2. Edge Magazine - Call of Duty: Black Ops
When gamers think Call of Duty, they immediately think multiplayer. This has been the case for years. Activision and Treyarch had revolutionized the multiplayer FPS industry with the Modern Warfare series, and yet they went above and beyond any human expectations with a single release of Black Ops. Personally, I never appreciated the multiplayer experience in any of the Modern Warfare games. Come to think of it, I was never a Call of Duty fan. It wasn't until I played Black Ops that I got hooked - both from the campaign and the multiplayer. Edge Magazine puts in their two cents about Black Ops - two cents that, really, don't contribute to the total amount. Let's face it - the multiplayer in Black Ops is beyond addicting. That whole idea of "let me play just one more match" diminishes once you pick up the controller. That "one more match" turns into a prestige, and then you reach level 41 and realize you're middle-aged and married. It's just that good. Edge doesn't seem to be quite as fascinated by this new development as everybody else is, though. In fact, they seem to brush it off as a simple recreation of every other CoD multiplayer experience. While they acknowledge the slight alternations, they forget the fact that Black Ops has a larger following than almost any other multiplayer FPS game - closely and viciously rivaling the Battlefield series (though they are two
very different followings) - and without a doubt blowing away any possible competition from Modern Warfare expansions. Black Ops also receives criticism from Edge on its campaign mode. They give props to the visual beauty of the game, but dis its restrictive tendencies, failing to acknowledge the fact that the Black Ops campaign is story- and character-driven. There is only so much freedom a player can be given when they are - essentially - playing a movie. Overall, Edge Magazine fails in both aspects of reviewing the campaign and the multiplayer of Black Ops. They underestimate the true vastness of and the reason behind the campaign, while simultaneously blowing off the entire multiplayer experience in a way that misleads any innocent reader. Edge Magazine also claims that Black Ops is "far from a must-have" - perhaps one of the most ridiculous claims in recent video game reviews. If you'd like to read Edge Magazine's review,
you can check it out here.