Call of Duty: Black Ops for PS Vita deemed an

[compl3x]

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is getting rave reviews, and judging by the early numbers we're hearing, it's bound to be another seriously big seller.

But not all versions of the game are created equal.

Just witness the stunning fall of Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified for the Playstation Vita. Intended as a companion to the console game, it was supposed to be one of the handheld's biggest holiday titles.

That's not going to happen, at least if critics have anything to say about it. Reviews of Declassified are just starting to roll in, but with an unthinkably low 29 rating on Metacritic, it's already got a shot at going down as the worst game of 2012.

Game Informer calls the title "appalling," "a complete embarrassment for gaming's biggest franchise" and "an absolute mess," citing artificial intelligence that is literally suicidal (hiding behind a car and shooting into it until it explodes) and a ridiculously easy campaign mode, which reviewer Dan Ryckert completed in just 42 minutes.

"If you're looking for a fun single-player shooter experience, you'd be hard pressed to find an experience less complete than Declassified," he writes. "In dramatic fashion, it completely fails to live up to the high bar of quality gamers expect from the Call of Duty name. It's also a discouraging sign for gamers like me who shelled out $250 for a Vita in the hopes of console-quality experiences on handheld. I can't recommend Declassified to anyone."

Giant Bomb can't, either. Reviewer Jeff Gerstmann dings it left and right, noting "the game feels too small to be entertaining, with maps so tiny that you'll literally spawn with an enemy in your crosshairs... or vice versa. This would be a questionable purchase at traditional downloadable pricing. But at $50? No way."

Other sites, including IGN, haven't published their review because review copies were not sent out in a timely manner. Pocket Gamer, who went out and bought one anyway, thinks that was by design.

"Call of Duty: Black Ops - Declassified is a cynical, half-baked, tired little mess of a game, and Activision knows it," writes reviewer Peter Willington, adding that it "gives a middle finger" to fans.

What happened? While it's hard to say definitively, there are rumors that development and production of Declassified were severely rushed, with game makers having no more than 8 months to put the title together. Even for an annualized franchise, that's a Herculean task.

The bigger question is what this might mean for Vita sales this holiday. Sony had high hopes that the game would give the Vita a sales boost during the holidays, even offering a bundle of the game and system.

But if reviews remain this low -- and there's little reason to think they'll turn around in a significant way -- it could be more bad news for Sony's handheld gaming device.

http://games.yahoo.com/blogs/plugged-in/call-duty-black-ops-playstation-vita-deemed-embarrassment-181628122.html

[Draken]

The whole Vita thing is an embarrassment ....

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

Pretty much knew this game was going to be awful, but thought perhaps there would be some small chance it would not be.

However once I heard the developers behind Burning Skies were behind it, I knew there was really no chance it could be good.

Even worse, Activision is somehow charging $50 for this joke of a game.

The whole Vita thing is an embarrassment ....

It really shouldn't be, as when the games are done right, there is no better handheld gaming experience out there.

[Draken]

It really shouldn't be, as when the games are done right, there is no better handheld gaming experience out there.

Yeah, I know it's a solid gaming platform, but compared with the original efforts made for the PSP it seems Phone/Tablet gaming have the focus now, sadly :(

[~Johnny]

It's a shame, but this game could have really turned around the Vita's fortunes in the west. Unfortunately, after I saw it was from the same developer who'd managed to mess up both of their last two big Sony licenses, I gave up all hope. I honestly don't know why Sony keeps giving these guys projects, they are essentially doing more damage to the Vita and Sony than good.

Heck, this game doesn't even have a single player campaign on the Vita. Even the DS versions of Call of Duty managed to get half decent review scores and actually be fun.

[Sandor]

COD on a console is a fail.

COD on a handheld is supreme fail.

FPS in general, on a PC - how it's meant to be.

[~Johnny]

COD on a console is a fail.

COD on a handheld is supreme fail.

FPS in general, on a PC - how it's meant to be.

You're probably going to hate me for this - but the most fun I've EVER had with a COD game was on the Wii. The almost-silly faced paced shooting action seemed nearly tailor made for Wii remote aiming, especially with it's arcadey style. Played out like a fun shooting gallery (and surprisingly the Wii games had exactly the same set and level design as it's bigger brothers). Heck, the fact that I was actually having fun was surprising, rather than just trying to force myself to finish it's silly story, which is what it felt like playing on a 360 & PC. I'm not really an ultra competitive gamer, I just play games to have fun :p

[compl3x]

Certainly more bad news for the Vita. Which is a shame considering how good the system is and how capable the hardware is.

[soniqstylz]

A middle finger to fans?

Seems more like Activision is giving a middle finger to Sony.

[compl3x]

SOny really can't afford this. The Vita sales are so shamefully weak, they need killer games.

Last week in JP 4000+ Vitas were sold....134,000+ 3DS XL (just the XL models) were sold. :|

[0nyX]

Isn't the Vita "dead" ?

[Blackhearted]

Certainly more bad news for the Vita. Which is a shame considering how good the system is and how capable the hardware is.

If only that 'capable hardware' didn't have such a hard time running games at the devices native reslution.

[REM2000]

well i play LBP, Pinball games, uncharted etc... and so far the VITA has taking up time away from my 3DS when it comes to gaming. The Vita is a good machine it just needs a few more good games, perhaps a couple of rewrites for the system such as COD MW or something.

I really don't like gaming on phones/tablets there are a few exceptions but for the most part the games are 5 min time killers, the Vita and 3DS offer true portable gaming and i would hate to see that go away.

Edit: a couple of games like Unfinished Swan, Flower and Tokyo Jungle would have really picked the console up.

[Jason S. Global Moderator]

i had hopes for Declassified. i didnt expect it to be such a letdown.

i've played the demo of Resistance and didnt think it was too bad. i'd still like to play the full game.

it's a shame that there arent more 'big' games for the Vita yet. Uncharted was amazing, but what's left? i've played quite a bit of Hot Shots Golf; it's really fun. I'm also looking fwd to Gravity Rush. but, in the end, the Vita needs more big titles like Uncharted...

[DirtyLarry Veteran]

i had hopes for Declassified. i didnt expect it to be such a letdown.

i've played the demo of Resistance and didnt think it was too bad. i'd still like to play the full game.

it's a shame that there arent more 'big' games for the Vita yet. Uncharted was amazing, but what's left? i've played quite a bit of Hot Shots Golf; it's really fun. I'm also looking fwd to Gravity Rush. but, in the end, the Vita needs more big titles like Uncharted...

I personally agree, more big titles would be great, but I also quite enjoy the little titles. Still, not really enough of those yet either. It just needs titles period.

[compl3x]

I personally agree, more big titles would be great, but I also quite enjoy the little titles. Still, not really enough of those yet either. It just needs titles period.

Dedicated handhelds need killer games. Sony needs to work really hard to turn this **** around. It would be a damn shame to see the Vita fall into obscurity because Sony fumbled the ball.