Richman Restaurant

Cantonese & Szechaun Cuisine
601 Agnes St. at 6th St. 604-520-1808

 

 

DOUGLAS COLLEGE

STUDENTS:

September Special: $4.50

Fried Rice or Chow Mein + 1 item

(over 10 items to choose from!)
(Douglas College ID Required)

 

 

 

Lunch Special
$6.40 (TAX included)

(MON-FRI 11am - 3pm)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bind.

Going covert in Call of Duty: Black Ops

Did Treyarch bring their “A”-game to the single-player campaign?

By TK Kwon

fter the rise and fall of Infinity
A“ Treyarch was tasked

with the responsibility to
develop the next instalment of the Call
of Duty franchise and, with the eyes
of the fans focused on them; it was
time for the studio to show the public
what it had to offer. Did they have
what it takes to fill the shoes left by the
creators of Call of Duty? Let’s take a
look.

The Call of Duty: Black Ops
single-player campaign is a direct
sequel to Treyarch’s previous game,
World at War, and takes place during
the Cold War where the Americans
and the Russians are at a standstill
armed with unimaginable weapons
of destruction. However, not much
of the Cold War is focused on in the
campaign, for the player mostly takes
control of a covert operative by the
name of Alex Mason, voiced by Sam
Worthington of Avatar fame, who goes
undercover behind enemy lines with
his team to assassinate or sabotage
various objectives.

Not to go too in-depth into the
plot of the campaign, as not to spoil
it, the game starts the player off as
Mason tied to a torture chair with
various medical apparatuses strapped
onto him as a mysterious interrogator
asks him questions about his various
assignments spanning across the
globe. The game occurs as a sequence
of flashbacks from three different
characters in the game: Mason
(Worthington), CIA Agent Jason
Hudson (Ed Harris), and finally an old
face from World at War, Viktor Reznov
(Gary Oldman). The various black
operation assignments given to the
characters are placed in exotic locales
around the globe, from the humid
flora of Cuba to the war-torn fields of
Vietnam.

As for the game-play itself, it
consists of four difficulty settings,
recruit, regular, hardened, and veteran,
to suit any player’s skill level. The
controls of the game are fluid and
reminiscent to that of World at War
which is far from a bad thing. The
pacing of the campaign is fantastic
with each mission playing a vital role
in the overall cohesion of the storyline.
The script is well written and offers

a great experience all the-way to the
climax of the plot.

On the technical side of things, the
graphics textures are similar to those
seen from World at War, which means
they are clean and crisp, however with
that said; they do not seem any better
than those from IW’s Modern Warfare
2 and also have a slightly unnatural
gloss to them that give the textures
an almost plastic look. On the sound
side of things, Treyarch has made
it clear that they wanted to capture
the most realistic sounds possible
and have shown that they are up to
accomplishing such a feat, with critics
and fans alike lauding the studio for
its superb library of sounds utilized

throughout the game.

Aside from just the standard
single-player campaign, players are
also free to play Treyarch’s signature
zombie co-op survival game mode
where, as before, up to four players
must barricade and fend off endless
waves of zombies. Aside from the
zombie-mode, there is also a secret
arcade style top-down shooter that can
be unlocked at the menu screen of the
game, although I’m not going to reveal
as to how.

Pros:

- Great storyline that plays well all the
way through

- Cinema quality voice-acting and
sound effects

- Fantastic choice of mission locations
- Zombie mode is good fun

Cons:

- The campaign, like Modern Warfare
2, is a tad short

- Graphics are subpar and overly glossy
Wrap-up:

Treyarch worked very hard to
deliver an interesting and riveting
campaign to the fans of the Call of
Duty series, and it seems they have
succeeded. With a host of spectacular
voice-acting and beautifully rendered
exotic settings, the campaign is easy on
the eyes and fun to play. The signature
zombie mode also gives players
additional hours of game-play to have
with their friends online. As for the
multiplayer portion of the game, stay
tuned for next week’s issue to find out
how it stacks up.

Rating: 4.5/5