Call of Duty Black OPS: Wii

2010 is the year of the shooter for the Wii and Call of Duty Black OP's is leading the way. With support for classic controllers, Wii motion aiming, USB Headsets, 1 man online multiplayer and the complete zombie survival mode of the other versions the Wii port of CoD:BLOPs is on par with it's HD cousins. The only notable difference is a lack of split screen multiplayer and decal customization for weapons, two things that are very small when compared to the full package.

While the game is basically the same across all 4 platforms (360,PS3,PC and Wii) there is a notable difference in the graphics for the Wii version. While many will claim that it is simply a lack of hardware power on the platform we here at Wii-Core would like to point out that platform specific titles have all the fancy bells and whistles. I would congratulate Treyarch on making the multiplayer portion of the game look and feel just like one of the HD versions, however a few minutes into the single player and all thoughts of praise are gone.

Models look like they were pulled straight out of a late 90's DirectX 8 game, large heads with little to no detail make every thing feel clunky. Even with a strong voice acting cast the single player game feels like it was shoe horned into the game. This of course brings me to the actual story of the game, or it would if there was a story...

 CODBLOPs single player story has about as much to do with COD as Chef Ramsey has to do with plastic surgery. At times it almost feels like the developers had a contract to fulfill and were very upset at having to do a story mode at all preferring to focus on the multiplayer aspects of the game instead. 

Multiplayer however is deserving of every ounce of praise it receives. Each level feels fully fleshed out with multiple pathways to navigate the map, while always feeling unique. Gone are the kill count requirements on attachments in favor of a new "Call of Duty Cash" feature allowing players to purchase attachments for a gun as soon as they unlock it. Yes you still need to level up in order to earn a gun, however as soon as you do you can outfit it however you want.

The perk system feels much more streamlined this time around as well with most perks proving to be very useful. Gun camo is no longer tied down to a head shot count, opting instead to use the COD Cash to provide players a means to make each gun look and feel exactly how they want.

One of my biggest criticisms of past CoD Wii titles has been the way the developer handles the modes on the Wii. While the PS3, 360 and PC versions have massive battles with upwards of 18 players running around at a time the Wii is limited to only 10 (5 on 5). This makes some of the modes a little off, take for example CTF. With 5 on 5 and maps made to be played by double that it is simply a case of trying to cover to much with to few. I think for the next version of CoD on the Wii the dev's need to spend some serious play time and find a better way to balance the player count to the map/mode.

All in all though even with the serious flaws in single player CODBLOPs is one title no Wii owner should be without, it provides the very best shooter experience on the Wii to date and it even includes Zombies!!!

Call of Duty Black OPs  was developed and released by Treyarch and released on Nov 9th, 2010 world wide.

Call of Duty Black OPS : Wii

Being a consummate PC gamer I would love to start this review off with a good old bashing of console based shooters. How the inaccuracy of the analog stick will never mach the precision of a gaming mouse, maybe talk about TV speakers being far inferior to headsets. Unfortunately if I did so my opening paragraph would not mesh well with the following.

Call of Duty Black OPs for the Wii has to be one of the best games I have played this year. Decent graphics, multiple control schemes and a badass zombie mode make this well worth any gamers cash. Granted I have been playing the Wii version and as such the "worst" looking one I have still become enamored with it.

Having put in some hours using the Wiimote on CoD:Reflex and CoD:WaW I decided to use the Classic Controller Pro, a modified Classic Controller that more closely resembles a Playstation style controller. This gives CODBLOPS a more traditional feel, something like you would see on a PS3 or 360.

Of course not everything is sunshine and rainbows for CODBLOPS (Wii) one of the biggest issues I have with the game is the developer did not customize the game modes to match the reduced player size. While the other two consoles and PC versions can support double the player count in an online matchup the Wii version is limited to 8. Problems arise in some modes because of the reduced number of players. In S&D for instance rounds can end VERY quickly because of the smaller team sizes, coupled with the score limit being set low it can some times feel like you spent longer waiting for a game to load than you did actually playing the game. I would like to have seen a higher score limit to compensate, instead of a team winning after 4 victories move it up and require a score of 7. This would put a single match of S&D on par with the other versions.

A nice change in the way the game doles out weapons has happened as well. Gone are the head shot requirements on guns in order to unlock attachments. Instead you earn "COD Cash" which you can use to purchase guns and attachments. While the guns themselves have level requirements to unlock the attachments can be bought and equipped as soon as you open up the gun. This allows players to use the sough after Red Dot Sight as soon as they get a gun.

If you are strapped for cash this holiday season and can only get one game for your Wii console I would highly suggest Call of Duty Black OPS as it will provide you with hours and hours of enjoyment. Just stay away from the Single Player part of the game, there is a reason I never mentioned it ;)