Rather than include this into my regularly scheduled Uninteresting $#!% blog, I wanted to launch a new thing.  Essentially, it'll be exactly what the title says:  these will be knee-jerk reactions to new games where I've gotten very little time with it.  The first entry:  the hotly anticipated Call of Duty: Black Ops. 
 
Playtime so far:  four hours of multiplayer, including Wager Match (One In The Chamber) and Combat Training
 

Good Impressions

• Split-screen Xbox Live play ala Halo (about time!)
• Combat Record is incredibly in-depth and available right at my fingertips
• Everything feels right when it comes to weight (you can't lob a grenade all the way across the map)
• Combat Training, while a little aimbot-y, can really help improve your game in significant ways
• Work for your Pro perks, and the work teaches you how to be better WITH those perks (BRAVO, TREYARCH!)
• Gunships are fucking awesome!
• SAM turrets = <3
• Good balancing to many perks, including some of the crazy perk combos you can use.  Lightweight, Marathon, and Sleight of Hand with dual mags on a FAMAS?  NUTS!!!

In a month Black Ops will replace MW2 in terms of hatred towards it.  And the cycle will continue when the next game games out because the one that's the most popular at the time is the one everyones gonna aim their hate at to be different.

Haven't bought it yet, but likely will, because it has Zork. 

I like it. It will provide a good distraction for when I need a break from Bad Company 2.

Shotguns and snipers were pretty horribly gimped (a sniper has literally not killed me yet). LMG are about as useful as before, but have smaller clips now. AR's and SMG's are king.  
But nothing is overly powerful, which is nice. Perk sets are varied among players, and none stick out as crazy ridiculous.

" I like it. It will provide a good distraction for when I need a break from Bad Company 2. "

What are the killstreaks like? 

I love those cars, haven't used one myself yet but running away from one and occasionally killing one is great. And when they kill me I just laugh. They only take 1 bullet or so though, and can be heard from a mile away, so they aren't too bad as long as your careful. 
And I have noticed bullet pen issues, for example I unlocked a Bullet Pen challenge after shooting at somebody through a thin metal handrail, but couldn't get a kill behind a wooden wall in another map.
 
@Bass said:

" Shotguns and snipers were pretty horribly gimped (a sniper has literally not killed me yet). LMG are about as useful as before, but have smaller clips now. AR's and SMG's are king.   But nothing is overly powerful, which is nice. Perk sets are varied among players, and none stick out as crazy ridiculous. "

Might get it eventually. Just not now.  Friggin HUGE backlog of games.

its fine for me. single player seems ok. plenty of action. Lots of RC's in multiplayer but died only once so far from one.

" What are the killstreaks like?  "

• Split-screen Xbox Live play ala Halo (about time!)

" @jakob187 said:

• Split-screen Xbox Live play ala Halo (about time!)

Does the guest player affect your K/D? "  

" @Roflwaffles said:

" @jakob187 said:

• Split-screen Xbox Live play ala Halo (about time!)

Does the guest player affect your K/D? "  

Can guest players even get on? Or does it have to be someone else with an xbox live gold account? Because if it allows guests, then that just sold me on this game. "

I wanna throw this out there:  I haven't played the single player or Zombies AT ALL yet, but I will be getting around to it.  However, just based on the multiplayer alone and the massive amount of improvements that Treyarch has made to this game, I'm really surprised by Jeff's four-star review at the moment.

I think it's great. To me, this is what Modern Warfare 2 should have been. Don't get me wrong, I liked Modern Warfare 2. But I was massively disappointed by the four hour single-player, incoherent plot, and the broken multi-player. Black Ops resolved most of the problems with a decent story (while hokey, is still far more coherent than Modern Warfare 2), an eight hour single-playe, and an extremely polished multi-player. I also liked how they added the theater mode from Halo 3. I'm surprised on just how good the single-player was, as it was just as good as anything Infinity Ward made. 
 
So far, this is my favorite first-person shooter of the year. 

Ah, I still need to pick it up and get my PS3 ready.

" @Godites: I enjoyed Modern Warfare 2 until about three weeks after release, maybe a little longer.  That's when the usual happened:  everyone learned all the glitches and exploits and used them over and over to make the game unenjoyable.  I'm not going to say that Black Ops won't have the same thing happen.  The reason for this blog is very much about getting that reaction out there before the population turns to the usual shenanigans.  However, I think Treyarch has made a more balanced game than what IW did with MW2.  They've addressed a lot of issues in smart ways.  Akimbo?  It's gone.  Instead, buy Dual Wield as a weapon attachment.  Wanna use Warlord (Bling in previous games)?  Cool.  You can't mix that with underbarrel attachments like shotguns, flamethrowers, and noob tubes.  It's the types of things that IW flat-out overlooked and were too cocky to change.  I will say, however, that I thoroughly enjoyed the single player in Modern Warfare 2.  I didn't care if it made sense or not.  I wanted gunfire, explosions, and craziness.  I got that.  I just thought Veteran difficulty was WAAAAAAY too easy. "

I'm really liking it, and yes RC cars are annoying. They should be at least a 5 kill streak, not a 3.

Cons:  
LAN fails to work on PS3, seems like a bug. 
You can only do bots while connected to the internet, seems like a dumb idea, it should be allowed to be used in splitscreen 
No splitscreen coop 
 
Pros:
Single player is really good so far, nothing new, but it is still good. 
Alot of new multiplayer features 

" I wanna throw this out there:  I haven't played the single player or Zombies AT ALL yet, but I will be getting around to it."

PS3 version was nigh unplayable tonight and I'm kinda done with it. Gonna force myself to check in periodically if they've fixed it. 'Til then, I'm going to bring some of my WoW characters up to speed for Cataclysm and hopefully play some BF:BC 2 Map Pack 7.
 
Then again, I really hope they've fixed this shit already and I can play more Black Ops tomorrow. I want to get my money's worth!

Even if the game was gold plated people would still hate on it
 
People are spoiled and don't know a good thing