It's that time of the year again folks! Here comes another rendition of the Call of Duty franchise, Black Ops part deux. To be honest, I really liked the original Black Ops. For me, I very much enjoyed how the game provided balanced weapons (for the most part), exciting but not n00b crippling unlocks, and unique, fun maps -- who doesn't love Nuketown? All this made it the best iteration of the franchise since CoD:MW, which was the game that reinvented how we see FPSs today.
But if you're like me, you are praying that this rendition will be much better than MW3. As a PC gamer, MW3 was a huge disappointment. First off, Infinity Ward decided not to include ranked, dedicated servers. Dedicated servers are great and really help with the enjoyment of FPS games (which I would love to one day see implemented in console gaming). Why? Well instead of constantly having to play against clan-boys with a team of random players, prepubescent adolescence who have no discretion on their choice of words and how often they say them, or even hackers, dedicated servers lets gamers regulate the server to reduce such problematic gamers. Plus, it is fun to become a regular on a server where gamers are civil but yet bring a fun, competitive environment. However, MW3 decided to shun PC gamers and only humor us with unranked servers.
Furthermore, besides the lack of dedicated servers, the weapons in MW3 were dreadfully unbalanced. For instance, when gamers are able to pick off an opponent from a long distance with a sub-machine gun, yet with an assault rifle a player can't hit the broadside of an aircraft carrier, then there is a problem. This aspect of the game ruined the experience for me. The amount of people using duel weapons also made me wish I had saved my money. After a while, the only avatars you would see ruling the battlefield were ones that were duel wielding I can't remember how many countless times I witnessed my death via Kill Cam in which a gamer was duel wielding sub-machine guns. If one type of weapon rules them all, then what's the point of having various unlocks?
Finally, the maps were for me unremarkable. There wasn't one map that really stood out. Additionally, most of these maps felt like you were trying to have a knife fight in a phone booth (man this phrase shows my age). The maps were very small and led to hectic and unorganized firefights.
Luckily for us, MW3 is a thing of the past and just around the corner comes Black Ops II to save the day. Black Ops II will feature dedicated servers (for PC users of course), what looks to be a diverse set of maps, as well as some fun unlocks. Plus the new zombie mode looks like a great way to spend an evening when desiring a break from competitive multiplayer action.
Sorry for my postmortem on MW3. With all the headaches MW3 caused my mind, I really hope that Black Ops II picks up where it left off and becomes a great extension to the CoD name so we can once again have faith in the CoD franchise.
So what are your thoughts on Black Ops II?
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