<Edit> Get ready, this took me about 2 hours to type and it is a little lengthy, but it's worth reading.</Edit>It looks amazing! lol Wager matches, profile customization, gun customization, CODpoints, Perks, Killstreaks, theater mode, camera spikes, Crossbow, Tomahawk, Ballistic Knife, RC cars, Missiles, Dives, Gun unlocks, Contracts, emblem editor, combat training, and OMG! Multiplayer is where it's at. I liked the old Single player reveal, but this here is just... !!!. Multiplayer is definitely "In the Money".
Now to speak like myself. This game sounds and looks amazing. Out of it all, I can not wait for the Wager matches: One in the Chamber, Sticks and Stone, and The Gun Game. Now let's go over it all.
Wager Matches. A new feature being added to this COD is CODpoints. It's basically a money system. You earn your money through various ways and then you "wager" it in wager matches to increase your money. The money is everything in this game, but I'll come back to that in a second. Wager matches are all free for all game modes. You are on your own trying to get yourself "In the Money". In the Money is basically being one of the top three at the end of the match. If you are, then you win all of the money that you betted. If you aren't "In the Money", then you get nothing and lose all that you bet. I'm not sure how the betting works, but if I remember it is simply like selecting an amount and the max that you can go up to may be like double or triple however much you have. The highest I remember seeing is double 100 or so. If you're in a wager match, then you had better be there to win.
Profile customization. It's a hard one to talk about, because there is just so much to it. I'll split it up a bit. Based on the guns that you are using, it effects how your soldier looks. You can also buy face paint (the only one I remember seeing recently) and other accessories. Titles and emblems are back again but in a different way. Darn I'm drawing a blank on how it's done, but I'll go into that later.
Gun customization. Fun one here. Camos are back of course, but they brought a long a couple extras. You will be able to purchase various Red Dot sights. A line, a smiley face, a target, a dot, etc. Also, you are now able to carve your clan tag onto your gun. I don't know if it sticks on there after you die and someone picks up your gun, but I'd guess it. You will now recognize just who's gun you picked up, if you want. It's just a cool little feature.
CODpoints. The big one. Everything is around CODpoints now. You earn them from challenges, you earn them from contracts, you bet them in wagers, you probably win them in normal games, etc. You buy your guns with them rather than unlocking them by level, well, kind of. I'll get in that later as well. You buy profile and gun customizations, etc. I'm not entirely sure on just how big these will be, but they are going to be big. The future purpose of boosting. lol
Perks. Again, I forgot most of them but a lot of them are the same as MW2 but modified. Pro perks are back as well. Marathon is now no longer unlimited sprint, but it is longer than the old COD4 and WaW sprints I've heard. Categories have been rearranged, in a better fashion I believe. In MW2, the third perks were all trash besides Ninja and Commando. With Black Ops though, they do sound pretty evened out this time around. Oh, and as we all know now, Commando is not making a come back.
Oh, found it again. Here we go-
First Perk Slot: * Lightweight * Scavenger * Ghost * Flak Jacket * Hardline
Second Perk Slot: * Hardened * Scout * Steady Aim * Sleight of Hand * Warlord
Third Perk Slot: * Marathon * Ninja * Second Chance * Hacker * Tactical Mask
Lightweight- Same old, same old.
Scavenger- Only resupplies ammo. No more grenade/noob tube spam.
Ghost- Cold Blooded.
Flak Jacket- Same as WaW, reduced explosive damage.
Hardline- Same old, same old.
Hardened- Bullet penetration, FMJ.
Scout- Longer hold breath, for Snipers.
Steady Aim- Same old, same old.
Sleight of Hand- Same old, same old.
Warlord- Bling.
Marathon- Same, but no longer unlimited.
Ninja- Not heartbeat sensors, but motion sensors.
Second Chance- Last Stand. Not sure if they can be revived, probably.
Hacker- Sit Rep. Pro version allows you to "hack" enemy equipment to become your own/your team's. You can also "booby trap" enemy Care Packages. I don't know how, but that's what I've been told.
Tactical Mask- Tear Gas (Stun) and Flash Bangs do not affect you.
See what I mean? They are all really useful perks, but they are split pretty evenly among the ranks. Moving on.
Killstreaks. In a nutshell,-
3 Kills – Spy Plane
3 Kills – RC-XD (RC bomb)
4 Kills – Counter Spy Plane
4 Kills – SAM Turret
5 Kills – Care Package
5 Kills – Napalm Strike
6 Kills – Sentry Gun
6 Kills – Mortar Team
7 Kills – Attack Helicopter
7 Kills – Valkyrie Rockets
8 Kills – Blackbird
8 Kills – “Rolling Thunder”
9 Kills – Chopper Gunner
11 Kills – Attack Dogs
11 Kills – Gunship
They speak for themselves hopefully. You buy them with CODpoints after unlocking them (I'll get to it) and then you select three like MW2.
Theater Mode. Again, OMG! This one deserves it. You can go in and replay a whole match as a 3D clip. You can stop and pause time and move the camera around and everything. You can view the scene as your character, or you could move over to another person and view it as them. Then you can save the clips and upload them to--- <unknown to myself>. Maybe Youtube, maybe a COD site, maybe both, maybe neither, maybe something other. There is still a killcam, but this here is after the killcam and after the match is over. You can go in and replay anything seen within the match. I love it.
Camera Spikes. I'm pretty sure it's equipment. Haven't really checked yet though. If you've seen the old MP trailer, then you know what I'm talking about. The thermal camera at the very beginning./// Yes, equipment. There will not be three tiers of equipment. Lethal, tactical, and equipment. Lethal is anything explosive, etc. Including claymores. Tactical is your Tear gas and Flash Bangs, etc. Equipment is anything that you place down in the map for itself. You get one of them and you can only move them, etc. The camera is in this category. I don't know what all is included, but that's that.
Next up is the Crossbow, Tomahawk, and Ballistic Knife. You've probably seen all three or at least two of the three. The Crossbow is... a crossbow. You shoot explosive arrows that stick to the enemy/map and then blow up. It's like the thumper in the fact that you only get 2 arrows. The thumper is also making a come back, by the way. The tomahawk is the return of the throwing knife. It's main appearance will probably be seen within Sticks and Stones. I'll get to that later. And the last one is the ballistic knifes. Akimbo knifes, one on each hand. You shoot them out of a device on your hands. Shoot, not throw.
RC Cars. As said above, that is one of your 3-kill killstreaks. The RC-XD. You drive it around the map and then it blows up. As I've seen, you can either run it into the enemies or you can stop it and then blow it up. Am I to guess that if you run it into any wall it will as well blow up? lol Good for campers I believe. You're character is left out in the open though like as if you are calling in a Chopper Gunner. The RC may also have a timer on just how long it has before it automatically blows.
Missiles. I'm guessing they are your Valkyrie Rockets at a 7-killstreak. Like a Predator missile, but you shoot them along the ground and steer them into anything like the RC car, but they fly. You fly it into something or it probably auto-destructs.
Diving. Just like drop shots in MW2, kind of. When you run (jump) and go prone, your character dives to the ground. I believe that's it, but there may be a certain command to it.
Gun unlocks, like I've been meaning to mention. Just like in MW2, you unlock certain guns as you level up. However!, you can not use them until you buy them with CODpoints. Getting to that certain level simply opens the gun up for purchase, rather than giving it to you. Same for Killstreaks and I suppose probably attachments, camos, perks, equipment, etc.
Contracts. The V2 of Challenges. Don't get it wrong though, Contracts are not challenges in the sense that you have as long as it takes you to unlock a certain crazy achievement. With contracts, you select them like tasks or missions. You don't have to take any of them at all, but you can if you want. Contracts are timed challenges. You have so long to get so many kills with certain types of guns or whatever. They are going to be easier than challenges though, since they will be timed. They will give you like a day to complete, maybe more, maybe less. But I'm sure of a day. If you complete the contract, you get CODpoints of course. If you don't, then you probably lose them or nothing happens. They could be like user selected challenges, or they could be another way to bet/wager on how well you will do. If you are partial to certain types of guns, then you would probably want to be on the look out for contracts for those sorts of guns. Moving on.
Emblem editor. Darn, I can't remember if this is just for plain emblems or for clans only or for both. It's one of those I'm sure. Basically, it is a Photoshop for emblems. You can change colors within them and all. Make them custom to yourself/your group.
Combat training! OMG! I've always wanted this! Multiplayer game modes against the AI. Basically, you are playing like as if you are in Single player but with the multiplayer maps, game modes, weapons, etc. You don't get CODpoints for them, it's mainly for training. Who would have guessed, the name doesn't give it away or anything. I will definitely be using this whether or not I like Multiplayer. If they had had this for MW2, things would have gone way better. You would have been able to have good games without the noob tube spam and all. This also took the place of Deathstreaks. Rather than rewarded players who do bad, you are given a better way of improving yourself outside of the matches. Hopefully (I don't see why not) you will be able to play this without an Internet connection. That way if I'm having major lag or just don't have a connection for whatever reason, I can still get in some Multiplayer modes. MW2 has single player, but it is always the same stuff. This will let you actually have a mixed bag of gaming.
Let me quickly go over the Wager match types and then I'm out. Currently I've spent at least an hour and a half typing this.
As far as I know, Perks/killstreaks/etc. are all disabled in these game modes. They are meant for fast action rivalry, so have at it.
One in the Chamber!You start the match with a pistol and 3 lifes. The pistol has 1 bullet in it. You can never have over 1 bullet. You/enemies die with one hit. Either the bullet hits them or you knife them. After you shoot the bullet, the only way to get another is by killing a person or by dieing yourself. 3 deaths and you lose though. Last person standing is obviously the first place winner. If you shoot your bullet, then the only possible way to kill a person is by knifing them (melee, not throwing or ballistic). Close range action and trill. You will feel the suspense when you and an enemy both miss your shots and your going at it in a small space trying to knife the other. You can knife even while having a bullet, but they do not stack. Why would you knife when you have a shot anyway?
The Gun Game!This is the only Wager game that I've seen a full match of. Basically, you have to get 20 different kills. Each one with a different gun. First person to get the last kill with the ballistic knife (last weapon) wins first place. Whoever is on the following highest tiers wins second and third and are also In the Money. You start with a pistol. It is not like One in the Chamber though, you have normal ammo and it takes normal damage to kill a person. After you kill someone with the pistol, you get akimbo pistols. After you kill someone with them, you get a shotgun. And so on. The guns do not add to each other though, they all replace each other. You can not switch between the weapons. The match goes from Medium, to Easy, and finally to Hard. Pistols and shotguns at the start. Assault rifles, SMGs, LMG, etc. around the lower middle. Sniper rifles around the top middle. And finally rocket launchers, the crossbow, and the ballistic knifes to finish it off. If you are knifed in The Gun Game, then you go backwards a gun. Say you were on the 19th gun (crossbow) and another person was on the 19th as well. If they knifed you, then you would go to the 18th and they'd go to the 20th.
Sticks and Stones!Fun, fun, fun. In this wager, you get a Crossbow, Ballistic knifes, and a Tomahawk. Nothing else. However, you are on constant watch for flying tomahawks. If you get by a tomahawk or another player gets hit by one, you/they go bankrupt. I'm pretty sure that means that you just lost and won't respawn. Watch your back. I don't know much about this game mode other than that. I don't know if it is all about bankrupting all other players besides yourself or if that is just an add on and your other goal is to just get so many kills like a normal free for all. Hopefully you are trying to bankrupt everyone, because that sounds funner. Imagine been the final two people in a game like that, 1v1 knife throwing contest. Who can hit who first?
Sharpshooter!This one doesn't exactly interest me as much as The Gun Game or One in the Chamber, but still sounds insanely fun. I can't wait to try them all. Anyways, back to it. In Sharpshooter, everyone starts with the same random gun. When a new gun appears/when the match starts, a timer starts. Every <so and so> amount of time everyones gun will switch over to a new randomly selected one. Again, every player will have the same gun as anyone else throughout the entire match. It doesn't really matter about the guns, but for each kill that you get, you are rewarded with one of three perks and then bonus multipliers afterwards. Perks may be random, but I've only seen Sleight of Hand, Lightweight, and Steady Aim (in that order every time, so... yeah). I suppose those are the only three ones, but those are the only ones that I've ever seen. After you get all three (or however many) of them, you then get a higher score multiplier for each kill. This is however, killstreaks. If you die, then you are back to no perks and no multipliers when you respawn.
Black Ops has so many major updates, just for multiplayer! When I saw the Single player, I thought it looked nice but it reminded me a little much of a mixed WaW and MW2. The graphics looked like WaW and the controls seemed like that of MW2. This multiplayer is neither. Multiplayer has blown me away with the additions and features. I can not wait to start it. Who knows, this time around I may not even play the campaign until after a while of MP.
Double rainbows!
