My Top 5 gripes with Call of Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a great game and no-one can deny that fact. However as much as I love the game and as much as I play the game there are still certain aspects of the game which grind my gears. Below is a list of those five things from the least important to the most.

Gripe Number 5: No party chat in some game types

OK, so this may be justified but it’s still something that annoys me. Search and Destroy is a great game mode. But due to the fact that I can’t talk to my mates via Party Chat we never ever play. Game chat isn’t as clear as party chat and while it may be used for cheating by some people, when I play online the majority of the times me and my mates arejust having banter in the party rather than telling each other where the opponents are. Correct me if I’m wrong but Modern Warfare 1 didn’t have this problem.

Gripe Number 4: It’s an 18 for a reason

Now because of the above point I sometimes go and play Search and Destroy games alone. This of course means I’m more than likely to be greeted by a group of 12 year old kids (normally American but wouldn’t like to categorise) who for some reason love shouting louder and louder than each other. Another thing that also arises is that if I manage to kill them, I suddenly become a cheater, camper or even worse, a . It’s Search and Destroy!!! Do they expect me to go charging around in the open like a headless chicken? Why don’t I mute them I hear you say? I shouldn’t have to. The game is an 18 for a reason! PS – it must be said that it is quite fun winding them up, but again that’s not the point.

Gripe Number 3: More maps and map variety when online

For a game of Black Ops stature the amount of maps is pretty bad. I know there are 14 maps which are standard but when it actually comes to playing online in certain game modes you’ll be lucky if you use more than five maps within a gaming night. To make matters worse the voting system is flawed. Here’s an example which I’m sure many of you can relate. I’ve just played a game on Summit and the game has ended. We’re in the lobby and two new maps have appeared for voting. Wait a minute, one of the two maps is Summit, which you’ve just played. So you don’t like the alternative and select Random. Random has the majority of the votes and yet lo and behold, the next game we’ll be playing is on Summit. It’s a great map, but not that great. Get it sorted Activision.

Gripe Number 2: Co-Op single player

I’m not a massive fan of Zombies so when I’m looking for an alternative to online multiplayer, but would still like to play online with friends playing there’s nothing. I know it’s a completely different story line but Gears of War 2 is a perfect example of how online co-op works. It may just be me but I’d enjoy the story mode even more if I were able to share the experience with an online friend and to make the great game even better, this should have been considered in development.

Gripe Number 1: Proper online ranking system

This is my number one gripe with Call of Duty: Black Ops and something which I hope many of you will agree. Online is all a con and something which I’ll admit still has me hooked in. There is NO reward whatsoever for good players. No matter what rank you are, you can be paired up with someone ten times as good as you, or vice versa someone ten times worse. You should be able to rank up and rank down meaning there is more importance on a match rather than who ever plays the most will have the higher rank. Don’t get me wrong, if you’re a good player you’ll rank up faster, but at the end of the day there’s nothing to show how good you are. Anyone can reach the top prestige level without even being good at the game. They should create a whole new game-type that is properly ranked even if it is just for me. Please tell me you agree?

And there you have it. Five things that grind my gears in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Remember this is my opinion only so be kind in the comments. I’d love to know what grinds your gears as well as your thoughts on my gripes…