Black Ops
Written by: Midlet Review author
Publication: Midlet Review website
Date published: June 21, 2005
Reviewed on: 21/06/05
Reviewed with: Nokia N-Gage
The mobile gaming industry is a billion dollar market. A lot of independent development studios are busily cranking out mobile games for every genre. One such studio is Anino Entertainment from the Philippines. Fresh from the success of developing and publishing their first PC RPG: Anito, the team has sent Midlet Review a copy of their latest opus: Black Ops.
Black Ops is a very deep game of tactical combat. In today’s turbulent socio-political atmosphere, most disputes are settled via small specialized tactical warfare teams. Countries or extremely secret organizations will send a team of highly trained specialists to perform a quick and clinical strike against their enemies.
The game is played via an overhead view. You’ll take control of a small squad of experts in a great turn-based combat engine. This game reminds me a lot of the famed X-Com franchise from the now defunct Micropose. In fact now that I’ve played it more, the gameplay is like a cross between X-Com and another gaming classic: Syndicate.
Black Ops has a lot of similarities to Syndicate. The world is set in a cyber punk atmosphere where mega corporations dominate the social and economic lives of people. There are a lot of fancy cybernetic upgrades for your agents - the same way you can tweak your agents in Syndicate.
The graphics are on par with the latest offerings in the mobile market. While the visuals aren’t as jaw dropping as those products released by big budget mobile gaming publishers like Electronic Arts or Jamdat, Black Ops really look good for a turn-based game. The atmosphere is very dark and gritty – it really gives you a sense that you are indeed engaged in the deepest black of covert operations. There is little to differentiate this game from the graphics in Gameloft’s Rainbow 6 franchise.
For a small development team, the game designers really worked over time in crafting a very professional looking game. The menus are easy to navigate and the game’s dark atmosphere is preserved throughout the gaming experience. The control scheme is well suited for the mobile phone, and you won’t have any problems in guiding your team to reaching its objective.
I enjoyed the gaming experience. It was a blast controlling my team of four cyber-enhanced agents as we wreaked havoc in the interesting stages within the game. There is a good selection of weaponry and equipment for your agents. It does play a little bit like an RPG because of the way you can perform upgrades to make your agents even more deadly killing machines.
Enemy AI is no slouch. You’ll find yourself faced with a lot of interesting possibilities to achieve your given objective. There is even an interrupt mode, where in mid-move, you or the enemy AI can blast away at a target that wanders within range. For a mobile game, there is a lot replay value. The stages are big enough, that you can come up with several ways to formulate an attack vector. The weaponry and the cybernetic upgrades opens up a whole hornets nest of possibilities. You can outfit your team of specialized killers that way you want. You have the choice of either going in hot and heavy, or try to be an artist and exercise the art of killing with finesse and careful planning.
Strategy games for the mobile platform are slowly entering the market. The technology is growing by leaps and bounds, and more and more games are starting to offer a great immersive experience. Black Ops has a very good implementation of tactical combat, that fans of the genre should not pass up on.
The game not only looks good, but it has a deep and satisfying gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.
Rating:
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Motivation: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Result: 9/10
Mobile Games Award
Reviewed with: Nokia N-Gage
The mobile gaming industry is a billion dollar market. A lot of independent development studios are busily cranking out mobile games for every genre. One such studio is Anino Entertainment from the Philippines. Fresh from the success of developing and publishing their first PC RPG: Anito, the team has sent Midlet Review a copy of their latest opus: Black Ops.
Black Ops is a very deep game of tactical combat. In today’s turbulent socio-political atmosphere, most disputes are settled via small specialized tactical warfare teams. Countries or extremely secret organizations will send a team of highly trained specialists to perform a quick and clinical strike against their enemies.
The game is played via an overhead view. You’ll take control of a small squad of experts in a great turn-based combat engine. This game reminds me a lot of the famed X-Com franchise from the now defunct Micropose. In fact now that I’ve played it more, the gameplay is like a cross between X-Com and another gaming classic: Syndicate.
Black Ops has a lot of similarities to Syndicate. The world is set in a cyber punk atmosphere where mega corporations dominate the social and economic lives of people. There are a lot of fancy cybernetic upgrades for your agents - the same way you can tweak your agents in Syndicate.
The graphics are on par with the latest offerings in the mobile market. While the visuals aren’t as jaw dropping as those products released by big budget mobile gaming publishers like Electronic Arts or Jamdat, Black Ops really look good for a turn-based game. The atmosphere is very dark and gritty – it really gives you a sense that you are indeed engaged in the deepest black of covert operations. There is little to differentiate this game from the graphics in Gameloft’s Rainbow 6 franchise.
For a small development team, the game designers really worked over time in crafting a very professional looking game. The menus are easy to navigate and the game’s dark atmosphere is preserved throughout the gaming experience. The control scheme is well suited for the mobile phone, and you won’t have any problems in guiding your team to reaching its objective.
I enjoyed the gaming experience. It was a blast controlling my team of four cyber-enhanced agents as we wreaked havoc in the interesting stages within the game. There is a good selection of weaponry and equipment for your agents. It does play a little bit like an RPG because of the way you can perform upgrades to make your agents even more deadly killing machines.
Enemy AI is no slouch. You’ll find yourself faced with a lot of interesting possibilities to achieve your given objective. There is even an interrupt mode, where in mid-move, you or the enemy AI can blast away at a target that wanders within range. For a mobile game, there is a lot replay value. The stages are big enough, that you can come up with several ways to formulate an attack vector. The weaponry and the cybernetic upgrades opens up a whole hornets nest of possibilities. You can outfit your team of specialized killers that way you want. You have the choice of either going in hot and heavy, or try to be an artist and exercise the art of killing with finesse and careful planning.
Strategy games for the mobile platform are slowly entering the market. The technology is growing by leaps and bounds, and more and more games are starting to offer a great immersive experience. Black Ops has a very good implementation of tactical combat, that fans of the genre should not pass up on.
The game not only looks good, but it has a deep and satisfying gameplay that will keep you coming back for more.
Rating:
Graphics: 7/10
Sound: 7/10
Motivation: 9/10
Gameplay: 9/10
Result: 9/10
Mobile Games Award