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Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified |OT| Ad-Hoc Summary: It Is Not Terrible!

bobbytkc

ADD New Gen Gamer
Man, operations is so difficult. I have been on mission 5 fr the past 1/2 hour and i can't beat it. bah. i'll try again later.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
To me, it seems that this game takes extra flak in the reviews because it carries the Call of Duty name. Especially reading the final Game Informer comment, that Declassified fails to deliver a consolized experience. It seems that they expected a full fledged COD game from it, and when that didnt happen, it affects their score a lot. If this game was simply called "Declassified" and didnt associate itself with Call of Duty, i think that the reviews would be a bit better actually. The $50 pricetag doesnt seem to help on the review scores either of course.


With how desperate people sometimes seem to justify their purchase of the Vita, I think going with the reviewers on this one seems like a safer bet.
I dont see why someone cant say that they enjoy a game without someone thinks it is only to justify the purchase. I've seen people say that some reviewers are biased against the Vita, does this mean that the reviewers are scoring the Vita games lower based on bias against the Vita?


Man, operations is so difficult. I have been on mission 5 fr the past 1/2 hour and i can't beat it. bah. i'll try again later.
I used about 1/2 hour on the 9th mission, and that was on regular difficulty. I did the first level on Veteran yesterday. I think it is going to be a bit difficult to do all the levels on Veteran.
 

kitch9

Banned
But i thought it was easy and only took an hour?

The reviewers clearly played it on easy and breezed through it, hence the complaints of the ai not firing at you and stuff.

It's old school though and if you die you start the level from the beginning.... It can get old quick if you get stuck on a bit.
 

Kazerei

Banned
But i thought it was easy and only took an hour?

The game records your best time for each mission, and if you add it up, yeah my total was around 45 mins. But I failed several times, so it probably took me around 1 hours 15 mins to finish (on regular difficulty). I don't think I'm that good at COD though.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Yeah, the total completion time in the operation missions will be less than one hour, but it doesnt account for the time used on retries indeed.


This review seems to reflect my opinion on Declassified. I dont feel that a checkpoint is really needed for the short missions though, although i can see the wanting for it, especially on veteran difficulty level. I agree about having to see the small cutscene stuff over and over again, i wish it was skip that stuff, as i dont need to see it over and over again each time i die, as the review also mention. A score of 6/10 is probably what i would give it too.
 

20cent

Banned
LOL at this thread.

People who are liking the game = fanboys / justifying there purchase.
People who havnt played the game and read the reviews = trust worthy criticts who know the game is shit.

Look guys this is getting dumb

The game is not great and its not terrible.

The single player content is sorly lacking, most people are rather aware of that and have been since before they bought it.

The multiplayer is a CoD experience on a smaller scale. The controls are very nice. The only difference to the console version is grenades / knife/ are touch controled and sprint is now auto (which works fine if you ask me) or set to the down on the D-pad.

out of the 6 maps I would say 3 get a pretty rock solid 30fps. The others have drops but nothing on the scale that resistance had.

4 game modes, FFA, TDM, Kill confirmed and drop zone. Also team tacticle which moves between them all bar FFA.

Playing games is lag free from my experience. Just some strange connection issues which are intermitent at the moment. That is not to uncommon with games when they first come out (blops 2 seems to be having worse ones). If they are still there in a week then yes that will be really god damn anoying... however at least it saves your progress if you get kicked out of a game and you don't loose your exp you gained.

almost everything that makes the basis of a CoD game is there in the multiplayer:
all gun types
good amount of guns
lots of attachments to unlock
kill streaks
perks
prestiege
etc etc

the map sizes are small but not so small you are constantly spawning next to people (bar nukehouse and containment). Oddly just like in the console games people seem to always vote for the smallest maps. I guess people love the chaos they bring.

4v4 feels right on these maps. Nukehouse would be better 3v3 but what ever.

Conclusion

This game is far from amazing. But the multiplayer is fun and does feel like CoD. If you want a CoD game on the Vita to play now and then it will serve that purpose and you should have fun with it.

If you only like the single player side of CoD then don't buy it. Rent it maybe but its very limited in what you have to do here.

From the reviewers point of view i guess
They didnt get review copies
They had to play and review it in a day or 2
they have had to review it during the connection issues.
They had to review it after review Blops 2
This will in turn make the smaller options and slower frame rate more aparent

Im not surprised they destroyed it and most of us called they would. Regardless, if you ever felt like MW1 was the best one of the lot and all the extra kill streaks and stuff made the game worse then you might be pleasantly surprised with this games multiplayer.

Although Im prob trying to just justify my purchase or something lol.

amen.
 
Thing is as a vita owner myself I'm not spending $50 on a game that's getting absolutely slammed by most critics. The fact that they're charging a +$10 premium to the game purely because of the "COD" name is disgusting.

I mean, is there a demo on the PSN store? I'd love to try it first. But given everything I'm hearing...no way am I going to just buy it.
 

Ohnonono

Member
Online multiplayer worked less after the patch. Not sure what was up with that. Its a real shame they didn't have a reasonable amount of time to make this. The core is there and if i was the dev I would be pretty pissed at having to put my name on a rushed product.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Thing is as a vita owner myself I'm not spending $50 on a game that's getting absolutely slammed by most critics. The fact that they're charging a +$10 premium to the game purely because of the "COD" name is disgusting.
They take what they can get :) That said, i feel that $40 would be better indeed. Not just because cheaper is better, but because i think the content in this game reflects better on a $40 pricetag.


I mean, is there a demo on the PSN store? I'd love to try it first. But given everything I'm hearing...no way am I going to just buy it.
There is no demo, but a demo probably wouldnt do much to show of the game other than getting a feel for the controls and the graphics. A demo would be based on singleplayer, so people wouldnt be able to check out the multiplayer.
 

Krabboss

Member
Thing is as a vita owner myself I'm not spending $50 on a game that's getting absolutely slammed by most critics. The fact that they're charging a +$10 premium to the game purely because of the "COD" name is disgusting.

I mean, is there a demo on the PSN store? I'd love to try it first. But given everything I'm hearing...no way am I going to just buy it.

Didn't you hear? All the poor reviews and mountains of criticism are just because the reviewers didn't get free stuff. And because they hate the Vita.

You can trust the people more invested in this game and the system. It is clear the investment has not clouded their judgement when they're offering such brutally honest critique like, "It's not perfect but it's not bad I swear." And it isn't like they're making outrageous claims about people who dislike the game or anything like that.

Don't support lazy games like this.
 

Seventy5

Member
The Wii U version sounds perfect for you.
An fps with that controller? Fuck that, I used it for a while and it just isn't good for anything needing triggers or analog sticks + face buttons. But I digress, this thread is about the vita version, and I decided not to keep the Wii u I preordered anyway.
 
Didn't you hear? All the poor reviews and mountains of criticism are just because the reviewers didn't get free stuff. And because they hate the Vita.

You can trust the people more invested in this game and the system. It is clear the investment has not clouded their judgement when they're offering such brutally honest critique like, "It's not perfect but it's not bad I swear." And it isn't like they're making outrageous claims about people who dislike the game or anything like that.

Don't support lazy games like this.

your very defensive of review sites and very offended by people getting some kind of enjoyment out of this game.

Its odd.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Didn't you hear? All the poor reviews and mountains of criticism are just because the reviewers didn't get free stuff. And because they hate the Vita.

You can trust the people more invested in this game and the system. It is clear the investment has not clouded their judgement when they're offering such brutally honest critique like, "It's not perfect but it's not bad I swear."

Don't support lazy games like this.
Why do you make a blanket statement (at least it seems like that to me) that everyone who say that the game is fun only says it because they bought/invested in the game, and that the reviewers are the ones that are honest about their opinion? Both parties here can be honest about their opinion. What is concidered as fun is completely subjective. If someone says that a game is boring, they are right for their sake. If someone say that a game is fun, then they are also right for their sake.
 

Massa

Member
An fps with that controller? Fuck that, I used it for a while and it just isn't good for anything needing triggers or analog sticks + face buttons. But I digress, this thread is about the vita version, and I decided not to keep the Wii u I preordered anyway.

We're widely off-topic here but you CAN play Call of Duty with the Pro controller, and only use the tablet when you want off-TV play.
 

Seventy5

Member
LOL at this thread.

People who are liking the game = fanboys / justifying there purchase.
People who havnt played the game and read the reviews = trust worthy criticts who know the game is shit.

Look guys this is getting dumb

The game is not great and its not terrible.

The single player content is sorly lacking, most people are rather aware of that and have been since before they bought it.

The multiplayer is a CoD experience on a smaller scale. The controls are very nice. The only difference to the console version is grenades / knife/ are touch controled and sprint is now auto (which works fine if you ask me) or set to the down on the D-pad.

out of the 6 maps I would say 3 get a pretty rock solid 30fps. The others have drops but nothing on the scale that resistance had.

4 game modes, FFA, TDM, Kill confirmed and drop zone. Also team tacticle which moves between them all bar FFA.

Playing games is lag free from my experience. Just some strange connection issues which are intermitent at the moment. That is not to uncommon with games when they first come out (blops 2 seems to be having worse ones). If they are still there in a week then yes that will be really god damn anoying... however at least it saves your progress if you get kicked out of a game and you don't loose your exp you gained.

almost everything that makes the basis of a CoD game is there in the multiplayer:
all gun types
good amount of guns
lots of attachments to unlock
kill streaks
perks
prestiege
etc etc

the map sizes are small but not so small you are constantly spawning next to people (bar nukehouse and containment). Oddly just like in the console games people seem to always vote for the smallest maps. I guess people love the chaos they bring.

4v4 feels right on these maps. Nukehouse would be better 3v3 but what ever.

Conclusion

This game is far from amazing. But the multiplayer is fun and does feel like CoD. If you want a CoD game on the Vita to play now and then it will serve that purpose and you should have fun with it.

If you only like the single player side of CoD then don't buy it. Rent it maybe but its very limited in what you have to do here.

From the reviewers point of view i guess
They didnt get review copies
They had to play and review it in a day or 2
they have had to review it during the connection issues.
They had to review it after review Blops 2
This will in turn make the smaller options and slower frame rate more aparent

Im not surprised they destroyed it and most of us called they would. Regardless, if you ever felt like MW1 was the best one of the lot and all the extra kill streaks and stuff made the game worse then you might be pleasantly surprised with this games multiplayer.

Although Im prob trying to just justify my purchase or something lol.
Look man, I respect your opinion and all, but you're talking about a goddamn unicorn. A game that isn't great and isn't terrible? What the Fuck does that even mean? This is the internet, and if something could be not great and not terrible, there would be a word for that.

Also, krabboss, do you have a vita? You mentioned playing over 3g, which isn't possible in any vita game.
 

test_account

XP-39C²
Now that's interesting. Anyone here that says the game plays and feels like call of duty, also play BLOPS 2?
I play both. I think that Declassified has the Call of Duty feel to it, but it is not 100% exactly like the console CODs. Sometimes it feels that the enemies in Declassified can take a couple more shots before they die. I'm not sure if that is due to some small lag or if the enemies actually can take more hits. The Vita sticks are also more sensitive than a PS3 controller, which also affects the feeling a bit for my sake. In general, i prefer the PS3 sticks over the Vita sticks. But the controls in Declassified feels good, i find it fairly easy to aim where i want to aim. So i think Declassified has some of the Call of Duty feeling to it, but i dont feel that it is exactly the same.

This is just opinion though, someone else might feel the opposite.
 

benny_a

extra source of jiggaflops
Even if you like the game, how can you defend the game's price point.

If Black Ops Declassified is worth $50 then Black Ops 2 for consoles are worth twice that, if not more.
More modes, longer campaign, bigger multiplayer. Better AI. There is one hour of footage of this game online on GameSpot where you can exactly see what Jeff Gerstmann describes in his review where the enemies just stand around doing nothing.

Based on the video, of which I watched far too much of, the game seems like a competent Call of Duty. But then reading about the technical issues and the discrepancy in content both games offer for almost the same price and it results in reviews like this.

Great that you get enjoyment out of this game but I believe the people in here defending this lazy product are the enemies of their fellow consumers. You're signaling to the publishers that you'll accept games with a 5-month development cycle for a higher than default price on the Vita.
 

Z3M0G

Member
But i thought it was easy and only took an hour?

I wouldn't be surprised if it took me just as long to complete these 10 operations on mormal as it takes to run through the campaign on BO2... It took me ~5-6 attempts to get through operation 5 and my time was over 7 minutes.

Plus, I really enjoy trying to get 3 stars in the mode where enemy waves come at you... great way to learn the maps for multiplayer play as well. I haven't even touched time attack mode either.

There is enough to do in single player content to satisfy me... especially since this is a multiplayer focused game where single player content is a bonus on the side... I know so many people who buy these games and never finish or even play the single player...
 

Seventy5

Member
We're widely off-topic here but you CAN play Call of Duty with the Pro controller, and only use the tablet when you want off-TV play.
I know, his point, I think, was that I could keep playing blops 2 when my wife took over the TV, which would mean using the tablet.
Now that's interesting. Anyone here that says the game plays and feels like call of duty, also play BLOPS 2?
I picked up both versions at the midnight event. I've played more of Declassified so far. It does feel more like CoD4 imo. The bottom line for me is that the multiplayer is solid and fun, and I was able to play it when I wouldn't normally be able to enjoy some online face shootin, like laying in bed & when my wife was watching the Eddie Murphy special last night. The game isn't amazing, but a 6.5-7 in my book. But I've been gaming since 1984 or so, so in my mind, mediocre games still exist. I don't subscribe to the internet mentality of "amazeballs or complete shit" that many seem to. What I don't understand is why people like krabboss and chickdigger are even a part of the conversation anymore. You've said your piece, why do you feel compelled to keep arguing with the people who are enjoying it? It doesn't even seem like krab has a vita ffs.
 

RyL

Banned
A lot of buyer's remorse ITT...

With how desperate people sometimes seem to justify their purchase of the Vita, I think going with the reviewers on this one seems like a safer bet. And speaking of gameplay videos - I've seen some and it does not look good. Not to mention the fact that a 10 minute look at the campaign is showing 1/6th of it already, which is pretty dire. And with frequent complaints of the maps being tiny with crappy spawns (even BO2 can't get its spawns right), I'm not sure why you'd want to play multiplayer either.

Never to listen to people who are overenthusatic, cringeworthy overjoyed when a new trailer of a videogame is shown. Pretty much all "hardcore" gaming communities are full of entitled, pompous, over-analyzing and obnoxious morons. Unfortunately, neogaf is full of such people. A fractious collective of manchildren. This always happens when people take their hobbies way too seriously. Oh and there is nothing "hardcore" about playing videogames all day long.
 

fernoca

Member
Now that's interesting. Anyone here that says the game plays and feels like call of duty, also play BLOPS 2?
Yeah.
Posted this back at launch:
1LGOc.jpeg
And around an hour and a half later:
It looks, plays and sounds like the first Black Ops..for better or worse. Then again, I really liked the first one so I may be biased. :p
Granted, was comparing it to the first one; and even after playing the second one is not like I have a problem alternating games or getting used to the controls and stuff. I haven't played as much as I want because of work and been sick, but still alternate between both.

Yesterday played a few matches at Nuketown 2025 in II, a few minutes of the campaign; then went to Declassified tried to beat my score on the first Hostiles-mission (did, but still 2 stars :p) and then hoped online and ended in a free for all...in Nuketown.

Granted, I'm not much on the tech-side of lag, recoil, weapon weight; but more in a general feeling. Combined the the look of it, the cutscenes been on the same style of the first game with the black and white clips, still pictures, static, noise, etc.
 
Still needs to drop 21 points in score to be worst on metacritic, so no need to worry guys!

man I kinda wanna check out gamefaqs board... but i kinda don't.
 

AwRy108

Member
Based on all the "research" I've been doing to learn more about this game, it sounds like it's a slightly above average fps for the Vita; but, on the same token, it shouldn't cost $10 more than other Vita games, and it also deserves to be docked points for the MP--the game's strongest selling point--requiring a huge, day-one patch to work somewhat correctly (especially after the trials that Nihilstic went through with the Burning Skies launch).

I'm definitely going to pick this up, but no way in hell am I'm paying more than $30 for it. People defending a day-one purchase of this product are entitled to their opinions, but they also lose a say when future Vita titles are criticized for launching in such an over-priced, messy way. I got burned (no pun intended) by Nihilistic's last Vita title, so I've decided to take the high road on this go-around. Very glad I did.

Most Wanted, Liberation, and SFxT are awesome; and RO is decent. No need to support half-assed efforts at this point.
 
Look man, I respect your opinion and all, but you're talking about a goddamn unicorn. A game that isn't great and isn't terrible? What the Fuck does that even mean? This is the internet, and if something could be not great and not terrible, there would be a word for that.

Also, krabboss, do you have a vita? You mentioned playing over 3g, which isn't possible in any vita game.

what? there arnt two lines of quality, great and terrible lol. How about phrases like, average, not bad, decent, fun in small bursts. There are tons of ways to describe games inbetween those 2 states.

The single player is poor, the multiplayer is fun. As a whole the games lacks content.

Thats all there is to it. How is that hard to understand?
 
what? there arnt two lines of quality, great and terrible lol. How about phrases like, average, not bad, decent, fun in small bursts. There are tons of ways to describe games inbetween those 2 states.

The single player is poor, the multiplayer is fun. As a whole the games lacks content.

Thats all there is to it. How is that hard to understand?

In my own personal world, there's two types of games, books, movies, TV shows, albums - ones that I like and ones that I never want to ever experience again. Why on earth would I ever waste my time on something that is neither? "Here's the most mediocre pizza in the world. Mind you, it's not the worst, but it's also not good. Have some." That make you want to eat it?
 
In my own personal world, there's two types of games, books, movies, TV shows, albums - ones that I like and ones that I never want to ever experience again. Why on earth would I ever waste my time on something that is neither? "Here's the most mediocre pizza in the world. Mind you, it's not the worst, but it's also not good. Have some." That make you want to eat it?

but thats not what I said.

I said the single player is poor and the multiplayer is fun.

also what? So you have never watched a film / read a book and thought.. that was OK. Had some redeeming features that I enjoyed but other parts were bad?

You just either like or don't like something without varying levels inbetween?

This thread is getting really strange.

I and many other people eat average food all the time. I have a frozen pizza in that il have tomorrow. Its far from dinning in rome but it tastes ok.
 

TwoDurans

"Never said I wasn't a hypocrite."
Look man, I respect your opinion and all, but you're talking about a goddamn unicorn. A game that isn't great and isn't terrible? What the Fuck does that even mean? This is the internet, and if something could be not great and not terrible, there would be a word for that.

Also, krabboss, do you have a vita? You mentioned playing over 3g, which isn't possible in any vita game.

This does exist. Mediocre. And there have been hundreds of games over the last 20 years that have earned that label. It means that while they're not perfect, they're also not terrible and there are people out there that will enjoy playing it.
 

therapist

Member
Well my blops 2 didnt show up yet.

But i did have the vita one arrive last night.

Played some MP , its ok.

Its worse than even i expected , but its something that will kill some time on the go.
Hard to put my finger on it, i find the graphics are ok at best , the framerate is not ideal , its probably the controls that bother me most.

I did not touch the SP , i almost never do since mw1.


I find the controls really awkward which is weird becuase i found unit 13 controlled pretty much perfect , something is off with the controls.

I only paid 30$ so im relatively happy , and it came with the code for COD PSP which is nice.

FOr 50$ , no one should be supporting this game , thats way too much for way too little.

40$ i can see someone getting the value out of mp alone , and less than that is perfect , if this game launched at 30$ , it would be a lot less salty around here.

But the fact remains the vita can do SO MUCH BETTER.

And like one review said , it does feel like a nail in the coffin for the vita...lets hope not.
 

Seventy5

Member
what? there arnt two lines of quality, great and terrible lol. How about phrases like, average, not bad, decent, fun in small bursts. There are tons of ways to describe games inbetween those 2 states.

The single player is poor, the multiplayer is fun. As a whole the games lacks content.

Thats all there is to it. How is that hard to understand?
I hope you caught my sarcasm. I think the game is average and lacking in content. But the multiplayer is fun, and the single player is fun enough. I overpaid for it, that is for sure, but as the only option other than Burning Skies (which I actually enjoyed a lot) for a vita fps with good mp, and with it being CoD season, I'm not regretting my purchase. I only paid a few bucks for it in cash anyway because of all of the crazy Best Buy credit I've gotten in the last few months, so maybe that softens the blow.
 
but thats not what I said.

I said the single player is poor and the multiplayer is fun.

also what? So you have never watched a film / read a book and thought.. that was OK. Had some redeeming features that I enjoyed but other parts were bad?

You just either like or don't like something without varying levels inbetween?

This threat is getting really strange.

I and many other people eat average food all the time. I have a frozen pizza in that il have tomorrow. Its far from dinning in rome but it tastes ok.

Yes, I don't waste my time on movies or books again that merely had some parts that were OK. Life's too short.
 
I hope you caught my sarcasm. I think the game is average and lacking in content. But the multiplayer is fun, and the single player is fun enough. I overpaid for it, that is for sure, but as the only option other than Burning Skies (which I actually enjoyed a lot) for a vita fps with good mp, and with it being CoD season, I'm not regretting my purchase. I only paid a few bucks for it in cash anyway because of all of the crazy Best Buy credit I've gotten in the last few months, so maybe that softens the blow.

sorry i didnt lol. Hard to tell on forums and especially in threads like this.

Yeah i had £40 credit sitting on PSN and nothing else I wanted to buy with it so maybe that takes the sting off. Although Il play the multiplayer a lot more than I played AC:L. I was a bit disappointed with that for its price to be honest.

Yes, I don't waste my time on movies or books again that merely had some parts that were OK. Life's too short.

so you watched / read them. Decided if it was worth it. Went back in time and then made your choice?

I guess you just have some review people you know and take there word for it. I think entertainment in general is was to subjective to purely trust any ones opinion. I have read books and watch films that others didn't like that I did and vice versa. Its all part of the experience.

Watched preditors. Was terrible. Had a good laugh about how bad it was though.

**edit**

or did you mean you dont watch them a second time?

if so..... what are we talking about anymore?
 
For the people saying that reviewers should have given the game more time.

http://www.pocketgamer.co.uk/r/3DS/Pocket+Gamer/news.asp?c=46618

Call of Duty: Black Marks

Earlier this week, handheld editor Peter Willington and I were up well past our beddy-bye time, as we scrambled to get Pocket Gamer's review of Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified written, edited, and published on the site.

Normally, we'll have a generous lead time before the launch of a game. This gives us a chance to play the title, write about it, and get our review ready to go live as the game hits shops.

But, even on the day of the abovementioned Vita shooter's release, Activision's promised review copy still hadn't shown up on our doorstep. The publisher said it didn't have any download codes for us, either.

It might sound like a Royal Mail mishap, but that's definitely not the case - no website had received a copy of the game.

Tricky business

This is actually just the oldest trick in the book, employed by publishers (and movie studios and TV networks) when they know their product isn't much cop.

If you don't give out review code in time for launch and then string the press along with vague promises that the review copy is on its way, you might be able to squeeze out a few 'sight-unseen' sales before the reviews come in that inevitably slate the game.

So, despite being told to hold on and wait for a review copy, we made the decision to ignore Activision, buy the game on the PlayStation Store, and dedicate an entire day to reviewing it.

In the end, we called Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified for Vita "a cynical, half-baked, tired little mess of a game". It's also broken, buggy, and crashed our Vita at one point.

We weren't alone in thinking this way, incidentally - the game's sitting at 29 on Metacritic .

Interesting. So the review went up at the risk of accuracy to 'save' readers from buying the game when no reviews are out.

Not sure if I agree with this philosophy, but at least they open about it.
 

Seventy5

Member
This does exist. Mediocre. And there have been hundreds of games over the last 20 years that have earned that label. It means that while they're not perfect, they're also not terrible and there are people out there that will enjoy playing it.
That was my point, I was being sarcastic. Most of my favorite games of all time would be rated at 5-7 if they were rated today. Doesn't mean I enjoyed them any less. Too many people let a score make their decision, which is part of the reason the game industry is in the shape it is in. There is no room for mediocre or average anymore, like this game. It's the epitome of average, but all these people who have only seen a video are declaring it shit.
 
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