Gaming Tuesday

Achievements

Gamerscore Last Week: 22665
Goal: 22800
Gamerscore Now: 23130

Achievements unlocked

Call of Duty: Black Ops
Some wounds never heal 10G
Up close and personal 15G
Never get of the boat 15G
Clarity 10G
Stand Down 35G
Just ask me nicely 15G
Eaten by a Grue 15G
"Insert Coin" 5G
In The Money 20G
Death to Dictators 15G
Unconventional Warfare 15G
Ready For Deployment 15G
Cold Warrior 25G
The Dragon Within 15G
Down and Dirty 25G

Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood
Technical Difficulties 10G
Battle Wounds 20G
Sanctuary! Sanctuary 20G
Serial Killer 20G
Mailer Daemon 20G
Golden Boy 20G
Rome in Ruins 20G
Undertaker 2.0 20G
Gladiator 20G
Perfect Recall 30G
Fixer-Upper 20G

Goal for Next Week: 23350
$ for HPA: 11.95

I don't think I've had that many achievements listed in blog yet. Hooray for me ;)

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Assassin's Creed: Brotherhood First Impressions

Well my first real thought about this game is that it is an Assassin's Creed 2 clone. It is almost entirely the same game play mechanics and while the plot is 'different,' it is still very familiar to the Assassin's Creed games. I don't think that's a bad thing though. I loved AC 2. I even loved the original Assassin's Creed even though a lot of people got bored with it pretty quickly.

Something that is new is the ability to play as Desmond as much as you like. During a memory, you can quit out of the Animus and have a modern-day, playable Desmond. You can talk to Lucy and the others, check your email and wander around in the town you've fled to. There isn't much point to it though, but it is something to do. There are supposed to be artifacts you can find wandering around, but I had no luck in my trip outside.

If Desmond and Lucy aren't fucking by the end of this game, I think I may have to quit the series forever ;)

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Black Ops Review

I couldn't decide whether or not to have an arbitrary rating system for this or not. I mean so many points out of ten or thumbs up or stars are so subjective. A 9/10 for me could be totally different than a 9/10 for you. Or the score can vary by day depending on my mood, what specifics I'm looking at that day, etc. Still arbitrary rating can kind of make it more concise. Whether than just having a review that say's this is what I liked and what I didn't like, ratings give some weight to it.

Ok, so what I have decided to do is a rating system of Nerd points. Every time I do a review, the game will start with 50 Nerd points. I will then add or subtract from that total based on the attributes I discuss. I will add or subtract .5-5 points for attributes of significance. If something about a game is gamebreaking or really fucking awesome, I will go above my 5 point limit. These changes will be detonated like this:

In Modern Warfare 2, explosives are far to common and effective in Multiplayer[-5]

Ok. Are we clear?

So, here for the first test of this system is Call of Duty: Black Ops:

Single Player

The Single Player campaign in Call of Duty Black Ops in large part takes after it's CoD predecessors made by Infinity Ward. Certain plots elements definitely reminded me of both Call of Duty 4 and Modern Warfare 2[+1]. For example, the third level in Black Ops, "Executive Order" is very similar to "No Fighting in the War Room" in Call of Duty 4.

The plot is way more over the top ridiculous than even Modern Warfare 2[-.5]. It's still quite fun and interesting to play through[+4]. The story, unlike previous Call of Dutys , is very character centered. In the other games there often wasn't even a character model for the player's character, but in Black Ops it is all about the player's character, his history, what he knows, and his mental state. It is really just a different means to the same end though, albeit adding a new dimension to the series[+.5]

Veteran Difficulty will be as difficult if not more so than in World at War[-3]. I just find that kind of disheartening. I mean Treyarch did get rid of the Grenade spamming[+1], but seem to have replaced with amazingly accurate blind-firing enemies[-1].

Zombies is back and better[+5]. The mode you unlock after beating the campaign is so awesome. The first map you get is cool too. Plus an arcade version of Zombies, which can be easily unlocked without even playing the game.

Multiplayer

Multiplayer in Black Ops has definitely impressed me so far. It seems pretty well balanced[+4]. I've yet to see any major issues or exploits[+3].

Explosives are not really that useful in this game. I've yet to be killed by or even heard of Grenade Launcher[+5]. Explosives are no longer replaced by Scavenger, so no more claymore spamming[+1].

Wager Matches are fucking awesome[+4]. The match making system for them is totally broken though[-2]. It takes forever to get into a game, then once you've finally gotten one, you only can play one game before somebody backs out, which leaves you trapped in a lobby with only 5 players. Eventually, people get tired of waiting for another player and the whole process starts over again.

I have seen a few minor things that concern me in multiplayer. *And out comes Negative Nancy*

The RC car is annoying on many levels[-3]. Having a lethal killstreak at 3 kills(or two with Hardline) isn't really cool with me. Having those thing buzzing around my feet, knowing that someone didn't even have to do all that much to get it kind of sucks. But that's not even the most annoying part about it to me. It's the fact that so many people equip it over the Spy Plane. Having teams with the RC car just sucks. The Spy Plane is so much more useful than that damn car.

All the equipment is designed to promote camping[-1]. I mean all of it and one doesn't even have to give up Grenades to use it. I haven't really run into too many people hiding with their cameras or motion sensors yet, but it still concerns me.

The last of my real concerns is that virtually no matter what game type you are playing, if Nuke Town pops up, you're stuck playing it for a while[-1]. I actually really like the map[+.5], but I don't want to be stuck playing every match on it. It sucks having to leave a lobby with good players, because you're stuck on Nuke Town.

Just overall, the multiplayer has really impressed me[+15]. It's kind of hard to quantify without rambling, so I'll it at that. It's like getting out of bad relationship and then getting into an awesome one. It allows you to appreciate how awesome the new one is and also see horrible the old one was.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

82.5 Nerd Points

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Thanks for reading and please comment.

-Michael