I like Black Ops. Most of it, at any rate. Since there are several million people like me, it's a sure thing that Activision will sell us more stuff for it. Most likely some $15 multiplayer map packs. But I have a better idea. In fact, I have four better ideas.
After the jump, four things Call of Duty: Black Ops really needs.
4) Better bots!
Starcraft and Call of Duty have a lot in common. They're both challenging detailed games with thriving multiplayer communities. Starcraft II has a whole set of options for playing skirmish games against the AI without sacrificing any of the elements of a normal multiplayer game. This includes full support for co-operative games in which players team up against the computer. It's a great way to either sidestep the fiercely competitive head-to-head games, or to just mess around and beat up on the AI.
Starcraft and Call of Duty have a lot in common. They're both challenging detailed games with thriving multiplayer communities. Starcraft II has a whole set of options for playing skirmish games against the AI without sacrificing any of the elements of a normal multiplayer game. This includes full support for co-operative games in which players team up against the computer. It's a great way to either sidestep the fiercely competitive head-to-head games, or to just mess around and beat up on the AI.
Call of Duty takes a tentative step in this direction by letting you play against bots in Black Ops. You level up a separate character, as it were, unlocking weapons, equipment, and abilities much like you would in multiplayer games. Unfortunately, this mode has some disappointing limits. The most significant is that you can't play the majority of the game modes. You're limited to deathmatches only. I realize it would take some work to teach bots to disarm bombs, guard headquarters, and capture flags. But you've come this far, Activision. Don't stop now.
Furthermore, the game set-up for bot matches needs more flexibility. The excellent Section 8, for instance, lets players set up lopsided games with a few human players against greater numbers of dumb bots. Black Ops has no way to manage how many bots are on which teams.
So let me suggest a $15 bot pack instead of a multiplayer map pack as the first order of business. I would buy it and only whine minimally about having to pay extra.
3) A way to change the camera's elevation when you're watching a replay
Since Call of Duty is trying so hard to be like Halo -- and doing a mostly good job, if I do say so -- I'm surprised they left this out. Or maybe I just missed it, in which case I'd like to replace this one with "better documentation for the cool Theater replay feature".
Either way, I'm not going to pay for this one.
2) Henry Kissinger
The man who was the obvious inspiration for Dr. Strangelove belongs in Black Ops' Cold War story, as dippy as it is. I suspect he was replaced with Robert MacNamara not because a Secretary of Defense is more appropriate than a Secretary of State, but because it's more of a legal hassle to put people in a game when they're still alive than when they're dead.
But I love that Black Ops shows signs of not taking Call of Duty so seriously. More of that! A great place to start is by fleshing out the cast. I'm serious, Activision. MacNamara is a great start, but don't stop there. You're not only showing us a good time; you're teaching us history! So I'll pay $5 for a playable Henry Kissinger and $10 for a character pack that includes other Cold War political figures like Jane Fonda, Ron Kovacs, Huey Newton, and Barry Goldwater. Especially Barry Goldwater.
1) Different kinds of zombie maps
I know Activision is sitting on the two zombie maps people got with the extra expensive collector's edition, so I expect I'll be able to buy those soon enough. But I hope for more -- and more importantly -- more different zombie maps. Monkey around with the formula some more, Activision. Turning on power generators and activating drink machines is getting a little old. And I wouldn't mind if you came up with some way to mix up the action other than adding hell hounds.
I'll pay an extra $5 if your zombie maps learn a few new tricks.
0) Insert your own complaints about multiplayer here
I'm sure there are all sort of things that need to be done for the basic multiplayer, like taking care of lag, offering us actual dedicated servers instead of these rental scams, balancing the weapons differently, fixing team games on Crisis, and so on and so forth. But I'm not a hardcore enough player to know enough about those things. So I'll just leave this spot here for where that stuff should go.
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