The year's most anticipated game is finally here. "Call of Duty: Black Ops" is the exciting new addition to the Call of Duty franchise. The game explores the Cold War era, being the series to a new territory that the previous games didn't touch.  You play as Alex Mason, a special operative that wakes up in an interrogation room recalling previous missions to unknown captors.

 

The game's storyline spans throughout the 1960s in black operations missions. As players progress through Alex's story they will find themselves in missions right out the pages of history. The cut scenes involving Mason talking to his captors are confusing at first, but at the game's end the story wraps up itself nicely.

This installment still continues the same fast-paced "run and gun," gameplay that the previous Call of Duty games are known for but with a few additions. Melee skills and the ability to pilot motorcycles, helicopters and other vehicles are thrown in to enhance the fast-paced gameplay.

Though campaign mode is short in "Black Ops," the multiplayer modes more than make up for it. The multiplayer modes are similar to Modern Warfare 2. It includes the standard modes: Team Deathmatch, Domination, Headquarters and more.

The game adds a new mode called Combat Training, which lets gamers practice against dummy opponents on any multiplayer map.

Combat Training caters more to the less-experienced online players and teaches the basics of multiplayer mode before competing online. Experienced players can use it to refine skills and strategies.

With its gripping story, tried and true multiplayer modes and improvements, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" managed to top its predecessor, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."

 

(Originally written Nov. 10, 2010)

The year's most anticipated game is finally here. "Call of Duty: Black Ops" is the exciting new addition to the Call of Duty franchise. The game tackles a new era that the previous games didn't touch: the Cold War era. Gamers play as a special operative named Alex Mason, who wakes up in an interrogation room recalling previous missions to unknown captors.

The game's storyline spans throughout the 1960s in black operations missions. As players progress through Alex's story they will find themselves in missions right off the pages of history. The cut scenes involving Mason talking to his captors are confusing at first, but at the game's end the story wraps up nicely.

Those who have played the previous Call of Duty games will be happy to know that this installment still continues the same fast-paced "run and gun," but with a few additions. "Black Ops" throws in melee skills and the ability to pilot motorcycles, helicopters and other vehicles that add to the fast-paced gameplay.

Call of Duty is best known for its top-notch multiplayer modes and though campaign mode is short in "Black Ops," the multiplayer modes more than make up for it. The game adds a new mode called "Combat Training," which lets gamers practice against dummy opponents on any multiplayer map.

"Combat Training" caters more to less-experienced online players learning the basics of multiplayer mode before competing online. Experienced players can use it to refine skills and strategies.

With its gripping story, tried and true multiplayer modes and improvements, "Call of Duty: Black Ops" managed to top its predecessor, "Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2."

 

 

At first I thought that there was not much I can improve on this article considering it was originally written for my school’s newspaper. The first draft was too long and one you see here is the draft my campus’ newspaper published. I was surprised on how much I had to change. While rewriting this article, I found out that I used to abuse long-winded sentences. Most likely I used them to achieve a minimum of a word count. I had to change sentences around to make them sound stronger and made them less passive. I had add a sentence about the multiplayer add more detail. I also noticed that I don’t use much adjectives and I had to keep the sentences are simple.