminded us
remember our good showing two levels of the next phase of this license.
And what we saw we were reassured about the future of CoD. In the shadow
of Modern Warfare , Call of Duty: World at War has not entirely
convinced at the time. Not so original, not taking enough, and generally
below the production of Infinity Ward . But Call of Duty: Black Ops ,
Treyarch seems to have rolled up their sleeves, as shown by the short
presentation of the game.
As promised, the game abandons for the Second World War and focuses on
the conflicts of the Cold War secrets. We have been able to attend demos
from two levels down in 1968, one taking place in Russia, another in
Vietnam. The first of them starts still on American soil, and we are
taken through a sequence of preparation for takeoff air through the eyes
of a pilot. At first, nothing but very classic. But on closer look, the
helmet is worn seems particularly impressive since it narrows our field
of vision. It’s when a second rider crosses encased in a dress worthy
of an astronaut that flew last doubts: the craft in which we are about
to take place is nothing usual. It is altogether an SR-71 which still
holds the altitude record for an aircraft. Race Results for the player: a
nice little cinematic in the stratosphere, where the blue sky joins the
blackness of space.
Not only figurative, the climb to seventh heaven initiates a sequence of
gameplay over the Russian territory. Since the SR-71, the player can
give orders to move to a team of soldiers located on the ground. The
interface is nicely integrated into the virtual cockpit and night vision
recalls the sequence of Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare aboard the
AC-130. Thereafter, the player finds himself in the shoes of one of the
soldiers he led a few seconds before and SPF to resume its rights. Then
the opportunity to test a weapon unique and perfect combination between a
crossbow and sniper rifle. Precise and powerful, it seems to do wonders
to play the infiltration and eliminate enemies discreetly.
From the Urals to
Vietnam:
Clearly eager to multiply passages a little more original than the
average, then the developers have put a face to rappel the side of a
snowy mountain, then a second, very short, ending with a great noise in
the inside a building and began a series of violent battles well and
nervous. The presentation ends at this level for it on a leap into the
void, which confirms the sense of staging own the series. The show is
also ensured in the level is down since the attack in Vietnam’s Hue City
recalls times that of the Capitol in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 ,
the many buildings in flames and the orange color of the sky there is no
nothing. But most impressive is the shotgun, which can equip ammunition
"dragon’s breath (the breath of the dragon) that adds a flamethrower
effect to that of a conventional cartridge. It’s quite impressive
visually, and devilishly effective.
To complete the massacre, the mission is also providing air support our
soldiers, known as pointing directly to the target that you want to
shoot. Some disgruntled might be surprised by the use of modern
equipment as at the time, but developers have the perfect answer for
this: before being produced in mass , the weapons were to be tested in
real conditions. And the secret powers were naturally better suited to
this task. This is an ideal justification to marry a historical context
relatively faithful to reality in a particularly explosive. The graphics
engine does not hesitate to increase the dynamic effects (snow, wind
swept, papers scattered by the blast of explosions …) and while not
revolutionary compared to previous episodes, seems to be perfectly
controlled by developers. Of course, they are now more than 200 work
full time on Call of Duty: Black Ops compared to only 80 on Call of
Duty: World at War.
Over the components of the license call of duty he has developed,
Treyarch had shown a constant clear: confine the story through the
Second World War. Meanwhile, at Infinity Ward, the other studio taking
care of the development of game in the series, this time we had left to
take an interest in contemporary conflicts with both Modern Warfare
which met with undeniable success. For Black Ops Call of Duty, Treyarch
will in turn leave the War 39-45 to advance a few years in time and set
his plot in the 60’s, between Cold War and Vietnam War. In the lattice
of a member of a commando unit sent by the CIA around the world to
preserve democracy in discreetly, you’ll see the world: Asia, Cuba or
the Soviet Union territory. That’s where that took place the first
operation that we have witnessed: the infiltration of both muscular and
subtle of your men in a very isolated plant between mountain and forest
…
In fact, this level begins to thousands of miles from where you
intervene, you and your comrades. On the trail of a military base, the
player finds himself in a pilot pressure suit that goes to one of the
most beautiful aircraft ever created: an SR-71 Blackbird. In-person
perspective, he moved into the cramped cockpit of the reconnaissance
aircraft and launches its two reactors monstrous before launching the
assault of clouds. Obviously, even if only to make the joy of the
joystick at the right time, the player who takes the heat on the time of
takeoff. Transition. We find the tapered painted matte black SR-71
where it gives the best of himself, to know the limits of the
atmosphere. This time, the tracking shot that follows the curves of the
plane does not take us to the driver’s seat but the back seat, one
occupied by the camera operator. In radio contact with the commando, he
will have to bring the troops hard at work while avoiding they bump into
a patrol that had just landed.
For that, he headed the goal of a camera, watching the action on a
screen in front of him and shows the places to which they must move.
When this part of the operation is successful, new transition and we
find ourselves on solid ground. This time, it is one of the commandos.
Hush, not a sound! The enemy patrol from the plane moments before
scrolls a few tens of centimeters of the ditch in which our hero has
taken refuge. From here, they seem much more impressive and far more
numerous than when viewed on a screen several kilometers altitude. No
way to open fire and engage in combat without jeopardizing the mission
irreversibly. Once the infantry are gone, the four soldiers commando
come out of hiding and resume their advance towards the goal.
The franc Mason:
The Black Ops are presented as elite troops, volunteers, and desperate
to meet the objectives assigned by the CIA An ideal context to string
together more dangerous mission than the other, but also very explosive.
For if the title does not take too many risks later philosophy of play,
it was still fascinating to see how Treyarch insists on attention to
detail, with many small details that could make a difference in the
phases of action . The first weapons were shown a formidable, especially
the "breath of the Dragon" (Dragon Breath), a sort of automatic shotgun
cartridges which have been doped with napalm for incredible damage to
his opponents.
Black Ops are the best of the best, they might even be possible before
the mission to prepare themselves for their arsenal more effectively,
and therefore we expected to see more of this kind in playthings version
final course of the game, the staging fights very Hollywood also plays
in the immersion. The clashes are sometimes interspersed with small
skits in real time the most beautiful effect. One example could see the
soldiers rappelling from a mountain in breaking and entering with a
crash into the enemy benchmark, or helicopter support literally
dismantle a building where the snipers hideout.
The pace of this first mission is very "special operation". There are
people in front but not too much anyway and it led to the character by
the player’s responsibility to eliminate any resistance. The reason?
Simply because you have to play it quiet and it is he who has a
crossbow, ideal weapon to shoot down an enemy far enough away without
making too much noise. To pass the long distance shots, he will manage
the character’s breath and lock to prevent it from moving. Obviously, it
will pull the trigger before becoming completely blue … Arriving to
the plant from the top of the plant, we test the first time rappelling.
The places with which they can interact, for example, tie the rope, are
clearly identified: they are translucent and flash. It’ll just approach
it and press the right button on the controller for the character to do
what is expected of him. Once on the roof of the command post, we start
the operation and it landed in the enemy system by smashing the windows.
Once all the enemy soldiers are killed, the squad continues to grow in a
much more straightforward since the alert is given. The crossbow then
gives way to a Steyr AUG assault rifle austrian very specific lines that
should however be available until the late 70s when the action takes
place in 1968. When questioned by us on this anachronism, developers
Treyarch have argued that the team that owns this character is really
part of the elite troops to intervene and thus have access to material
pre-custody.
You got the coco look:
These efforts should not be cosmetic as unnecessary as it stands, the
game is already very impressive. The motor does not seem to have changed
much, but it remains effective and controlled. Above all, we are
promised the variety side environments and interactivity with elements
of the decor is already stirring. Windows, walls, dust, particles, each
burst of bullets was the occasion a resounding mess on the screen, not
that the fluidity is undermined. When questioned by us on the life of
the track solo, the leaders of Treyarch remained cons are a bit more
evasive. The game should be "at least as long" as the other episodes of
the series, ie not too much, but it has to offer already seems pretty
neat. In all cases above what could be done Call of Duty: World at War
at the time. The life course will be supplemented by more than the
multiplayer game, at least as expected at the turn or more than the solo
by the fans. On this side, no big revelation at the moment, but
guidance that will pick up ideas of social gaming side, and always very
many ways, with competition and coop on the menu.
Having reached their goal of sabotaging a communication device, your men
emerge and are found on a metal footbridge when a rocket launcher as
the benchmark. By fly, not only the latter almost completely destroyed
the infrastructure, but it also triggers a chain reaction that heralds a
massive avalanche. That’s what happens when you’re having fun with
explosives in the mountains. Therefore, your soldiers will have to rush
to their extraction point, jumping over the cracks that have just
appeared. And out of the level, the attention is a tall order. Indeed,
this operation ends with a small base-jumping session from a cliff. We
saw the soldier who followed jumping in the air and fall a few meters
from the wall, but only could we marveling at the detail that kills: the
generation of a crystallization of ice on the circumference of glasses
worn by the character, the developers have gone further to the
presentation and, therefore, to another mission.
Here are some of the words that came to mind after watching this second
operation. Here, we are much less in the subtle and the assault on the
plant described above eventually move to an attack by almost courtly
rules between well-bred people. In the streets of the city that hosted
this new level of Call of Duty Black Ops, war is everywhere and death
awaits at every corner of the wall. Your men advance by taking advantage
of the lower wall to take cover and shoot the enemies, it must be said,
have a tendency to stroll in the middle of areas cleared enough, thus
becoming easy targets. But surrounded by the din of explosions, with
debris flying everywhere and having to deal with the arrival of a steady
stream of enemies, we thought we will have very little opportunity to
pay attention to the management of opponents with artificial
intelligence.
One gun in all-will and we will try, when particles of flesh spread out
on the screen indicate that’s been hit, to find a small place relatively
safe history of stopping a moment to regain strength point bar. The
only real break from this intense pace, intervention in order wrapped
helicopters with heavy machine guns that will be sent, for example, raze
a building in which to ground a sniper or a lucky owner of a bazooka.
They are also quite useful when you tumble into a tank ranger, and you
will see that, faced with this monster armored, your M-16 definitely
does not cut it.
So what should we expect from Call of Duty: Black Ops at this stage?
Difficult to give a true verdict without being able to feel the beast,
but the levels shown were undeniably explosive, and the work done by
Treyarch appears – for now – not having to be ashamed of the comparison
with that of Infinity Ward . In two very different levels from each
other by their content and rhythm, Black Ops Call of Duty has already
imposed on our minds as a worthy heir of the last installment in the
series. This review only needs to be supported or rejected as
appropriate and we are confident that we will have the opportunity to do
so since it only comes out as early November. But we must recognize
that this initial contact has left a positive impression.
Conclusion:
Long considered the "poor relation" compared with Infinity Ward,
Treyarch team seems to have removed any lingering doubts and prepares us
for a Call of Duty Black Ops we can only wait impatiently. Compared to
previous games signed by this team effort is evident and salutary. The
quality of what we have seen reinforces what we already thought: This
song will no doubt one of the most important FPS of the year. From now
on, we have only one desire: to take the game in hand.
