830. 1Upsmanship - Call of Duty: Black Ops 6
Added 2025-02-14 14:00:16 +0000 UTC
Swaim and Ganser once again cover the Call of Duty series. This time it’s the 2024 installment Black Ops 6. They discuss the story, the game mechanics, and what if anything separates it from other titles in the series.
Michael Swaim: https://bsky.app/profile/michaelswaim.bsky.social
Adam Ganser: https://bsky.app/profile/ganz.bsky.social
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Comments
Great conversation. I'm actually shocked that Mike liked the multiplayer. I like CoD a lot more than I should, and litterally deleted this from my PC after trying the multiplayer out for a few hours. I found it to be far too erratic and frustrating. I did really enjoy the campaign for all of the same reasons. CoD is the "action movie sandbox" game, and this delivered that in spades. There were some truly spectacular cutscenes and vibes. The opening level starting out with an F-117 Nighthawk delivering a payload while oil fields burn in the background was peak Gulf War imagery, and even as a leftist who's deeply critical of the US, it was just a great scene. I totally agree that while the dialog was some ChatGPT Michael Bay slop, the overarching story was fun and interesting enough. Finally, I like that you guys really focused in on the "flight of ideas" concepts. I was pleasantly surprised when the game delivered fairly well on some light horror elements, some fun espionage puzzles, and some just straight up trippy nonsense at the end.
MrTrashBear
2025-02-17 15:04:59 +0000 UTCVideo games are sooo far behind even avg movie storytelling i really think its self defeating to judge games by film standards. Games have never really shown they can hang with other story telling stuff
Smallbeanspatron
2025-02-16 20:27:59 +0000 UTCMike, you CAN play EV, I have it on my PC right now and it’s perfect. You need to find a copy of EV Nova, and download a patch that is a total conversion to the original EV. I’m digging out of a snowstorm right now but I’ll try to reply with links, if that doesn’t work I think I have the files needed and I can send them to you, I believe the game is abandoned so it’s not piracy. If that’s not the case I would gladly buy a copy or find a way to donate some money to the original developers so you could try it again. You’re the only person I’ve ever heard talk about it and it was such a formative experience for me.
LoveTriscuit
2025-02-16 16:10:36 +0000 UTCAdam, have you tried Echo Point Nova? I feel like you'd like that one. Also, has Mike heard of Caves of Qud? It feels like his kind of game with the way it writes it's description text.
Nick Fontaine
2025-02-15 23:24:24 +0000 UTCHow long you think before they put musk and trump in a COD?
Oliver Allen
2025-02-14 20:49:33 +0000 UTCThese games man. I clearly remember playing the first two, then versions of zombie mode I played with my oldest but couldn't even tell you which Duties those were. So I especially appreciate when you guys touch base on the long franchises.
drunkencoyote
2025-02-14 19:10:53 +0000 UTCIn reference to Christmas Story 2, I went to middle and high school and had more than a few classes with Stacey Travis, who played to mom. Has she been in better movies? Hell yes, "Hardware" for example. It's her movie even if they sold it as a Dylan McDermott film. Has she made worse movies, unfortunately, hell yes, but it's not like anybody sets out to make a bad film.
Steve Gillow
2025-02-14 16:08:12 +0000 UTCWhile I don't disagree that games can be art and can be held to a movie standard I also think there are different kinds of movies. I don't think an popcorn action movie should be held to the same standard as say as some higher quality movie that requires actual good acting and writing and shit. Also Adler looks like Robert Redford.
Kadeem Motley
2025-02-14 15:38:24 +0000 UTC
