Call Of Duty: Black Ops II

[AndyKurosaki]

It's that time of year again, where cash tills ring and other publishers run for the hills. I'll gladly admit to enjoying the series, online it's pretty much OCD heaven. So far I've got to Mission 2 in the Campaign, the start of which really made me go "whoa, that was pretty fucking cool".
I've played online for about 6 hours, Kill Confirmed and Free For All mostly. There's a ridiculous ammount of stuff to unlock. The menu system has changed around quite a bit and takes some getting used to. And Killstreaks have been replaced with Score Streaks, again that's taking a little getting used to.

It's a very different experience to the equally brilliant Battlefield series, and you already know if you want this or not. For me though, this could end up being my most played online game of 2012.

[Sean]

::high-five::

Glad someone else here like CoD. The campaign is the most ambitious it's ever been in a CoD game. I'm up to chapter 4, but, there's already been a ton of changes in their method of storytelling that I've noticed, which is pretty bold of them. Hope it pans out at the end to something coherent.

I've always preferred Infinity Ward's games to Treyarch's, and, I still don't entirely love the gunplay in this one as much as I did in the Modern Warfare games, but, they're getting better. Good on Treyarch for branching out.

[mikeleddy83]

I play anything and have no issues with CoD, thanks for letting me come out of the closet on this too

Just started the campaign after some local split screen multiplayer and those sound effects for the weapons sound meatier than ever, wasn't even aware of the branching storyline until the first reviews popped up. Regardless, I'll post something (most likely spoilers) when I'm a bit deeper into the campaign.

[ratsoalbion]

I've enjoyed quite a bit of CoD in the past though I missed MW3 and don't myself have any great desire to play this one.

Here at Cane & Rinse though we don't give a fig if it's the done thing to knock a game because it's extremely popular and/or widely praised critically and/or perceived as lowbrow. We're only interested in the experience of playing. You can always start a thread on anything from the most obscure, involved indie title to the latest Angry Birds or AAA Activision FPS.

So carry on!

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah it's easy to say "you've played one COD and you've played them all", but you could level that narrow comment at any long running series. And when you've got a tried and tested formula, it'd be insane to utterly change the format.

One change with the near future setting is brand new weapons and hi-tech gear, which i'm finding fun to experiment with. The choose 10 things for your Class is an interesting idea, and there's a ton of stuff to unlock and try out.
And yeah, I've played a lot this year, but the way Mission 2 starts really did impress me. I'll certainly put more time into it during my upcoming 2 weeks off.

So yeah, go COD.

[Cress1968]

Picked this up today, more for our lass than myself if I'm honest cos she loves playing the cod/mw series and after spending a couple of hours online with pilgrim I'm really pleased with it, as said it has lots of new features to make it interesting , the maps seem well thought out and it's very pleasing on the eye.
It just does what it says on the box really, it's just run n gun but it's great fun.

[Haly]

I'm really enjoying it Only a few missions in on the SP and only played an hour or so of MP but it's everything I want so far!

Love the 'switch off brain blockbuster' style action. It's ridiculously OTT and great fun for it.
Little unsure of the Strike Force missions though but I'm hoping they'll grow on me as it's early days.

[JaySevenZero]

Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare remains to this day one of my most played multiplayers to date with around 439 hours spent on it over a two year period and was predominately the sole reason I had a gold account on XBL. However, things changed with the release of Modern Warfare 2. I'm not saying it was a bad game, I still clocked in over a hundred hours in it but it had changed into something else, something that didn't quite sit well with what I had enjoyed so much with the previous game in that series. Having the ability to choose perks which enabled players to run a double speed whilst also duel-weilding 1887 shotguns made me feel that they had "Halo'd" this game to the point where I was turned off it. Don't get me wrong, that wasn't meant as a derisive remark against Halo, duel-weilding and what not whilst playing as a genetically modified Spartan super-soldier works excellently within those games, but it never sat well with me in MW2 - so much so that I stopped playing and soon afterward reverted to a silver account.

As for the campaigns, I've always found them reasonably diverting but perhaps lacking in the kind of innovation that Infinity Ward brought to the COD4. That said, there have always been several set-pieces in the games I've played that I thought were quite cool and excellently presented.

I'll never rule out going back to a COD game but since I tend to only have one multiplayer shooter on the go at any one time, preferring to focus my time getting good at that one rather than being average at many and since BF3 is currently supplying all my needs in that particular genre - I don't know when I might return to playing Activision's behemoth.

[DomsBeard]

I've enjoyed the modern warfare single player campaigns, they're easy popcorn games that you don't have to put much thought into. Not played Black Ops yet (either) but its on my Lovefilm and looking forward to playing them.

I enjoyed the MW multiplayer but had a similar experience as above with MW2. I'm a lover not a fighter so I prefer battlefield as I get just a good a rush reviving a fallen team mate as I do killing someone.

[mik]

I've enjoyed the modern warfare single player campaigns, they're easy popcorn games that you don't have to put much thought into.

That's precisely how I've approached the series for the past few iterations and I love it. It's essentially like a blockbuster action move night for me. I rent the game, put the difficulty down to the easiest level, and play through the campaign in one or two sittings and have a grand time with it.

[AndyKurosaki]

Finished the Campaign, seem to be one of the few of my mates that's even done so. For the most part it's pretty good, it's your typical "go here, kill this guy. Wait, something else happened, kill this guy instead" that the series does. There's moments where your actions change what happens,though on one of them I had no choice to let things go tits up, as rushing to prevent it got me killed a billion times.

They've tried to mix things up with Strike Force, which plays like a cross between COD and a very basic RTS. You get a tactical map, three objectives to defend, and then have to send troops/robot walkers/drones to attack the enemy. Though to be honest, it's all a bit chaotic when being attacked in 3 places at once ("What button changes troops? Which sends them to attack? No, not there!). I found it much easier to ignore it and just storm around Rambo style as normal. Apparently on anything higher than Normal these missions are a total ball ache.

Spent 24 hours to Prestige, there's a fair few guns I like. The Remington Shotgun is brilliant, it's got a good range, slap a Long Barrel on it and it's proper good.

[strickenmcq]

I've gone back to MW multiplayer in the last few days and there is still a thriving community on the servers. I had given up on COD multiplayer after playing against unkillable people on WaW with the flashing gamertags etc!! Got to say it's a lot of fun and you don't get any abuse if you don't plug a headset in.

[mikeleddy83]

I really enjoyed the campaign but any words about how much I enjoyed it went out the window when I experienced the post-credits cinematic, what the fuck was that? Was it a nod to the supposed idiots that play COD or a paid advertisement for a band that looks like it's in dire need of fans (possibly deaf ones as a pro tip to their marketing team)? Fuck me..

[JaySevenZero]

Heh, you mean this?



Worst kind of stupid rawk bullshit - but I'm guessing that they think everyone who plays shooters listens to this kinda shite.

Me...I usually have this piece of music rolling around my head whilst I'm playing an FPS!

[AndyKurosaki]

Yeah that was a real "What the actual Fuck?" moment.
Been proper hammering the online modes, Domination is great as so many idiots hang back sniping instead of capturing/defending. I should be cracking on with Hitman really, but it's been Blops 2 all the way.

[Sly Reflex]

Me...I usually have this piece of music rolling around my head whilst I'm playing an FPS!

It's like you totally read my mind. I do more or less the same thing.