Well, that was fast. Only a few weeks after the teaser trailer, Activision and Treyarch have dropped another video for Black Ops on us, bestowing us with visions of the upcoming Vietnam-era (and beyond?) shooter. While the trailer is pretty light on story, it does show stoic men with firearms and plenty of explosions, and isn’t that what we want from Call of Duty? Take a look and tell us what you think:
Call of Duty: Black Ops Trailer Dishes Gameplay
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Hopefully they’ll do right (like CoD4) and have collectibles that actually unlock cheats (only fun ones of course). Slo-Mo instead of Melee attack was awesome, and don’t forget terrorists turning into piles of tires. Pure awesome.
Other than that, meh.
I’m not fond of shooters set in real world events, but I’ve come to accept the fact that WW2 themed shooters are incredibly popular and will continue to be made. The Second World War is far enough back in our collective historical memory that it’s almost not even a “real” event for many people.
Vietnam, however, is different. Many of us have parents old enough to have been in Vietnam. A friend of my works for as a counselor for a VA hospital and he sees a lot of guys still suffering physical and psychological trauma from that war. I’m not sure I could play a game that has sections that take place in the context of the Vietnam War. I just find it a little…distasteful.
Does anyone else feel this way? I’ve always been turned off by the Call of Duty series (WW2 and Modern) because of its claims to realism.
Oh, and did anyone else have to stop and think about the release date? I work with a lot of people who list dates in the European style (day/month/year) so I had to think about whether the release date was November 9 (which it is) or September 11. That would be awkward.
zayve, I would never call CoD realistic. Far too bombastic but the point you make on the controversial setting of Vietnam is interesting.
Regardless, this actually looks like it has the potential to be REALLY good.
Yeah, I guess “realistic” probably isn’t the best term when it comes to the gameplay. I’m thinking more about the setting and the context. The CoD WW2 games are certainly more realistic than, say, the Wolfenstein series.
Maybe I just don’t like too much reality in my games. I’m totally fine running around and shooting fake Nazis in a Wolfenstein context, but I’m less comfortable gunning down German soldiers in CoD.
A silly distinction, I know, but for some reason it’s a real sticking point for me.
I totally get where you’re coming from zayven. The point about context makes sense, I just misinterpreted the previous point.
I too dislike the whole gunning Germans down thing purely because it’s too one-sided at times. I personally would like a war based FPS to let you play both sides. It doesn’t have to be in a WW2 setting, or even a real historical war. Y’know what I mean?
Authentic. Not realistic. I think that sums it up
The trailer was good. Showed some stuff ie 7th cavalry logo on the Huey, references to the space race. But the voice over and the documents being redacted might hint that the game may take place in alternative history setting.
I’m still waiting for a Vietnam War game. We’re studying the Vietnam War in War class right now, and I want to see a game that is as brutal as Nam, but without going overboard or becoming stereotypical. CoD is not going to be that game, by any means.
Black Ops looks like it’ll be a fun rental.
You actually want a game as brutal as ‘Nam? Have you watched “Apocalypse, Now” recently?
Not that WW2 wasn’t brutal; the brutality of that war has gotten so whitewashed by the “good war” narrative. Still, at least you can argue that there was a nominal sense of purpose behind the fighting in WW2.
Having said all of that, if you can get beyond the inherent moral problems with setting a game during the Vietnam war, a “black ops” style game would be well suited for it. It would be like Rambo: Origins or GI Joe: The Prequel (anyone who read the old GI Joe comics from Marvel will know what I’m talking about).
I don’t think “Call of Duty 1914: War to End All Wars” would have worked quite so well…
@Zayven have you played Soldier of Fortune, Postal 2 or anything in the GTA Series?
It doesn’t have to be historically accurate, but as long as it’s violent as shit (enough so to get banned in certain countries) and has a few jokes a long the way, kids are going to buy it. Setting a violent game in a real historical time actually makes it LESS fun (to those kids) beacuse it’s actually based in fact.
I think what’s wrong with your “…inherent moral problems with setting a game during…” is that if there weren’t moral problems, it wouldn’t be a very good video game.
Wait a minute, Julez, I’m not saying that the violence itself is the problem. I already said that I’m totally fine with shooting fake Nazis in Wolfenstein or fake civilians in GTA. Those games are obviously fictional constructs filled with archetypal protagonists and antagonists who have no basis in reality. But when you set a game in a real historical time, you’re reenacting REAL violence and pretending to kill representations of REAL people who actually were killed. And the success of the Call of Duty and Medal of Honor series shows that people DO find this enjoyable.
The “inherent moral problems” of Vietnam is that it was a war in which soldiers were put in a situation where they could not easily make a distinction between combatants and civilians. This wasn’t a war where the Americans wore green, the British wore brown, and the Germans wore gray and we all know who to shoot. It was a war where you go to take out an enemy position and it’s nestled within a village filled with women and children (who, by the way, probably want to shoot you too). If that’s not morally problematic, I’m not sure what is.
Sorry, I guess I’ve really climbed up on the soapbox about this and directed the conversation away from the game, which is what we’re supposed to be talking about. I’ll try to do a better job of reigning myself in next time.
I hope that the storyline in this game is politicized (as in, what would a black ops team really do to an enemy they needed to wipe out). It might be a touchy subject, but it would might the game that much more involving