Average Vietnam-themed shooter
An obscure Vietnam-themed FPS, Black Ops shares nothing with the similarly titled Call of Duty games, and instead offers little more than a fairly average shooter experience with little to recommend it over other better games. Story-wise, Black Ops places players in the shoes of a captured American soldier and, following an explosive attack on the camp where he is being held, sees him escaping through a series of fairly inventive levels, blasting soldiers with gleeful abandon. These levels include the claustrophobic bunkers, tunnels as well as the wider expanses of jungles and mountains and some of these are actually quite well designed. Of course, no shooter is complete without an impressive arsenal of weapons and Black Ops delivers this in predictable fashion, offering up the usual array of M16s, grenade launchers and sniper rifles with which to despatch your enemies. Graphically, Blacks Ops fares quite well, given its age, with sophisticated visual effects and textures that add much to the game's atmosphere, while sound is actually highly impressive, with lots of gritty effects. However, gameplay wise, it is marred by dodgy AI and some frustrating platform sequences that are tricky to complete. While Black Ops isn't a disaster, it is little more than average at best, with simple, unsophisticated action which is fun for a short while.
