There is no question that the Call of Duty series is one of the most popular video game franchises of the 2010’s decade. The first person shooter genre ended up achieving mainstream popularity due to the growing popularity of the Call of Duty series from the late 00’s onwards with Activision’s most successful installment being released in 2010. The Call of Duty: Black Ops game for the PS3 & Xbox 360 was a masterpiece from start to finish that stands the test of time thirteen years later. The setting for Call of Duty: Black Ops was the 1960’s where players controlled the main character Alex Mason who constantly being interrogated in relation to remembering essential information which would help stop the Soviets from deploying chemical weapons across the United States. The campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops was nothing short of amazing mainly because of its execution with Mason trying to remember key events prior to the interrogation which a majority of the gameplay took place. The inclusion of former president John F. Kennedy was also add a great touch to the campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops. The way Treyarch modernized the 1960’s in Call of Duty: Black Ops with the environmental designs of places such as: China, Soviet Union, Cuba, Canada and South Vietnam made for an enjoyable gameplay experience.

Also, players had access to a variety of weapons in Call of Duty: Black Ops including M14’s, FAMAS, ENFIELD’s, COMMANDO’s and G11’s. The gunfire animation and explosions in Call of Duty: Black Ops looked smooth along with the rest of the gameplay and the story for the campaign mode became more interesting as players progressed throughout the game. Since its release Call of Duty: Black Ops managed to reach over 30 million copies in sales across multiple gaming platforms throughout the 2010’s decade. There are many people who would argue that the original Black Ops game was the best entry within the entire series especially considering how popular the first person shooter genre was during the first half of the 2010’s decade. While the Call of Duty series has managed to maintain its mainstream appeal throughout the 2010’s hardly any of the installments from the second half of the decade managed to achieve the level of popularity that Black Ops I did; maybe with the CoD title from 2019 being somewhat of an exception. While the Call of Duty: Black Ops IV game from 2018 had a fun online multiplayer Battle Royale mode that players could indulge themselves into the game lacked a central story mode. Call of Duty: Black Ops is almost unrivaled as a first person shooter and is arguably one of the greatest third party video games of its genre in relation to the 2010’s.