Black Ops Glitches - The Problems I Have With The New Call of Duty

Black Ops glitches exist (see the Floating Apple!), so don't let our cavalcade of Call of Duty features fool you that it's a perfect game. It's not; it's incredibly addictive and a blast to play, but CoD is not without its problems. So for once, instead of highlighting the awesome, I'm going to walk us through some nitpicks and problems in my multiplayer sessions. Whether you agree or disagree, I would certainly welcome your thoughts.

Thankfully, Treyarch has responded with a slew of fixes in the Black Ops title update, some of which should address the issues we've had to date...but the rest is just inherent to human behavior.

1. Nobody Shoots Down The F**king Helicopters

The majority of my classes have a Strela-3 on the back. Why? Because there's nothing worse than a Hind or Huey laying waste to your team, and as the title suggests, NO ONE shoots down helicopters. I've played hundreds of games at this point, and I can count on one 3-fingered hand the number of times a teammate shot down a helicopter or even helped shoot one down.

Is it the same logic that keeps a sniper embedded when the enemy is capping a Domination point not to far away? "Someone else will get it. I need to preserve my K/D." Hey, I don't like getting popped in the back either while I'm trying to shoot down a heli, but I'm doing it for the team. Why does this selfish behavior continue exist in CoD BO? Are you guilty of such a sin? Atone!!

2. Jammers Don't Work As Advertised

I play a lot of Domination, as I prefer team-based objective games and playing defensively. As I already mentioned, I shoot down helos, but also I like to use special equipment to aid the team. The Jammer has become a go-to favorite for messing up enemy assaults and keeping key areas safe, with one exception: It doesn't really jam. Yes, it messes up an enemy's minimap and it will mask your unsuppressed fire, and it will nullify C4 and claymores, but it doesn't seem to have any effect on RCXDs, the remote control cars. Shouldn't the point be that if someone drives in a remote-controlled car that it shuts down or goes rogue if it enters a field that's being jammed? What exactly is the jammer "jamming"?

It'd be great to slow down the tide of Hardlined RCXDs, and I was hoping the Jammer would help there...but short of shooting the remote control cars, there's no real way to shut it down. Same should be true of Valkyries. They should either fizzle out or become uncontrollable if they enter that field of influence.

3. What We've Got Here Is A Failure to Communicate

Chatting with your allies is a surefire way to overcome the enemy. Sharing enemy sightings, coordinating flanking maneuvers, or even where you were downed, is a huge boon to intelligence when playing a team game. And knowing is half the battle! Of course, what I've found is that despite 3 million people bouncing around Xbox Live, no one chats outside of pre-set friend or party games (or rogue Kinect mic set-ups).

I'm still the fool calling out "there's 2 on A," but typically the only response is silence. I'll try to warn folks of an attack, and watch them get mowed down or find myself getting nailed in the back because the other two guys that just ate a bullet didn't decide to tell the third guy that was watching their flank. I remember having a fair amount of chat over CoD 4, World at War, and Modern Warfare 2, both constructive and incredibly inflammatory, but at least it was talking. Have things changed that dramatically since the last game to make talking less interesting in the game?

4. "Diabolical Sabotage" AKA The Art of Hiding

Hiding is not a problem inherent to Black Ops; it happens in every MP game, but when a game like BO brings in millions of new players, it just seems a bit more rampant. The problem I'm talking about is "clipping," when players use the environment to mask their characters in the level design; for example, a dark patch where they can crouch near a barrel they normally shouldn't be able to see around or sneaking their way inside a truck, being able to see out while other players can't see in..

To be clear, hiding in the grass with Ghost Pro, totally cool. Hiding against a pipe where you're half-fused with the level, like some sort of Brundlefly douchebag monstrosity: Totally not. It's an abuse of the geography; you've figured out the exact spot that you can game the system, and congrats, you're a dick, but that's just baloney slices. I'm all for clever spots, like going prone on top of snow-covered structures on WMD but taking advantage of clipping is a bit too much.

As mentioned earlier, some clipping issues have been resolved, and other improvements continue to be made (Ninja should work now), but these were some general observations I've made. Are these similar to the experiences you're having? Am I crazy? Am I wrong? What else have you noticed? Do share when you can!

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