COD Black OPS 2 - First hour of play impressions & MP Details

[Action]

First, I am happy to report I do not regret my purchase.  After an hour of play here are my impressions:

GRAPHICS: They are "good" but I really do not see any improvements over MW3 for example.  It is much more colorful than Black OPS 1 though which is a very good thing.  If you are expecting better graphics (details) than Battlefield 3 (or over the previous versions of the series) you will probably be disappointed.  Now with that said, it plays very smooth with over 120FPS on my GTX 580. However, I basically get that in BF3 too which is a much better graphic engine so I would of expected more close to 200FPS with this game's graphics.  Graphics are what makes the game look so console portish. I read that they supposedly put in DX11 features for the PC but I can not tell. In fact, there is no option in the game video settings mode to turn on/off DX11 that I can find.  Might be able to edit a file though, not sure yet.

MULTIPLAYER: It does use dedicated servers but the servers are not rentable nor browsable. So it does not use peer to peer crap like in MW3.  And the player matching system is very good actually.  And unlike what I was told it DOES ALLOW you to join on a friend/game in progress.  So you do not have have to wait for your friend to leave, etc.  However, obviously right now servers fill up fast. I do not like the fact you have no control on finding servers based on ping though.  When you get in the game all you see is a latency graph which is practically useless.  This really sucks in hardcore. I am sticking with normal mode for now. One thing that is nice is the create a class system... it  is much better than Black OPS 1.  Unfortuanently, it does appear to have a max of 12 playes for all game modes and 18 for Ground War (TDM and DOM).  That kind of sucks actually.

ZOMBIE MODE: This I like a lot.  They made one of the best parts of this series better.  So right now I have no complaints at all.  There is two game modes too now. This is what made me decide to go ahead and get the game.

OTHER NOTES: It is and does fill like a console port. However; they did add PC only elements so much better than MW3 for example. If you are a Battlefield 3 player like myself, one thing that might bother you is the lack of realism with the weapons.  For example; the recoil is extremely low as well as suppression. So in all aspects this does not even scratch BF3 as being the best War FPS.

They did make the game work well with windows mode switching finally.  What I mean is that it now allows window mode and does not lock up, etc when switching out to another window, etc.  In otherwords much friendly to people who like to alt-tab out or use multiple monitors.

Basically if you liked Black OPS 1 you will still like Black OPS 2... you will just not see much difference other than new maps, etc.

[Renegade]

Hmm honestly your review made my mind up to not buy this console port crap.   I am so sick of them porting inferior console products to a much higher end platform (PC) and basically doing nothing to make the game better.

Zombie mode is cool but does not seem worth 60 for that.

[Action]

Well like I said it is so much better than MW3 which is a console port and you said it wasn't too bad. 

Overall not a bad game.  I am happy with my purchase.

[Renegade]

I bought mw3 later after release but to be honest that is one purchase I wish I could return I played it so very little.  It was ok at best, better then mw2 that I didnt buy.   I am just sick of being 2nd fiddle to consoles that are so out of date compared to the PC its not funny.

[Action]

After playing the game for quite a bit now (I am level 49 and will probably hit well over 50 tonight still), I have changed some of my initial thoughts.  First after seeing all the maps, the graphics are actually pretty good (much much better than all previous versions of COD).  Second the game play is by far the best COD of then all. The hardpoint game type is extremely fun.  And the best part is this is probably the most stable launch I've seen from the series.  

If you think this is like MW3... it definitely is not.  First no peer to peer BS so no all of a sudden lag issues. And although there is no server browser the find match, especially with friends is really nice.  It actually saves time getting in a game.

My only complaint right now is the limited game types for hardcore mode. But even standard core is cool.  The party game modes are entertaining especially gun game (which you can rank up in btw).

I felt I wasted my money on MW2 and MW3 but like with COD4 and BLOPS 1, I do not feel that way with this... and to be honest, I really thought I would.

[Fanible]

I've definitely put in my time to justify the purchase of the game.  Only thing I haven't liked is the changes to Hardcore Team Deathmatch (no more countdown timer for respawns, which can be messy), as well as the DLC being limited on what modes you can play (no HC TDM ).  The same goes for Nuketown 2015.

MW3 was a huge waste of money, and was probably one of the biggest disappointments for me.  I actually enjoyed MW2, despite the P2P nonsense.  MW3 was a lousy excuse for a release, and was closer to large map pack than a game of it's own.

I really enjoy the Black Ops 2 custom class options.  It's the most in-depth the series has seen.  I also really like the level of variety in maps.  I don't know why, but I really like modern / somewhat future map locations the best.  The new DLC maps are also quite excellent (as was/is Nuketown 2015), it just sucks they're so limited, and I'm really glad I didn't waste my money on the season pass because I probably won't get all the map packs anyway.

[Ogre]

Was thinking about getting BF3, but as soon as they released their recent dlc, they announced BF4 with a very nice trailer, so I shall wait for that.

[Action]

Was thinking about getting BF3, but as soon as they released their recent dlc, they announced BF4 with a very nice trailer, so I shall wait for that.

Battlefield series are still my favorite War FPSs.  Nothing really compares to it.  Though I am hooked on APB: Reloaded right now

So far the most fun (as well as fustration at times) I've had in games is BF3 and APB: Reloaded in the last few years.

[Boon]

I think BF series is best hands down, but Planetside kinda shadows the bf gameplay as its essentially the same but with more.