Black Ops Tutorial

[MercifulBiscuit]

I noticed something very strange this month, when I bought Black Ops. I've been loving this game (especially online) but I wonder if I would have enjoyed it so much had I not also played Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2. Because I was already familiar with what I had to do in the game, I almost didn't notice the total lack of tutorial at the start of the single player campaign. I almost overlooked the incredibly lazy nature of the in-box manual, which not only explains almost none of the game features, but doesn't even have a screen-shot behind the Head-Up Display explanation graphic. But then I realised that, if not for the Internet, I would never have known about the new dive-to-prone ability. Not such a big deal, maybe, but it adds to the game, and if I hadn't already played those other games, the learning curve would have been a lot steeper - I can't even begin to think of the all the features that I would have no idea existed!

I just wonder, is this the way that games are going now? Are publishers saving money by skimping on this kind of thing, and do they really need to be, especially with games with the sales potential of Black Ops. Comments?

[MercifulBiscuit]

Ok... Maybe I was a little premature. I've just had another look at the manual, and dive-to-prone is in there, amongst the controller layout. The point still stands, though... You'd think developers would have a little more pride in their creations, and would want to explain as much about them as possible. And I'm still surprised about the lack of in-game tutorial.

Interestingly, I missed the dive-to-prone originally because the controller layout in most manuals is worthless these days, just saying what the controls are called (X button here, etc) and leaving it to the rest of the manual to describe what each does.

I used to enjoy reading game manuals. It was part of the whole experience, especially when they were well written. Not anymore, I suppose...

[ClownTrousers]

I think 99% of people don't read manuals so they make little or no effort any more.

Tutorials are either an odd one - the Fallout New Vegas tutorial for example absolutely assumes you have played Fallout 3 and if you haven't then, oops, sorry. The FF XIII tutorial on the other hand lasts 20 hours.

[CuriousTurtle]

Good point Biccy, I've completed the campaign but 'dive to prone' is news to me. Who reads manuals? I assume that the game will walk me through it.

[MercifulBiscuit]

Exactly! Glad it's not just me, then. If they're not going to run a full tutorial, the least they could do would be to point out the new stuff...

Thinking about this... Not running a tutorial is one of the things that marks out a game as being an expansion pack rather than a full release - an accusation that some may say could equally be levelled at Fallout:NV, don't you think?

[CherryCokeChaos]

It's amazing how many people don't bother reading the instructions on quite a few games, Red Dead was one where if you don't hold down the A button to run or when you respawn you are invisible to others on their radar so using this I was pretty epic but only because I was the only one doing it.

It's the same on assassins creed brohood, using the lock on feature for your teammates and blending in is all explained but you get idiots running across rooftops for cheap 10 point kills.

[Ginga]

I used to love reading manuals aswell, sitting down on the crapper having a quiet read, getting myself excited about the game in question before I played it.

Loved it.

[CherryCokeChaos]

I used to love reading manuals aswell, sitting down on the crapper having a quiet read, getting myself excited about the game in question before I played it.

Loved it.

Make it your new years revolution to do it more often!

[Ginga]

Manuals are so short and pointless nowadays I could read it on the journey to the crapper, then I'd have nothing to read when I sat down.

[Tom909]

I used to love reading manuals aswell, sitting down on the crapper having a quiet read, getting myself excited about the game in question before I played it.

Loved it.

Or on the bus home in anticipation...

[Johnny Shoulder]

I used to love reading manuals aswell, sitting down on the crapper having a quiet read, getting myself excited about the game in question before I played it.

Loved it.

Or on the bus home in anticipation...

What having a crap on the bus? Not sure the other passengers would approve.

[gugly_duk]

I used to stick post-its on the toilet door to help me revise