August 15, 2010
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[Summary] What the... was all that?
We went ahead and wrote a summary of everything that was going on the last couple of days, including multiplayer maps and zombies.
In two weeks, on September 1st, we can expect the "full multiplayer reveal" and even though we have no idea what this means, we're glued to our seats. One other thing, before we continue:
WARNING: Do not fall for scams on Xbox LIVE by people pretending to be from the video. ALL gamertags in the video are on the development network only. There have been reports of gamers being contacted to donate money or MS points to DJVahn or MatTks. But again, those names in the video are on a separate Xbox-live network, where only developers can go.
Multiplayer
We got exactly what we were waiting for in the last couple of months, epic multiplayer footage! Now that everyone is back on earth, let's review what we've seen real quick:
- Two videos have been shown; Black Ops Multiplayer Teaser » and the Prestige Edition video »
- The Multiplayer Teaser has been frame-by-frame analyzed by us » (text analysis), GameTrailers » (video) and IGN » (video)
So what can we expect to be updated in Black Ops multiplayer? First of all the obvious, new maps, weapons, equipment and killstreaks have been shown in the video. But the feature that is most talked about is the Replay editor. More on that later.
Maps
Launch; Two maps have been shown, one of them has been named "Launch". It's in both the MP teaser trailer as the Prestige Edition video, and it features a rocket (the BIG kind, the space kind...) taking off from a launch platform (hence the name). It looks to be a medium sized map, late in the afternoon (long shadows, low sun). It looks to be a map with few wide open areas due to height differences, and it will be most likely be a CQB (Close Quarters Battle) type of map.
Summit; The name of this map is unconfirmed but likely. This name is taken from one of the Replay editor segments, and even though it says "Free-for-all" in that particular segment, most of the community has adopted that name for the map that is set in the cold snowy mountains of Russia. All around the map there are red signs warning unauthorized personal they are not supposed to be there (but in Russian).
Thanks Abused_Mongoose, Firefice and jjw319 on CoD: HQ » for their effort on putting the maps together!
Weapons
There's a ton of new weapons that can be found in those two videos, many are already up on our weapon pages ». For a list of weapons that have been added most recent (around 15 pages), check our change log ». We will continue to update the weapon pages in the coming week or so, so if this is your poison be sure to come back regularly.
One thing to notice is the level of customization on the weapons. In the first seconds of the MP teaser trailer we see a CAR-15 assault rifle, completely customized with a silencer, custom Red Dot Sight (a smiley face as crosshair!), custom Watchmen smiley on the side and the gamer's clan tag written on the weapon! This is all part of "Create-a-class 2.0" Josh Olin talked about » a few weeks back. This will really differentiate you from the other players, so expect spending a lot of hours creating your own persona online.
Another thing that can be noticed in the first few seconds of the Prestige Edition video, is the fact that the sniper zooms in twice in multiplayer. Just like we've seen in an earlier singleplayer campaign mission at E3.
Discuss the weapons on the DW24/7 forums »
Killstreaks
With the analysis of the videos, we have found a total of 7 different killstreaks. A full description of them can be found on this page ». In short, we have 1) the RC-XD killstreak at 3 kills; a remote controlled explosive car. 2) Care package, dropped by a big Chinook helicopter at 4 kills. 3) The Archangel, a fly-by-wire missile that will most likely replace the Predator Missile from MW2 at 5 kills. 4/5/6) A total of 3 well known aerial killstreaks like the attack helicopter, an airstrike and a napalm strike. 7) An Artillery Strike that is well known by World at War's multiplayer players.
Replay editor
This amazing feature will let you record matches (most likely just multiplayer, hopefully also co-op!), edit them and upload them. Upload them where? Unfortunately this has not been uncovered yet either. We're hoping for YouTube, but it's more likely to be uploaded to community servers at Treyarch. When we know, you know.
When in the Replay editor, you can choose a total of 10 segments between which you can choose your own transition. Fun thing is, we think (but it has not been confirmed) that the MP teaser trailer has been edited by Vahn with the Replay editor. Even though the number of scenes and editing does not equal that of the Replay editor footage in the end (that, and the RC-XD clip was shorter than the seven seconds shown in the editor), a remark by Vahn hinted to something most of the community missed while analyzing the video:
"Love the analysis work but one major component has been completely overlooked, misinterpreted, or confused for something else entirely." -- @DavidVonderhaar
This could mean anything, but David 'Vahn' Vonderhaar is giving the community the silent treatment. Moments/ before the trailer submerged, he tweeted "have a nice day", the exact quote that can be found in as one of the segments in the Replay editor. We haven't figured it out what he meant by this though.
Zombies
Even though confirmed by the developers, there are many rumors going around what this actually means. The exact quote used is "All 4 existing #CoDWaW Zombies maps will be included in Hardened & Prestige editions of #CODBlackOps as callback co-op levels!", which could also mean that these Zombie maps will be nothing more than they used to be in CoD: World at War (just updated to the Black Ops engine).
It does confirm Zombies, but that's about it. It kind of sounds like Treyarch's back-up plan, for when maybe a new feature/mode will not be received like Zombies was. When the new feature fails (kind of like Special Ops in Modern Warfare 2 did), Treyarch can always work on Zombies from that point on. We're actually hoping we're on the wrong end of the truth here, but it could be. Another possibility is that Black Ops will feature new Zombies content right from the start...
Now when Josh said that four existing Zombies maps will be included in the Hardened and Prestige edition of Black Ops, he chose not to say whether or not these maps will be available for purchase (via Xbox LIVE Marketplace or PSN Store) for those rocking the regular edition. Only time will tell, as Josh Olin is suffering for a specific case of "I'm-not-telling-you-guys-anything-more-than-this" disease.
Wrap Up
Now that we've had a couple of days to think about what we did an did not like, the scale is pointing to "LIKE". There are few thing we did not like, and it all seems to be pretty balanced and full with new features. It goes without saying that we are very excited about Black Ops, and we can't wait for the full Multiplayer reveal on September 1st. What did you like best, and least?
Discuss what you think of multiplayer on the DW24/7 forums »
