Line #9 YMMV/CallOfDutyBlackOps


1	* AbridgedArenaArray:
2	** Nuketown is probably the most played map. The fact that it's the smallest map is probably not a coincidence.
3	** Firing Range is another popular map -- and it's frequently chosen whenever Nuketown isn't available.
4	* AluminumChristmasTrees: Underbarrel flamethrowers. While the exact model seen is pure fiction, Finland has experimented with the [[https://www.forgottenweapons.com/suomi-m31-and-underbarrel-flamethrower/ M/44 — an underslung flamethrower for the Suomi KP/-31]]. It never went into full production; only 40 of them were made.
5	* {{Anvilicious}}: Killing Castro in the first mission (or rather, his double) causes you to get the achievement "Death to Dictators", and the killing shot goes into slow motion while heavenly music plays. It's pretty heavy-handed, especially considering that Castro was a living leader of a modern country (at the time of the game's release, anyway). The Cuban government was not pleased when they found out. They even accused the US of trying to do virtually what they failed to do in RealLife.
6	* BreatherLevel: Project Nova, which also doubles as a NostalgiaLevel. [[spoiler: Until the end.]]
7	* ComplacentGamingSyndrome: Treyarch appeased the NUKETOWNNUKETOWNNUKETOWN crowd with a playlist that rotates on that map alone, though it's only available during double-experience weekends on consoles.
8	* CompleteMonster:
9	** [[SoftSpokenSadist Major General Nikita Dragovich]] is a sociopath who creates the "numbers" program that [[BrainwashedAndCrazy brainwashes captive American soldiers]] into sleeper agents to kill their own people. Dragovich first demonstrated his untrustworthy and callous nature at [[UsefulNotes/WorldWarII Stalingrad]], when he deserted his own men and left them to be butchered by the German forces. After the war, Dragovich would lead an operation on the Arctic to retrieve the biochemical weapon, [[DeadlyGas Nova 6]], from the Germans. To test its effectiveness, Dragovich and Colonel Lev Krevchenko used it on Russian soldiers. Dragovich would later become one of the Soviet Union's most powerful members, where he would capture [[PlayerCharacter Alex Mason]] and brainwash him into becoming a presidential assassin. Dragovich's ultimate plan was to use his sleeper agents to release Nova 6 on the entire United States.
10	** [[AxCrazy Colonel Lev Kravchenko]], the sadistic right-hand man to Nikita Dragovich, once mutilated and murdered his own sister when she rejected Dragovich's advances. Hunting down remaining German forces on the Arctic, Kravchenko would execute all the German prisoners before he and Dragovich use the lethal Nova 6 on the Russian soldiers. Kravchenko would later brainwash several American soldiers for Dragovich's "numbers" program and tortures Grigoi Weaver when he learns of his ties to the CIA, before [[EyeScream gouging one of his eyes out]]. Kravchenko would also subject numerous people to Nova 6 at Vietnam, including American [=POWs=], his own men, innocent women, and [[WouldHurtAChild children]]—even infants—and later sends Frank Woods to the Hanoi Hilton prison camp after surviving his attack. Appearing in [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII the sequel]], Kravchenko becomes an ArmsDealer selling Soviet weaponry to the highest bidder, denouncing his allegiance to the Soviet Union and declaring loyalty only to himself.
11	** [[HerrDoktor Dr. Friedrich Steiner]], a former Nazi [[MadScientist scientist]] responsible for the creation of Nova 6, turns out to be just as monstrous and vile as his allies. Having defected to the Soviets, Steiner helps Dragovich test Nova 6 on Dimitri Petrenko and his team, [[CruelAndUnusualDeath painfully killing them]]. Years later, while working for Dragovich, Steiner conducts experiments and psychological torture on prisoners in Vorkuta in order to create [[ManchurianAgent sleeper agents]], while developing and supplying Nova 6 for Dragovich's plan. Steiner is fully aware that Dragovich plans to destroy the US with Nova 6, but he doesn't care, willing to calmly let millions of innocents die for his own safety. A opportunistic, slippery traitor, [[ChronicBackstabbingDisorder Steiner]] killed his own German bodyguards, allowing Kravchenko to execute the remaining ones, and tries to defect to the CIA when Dragovich tries to kill him.
12	* EvenBetterSequel: To ''World at War''.
13	* EvilIsCool: The Spetsnaz EliteMooks, it helps they were mo-capped by an actual ex-Spetsnaz operator Sonny Puzikas. Their monstrous, yet charismatic CO Nikita Dragovich also qualified, as he was ranked #7 on Game Informer's list of Top 10 Villains of 2010. There is also Dragovich's lapdog Kravchenko as he maybe is a bloodthirsty monster complete with a chilling performance by his portrayer Creator/AndrewDivoff, but he's no slouch when it comes to a fight and doesn't shy away when the shoe is on the other foot. [[spoiler:He even becomes a BreakoutVillain of sorts resulting in his cameos during TheEighties in ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII'' and ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar''.]]
14	* FanNickname: CODBLOPS.
15	* GoodBadBugs: If afflicted by a Nova Gas grenade, the player's character will call out a warning. If they stay in it, they'll call it out again later. Wearing a Tactical Mask makes a player immune to the effects of Nova Gas, thus causing a player using it that decides to stand in the gas whatever reason to be yelling something like "GAS, INCOMING!" to DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment-levels for their allies to hear and be amused by.
16	** In his first appearance after Mason is captured. Dragovich's eyes can glitch out resulting in him ether having red pupils or no pupils.
17	* HilariousInHindsight: If one manages to find Harris' body after he falls in the "WMD" mission, there's a bug that the crosshair turns green and the name Harris appears as if he was still alive. [[Then the "Pawn takes Pawn" BonusMaterial for ''Cold War'' reveals he somehow survived his icy demise]].
18	* HarsherInHindsight:
19	** ''Black Ops'' is on both sides of this trope. One one side, the final level of ''World at War'' has Reznov stating that he and Petrenko will return to Russia as heroes. [[spoiler: In ''Black Ops'', they are betrayed by Dragovich. Petrenko gets a brutal CruelAndUnusualDeath and Reznov spends the next 18 years locked up in a HellholePrison.]] Also, one of the lyrics in the game's closing theme [[Music/{{Eminem}} Won't Back Down]] is "I'll drink gasoline and eat a lit match". In ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsII Black Ops II]]'', [[spoiler:if Karma dies and you spare Menendez, then Menendez will do exactly that.]]
20	** Happens again with the release of ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsIII Black Ops III]]''. [[spoiler:At the end of Project Nova, Reznov asks Mason if he can trust his leaders to destroy Nova-6, or if he thinks they will keep it for themselves. Naturally, they keep it, and naturally, a containment failure causes 300,000 deaths in Singapore.]]
21	** An InUniverse example in the form of a letter in the game. If the player checks the mailbox for Bruce Harris in the terminal, they can read a letter from Harris's wife telling him not to climb the Eiffel Tower due to his fear of heights. [[spoiler:In "WMD", falling off a catwalk after it was hit with an RPG is how he dies. [[NotQuiteDead Except]] [[BonusMaterial according to the website Pawn Takes Pawn connected to]] ''VideoGame/CallOfDutyBlackOpsColdWar'', [[NotQuiteDead he is revealed to have somehow survived the fall]], being captured and sent to a Soviet prison from where he escaped and ended up in William Bowman's hands.]]
22	* IronWoobie: Mason. Hell, he ''starts'' the game tied to a chair suffering ColdBloodedTorture. Reznov also qualifies.
23	* LoveToHate: Dragovich and Kravchenko are both horrific monsters for villains, but Dragovich's dark charisma and Kravchenko's badass moments have made them very popular within the ''COD'' fanbase.
24	* MagnificentBastard: [[SergeantRock Viktor Reznov]] is a charismatic soldier for the Russian Red Army who drove the Nazis out of Stalingrad and lead the charge to Berlin during [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World War II]], showing utter ruthlessness to his enemies while inspiring loyalty from his allies. After being betrayed by his superior [[BigBad Nikita Dragovich]], Reznov would plot his revenge against Dragovich and his cohorts for killing his friends. Getting himself locked up in the Russian gulag Vorkuta, Reznov would orchestrate a prison-break and sacrifice himself so [[PlayerCharacter Alex Mason]] can escape. It would be revealed that [[spoiler:Reznov brainwashed Mason]] to kill all of his enemies, appearing in his mind to guide him throughout, successfully using the American soldier to complete his revenge.
25	* MemeticMutation:
26	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HTtzoIusyh4 The floating apple]], a TakeThat against people who overreact to bugs in multiplayer.
27	** On [[Website/FourChan /v/]], a brief but popular fad was syncing the ''Black Ops'' launch trailer with other songs, [[http://tubedubber.com/#OPTOVQFRggI:6Ni_c0IMP-c:0:100:0:1:true whether they fit the tone of the trailer]] [[http://tubedubber.com/#OPTOVQFRggI:hGLZqDXau98:0:100:0:0:true or not.]]
28	** "The ''numbers'', Mason! What do they mean?"
29	** [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qFbPNpkcGGg Dragovich. Kravchenko. Steiner. All must die!]]
30	* {{Narm}}: The Russian Roulette scene in ''Payback'', between Bowman's "communist piece of ''shit''", Mason's sudden accent shift, and Woods' overacting -- "YOU CAN'T KILL ME!".
31	** Woods' acting and quote of which later became his CatchPhrase could be seen as NarmCharm, as Woods' [[HotBlooded fiery personality]] is generally agreed to be what makes his character iconic.
32	* ObviousBeta:
33	** In the case of PC version. The released game featured insane CPU usage (caused FPS stuttering), too low network rate (caused multiplayer stuttering even if the FPS is good), LOD bugs (objects appearing a couple steps in front of you)... and that's not counting content unavailable to PC users for unknown reasons: can't change loadout between matches (something even [=CoD4=]'s PC version allowed) or raise stakes in the money matches. These problems are so omnipresent many players consider the game hasn't been beta-tested on PC at all.
34	** An update to the game caused Xbox 360 logos and information to appear... on the [=PS3=].
35	** In the Xbox version, the napalm killstreak will sometimes result in a lower frame rate when outdoors and facing the fire. Even after it has been extinguished, the framerate in certain areas will be noticeably lower.
36	* OneSceneWonder: [[spoiler:Dimitri Petrenko. Probably has something to do with giving a personality and voice to a PlayableCharacter from a rather well-liked campaign.]]
37	* PlayerPunch:
38	** [[spoiler: Dimitri Petrenko]]'s death.
39	** [[spoiler: Reznov being DeadAllAlong]].
40	** [[spoiler: Watching Bowman getting horribly murdered in front of you can count]].
41	* ScrappyMechanic:
42	** Lag compensation. This is the game that started it all. With all the misplaced fan complaints about lag ruining their games, Treyarch decided to redo the netcode from the ground up. Unfortunately, the changes they made came with some rather negative effects on the gameplay experience. They added in something that attempted to "equalize" everyone's connection when the game starts, but this made the experience comparable to having a host from across the world. In addition, host advantage, which was virtually unnoticeable in earlier games, became ''very'' noticeable due to the changes. Having host was practically a requirement to use killstreaks such as the Chopper Gunner because, more often than not, if you're not the host you won't be able to kill anyone with it.
43	** Respawn point placement -- particularly on the Firing Range and Nuketown maps when playing either Capture the Flag or Demolition. Respawn points for each team are restricted to very small portions of these maps, and they rarely have any vertical cover. It's not too difficult for a team of experienced players to trap the other team into a corner, racking up kills as quickly as the other team's players respawn. Making this matter even worse, if the dominant team has a Chopper Gunner overhead and attack dogs on the ground at the same time, players on the weaker team are better off putting their controllers down for the next sixty seconds.
44	* SpecialEffectFailure: In "U.S.D.D.", there's a brief scene during the meeting with JFK where Mason hallucinates a 1911 pistol in his hand, turning to face him and aiming it at his face before things go back to normal. ''Much'' later in the game, when it's glossing over the possibility that Mason really did shoot JFK, rather than reusing that bit of animation, they simply put a very quick regular shot of JFK from that cutscene and overlay the 1911's regular in-game drawing and aiming animations over it.
45	* SpiritualLicensee: To ''Film/TheRock.'' ''Modern Warfare'' had already tried their hand at a homage to the movie with its rescue of Price heavily based on Mason's infiltration of Alcatraz. ''Black Ops'', however, is almost a prequel showing Hummel before staging his blackmail attempt, with Hudson voiced by Harris, a deadly chemical weapon serving as a precursor to VX and a character named Mason who had BeenThereShapedHistory.
46	* ThatOneLevel:
47	** SOG is usually considered of the hardest missions due to RespawningEnemies. Specifically, respawning enemies with various heavy weapons, that you have to stand up in front of three separate times, doing something the game [[GuideDangIt doesn't adequately explain]], to pass a certain evil check point.
48	** Infinite enemies also appear at the very end of "Executive Order". Fans of the game have nicknamed that part of the level "the Hallway of Death" because of the endless, aggressive enemy spawns.
49	* TheUntwist:
50	** It's actually not that hard to [[spoiler: figure out that Reznov was dead the whole time before the big reveal, even on the first playthrough, if you pay enough attention.]]
51	** [[spoiler: You'll figure out that it's Hudson and Weaver interrogating you pretty early on.]]
52	* VindicatedByHistory: When the game was first released, Treyarch was often considered the franchise's "B-team", having not made any game that really stood up to its Infinity Ward-made predecessor (''Call of Duty 3'' compared to ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty2 2]]'', ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyWorldAtWar World at War]]'' to ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDuty4ModernWarfare 4]]''), and so ''Black Ops'' was occasionally overlooked by the ''Modern Warfare'' games it was sandwiched between. In retrospectives however, ''Black Ops'' is often ranked as one of the franchise's best entries. Its single player campaign is praised for being a genuinely interesting ConspiracyThriller that is in tone reminiscent of the first ''Modern Warfare''. In addition, its slower paced multiplayer, controversial at the time, is now seen as preferable to the large number of gimmicks and breakneck pacing of future games.
53	* WinBackTheCrowd: After the dedicated server brouhaha with ''[[VideoGame/CallOfDutyModernWarfare2 Modern Warfare 2]]'', ''Black Ops'' came to PC with dedicated servers and a server browser again. Not to mention the return of [[VideoGame/CallOfDutyZombies everybody's favorite gamemode]] from ''World at War''.

Context YMMV / CallOfDutyBlackOps