Call of Duty: Black Ops (Wii) Review

Rather than merely being yet another bog-standard war effort, developer Treyarch has chosen to focus on an interesting mix of styles, retaining elements of the traditional army-based missions, but basing Call of Duty: Black Ops around the Cold War and the life of an undercover operative working on numerous secret, completely off-the-record objectives, all set against a 1960s conflict-filled backdrop.

Players take control of Alex Mason, an elite Special Forces soldier who is strapped to a chair in a dark room being intensely interrogated by his captor who is desperately trying to extract classified information from him, coaxing Mason in any way possible to obtain new details from the depths of his memory. With each new topic the interrogator moves on to, players are thrown into the various missions that Mason took part in, ranging from jungle areas in Vietnam, to snow-capped mountainous regions in blizzard conditions, every time trying to escape from behind enemy lines, normally with the aim of taking someone out in the process using whatever limited technology can be found lying around at you and your team's disposal.

Anyone hoping to play through the missions co-operatively, or even jump into some multiplayer action with friends in the comfort of their own home, though, will be somewhat disappointed. Call of Duty: Black Ops is a very solitary experience, and considering how much the gaming world has progressed, the fact there is no two-player co-operative mode, or split-screen four-player modes, is both highly surprising and extremely limits the overall experience. Gamers are instead forced back into the isolated practice that made the whole world of video games a terribly 'geeky' pastime in the eyes of the general populace.

Either sit alone in a dark room killing people all night in the main solo mode, or join the online experience where you are still on your own in your sweaty pad, slaughtering the masses, except there is the illusion of having 'friends' because names pop up on the screen. Voice chat may bring players closer to reality, yet there is an added cost involved since anyone with Wii Speak will quickly find that a separate headset needs to be purchased in order to tap into the ‘virtual world.’ Why Treyarch did not add support for Nintendo's peripheral as well is strange to say the least.

Anyway, thankfully the solo experience in Call of Duty: Black Ops is far more enjoyable than in previous years, and players will become increasingly wrapped up in the story, taking charge of Mason, desperately trying to keep up with his comrades, flying down zip lines and smashing through windows to rescue hostages, blowing up rockets as they are just about to blast off, racing along on motorbikes taking out as many 'enemies' as possible in the pursuit of freedom, or even sacrificing your place in your current group in order to help protect their vehicular escape route (case in point: destroy all enemies before their firepower threatens to take out a large plane as it attempts to take off from the runway).

Activision Blizzard and Treyarch have definitely ensured that there is always plenty to do during Call of Duty: Black Ops' main mode, and it is clear that the development team spent far more time building this year’s version from the ground-up, unlike past Call of Duty editions. Everything from the video footage used to bulk up the story, and the expansive locations Mason must trek through, to the impressively detailed visuals and high-impact voice acting and ear-blistering sound effects - Call of Duty: Black Ops is probably as close to the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 iterations as is humanly possible given the vast difference in power between Nintendo's system and those of its main competitors.

In terms of the online experience that has been included, it does appear that Treyarch has attempted to provide as much as possible for gamers, despite the major oversight of local multiplayer options. The team is even going as far as offering downloadable patches that are stored in the Wii system memory to help shore up any problems on this front. The options available are Player Match (play online to earn Experience Points (XP) and COD Points to acquire new Weapons, Equipment, Perks, Killstreaks, and more), Private Match (host a match to play with your allies), Wager Match (gamble your COD Points against other players in special game modes), and Combat Training (play versus the Practice Dummies either with or without your allies - something that proves to be invaluable practice for playing competitively).

Also, fortunately you can mute voices to avoid always having to listen to racket whilst trying to concentrate. It should additionally be noted that Call of Duty: Black Ops does not use Nintendo’s Wi-Fi Connection, instead circumventing it similar to how EA and Disney have both been doing with their latest releases, meaning that there is no need to rely on the cumbersome Friend Codes system.

Overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops is by far the best in the series to have appeared on Wii, just about nudging out Call of Duty: Modern Warfare Reflex Edition. It may lack the option of playing multiplayer on a single Wii console, but Treyarch has attempted to squeeze in as much extra content to ensure Wii owners do not feel completely short-changed when comparing their purchase to the PS3 and Xbox 360 counterparts.