Finally the time has come for the now expected annual Call of Duty release. Black Ops kicks off this week and I am fucking pumped. This is my very first Call of Duty review and I am ready to let you guys know the goods, the bads and everything in between. We are going to cover single player, multiplayer, and finally my favorite mode of all, ZOMBIES!!! Enough of this bullshit lets play some fucking COD.

Let’s begin by talking about some nice, relaxing, single…BOOM!!! Oh wait, I’m sorry. Did my sentence just explode in your face? Yes it did, because this campaign is not only explosive but it is amazing. I have been waiting 2 years for a good COD campaign. MW2 was alright, but the replay value wasn’t there for me. The second I was done watching the credits, I wanted to start playing the campaign again. Possibly my biggest gripe with MW2 campaign was the length. 4-5 hours in my book, just doesn’t cut the proverbial mustard. Black Ops on the other hand should take about 8-10 hours for the first play through on normal, and even more hours of awesomeness on the higher difficulties.

Another thing I love about the campaign is the way the whole story plays out. I honestly thought the days of good writing in an FPS were long gone, with the recent onslaught of dumbed down games with that are filled with a ton of explosions and repetitive door kicking sequences. Basically the main character you play is named Alex Mason. He is an ex Black Ops soldier who has been involved in almost every conflict from the Bay of Pigs until present day. In the opening story sequence you learn that Alex is having a bad day and is now strapped to a barbers chair and being asked about numbers (ummm…sort of reminds me of LOST). The rest of the game plays out with you reliving certain key memories that stick out in the head of Mr. Mason. Overall though the campaign has some memorable moments, great action sequences and all the while managed to do it in an original and fresh way.

Alex Mason doesn't take any SHIT!!!

Now that you have all had your appetizer, let’s talk main course. Multiplayer is the reason that almost everyone gets this game. First off I would to congratulate Treyarch on this accomplishment. They not only managed to make the best COD multiplayer experience I have ever had, but in the process they even eliminated the little 8 year old bastards that littered the lobbies of the MW2 and made that game an absolute dread to play. Long gone folks are the days of quick scope, no scope, and noob-tubing, little pieces of shit. Say hello to a COD multiplayer that focuses on one thing and one thing only…balance. Such a nice word, balance, try saying it with me….balance. Wasn’t that nice? Treyarch has put into play so many different little tweaks and adjustments that may pass by the casual gamer unnoticed, but under the hood you can tell that a lot of work has been done in effort to thwart, noob-gameplay, unfair advantages, and boosting.

Some of the new additions to the COD multiplayer experience include the use of a new theater mode and some interesting adjustments to the game types. The theater mode is on par with what we have seen in the past from Bungie. The setup is in fact almost the same and it works perfectly. You can watch not only your recent games, but the games of anyone on the game. You can navigate the leader boards and go up to the number 1 person and watch any of their previous 10 or so matches and sees what makes them so good. Or if you worked for Treyarch you can use this to monitor the top of the leader boards for boosters wink wink.

The game modes are typically what you would expect from a COD title. The only new additions are the Barebones modes. In my opinion the PURE mode in barebones is the way an online FPS is meant to be played. No perks, attachments, equipment, or kill streaks. It’s just you and your gun, that’s it. Soldier vs. Soldier, who’s the boy now? I honestly do love these new barebones play lists and everyone who has ever been pissed off by the use of kill streaks or anything else in the game, should check these out.

Ready to pwn?

Besides the changes I have mentioned, Black Ops feels generally like any other COD title. With the edition of some new guns and maps, this should feel familiar to the veterans of the series. I think most people will find the level design in Black Ops is very good. There is a lot of interesting ways to navigate the maps. Some maps allow you to transition yourself between the spawns using multiple routes not only on the same plane, but you often can find an alternate route above or below ground. This aspect really is great for those who play objective based games and make a point to learn the maps. CTF is a joy on most maps and the same could be said of any of the bomb modes.

Now that you are nice and full, how about some desert? Everyone always has room for some desert or in this case some ZOMBIES!!! Turn out the lights, turn up the mother fucking volume and get ready to slay some undead Zom-Bags. After World at War, the biggest impression made on me by Treyarch was the inclusion of the co-op phenomenon that is Zombie Mode. Simple in design but addictive in its gameplay you can be assured you will spend a metric shit ton of hours slaying the undead over this years holiday season.

Unlike the one map that shipped with WAW, Black Ops comes with 2 new maps and an additional mode known as Dead Ops Arcade. First you start out with only 1 map, the others have to be unlocked, but I’ll talk about that later. First map you get is called Kino der Toten. Der Toten is a Nazi Zombie map, with the undead SS soldiers of yesteryear making a comeback in one last map. The level is set inside a theatre, kind of like the theatre from the film Inglorious Basterds. At least that’s what it reminded me of. The gameplay is the same as before, so if you enjoyed Zombies before, you will be satisfied with the simple fact that this is just another setting to feed your appetite of killing zombies. Other than the fact that it is a new map, the only noticeable addition was the replacement of the famed Wunderwaffe DG-2 with the new and very much improved Thunder Gun, which emit’s a massive white pulse that will kill not only the zombie in front of you but all the other zombies standing behind it.

Ready to eat some Presidential Lead Zombies?

The other standard zombie map you get is called FIVE. You can unlock this 1 of 2 ways. The first is by simply completing the single player campaign on any difficulty. However, if you can’t wait that long, follow these simple instructions to access it straight away. When on the games main menu, not the press start screen, but the one when you can actually look around and select your game type. On this screen simple start hitting LT + RT at the same time repeatedly until you stand up and can move about the room. Then walk forward past the televisions and go to your left where you will find an accessible computer on the wall. Walk up to the computer, and follow the on screen prompt to Hold X for access. Once on the CPU just type in 3ARC UNLOCK, then hit enter and it will unlock. You can than go to Zombies and play the new unlocked map, FIVE and go slay some zombies inside the Pentagon, and play as JFK, Richard Nixon, Fidel Castro, or former Secretary of State Robert McNamara.

The other mode you are able to unlock on the same CPU is Dead Ops Arcade. To do so simply type in the letters DOA and hit enter on the computer and there you have it. Dead Ops Arcade is a completely new thing to the Call of Duty gaming experience. DOA is basically like the standard zombie mode, except you get a top-down camera angle and the game plays a lot like a traditional twin-stick shooter. Imagine “I Made a Game with Zombies In It”, except with and HD kick in the ass. If you never played that game, get your ass to the indie games section and give it a go, only 80msp and you get a great game.

Free Arcade Game? Yes Please!

I think by reading this review you can basically surmise that I have enjoyed myself thoroughly. I have absolutely no problem recommending this game to pretty much anyone, as long as you are mature and behave so while playing it. At $60 or 40 pound, this game is a deal. You are getting more content than you will in any other game you will see until the next Call of Duty comes out sometime next year. Fantastic single player, deep and engrossing multiplayer, an exciting and fun co-op gameplay plus the addition of basically a free arcade game, you would be a fool to not pick up Black Ops. Well done Treyarch, all hail the new kings of the FPS.

I knew I should have expected the worst instead of getting my hopes up about the new Stimulus Map Pack, it is Modern Warfare 2 afterall… Here’s the story – I rush home from work, excitedly boot the 360 up, buy some more Microsoft Points followed swiftly by the Stimulus Pack, painfully wait for the 360MB file to download, load the game, playlists, click Stimulus pack. The game countdown begins, sweat now running down my face as the 6+ month wait for new maps is finally over. 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, Launching… Only to find the a minute countdown starts again! At first I thought it was just an error, one of many seen in the Modern Warfare 2 universe, so I tried again and to my frustration, the exact situation occurred again. The fact that there were hundreds of 10 year olds complaining about the same problem confirmed it wasn’t just my Xbox messing up. You can’t even get a feel for the maps in a private match.. Poor show Infinity Ward; there are some seriously pissed off people on Xbox Live at the moment.

Robert Bowling has come out and explained that an update should boot with your Xbox 360 to allow you to play the Stimulus Map Pack, so why hasn’t anybody got the update Rob? He said:

“Along side the DLC, but something ALL of our users will get, is a title update for Modern Warfare 2. Included in this update is support for the DLC (if you choose to purchase it), as well as some tweaks to the One Man Army perk, some matchmaking updates that will help our international users find more locally hosted games thanks to how ping is now sorted, and various other code updates that will help improve the overall quality of multiplayer on Modern Warfare 2. There is no exact time you can expect all this, I’d say early morning when traffic is at its lowest, but by the time you wake up and get online I’m sure it will be available to most of you on March 30th! See you online all this week!”

Simply not good enough Infinity Ward. When I purchase something, I expect to be able to play it!

Yesterday, we provided you with the trailer for the Stimulus Map Pack which you can see HERE and today we have a new screenshot from each of the upcoming maps, released at the end of the month. Looking good! Don’t forget that a Double XP weekend begins on April 2nd, last till April 5th, to celebrate the release of the Stimulus Map Pack.

Salvage:

Storm:

Bailout:

Crash:

Overgrown:

The first footage of the new MW2 maps, launching on Match 30th is finally here via this trailer below. Will you be shelling out 1200 Microsoft Points for the Stimulus Map Pack?

Robert Bowling has been at it again on his Twitter account, this time tweeting “Mark the calendars now! April 2nd – 5th marks the first Double XP weekend on MW2 for xboxlive worldwide. New Maps + Double XP = No sleep,”.

No sleep indeed that weekend! The new Map Pack is released on the 30th, being a Tuesday, with the Double XP weekend starting on the Friday of the same week.

It has also been announced that the Stimulus Pack, which consist of 3 new maps and 2 older maps from the original MW, will be costing a steep 1200 Microsoft Points. Are you still going to buy the Map Pack or has this price put you off? Leave a comment below!

Robert Bowling is at it again! His latest Tweet confirms that a MW2 Map Pack will be available to download on the Xbox 360 from March 30th – less than 3 weeks now. Unfortunately for PS3 owners, you’ll have to wait till the end of April due to Microsoft sneakily snatching a months exclusivity on the Map Pack – thanks Bill!

The Games Developer Conference starts shortly and we expect to hear more news there. Rumours have already started flying around the internet stating there will be two new maps and two maps featured from the original Modern Warfare! If this is the case, what maps would you like to see released again?

Infinity Ward’s Robert Bowling recently Tweeted some astonishing information. “…annnd we JUST hit 25 MILLION unique players on Modern Warfare 2. Insanity! That’s 25 million unique across all platforms. Most on Xbox 360, then a close 2nd goes to PS3, [with] millions more on PC.”

25 MILLION! That is a crazy amount of people who have experienced Modern Warfare 2, and statistics like this must surely make MW2 one of the best, or at least, most successful, games of all time.

For COD enthusiasts like myself, the good news keeps coming as Bowling also confirmed that we will finally receive news on the first DLC for MW2 later in the week.

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What is CODEOS?
It is caused by a biochemical imbalance in the hypothalamus due to constant playing of Call of Duty and lack of sunlight sure to being indoors all day.

For many people CODEOS is a seriously disabling illness, preventing them from functioning normally without continuous medical treatment.

For others, it is a mild but debilitating condition causing discomfort but not severe suffering. We call this subsyndromal CODEOS or ‘COD blues.’ It is estimated that a further 17% of the UK population have this milder form of condition.

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Who are we?
The CODOES Association is a voluntary organisation and registered charity which informs the public and health professions about CODOES and supports and advises sufferers of the condition.

We are the UK’s only support organisation dedicated to
CODOES and currently have around 1500 members.