[0:05] Hands up!
[0:13] By the time Activision deployed the
[0:15] original Black Ops in November 2010,
[0:18] Call of Duty had already revolutionized
[0:20] online multiplayer. Call of Duty 2 in
[0:23] 2005 proved itself a must-play online
[0:25] experience for Xbox 360 owners thanks to
[0:28] well-balanced gameplay and a variety of
[0:31] modes that weren't even held back by the
[0:33] limited player counts on console.
[0:35] Treyarch's Call of Duty 3 multiplayer
[0:37] raised the stakes 1 year later despite
[0:40] tepid reception at launch, though
[0:41] nothing could hold a candle to what came
[0:44] next in the fourth main line title.
[0:47] Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare long held
[0:50] the honorific of the series' best
[0:51] installment for both the single-player
[0:53] campaign and multiplayer suite.
[0:55] Killstreaks perks weapon
[0:57] customization, and the level-up system
[0:59] all first appeared in the landmark 2007
[1:01] release, which endures to this day, its
[1:04] influence permeating nearly every major
[1:06] online shooter. So, when World at War
[1:09] came along the following year,
[1:11] expectations soared through the roof.
[1:13] The Treyarch-created Nazi Zombies mode
[1:16] set World at War apart from the rest of
[1:18] the pack, meaning the studio had its
[1:20] work cut out upon taking the helm yet
[1:22] again for Call of Duty's 2010 outing.
[1:26] Enter Black Ops, the new sub-franchise
[1:29] whose debut emphasized social features
[1:31] and character customization all while
[1:33] providing players with a treasure trove
[1:35] of multiplayer options. 15 years after
[1:38] hitting store shelves for PC,
[1:40] PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii, Black
[1:43] Ops remains not only a seminal Call of
[1:45] Duty title, but also a genre-defining
[1:48] experience with a pedigree that many
[1:50] would argue has few competitors.
[1:53] This is Call of Duty: Black Ops 15 years
[1:56] later.
[1:59] The numbers, Mason,
[2:01] what do they mean?
[2:03] The numbers
[2:04] Mason, they mean nothing.
[2:08] What?
[2:09] >> [music]
[2:23] >> Incoming!
[2:27] Prior to joining the Call of Duty
[2:29] machine with Big Red One in 2005, Los
[2:32] Angeles-based studio Treyarch exhibited
[2:35] its impressive versatility across a
[2:37] series of sports games and Spider-Man
[2:39] adventures. The developers soon
[2:41] thereafter produced Call of Duty 3
[2:43] before later bringing World at War to
[2:45] the masses. Early in 2009, mere months
[2:48] after shipping World at War,
[2:49] pre-production on Black Ops began and
[2:52] kickstarted a new era for Treyarch since
[2:54] it constituted the first time that every
[2:57] member of the team worked on one project
[2:59] simultaneously.
[3:01] The 200 people attached to Black Ops
[3:03] were split into three groups, one batch
[3:05] creating the single-player campaign and
[3:07] a second building multiplayer with the
[3:10] third tackling a new and improved
[3:12] cooperative experience. With Black Ops
[3:15] shaping up to be the studio's most
[3:17] important game, this all-hands approach
[3:19] seemed necessary. Producer and online
[3:22] director Dan Bunting explained the
[3:23] benefits of the much larger team during
[3:25] a Joystick interview, highlighting how
[3:27] each dedicated division could focus on
[3:30] their part and manage the effort however
[3:32] they saw fit.
[3:33] Notably, the nascent phases of
[3:35] development enjoyed an explosion of
[3:37] creativity as Treyarch broke away from
[3:39] the World War II setting it had
[3:41] previously occupied in a trio of Call of
[3:43] Duty endeavors. The Vietnam War
[3:46] represented the next destination.
[3:55] Developers particularly zeroed in on a
[3:57] stretch of time throughout the 1960s
[4:00] wherein the Cold War period has sensibly
[4:02] birthed special operations or Spec Ops
[4:04] initiatives. The Military Assistance
[4:07] Command, Vietnam Studies and
[4:09] Observations Group, shortened to SOG,
[4:12] sat at the center of Treyarch's Black
[4:14] Ops-related research.
[4:16] US military command formally activated
[4:18] the Joint Forces unit in January 1964 to
[4:21] covertly retaliate against North
[4:23] Vietnam's aggressive behavior. Divided
[4:26] into smaller elite units, SOG carried
[4:28] out clandestine operations until May
[4:30] 1972, its assignments involving the
[4:33] sabotage of enemy munitions, conducting
[4:36] classified and unconventional warfare
[4:38] operations, and leading covert maritime
[4:41] and airborne missions in regions such as
[4:44] Laos and North Vietnam. SOG's unorthodox
[4:47] duties often required equally unorthodox
[4:50] weaponry, making Black Ops commandos the
[4:52] perfect testers of experimental
[4:54] equipment, modified tools, special
[4:57] ammunition, and prototype weapons. As
[5:00] such, they got their hands on unproven
[5:02] carbine variants of the M16 rifle,
[5:04] modified explosives, and even
[5:06] Soviet-made guns like the RPD, the
[5:09] latter comparable to a lighter, more
[5:11] efficient M60 machine gun.
[5:14] These tools proved essential for the
[5:16] unit's success, and said success relied
[5:18] on deniability as US officials publicly
[5:21] insisted they had no boots on the ground
[5:23] beyond the borders of South Vietnam. In
[5:26] reality, buried beneath the
[5:27] then-enduring Cold War was a hot war
[5:30] between the world's superpowers.
[5:31] Treyarch's developers viewed this secret
[5:34] hot war as the ideal backdrop for a
[5:36] different age of Call of Duty. After
[5:38] all, countless Cold War stories have
[5:40] stayed shrouded in mystery with the few
[5:42] Vietnam games to broach the topic
[5:44] pre-Call of Duty: Black Ops barely
[5:46] scratching the surface. Hey, you made
[5:48] special forces training, dude? Yeah,
[5:52] you are one lucky guy. A stirring
[5:54] pursuit of genuine authenticity resulted
[5:56] in Treyarch consulting invaluable
[5:58] sources of information, including Major
[6:00] John Plaster, a three-tour SOG veteran
[6:03] who, at the time, was preparing to
[6:05] release his account of the conflict in
[6:08] SOG: The Secret Wars of America's
[6:10] Commandos in Vietnam.
[6:12] Sonny Puzikas, an ex-operative of the
[6:15] Soviet Union's SOG equivalent, Spetsnaz,
[6:17] also contributed in an advisory
[6:19] capacity. Plaster walked Treyarch
[6:22] through his training, missions, and
[6:23] tactics. Puzikas' expertise provided
[6:26] similar glimpses into the Soviet Union's
[6:28] elite squad. For example, he recalled
[6:30] the drastic methods of superior officers
[6:32] who desensitized him and fellow soldiers
[6:35] by shooting at them. Bunting told USA
[6:37] Today these meetings opened up new
[6:40] avenues of gameplay, evident in the
[6:42] implementation of military-grade
[6:43] crossbows and the real-world-inspired
[6:45] Dragon's Breath incendiary shotgun. In
[6:48] addition, Puzikas demonstrated what
[6:50] developers deemed crazy killing
[6:52] techniques, several of which were
[6:54] mocapped into the actual game.
[7:01] Mocapping authentic Soviet-era combat
[7:03] represented only part of Treyarch's
[7:05] commitment to delivering a very
[7:07] cinematic and immersive experience. The
[7:09] richness of the Cold War plot
[7:11] necessitated the franchise's first
[7:13] voiced protagonist, alongside full
[7:15] performance capture, yet another series
[7:18] first, wherein the actors' voice, body
[7:20] movements, and facial expressions were
[7:22] recorded all at once. According to a
[7:24] sit-down Bunting had with The Guardian,
[7:26] the goal in this regard centered on
[7:28] ensuring lead character Alex Mason
[7:30] played an active role in dialogue
[7:32] exchanges. The game may have
[7:34] superficially presented itself as a
[7:35] story about avoiding the Cuban Missile
[7:37] Crisis, but Bunting and company insisted
[7:40] throughout the marketing cycle that the
[7:41] narrative would dig much deeper, hence
[7:44] the need for a Black Ops squad.
[7:47] Treyarch similarly applied that
[7:48] semblance of depth to the gameplay,
[7:50] emphasizing variety in so far as each
[7:53] mission felt distinctive. For instance,
[7:55] previews showcased the WMD mission's
[7:57] many moving parts, in which it opened
[7:59] with a first-person flying segment
[8:01] before switching back and forth between
[8:03] action-packed gunplay and stealth
[8:05] sequences, then finally tasking the
[8:07] player with base jumping into
[8:09] enemy-occupied territory.
[8:11] The game's locales received the same
[8:13] attention to detail, helped by the
[8:15] enhanced technologies Treyarch
[8:16] implemented into the Call of Duty 4
[8:18] engine, IW 3.0. Updates to the engine
[8:22] promoted lighting improvements and
[8:23] higher-quality texture work, and [music]
[8:25] texture streaming buffs facilitated the
[8:27] crafting of larger vistas colored by
[8:29] longer lines of sight, evident in play
[8:32] spaces like the long and narrow Summit
[8:34] map and the iconic Nuketown area with
[8:37] its mountainous Nevada background.
[8:39] Interestingly, not all locations were
[8:41] designed with single-player top of mind,
[8:43] as had previously been the case. On the
[8:45] contrary, because some content matured
[8:48] so early in the multiplayer design
[8:49] cycle, maps such as Slaughterhouse
[8:52] actually manifested as online levels
[8:54] from the start. This proved a point of
[8:56] pride for the development crew, given
[8:58] community manager Josh Olin once
[9:00] boasting that nothing in multiplayer was
[9:02] produced from single-player content.
[9:11] Treyarch didn't rest on its laurels at
[9:13] all when building Black Ops online
[9:15] suite, either. Since pre-production had
[9:17] gotten underway during World at War's
[9:19] post-launch support period, fan feedback
[9:21] from the 2008 entry became an
[9:23] indispensable resource. The developers
[9:25] obtained instant intel on what the
[9:27] community liked, disliked, and desired,
[9:30] thereby inspiring a focus on
[9:32] customization and social tools for the
[9:34] subsequent Treyarch outing. As an
[9:36] example, World at War and Modern Warfare
[9:38] 2's Create-a-Class feature returned with
[9:40] new accoutrements, namely face paint
[9:43] options and perk-specific character
[9:45] models for the player avatar.
[9:47] All manner of weapon customization
[9:49] possibilities entered the fray, too,
[9:51] allowing users to tinker further with
[9:53] attachments and cosmetically alter their
[9:55] guns by etching on unique clan tags.
[9:57] Deeper weapon personalization spawned
[10:00] from one designer offhandedly mentioning
[10:01] an interest in taking more ownership of
[10:03] their favorite gun. This even extended
[10:05] to the type of reticle a user could
[10:07] attach to their sights.
[10:09] Naturally, such personal ownership
[10:11] motives bled into the all-new social
[10:13] features crafted so players could easily
[10:15] edit and share their finest multiplayer
[10:17] highlights. Black Ops developers called
[10:19] the tool in question theater mode
[10:21] influenced in part by the advent of
[10:23] machinima content. Production on the
[10:25] original Black Ops also begat series
[10:27] mainstays like the COD Points currency
[10:29] system introduced principally because
[10:32] Treyarch felt like it'd be a very
[10:33] interesting way for players to engage
[10:35] with all of their earned unlocks.
[10:38] The title's highly rated November 2010
[10:40] release on PC, PS3, Xbox 360, and Wii
[10:44] demonstrated that critics and players
[10:46] were mostly pleased with the upgraded
[10:48] features and novel additions. Time would
[10:50] tell whether the changes would hold up
[10:52] as Call of Duty continued churning out
[10:54] annual installments.
[11:11] Don't you touch me.
[11:14] Casting call stirred up rumors about the
[11:16] seventh major Call of Duty in February
[11:18] 2010. Referenced as a significant
[11:21] in-game figure, the character Frank
[11:22] Barnes, later renamed Frank Woods,
[11:25] appeared in the casting information as
[11:26] did the SOG unit effectively confirming
[11:29] earlier speculation that the series was
[11:31] Vietnam-bound.
[11:33] Further details accidentally went public
[11:35] that April courtesy of the game's teaser
[11:37] website prematurely going live. However,
[11:39] leaks and rumors had no adverse effect
[11:42] on how audiences received the final
[11:44] product. In announcing Black Ops at the
[11:46] end of April, the Activision press
[11:47] release touted Call of Duty as the
[11:49] number one first-person action series of
[11:52] all time. Black Ops added to the
[11:54] record-breaking numbers at launch.
[11:56] The title's first 5 days on the market
[11:58] generated more than $650 million
[12:01] worldwide blazing past the $550 million
[12:05] that Modern Warfare 2 earned in the same
[12:07] time frame 1 year prior. And the
[12:09] history-making feats kept piling high
[12:12] with Black Ops topping $1 billion in
[12:14] revenue within approximately 6 weeks.
[12:17] Then CEO of Activision Blizzard Bobby
[12:19] Kotick noted that only Call of Duty and
[12:22] James Cameron's Avatar had ever reached
[12:24] such a milestone so quickly. Naturally,
[12:27] the hype, critical acclaim, and positive
[12:29] word of mouth all contributed to Black
[12:31] Ops's meteoric success.
[12:33] Black Ops racked up rave reviews at
[12:35] launch. Its Metacritic score on Xbox 360
[12:38] topping off at 87, lower than Modern
[12:41] Warfare 2's 94 Metacritic score, but
[12:44] generally in line with the ratings of
[12:46] past mainline entries. The GameTrailers
[12:48] review applauded Treyarch for closing
[12:50] the gap between its games and the Modern
[12:52] Warfare franchise with boundless
[12:54] customization and a keen understanding
[12:56] of why the series as a whole worked so
[12:58] well. Other outlets like Game Informer
[13:01] called it Treyarch's best game up until
[13:03] that point.
[13:04] For many, Black Ops's advancements with
[13:06] the franchise's otherwise stagnant
[13:08] single-player storytelling made the most
[13:10] inroads towards carrying Call of Duty
[13:12] forward. No longer were players
[13:14] barreling from one action set piece to
[13:16] another with a faceless cardboard cutout
[13:18] protagonist. Black Ops lead Alex Mason
[13:21] had a voice and personality that
[13:23] facilitated the player's connection to
[13:25] the overarching plot [music] given that
[13:27] the special forces operative's
[13:28] flashbacks steered much of the narrative
[13:30] along.
[13:32] You [ __ ] son of a [ __ ] Repeated
[13:35] perspective shifts and so-called David
[13:38] Fincher-esque twists further elevated
[13:40] the brand's story chops in the eyes of
[13:42] some, though critics who shared mixed
[13:43] and negative reviews were less
[13:45] receptive.
[13:47] Awarding it a 70, Edge magazine argued
[13:49] Black Ops failed at distinguishing
[13:51] itself from its predecessors in any
[13:53] important way. GamingTrend said the
[13:55] shooter featured a less compelling story
[13:57] than that of past titles. The Escapist
[14:00] issued far harsher critiques lambasting
[14:02] the solo campaigns' distracting editing
[14:05] techniques such as the blinding white
[14:07] light transitions and ridiculing the
[14:09] story for being ridiculous and poorly
[14:11] implemented. Mason's POV did nothing for
[14:14] the outlet either evidenced by the
[14:16] reviewer likening the operative to
[14:18] Forrest Gump in that he participated in
[14:20] numerous historical events yet bore
[14:22] little importance in terms of the
[14:24] outcome.
[14:25] The multiplayer experience similarly
[14:27] garnered a gamut of disparate reactions.
[14:29] Many a reviewer lauded Treyarch for
[14:31] improving the online suite. Zombies mode
[14:34] in particular hit its stride courtesy of
[14:36] three new levels. The German theater set
[14:38] Kino der Toten, the Pentagon-themed
[14:41] Five, and the top-down arcade adventure
[14:43] known as Dead Ops. Meanwhile, the main
[14:46] multiplayer component accumulated its
[14:48] fair share of hardcore fans. Theater
[14:50] mode proved a rousing success and the
[14:52] vast upgrade in customization system
[14:54] regularly received praise. Plus, the
[14:56] engrossing wager matches kept players
[14:59] invested for hours on end thanks in no
[15:01] small part to the frenetic gameplay.
[15:03] This free-for-all playlist came packed
[15:06] with four game types that let users
[15:08] gamble their hard-won points across
[15:10] three buying levels, each one contingent
[15:13] on the risk users were willing to take.
[15:15] Oh, this is fun.
[15:17] [ __ ] sake.
[15:19] Fan reception was somewhat of a mixed
[15:21] bag. A contingent of franchise faithful
[15:23] began feeling the downside of
[15:25] annualization with this release
[15:27] believing Black Ops succeeded at
[15:28] delivering a more cogent solo campaign,
[15:31] though the decision to frame the
[15:32] narrative around flashbacks didn't sit
[15:34] well with everyone. As such, there were
[15:37] those who thought the campaign a step
[15:38] down from Modern Warfare 2, while others
[15:41] considered the action-packed story an
[15:43] improvement over Call of Duty's usual
[15:45] fare.
[15:46] Opinions concerning the multiplayer
[15:48] modes proved less divisive. The new
[15:50] features, wager matches, and the
[15:52] upgraded Zombies experience stole the
[15:54] show by most accounts. By and large,
[15:56] community members felt rewarded for
[15:58] their efforts online thanks to the
[16:00] arguably solid gameplay balancing that
[16:02] Treyarch elevated through major economy
[16:04] adjustments as well as perk,
[16:06] attachments, and create-a-class
[16:08] upgrades. Unbeknownst to Treyarch and
[16:11] the player base, these modifications to
[16:13] the Call of Duty formula would
[16:15] eventually shift the multiplayer
[16:16] landscape in more ways than one.
[16:19] >> [cheering]
[16:23] >> If there was any doubt that video games
[16:26] weren't mainstream entertainment, the
[16:28] latest first-person shooter has blown
[16:30] that uncertainty away. Call of Duty:
[16:33] Black Ops has shattered entertainment
[16:35] records by raking in $360 million in its
[16:39] first [music] 24 hours on sale. Part of
[16:41] the appeal of the military-inspired
[16:43] adventure The cultural zeitgeist in
[16:45] which Activision and Treyarch released
[16:47] Black Ops was a different beast than the
[16:48] one Call of Duty had been born into 7
[16:50] years beforehand. By the time the
[16:53] Infinity Ward created brand came along,
[16:55] first-person multiplayer shooters were
[16:57] still getting their sea legs on console
[16:59] following the pioneering 2001 debut of
[17:01] Halo: Combat Evolved on the original
[17:03] Xbox. 2002's Medal of Honor: Allied
[17:07] Assault and Battlefield 1942 maintained
[17:10] PC exclusivity. Call of Duty executives
[17:12] understandably didn't feel the need to
[17:14] buck the trend. But times changed rather
[17:17] swiftly thus permitting an epic wherein
[17:19] first-person experiences of the
[17:21] narrative-centric and online variety had
[17:23] become all the rage on PlayStation and
[17:25] Xbox hardware.
[17:27] Amidst Battlefield, Call of Duty, and
[17:29] Medal of Honor spreading their reach to
[17:31] console, Halo had grown into an
[17:33] important fixture within the multiplayer
[17:35] and cooperative landscape during the
[17:36] years preceding Black Ops. Halo 2 set
[17:39] the new standard by popularizing
[17:41] matchmaking, a move that bid farewell to
[17:43] the common use of server browsers for
[17:45] players seeking competitive matches.
[17:47] While not an FPS title, Gears of War 2
[17:50] left an indelible mark on multiplayer
[17:52] gameplay upon introducing the wave-based
[17:54] Horde mode. Horde and World at War's
[17:57] Zombies offering serendipitously arrived
[17:59] days apart, but Gears of War shepherded
[18:02] the game type from fun ancillary mode to
[18:05] influential phenomenon that countless
[18:07] titles across genres later emulated.
[18:09] Competition between Battlefield and Call
[18:11] of Duty increased tenfold throughout
[18:13] this period, too, especially with Bad
[18:15] Company 2 giving Modern Warfare 2 a run
[18:17] for its money earlier in 2010.
[18:20] Meanwhile, genre pioneers Doom and Quake
[18:22] were undergoing identity crises. 2004
[18:25] saw the former dabble in action Horde
[18:27] and Quake dove headfirst into strategic
[18:30] gameplay with Enemy Territory: Quake
[18:32] Wars in 2007, then returned in 2010 with
[18:36] an updated version of Quake 3 Arena.
[18:38] Needless to say, Call of Duty busied
[18:40] itself with laying new ground perfecting
[18:42] a frenetic style of play that would
[18:44] beget many a COD clone.
[18:54] >> [music]
[18:57] >> Ready.
[19:01] Hey, what's up Infinity Ward? Come on
[19:03] in.
[19:05] Call of Duty: Black Ops was partly
[19:06] developed and deployed at a tumultuous
[19:08] time within the wider Activision family.
[19:11] It all started on March 1st, 2010 when
[19:14] Infinity Ward co-founders Jason West and
[19:16] Vince Zampella were escorted from studio
[19:18] premises by security. The cause for such
[19:21] an act on the heels of Modern Warfare
[19:23] 2's billion-dollar success? Activision
[19:26] had fired the pair on the grounds of
[19:27] insubordination and a breach of
[19:29] contract.
[19:31] West and Zampella filed a $36 million
[19:33] lawsuit days later accusing the
[19:35] publisher of manufacturing a basis on
[19:38] which to effectuate their termination
[19:39] and thereby avoid paying royalties owed
[19:42] for the Modern Warfare sequel.
[19:44] Activision wasted no time countersuing
[19:46] in a claim that alleged the Call of Duty
[19:48] co-creators were secretly in talks with
[19:50] business rival Electronic Arts to steal
[19:53] Infinity Ward. In the end, Infinity Ward
[19:56] suffered an exodus of talent as numerous
[19:58] staffers joined West and Zampella in
[20:00] establishing Respawn Entertainment and
[20:02] producing Titanfall in partnership with
[20:04] EA.
[20:06] When questioned in a May 2010 interview
[20:08] about how the fallout may have impacted
[20:10] Black Ops' development, producer Dan
[20:12] Bunting said he and his colleagues
[20:13] weren't distracted by it in the
[20:15] slightest. On the contrary, their focus
[20:17] remained solely on the game, a focus
[20:19] that crew maintained for several months
[20:21] after the military shooter landed on
[20:23] store shelves. Treyarch devoted large
[20:25] swaths of post-launch support to issuing
[20:28] balance improvements and fixing bugs
[20:29] through patches. Early fixes addressed
[20:31] everything from performance hiccups and
[20:33] game-breaking exploits to bizarre
[20:35] sniper-related errors that adversely
[20:37] affected ADS.
[20:39] But, the meat and potatoes came from the
[20:41] DLC Treyarch delivered between February
[20:44] and September 2011. The initial release
[20:47] being the First Strike Pack, which added
[20:49] four multiplayer maps in addition to the
[20:51] Ascension Zombies content that dropped
[20:53] players into a Soviet space station with
[20:56] two new perks, Stamina-Up and PhD
[20:59] Flopper. Ascension further introduced
[21:01] special weapons like Gersh devices and
[21:04] Matryoshka dolls, plus the space monkey
[21:06] enemies that returned in later Black Ops
[21:08] installments made their grand debut.
[21:10] These additions, paired with the mode's
[21:12] first-ever main mission Easter Egg, set
[21:14] the standard for zombie support going
[21:16] forward, thus securing Ascension a spot
[21:18] among the long list of fan-favorite
[21:20] updates.
[21:22] The Escalation Pack went live in May
[21:24] 2011, unleashing another batch of
[21:26] multiplayer maps complete with the
[21:28] star-studded Call of the Dead Zombies
[21:30] experience. Call of the Dead marked the
[21:32] first instance of celebrities featuring
[21:34] in the co-op mode, honoring director
[21:36] George Romero in an epic tale of
[21:38] survival where players assume the role
[21:40] of four adventurers investigating the
[21:42] origins of Element 115, the element used
[21:45] to create the undead. Having been
[21:47] stranded at a Siberian outpost, the
[21:49] group unwittingly let a zombie horde and
[21:51] were forced to defend themselves. The
[21:54] actors involved represented one key
[21:55] selling point since Sarah Michelle
[21:57] Gellar, Robert Englund, Danny Trejo, and
[22:00] Michael Rooker were cast as playable
[22:02] heroes opposite George Romero himself.
[22:06] No, hit me. I do it like this.
[22:09] Daddy.
[22:11] I didn't do it like this.
[22:15] Call of the Dead alone has long
[22:17] constituted a highlight of the brand's
[22:19] post-launch efforts, enough so that fans
[22:21] still hold out hope for a remake of the
[22:23] map.
[22:24] Black Ops' Annihilation DLC hit digital
[22:27] storefronts late in June 2011, boasting
[22:30] four multiplayer maps and one zombies
[22:32] locale. The Hangar 18 map invited users
[22:35] to battle each other in an Area 51
[22:37] hangar, while another, Drive-In,
[22:39] unleashed chaos on a 1960s drive-in
[22:42] theater. As for the zombies content, the
[22:44] mysteries of Shangri-La in an exotic
[22:46] jungle occupied center stage.
[22:49] Annihilation reviews fell in line with
[22:51] the map packs preceding it, settling on
[22:53] a high 70s Metacritic score.
[22:56] The same held true for the fourth and
[22:57] final DLC release, Resurrection, which
[23:00] initially launched in August and brought
[23:02] the zombie saga full circle in a mission
[23:05] to space. Set on a secret moon base,
[23:07] this content packed in extra firepower
[23:10] and whatever else players needed to end
[23:12] the overwhelming zombie threat. What's
[23:14] more, Resurrection included the four
[23:16] original zombies maps from World at War,
[23:18] giving long-time fans a chance to relive
[23:21] the nightmarish action of the Nacht der
[23:23] Untoten, Verruckt, Shi No Numa, and Der
[23:26] Riese locales.
[23:27] The community at large came away from
[23:29] the roughly 1 year of extra Black Ops
[23:31] content with different opinions, best
[23:33] reflected in each release's critic and
[23:35] user reviews. New downloadable maps were
[23:38] generally considered enjoyable, albeit
[23:40] exceptionally challenging in some
[23:42] instances. However, many were also
[23:44] chomping at the bit for more gameplay
[23:46] innovation, and without it, found
[23:47] themselves unable to justify the $15
[23:50] price per pack for anyone other than the
[23:52] staunchest of Call of Duty diehards.
[23:55] This era of downloadable COD content
[23:57] further precipitated change via a 3-year
[24:00] deal between Activision and Microsoft
[24:02] that guaranteed Xbox 360 players
[24:04] received 1 month of early DLC access
[24:07] before PC and PS3, as had been the case
[24:10] with Modern Warfare 2. Despite the
[24:12] 3-year plan, the exclusivity agreement
[24:15] lasted until Advanced Warfare in 2014.
[24:18] Then, PlayStation 4 became the place to
[24:20] play Call of Duty DLC early upon the
[24:23] rollout of Black Ops 3: Awakening in
[24:25] December 2013.
[24:28] The spin-off series ultimately lived far
[24:30] beyond the third numbered entry. Yet,
[24:32] not even Treyarch anticipated where
[24:34] Black Ops would take the studio and the
[24:36] series after the 2010 chapter.
[24:47] >> [music]
[24:52] >> Black Ops, for its part, reinforced the
[24:54] brand's staying power all while catering
[24:56] to both newcomers and veterans. Design
[24:59] director David Vonderhaar noted in the
[25:00] multiplayer overview that combat
[25:03] training stemmed from Treyarch's desire
[25:05] to provide single-player aficionados
[25:07] with a low-stakes entry point into the
[25:09] world of online play. These hopeful
[25:11] converts would get comfortable learning
[25:13] the mechanics, and multiplayer savants
[25:15] would find value in familiarizing
[25:17] themselves with certain weapons and map
[25:19] layouts. But, for all this forward
[25:21] thinking, Dan Bunting spoke in a 2010
[25:24] interview of his uncertainty about
[25:25] whether Black Ops could evolve into a
[25:27] subseries ala Modern Warfare. When
[25:30] questioned by Joystiq, the producer
[25:32] merely stated, "We'll have to see where
[25:34] it goes, because no one had even looked
[25:37] that far into the future yet."
[25:39] Unsurprisingly, one game generating a
[25:41] billion dollars in the span of 6 weeks
[25:43] had a way of shifting perspectives. The
[25:46] Call of Duty machine consequently kept
[25:48] churning, folding six more Black Ops
[25:50] titles into the mix across a decade and
[25:53] a half.
[25:54] That original Black Ops, though, Call of
[25:56] Duty's first foray into the Cold War
[25:58] era, heralded a brand new age by
[26:00] bridging the gap between the COD of old
[26:02] and the contemporary action on display
[26:05] in Modern Warfare. The zombies offering
[26:07] especially contributed to the project's
[26:09] long tail of success, given it elevated
[26:11] the World at War mode by every measure.
[26:14] Yes, Kino der Toten tossed players back
[26:16] into the zombies arc from World at War
[26:18] with simple pick-up-and-play mechanics,
[26:20] but its instant popularity served as
[26:22] proof positive that audiences were
[26:24] rooting for the mode's longevity. The
[26:26] second zombies map at launch, Five,
[26:29] similarly acted as a testing bed by
[26:31] starring playable historical figures,
[26:33] thus opening the door for the Call of
[26:35] the Dead DLC's more ambitious premise.
[26:38] And therein lies the core essence of
[26:40] Call of Duty: Black Ops and its
[26:42] significance. This once unproven
[26:44] spin-off defined a litany of the basic
[26:46] multiplayer and zombies attributes that
[26:48] have prevailed across the entire series.
[26:51] It wasn't perfect. At the time, a
[26:53] contingent of critics and players
[26:55] believed it fell short of expectations,
[26:58] but Activision and Treyarch took a
[27:00] calculated risk, one that quickly paid
[27:02] off in various ways, so much so that 15
[27:05] years later, despite growing pains,
[27:08] pitfalls, and franchise fatigue, Black
[27:10] Ops remains exemplary of the series at
[27:13] its best.
[27:15] It's over.
[27:17] We won.
[27:18] >> [music]
[27:18] >> For now.
[27:27] >> [music]
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