At midnight, on November 9^th, Call of Duty Black Ops was released. All GameStop’s had midnight releases at 12:01 for gamers who pre-ordered it. At the midnight release, workers at GameStop were giving out free beverages and raffling off prizes such as Call of Duty, Gears of War and Halo wallets to cardboard cut outs of Black Ops.

Senior Tyler Radek and I got in line at 9 PM. We were actually there around 6:30 PM making final payments for the game and eating. Radek was second in line and I was third. We waited for three gruesome hours for Black Ops to come out. Those hours were long, but well worth it, because we received our games at 12:02 PM and ran home to play it.

The game continues many of the features of the previous Call of Duty games;  for example, guns from Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2 combined with new guns. Also, the kill streak Dogs came back from World at War. These mixtures make this game even better.

The new in-game currency is amazing. For every match you play, depending on how well you do, you receive points with which you can then buy guns, attachments, perks, titles, emblems, etc. You can also take your chances with a wager match where you bet all of your points into a match and the top three winners make more points, while the loser loses all of his points. You unlock guns at certain levels, but they are still unavailable because you have to actually buy them, and you have to buy attachments for them.

Another interesting new thing is the pre-game lobby. Players can vote on the two maps given before the game starts and the major vote wins. In the previous games, there would be a randomized map and people would have to veto it, but then again the next map would be randomized too. Also, the pre-game lobby is very short, meaning there is much more time to play.

The guns overall are almost even in damage, there is no stopping power in Black Ops. Stopping power is increased bullet damage. My favorite guns after playing for a couple of hours are the MAC-11, AK47U and the Famas. The MAC-10 is a smaller gun and it is easy to run with, very effective in close range. The Famas is now fully automatic and is very easy to use.

There is so much more things to talk about, but I don’t want to ruin it all for you. I rate this game with 9.5 out of 10 stars. I strongly recommend that everyone goes to their nearest GameStop to buy it; it is that good and well worth the money.