Call of Duty: Black Ops (Nintendo DS) - Review by Andrew

Introduction

If you've missed the whole Call of Duty thing recently then you have clearly not been paying attention. If you haven't, then you'll recall that some time around this year's E3 teasers began and gamers began blogging, posting and generally speculating about how much better this latest outing was going to be. This year was a little different though: there was no Infinity Ward, with Treyarch instead taking over development duties and there was also EA's re-launch of the Medal of Honor franchise to contend with. Sadly Medal of Honor came and went, regardless of several positive reviews although it does have little relevance here, as there was no Nintendo version released. Like anything involving GTA though, gamers were hooked on the franchise and the CoD branding is now more important than the game itself, which is worrying for the future of games. What is reassuring though is the fact that handheld experts n-Space have again taken on development duties but can they do it again?

Gameplay

As you'd expect, the bulk of Black Opps is a reasonably straight forward First Person Shooter, with the objective being to shoot just about everything which appears in your path. Should an enemy attempt to take you down (indicated by the screen turning red) it's as simple as ducking out of the action for a few seconds in order to regain your strength. These 'on-foot' sections represent the lions share of the gameplay and there's really nothing here you haven't seen before in other FPS's especially those developed by n-Space. It's not all simply running around in the jungle though, you'll also have to survive a couple of 'on the rails' shooting sections both on the water and on the back of a truck. These are pretty simple affairs offering little challenge and you're likely to complete them in only a handful of attempts. The rest of the game is given over to flying and while the helicopter allows you to take control of an air bound weapon, taking out the enemy from above, the fighter jet feels more like a simple escape mission challenging you to dodge the heat seeking missiles whilst also avoiding the valley walls.

There are 16 missions and while you may finish them in no time at all there is a huge amount of replay value thanks to the number of extended Modes. Arcade, for example, awards you with a score based on your time and accuracy in any given stage. The Challenges on the other hand, are completed by carrying out a far more detailed set of tasks, so for instance, you may have to kill seven soldiers in a minute and maybe with a specific weapon. Frustratingly, these are still all very similar to the main game unlike the Multiplayer, which is one of the games real strengths. Not only can up to 6 gamers battle it out locally or on-line but there's also that firm FPS favorite: Zombies.

Controls

Unlike most DS games you do actually use the more traditional controls and while most of this is for the FPS sections (with the touch-screen) you'll also have to use them for the flying sections. There are two aircraft here: a helicopter and a fighter jet that both feature similar controls. The problem is that they are not nearly as intuitive as they could or should be and it took us sometime to get to grips with these sections, especially the fighter jet which kept getting shot out of the sky in seconds.

Graphics

If you witnessed this quality of visuals on any of the more powerful consoles (or even the PSP) then you'd clearly be a little disappointed but, given the DS's limitations, the developers have done wonders with the platform's limitations. This makes for an immersive experience and gamers will delight in the large and well-designed environments, although some of the textures could do with a little more work. On the plus side there has been some much needed attention paid to the enemies, who are a little more varied although they too still occasionally blend in with the background. One thing we didn't like though is the lack of any sense of narrative; each level simply drifts into the next with only a title screen explaining your next mission.

Sound

The voice acting is very good indeed although you'd expect nothing less given that it has all been lifted from the console version. The music is just as good with an emotionally charged battle theme accompanying the various levels. The only real surprise is that unfortunately the weapons and the gunfire sound a little tinny, which is something of a problem with the more powerful guns.

Dual screen

As this is a first person shooter the touch-screen is used in conjunction with the d-pad and shoulder buttons and, as with the other entries in the series, it works very well most of the time. You will occasionally be brought to a halt though, through no fault of your own because of an invisible wall or a door that refuses to open. It's generally something you will overcome eventually but that really should have been sorted out at the testing phase.

Final comments

Given that Black Opps had the same developer as the previous CoD outing it's sometimes difficult to distinguish between them both and fans of the handheld FPS genre will feel right at home. It should also (in theory) be the best in the series as it offers a great deal of extended gameplay with an enjoyable campaign, multiplayer and a variety of challenges. Sadly this is all offset by the problematic controls, which render some of the missions much more challenging than they need to be. There's still more than enough to enjoy here but sadly, you do get the feeling that a few corners may have been cut at the eleventh hour just to get this DS version out at the same time as the console release.

Pro: Great Sound, Lots of Gaming Modes and Zombies
Con: Problematic Controls, Poor Collision Detection in Some Areas.
Final score: 6.8

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