Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified - A smackDAB Review

[DanielVT]

CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS: DECLASSIFIED

A smackDAB Review

It should come as no surprise to hear that the PS Vita is still getting on its feet in terms of sales. It is a rather expensive handheld, and many people go with the lesser-quality, Nintendo handheld due to its relatively inexpensive cost. It is a common belief that the PS Vita does not have many games to justify a purchase, but in fact it does. There are many gems on the powerhouse, games like Uncharted or Gravity Rush etc. However, one thing that the PS Vita is devoid of is a solid AAA First-Person Shooter (FPS). Developer Nihilistic can be credited for making the system’s only true FPS, Resistance: Burning Skies. Resistance was a good and solid game, but it was nothing incredible. The MP was buggy, but still enjoyable for some, and the campaign was solid, but a wee-bit lackluster in terms of actual story content. Resistance got hammered by reviewers, and received an average grade from actual gamers.

FPS shooter fans were left wanting something more and all hope rested on the announced, yet somewhat unknown Call of Duty PS Vita game. When Nihilistic was announced as the developer, many people were highly disappointed. After all, Nihilistic is not known for its cutting-edge games, but rather for its solid but average games. An announcement trailer for the game was shown and people were appalled at the horrible graphics to be seen. (Don’t worry everyone, Nihilistic did a great job with the graphics, and they are GREATLY improved).

Surely Sony had the hope that the Call of Duty name would sell many Vitas, and who knows, maybe it will. However, “professional reviewers” absolutely have trashed Declassified; while actual gamers have (just like Resistance) said it was fun but average. In this review, I am going to try to deliver and unbiased review (I am a HUGE COD fan!) of the PS Vita’s first foray into the world of the mega-franchise Call of Duty.

As a die-hard Call of Duty fan, I ignored the reviews and was determined to get the game and shell out the $50 dollars. I am overall happy with my purchase, but to start off, unless one is a die-hard COD fan like me, or a desperate Vita owner that cannot get enough of FPS games (also like me), than $50.00 is a price point that is just way too high for what you are getting.

Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified (BLOPS: Declassified) is comprised of eleven story-related mini-missions (titled Operations) that are similar in form to Unit 13’s missions. The big difference is that the locations in Declassified are all original for each mission. However, with that said, Black Ops fans will recognize similar locations from the console shooter. Each mission has a total score of three stars which are given out depending on which difficulty you play on. If you are not interested in trophies, then the whole campaign, depending on your play-style can take you a little over an hour to finish. There is more content to play, but that is later on in the review.

Gunplay in the Operations mode is quite smooth and fluid. I marveled many times out how much this game truly felt and sounded like a Call of Duty game. The only issue I encountered in terms of gameplay is that grenades are a bit annoying to use as you must touch the screen and aim the grenade. Other than that, one should have no problem with the gunplay.

AI in Declassified is not overly intelligent, but it gets the job done. Declassified runs at 30 Frames Per Second, compared to console COD’s 60. I honestly could not tell the difference on my Vita. It seriously runs quite smoothly. The only other fault that I can find is that you can get stuck on walls or objects too often. It is not like the game freezes, but it stops your movement until you can back away from whatever surface you are touching.

I do not want to give spoilers on the single-player semi-campaign, but overall it loosely ties into BLOPS I and II. The final mission was really fun to play as it tied in directly to something mentioned in BLOPS II. However, sadly, there is nothing that you are really missing out on in terms of meaningful storylines if you do not get this title. The “campaign” is fun but really short. However, once you are done with that, you can try to get all stars on each mission, but there is also Hostiles mode and Time Trial Missions mode.

Hostiles is pretty much Zombies Mode without the zombies. You can compare it to MW3’s Survival Mode. The main goal is to survive as many rounds as you can. At the end of each round a care-box will drop with either a weapon, ammo, or a sentry gun or mortar-strike. This mode is fun, but it is probably not something that is going to grab one’s attention for any prolonged period of time other than if they are going for trophies. The mode works, but it gets somewhat dry after a while, to be quite honest.

For anyone that played the opening training course segment in MW2, that is essentially what Time Trial Mode is. You get a handful of missions with which you run through a course and shoot targets as fast as you possibly can. It is a mode that is quite entertaining and certainly gets your adrenaline going, but similar to Hostiles mode; it probably will not keep ones attention longer than it takes to get all three stars.

The real meat of the game is the Multiplayer (MP) mode. As an avid COD gamer, I do not think fans will be disappointed, nor will people looking for a quality handheld FPS MP game. Multiplayer reuses modified maps from BLOPS I and also the fan-favorite Shipment from COD: Modern Warfare 1. Connection issues are present, but not a big deal, as it should seemingly be expected on a handheld device.

Declassified’s MP menus and interface look and feel like a console COD game. In Declassified’s MP you get Barracks, Prestige Mode, Create-A-Class, Perks, customized kill streaks, and pretty much anything that you would come to expect from a traditional COD MP game. Multiplayer is fast-paced and enjoyable, although the spawn system can be annoying, this is by far, the go to Vita FPS MP game currently on the market. The game is worth playing for the MP alone. Sure there are bugs here and there, but for a handheld, it is solid and fun.

To summarize, Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified in arguably Nihilistic’s best game. That does not mean it is not without its faults, but it is a good, fun, and solid game. It is a must buy for COD fans, FPS fans, and Vita MP enthusiasts, but for everyone else, I would truly wait for a price drop. Otherwise, you will probably be rather disappointed. A game that is polished and that includes a huge campaign with a ton of content like Uncharted: Golden Abyss is worth $50.00. Sadly, Declassified is not. It may possibly and hopefully be the system seller that Sony wanted, as the COD franchise sells like crazy, but hopefully, the Vita will in the future, receive a COD game that has a full, brand – new, and traditional campaign. This title should satisfy fans of Call of Duty’s multiplayer, and those looking to scratch their trigger finger on the Vita. However, certain bugs are going to have to be overlooked, and a “campaign” that is solid but with way too little to it in terms of length should also be ignored as well. Finally, for all you trophy addicts like me, this list is surprisingly quite challenging, yet enjoyable. It is worth a go if you want to challenge your skills. For this title being a solid yet average Vita shooter, my final score is 7 out of 10. If there was an actual campaign, and a bit more polish, this score would certainly be higher.

The smackDAB Final Verdict: 7 out of 10

Note: Please forgive the paragraph indentation. It is just not working for me, not matter what I press. Other than that, this review is complete. Thanks for reading. Please feel free to post your thoughts and feedback below. Finally, keep it pleasant please.

Edited November 20, 2012 by DanielVT

[AlteredFormula]

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[killerJAZZ420]

Good Read D, I'm not a fan in the slightest nor do i own a VITA.

But You did a good job

[DanielVT]

Good Read D, I'm not a fan in the slightest nor do i own a VITA.

But You did a good job

Hey thanks! I tried to keep it unbiased!

Edited November 20, 2012 by DanielVT

[Hamburger Helper]

Pretty good read but was wondering, is there anything you really wanted to see on the Vita that wasn't present on the console versions? Wished there was a story to the campaign and wouldn't have mind if it was that cliche backstory of a "famous character and the only connection from his story to the new console one was 1 cutscene at the end." Would you have liked to see this released as a $14.99 download off of PSN rather than the full price it currently retails for?

It would have been cool if Black Ops: Declassified was almost like those HD Remastered games like Medal of Honor: Frontline or COD Classic where there was more investment in the campaign rather than trying to do all these things at once. To be honest, I think I've had more fun playing Medal of Honor: Frontline HD than most of the newer FPS games because it's fun. I think this game would have been fine if it featured a nice campaign (like Frontline), Zombies mode with an online functionality, and perhaps a survival mode like MW3 did. Although the MP would be missing, I mean, who's going to have a solid connection at every place they are when outside the house?

[DanielVT]

Pretty good read but was wondering, is there anything you really wanted to see on the Vita that wasn't present on the console versions? Wished there was a story to the campaign and wouldn't have mind if it was that cliche backstory of a "famous character and the only connection from his story to the new console one was 1 cutscene at the end." Would you have liked to see this released as a $14.99 download off of PSN rather than the full price it currently retails for?

It would have been cool if Black Ops: Declassified was almost like those HD Remastered games like Medal of Honor: Frontline or COD Classic where there was more investment in the campaign rather than trying to do all these things at once. To be honest, I think I've had more fun playing Medal of Honor: Frontline HD than most of the newer FPS games because it's fun. I think this game would have been fine if it featured a nice campaign (like Frontline), Zombies mode with an online functionality, and perhaps a survival mode like MW3 did. Although the MP would be missing, I mean, who's going to have a solid connection at every place they are when outside the house?

Uh yeah! $14.99 would have been awesome. However, $39.99 is what it should have cost. I think the $10 extra dollars was based entirely on name alone. I find that really lame. A solid campaign would have made all the difference.

Edited November 20, 2012 by DanielVT