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Developed by Treyarch and released in November of 2010, Call of Duty: Black Ops is a first-person shooter and the seventh installment of the series. Hot on the heels of the success of Modern Warfare 1 and 2, it sold a considerable amount of copies. The player assumes the role of various characters during a campaign of multiple covert operations being carried out during the Cold War.

 

Best time on Recruit: 2:54:28 by Oliver 'TheLongshotLegend' on 2011-05-26, done in 15 segments.

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Author's comments:

Op40:

Timing here begins as the location/identity/time text starts to appear right at the beginning of the mission, and stops when the Cuban soldier hits Mason with his rifle.

In the bar: I pull the trigger multiple times for good measure. If I had it my way, I'd have asked for a minigun so I didn't miss, but that's just me :) - Yes, that's a fallout 3 reference for those of you who don't know.

I equip the grenade launcher to make quick work of the first set of guys. Now, you'll notice I wait around a second at the first car to let the police vehicle skid before running. This is because if you run ahead too fast, you will "Insta-die" for no reason. This sometimes happens at the stupidest of moments, but this one cant be helped, so that extra second assures this doesn't happen. I get hit a few times but this doesn't really matter too much. I have to wait at the car anyway for the guys to reach me, so barely any time lost here.

I do believe you fail if you kill the guy in a loud manner, so I strangled him for safety. I would have taken his FAL like normal, but I made a mistake, and I made another one later which probably cost me a few seconds, which was switching my M16 Multi-attachment for a stupid FN FAL. I needed the Grenade Launcher to clear the hallway more effectively. So perhaps I coulda saved between 2-4 seconds if I had used it in the first hallway.

Note I wait for the guys to speak before running across the road. It is safer because the convoy sees you and kills your squad = fail. I don't know the exact timing here by the way.

Note I keep my handgun. This is to run faster after shooting Castro. I wasn't too fussed about reload cancelling as this mission is fairly well scripted and waiting for teammates is a frequent need.

Coulda gained half a second if my aim didn't have a spasm when I aimed for Castro's head. That was annoying.

I cleared the corridor quickly, switching my gun for new ones when possible, I.e the gun I'm picking up has some value. I saved a few seconds by trying to predict when the BTR would explode. I'd like to think I did a job here. You know that pistol running I talked about? Yeah. This is where it's useful. Right through the fields and down the runway.

M60 Airplane? Nothing I can do here. Just spray and pray. Overall, quite pleased with this mission. Without making my simple mistakes, possibly to save about 3-4 seconds, maybe about 7 maximum? Not perfect, but quite nice.

My Final Time: 10:55:27 (mm:ss:ms)
My own speed rating: 4.7/5.

Vorkuta:

My timing begins as soon as the scene where Reznov appears in the fight, and ends as the screen blacks out/goes to cutscene as Reznov's truck drives into the blockade on the road with you on the train.

Escaping the jail: Not much to say here. Most of this is scripted. From the first attack, to escaping past the machinegun tower, there is not really anything I can say or do here to improve my time. The real time savers begin here.

That catapult is almost essential to get perfect, but I still haven't mastered it. Occasionally I'll miss a shot and have to restart, because I would lose too much to miss. I hit all three this time which I loved. As you can see I cut past Reznov on one side. Sometimes he blocks you, but he didn't this time, luckily. After pushing your way through the locked gate, I tried to take the most direct route to the Harpoon gun. On recruit, the helicopter hardly does any damage even if it hits you, so I made quick work of this thing. Obviously jumping is faster than going downstairs too.

As you can see, I take the first AK-47 GL, which much to my relief is always in that same spot every play, unlike some. >.< This makes easy work of the riot blockades. I got caught by the rolling body, which happens everything. After using one shot to clear the corner I run past and open the door. Might have saved a second or two here.

My strategy here was to clear the top guys, and let the prisoners kill the guys downstairs. This works 95% of the time for me. The heavily armoured guards are the worst ones. I hate them. Luckily for me, the Grenade Launcher kills in one hit. How the first one through the shutter survived it, I won't ever know, but I finished him easy. I don't know if Reznov works faster if you kill the armoured guys, but I used the GL to kill the big ones as they spawned. The prisoners did a remarkable job of taking out the stupid little AK users.

Right. The biggest saver here is the minigun probably. Bunny hopping is faster than simply walking, so I tried to hop out. But having a huge gun doesn't make you invincible, and you can still die in a second from cars and barrels, so I tried to exercise a little caution. I think theres about 3 seconds to save here if you move at optimal speed.

I don't think there's anything you can do to speed up the bike running part, but I think I did well here. and jumping to the train is not exactly rocket science. All in all, I'm pretty pleased with this level.

My estimated time: 12:36:67 (mm:ss:ms)
Personal rating for speed: 4.9/5.
Probably around 9-10 seconds to gain if run is totally flawless.

USDD:

Seriously now? Is there anything I can say about this? It's a living cutscene. If you can gain time on this, you're a hacker. :)

My time: 5:00 Exactly (mm:ss).
Speed rating: 5/5 I guess?

Executive Order:

Timing starts from the text location/identity/time appearence to when the game fades to cutscene at the double doors in the bunker.

Bunny Hopping helps here, to a very small degree, at the beginning.
The Karambit knife timing is really temperamental, and seems to be down to whether the games wants to be a bitch or not. Sometimes I could stab the guard before Woods has even slid into cover, and sometimes it'll tell me I've compromised the mission even when Woods is sneaking to the other guy. I would like to think I did some okay timing here, but a keener eye could manage a second or two (maybe three) if you got a perfect shot.

I tried to stay as far forwards as I could as the dialogue at the jeep with the other squad finished. I don't think it mattered though. I lost quite a bit of time in the tower I think. The main flaw here is that weapons in this tower are random. I wanted to get a dual mag or extended mag after using the GL, but I f*cked up using the Grenade, and I didn't find a decent attachment weapon after this. This, in my opinion could have been quite a bit swifter. The crossbow can also slow you down as the guards emergences are temperamental too. I think I did well to hit it that fast. But there's always one who slips away. Nevertheless, I feel the bow was satisfactory.

I keep the MP5 Extended mag for the silo rush. My GOD was that close with that frag grenade on the bottom of the slope? I was ready to destroy stuff if that grenade took my out. Slowed me down a few seconds though, which annoyed me. Ready and waiting at the Valkryie. Rocket down, no problems. The bunker rush is slightly tricky, and also time can be gained. I found I was shooting people I didn't even need to shoot. This mission has so much stuff that could go wrong or right, some do it, some don't.

This is a b*tch of a mission to do well. I don't really feel like this is anywhere near as fast as a flawless.

My estimated time: 11:55:16 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to be gained for flawless: >20 seconds probably.
My Speed rating: 3.2/5.

S.O.G:

Timing started at Location/Identity/Time text, and ended as the screen blacks out after the TOW truck.

Bunker: I prefer an ACOG. I don't know why, it just helped. The disadvantage here, is that your secondary is an M60. The weapon with the biggest 'fatboy' run in the game.

I don't really notice if destroying the barrels at the right or wrong times slows you down or not, but blowing them up early seemed like it made more sense, so I blew them up as soon as I got em.

The LAW missiles are also slightly temperamental, and you can't always get a reliable trajectory, so I did miss one rocket or two, but the tanks were rolling closer for an easier target. I keep a launcher for the slope. This slope, is one of the hardest damn parts of this game. Even on recruit you get stomped on. Therefore I wait for a moment for the team to push up. This makes the first tier of the slope easier to advance to. I then proceed to running as the team keep the VC at bay.

The hill that follows this area is one of those "Insta-die" areas I was talking about in OP40. If you go up the hill too fast you automatically die, so I stalled for a couple of seconds to shoot some of the VC in the craters and trenches. This ensured I didn't die.

LOL at Hudson running idly by while Woods is getting beated. This made me laugh so hard. That's never happened to me before I swear. I used the TOW missiles effectively I think, albeit firing one a little too fast I was quick to compensate for this mistake, so not too much harm here. Overall I think this wasn't half bad.

Oh, and I'd like to say, I'm an expert with the China Lake online on multiplayer, so that explains my awesome shot with the old Grenade Gun ;)

My estimated time: 10:42:87 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to be gained: Maybe around 10-13 seconds, if you knew the timings for the hill, and found a way to attack the bottom of the hill faster.

The Defector:

Timing starts as soon as the Location/Identity/Time text starts to appear and ends after the screen blackout when escaping on the boat

Okay, this building was annoying. I swear to high hell I shot a Vietcong with an FN FAL with my dragon's breath and it failed the mission claiming civilian killed. There wasn't even anyone behind him. SO ANNOYING.

First room: Avoid the chaingun. You will die. Enough said.
I use half my shells and a grenade to clear the large room, and then I avoid the guys shooting the civilians, that's because they are what give me the innocents penalty all the time, and two guys in the next room do it too. That's why I excessively hurt myself running through here. I think I got to the warm room with enough time.

I am sure I lose time here killing the guys, because I switch my GL out. I've cleared this place so much faster before I think. If you use the grenades, theres probably 5-7 seconds to gain here, if anyone's looking for something to try.

As you may well know, the shotguns, SMGs and handguns give the fastest runs, so I use this to run to town. What annoyed me the most and cost me some time is the attack on the tank in the middle of town. You see me target it, but the damn thing glitched out on me again, and targeted something that didn't even exist. This would have lost me about three seconds or so.

I targeted the third building quite nicely. No problem there. Planting claymores all over the extraction area makes it easier and C4 is obsolete seriously. Since the gate explodes to let you go, I was waiting near it to run, and got there smoothly. Overall, quite happy with this section.

My estimated time: 10:28:03 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to gain: Perhaps about 9-11 seconds?
My speed rating: 4/5.

Numbers:

Timing starts as the Location/Identity/Time text starts to appear, and ends as the screen blacks out in the van.

Ooh, I nice, fun mission with lots of shooting, running and gunning! YAY!

I try to rupture the canisters prematurely, but I don't think I did a very good job. LOL. It might be a fixed time, but I can't be too sure. I was first to jump the ladder though. XD

I take my time stealing an SMG. However this doesn't matter, as I would get one in the armoury Clarke has. Plus, they take forever to jump down and join me, so yeah. Clarke is very slow. I take some heavy risks here, smashing through everything under heavy fire. I do it, and I make it to the drainpipe nice and quick. Two SMGs are good because faster run, and lots of ammo.

That little jump I make onto the metal sheet roofing ensures I can take out the Spetsnaz with my shotgun easily. I take a Kiparis because of the extra bullets, and another Spectre does the job. I take damage jumping. I don't care.
Again I run like a bastard through the bullets; and remarkably survive.

For defence, bigger is better. I take the highest explosive ordinance I can get, the Grim Reaper. This is amazing for destroying multiple guys, and taking out the window soldiers. I take damage from jumping down, so I try to heal before it, but Clarke jumped first so it wasn't necessary. Now, you usually take craploads of damage per jump unless Weaver does the jump first. I wasn't prepared to wait, so I jumped myself, and hoped I didn't get my ass shot up. I needed to hide to recover because of the amount you take. A quick bunny hop to the van. Job done.
Very pleased with this level.

My estimated timing: 07:53:12
Time to gain from mistakes: <4 seconds
Speed rating: 5/5. Very happy.

Project Nova:

Timing begins when Reznov's speech starts and the cutscene appears in 1969. It ends as the screen fades to black after running away from the detonated Nova 6 ship.

The first time saver I used was taking the route across the ledge to get to the truck before the dialogue finished. I might have gotten there around 0.4 seconds faster, but not too much of a problem here.

When talking to Dragovich and Kravenchenko as the attack is beginning, do not move your analogue sticks! it will waste your sprint without even moving anywhere. Which is really annoying. So to keep your sprint, run only when the action starts. As you see, I switch for a Scrub-P-40 instead of a the Mosin, for obvious reasons.

Again, if you run too fast, you will insta-die. This is counted to the mortars the Russians are using here. They kill you if you are too far ahead too quickly, but it doesn't mean you can't go fast. I missed the critical mortar by inches (the one outside the little bunker with the tractor in the side room) so I wasn't too far off the optimal time. You always pick up a runner behind you as you enter the first building, and you see I fumble trying to get an StG or an MP40 on the stairs. I might have been better off with the PPSH.

I run left to avoid the gun, and throw a mortar at the bridge. I then circumvent the room. I avoid the mortars and the gun this way, and allow my troops to push up quicker. I could risk a direct run but I would probably die a lot, so I thought it safer to run around the side.

As you see I prone-dive to escape the gunfire. I always need a second or two to recover from the mounted gunshots. These are really hard. But I charge up, switching back to the PPSH and get to the scientist. The Nazi was about to hit me too. But he missed just in time ;)

Next one. I bunny hop through the cargo ship with the Tokarev TT-33, because it's faster than walking, and can extradite the speech from Steiner and Dragovich. The second dialogue, however, is out of my hands.

Now, I need to explain my sort of undue caution. This part is so damn hard. There are red barrels everywhere back in the rocket room, and two or so in the gas chamber room. When attacking the British, they always hit the barrels when you least expect it, and I never know where they are completely, because some are concealed. And they have a huge blast radius. This is why I threw all of my frag grenades into the room before going, and then hanging back a second. You see it pay off trumps as I narrowly avoid having my face incinerated by one being the line of boxes. I was lucky to take down the gantry and run. From there it is plain sailing. Nice and easy.
I could have done slightly better, but I think I was quite pleased with this one too.

My estimated time: 13:34:18 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to gain from mistakes: 9-13 seconds perhaps?
Speed Rating: 4.1/5.

Victor Charlie:

Timing begins from as soon as the pilots shouts are heard, to when the screen cuts after the helicopter jump.

Not much to begin with. I could have run up the creek faster, but I fumbled with my guns, which was a bit of a loser. I did do a run faster, but I kept messing up and I eventually got too frustrated with something further on.

I was first in the water and straight to the boat. Check out the teleport in the water! Super SOG! Lovely. Ehem.

I didn't stab the guys in the beds, and bum rushed the guy standing up instead. Planting C4s all over and moving out, check. No problems here. Now. The big I got really pissed off with was the village after blowing the outpost up. That spider hole I swear is so fucking annoying. I dropped four nades in the hole once and it didn't take it out, even after cutting about 3 seconds off my time to run up the creek. Even then you saw how dodgy that hole was. I threw in two or three, and it didnt go up in flames. I took the 202 rockets and blasted the ZPU without problems.

I should have retained my GL to take out the next MG nest after the hut, but I didn't lose too much time because I had to wait for my troops to get to the rat tunnel. Done.

I shoot the guys quickly, but lose a second in the next area because I wasted all six bullets on the dodgy hit detection. I get stabbed a couple of times, but I still dealt with it quite well. Not bad.

Running out of the tunnel is good. But I still laugh at how the guys ragdoll when you score a headshot on them.
I had fun on this one, cept the dodgy spider hole. I was satisfactory to this one.

Estimated time: 12:17:86 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to improve: <14 seconds.
Speed Rating: 4.2/5.

Crash Site:

Timing starts as the Location/Identity/Time text appears, and ends after being knocked out by Kravchenko - Blackout.

I kinda didn't squeeze past Reznov, losing me a few seconds here.

I try and snipe the truck across the gap, which I thought was quite an epic shot. That was a great saver and allowed me to get away nice and fast. Theres that one truck that took ages to destroy. I didn't realise how it had to take your boat out.

That PT boat minces you even on recruit, so I had to use cover still. I decided to take a massive shot at it. I thought I was dead for a second, but it worked just about. I was quite pleased with that attempt at taking the PT boat out.

You get the 'fatboy' run up the river even with a light gun. I know I lost a few seconds at the Spetsnaz just before the plane, but I needed my squad there and I was taking damage. Sometimes you can fall off the wing if your squadmates are not there.

China Lake awesomeness, yet again. EASY. All I have to say there.

I felt this level was quite satisfactory for the speed. Few bits here and there could be better.

My estimated timing: 10:33:45 (mm:ss:ms)
Improvement potential: 15 seconds?
Speed Rating: 4.2/5.

WMD:

Timing begins when the Location/Identity/Time text starts appearing for the Calif. AFB text. This timing ends as you drive away on the truck, once the level has cut to black/cut scene.

The Blackbird bit? Kinda pointless if you ask me. Guiding the troops seemed more like something off of a flash game rather than a war game but that's just me. Nothing I could have done to guide them any faster to be honest with you.

Dealing with the house attack? Might have gained a second here, but I don't know. I stayed in the same place to make things easier.

Barracks attack - Surprisingly faster than I thought. I usually miss one because he's in last stand or something.

Attacking. Prone diving at the quick stop and drop makes that little more distance. Not that it matters with slow AI. I might have gotten faster with the rappeling scene, but I can't be too sure. The way the screen wobbles around is hard to judge just how far you've dropped down to brake, so I thought I'd try my best to be fast, but play it safe at the same time. Don't judge me :(

Getting inside the base is stupid. It's almost impossible to deal with the guys, but I know it could be possible if you were a really quick shot, but I'm not that good yet. So I had to take the temperamental approach, and kill everything while it was on alert. This was really tough and lost me quite some time with guys that could hide around my squad in cheeky places. This coulda gone better I know for sure.

Once inside the commstat, the hardest bit was the guys on the upper floors, once I'd pushed onto the ground floor. Bullets don't penetrate the metal sheeting very well, and you have to make a real effort to kill them as your teammates are useless as hell. It worked better than I thought though.

Running down the hill? Easy. Clearing the guys in the junk area? Not so easy if some of them hide. It worked okay though. Getting out is really not so easy. That MG is actually harder to take out than it seems. Sometimes he absorbs bullets, others he just falls over. Very inconsistent.

Taking guys out. No problems.
Not too happy with this, but this level is quite temperamental.

Estimated Timing: 14:57:93 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to gain from mistakes: >18 seconds
Speed Rating: 4/5.

Payback:

Timing begins when the Location/Identity/Time text starts appearing, and ends as Reznov helps to pick you back up/blackout.

I think I cleared everyone out really well, and to fight my way out of the bunker brought a smile to my face. I loved that speed. I knew the GL was about halfway through, so I stole it and used one to clear out the bunker and run. That was slick. Still a lot of room for improvement. Do note, this is the one mission I actually neglected to improve on, so out of the 13-15 levels in the game, I didn't do much on this. It slipped my mind.

Clearing the helipad felt okay. Stealing the helicopter. Check.
Flying down the river was quite fast I'd like to think.

The bunker was frustrating. the flamethrower guy seems to drop a martyrdom at the stupidest of times, and it seems to be invincible sometimes, which does get on my nerves.

Bunker, check. Not too much to do here, maybe a faster run to the staircase. Overall, this is the mission where the most improvement is possible. Sorry for neglecting this one.

Estimated Timing: 11:05:79 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to gain on improvements: >1 minute perhaps? 45 seconds?
Speed rating: 2.9/5.

Rebirth:

Timing starts as the Location/Identity/Time text starts to appear, and ends as the screen blacks out after knocking Mason out.

Not much to do up until I've killed the man with the Ak-74u with the hatchet. After the helicopter flies by for the second time you can run past, but don't leave it too long or Reznov will cock-block you and you can't pass him. He runs too slow.

I jump straight up. I fumble on the pipe ledge, Losing me 0.5 seconds or so.
I try and keep to the same principle of no running out of ammo. I do have to subvert several part of the corridor to get to Steiner because this is a tough fight with so many people. Some have KS-23s which deal lots of damage to you, even on recruit. Therefore, explosives and a tiny bit of caution work fine here. I'm waiting at the door to ambush Steiner so no problems here.

Now for the tough part. The Nova 6 siege. I did well to deal with the cars with the GLs on the BMD, so that worked okay. However, once I was on the ground, this struggle begins. Unlike health, your suit gets damaged and does not fix. It will kill you the moment your suit is broken. Therefore, I am trying to swiftly cover every flank. Quick looks and quick shots. I think storming the building with masterkey was good, and the Strela might have been faster as I remember taking craploads of suit damage a few times attempting to get the launcher.

I get two SMGs again to attack the facility. Because the GLs take so long to reload, you only really have time to reload once, or twice at the most without severely hurting your time. I got through the base, gun swapping as usual. I was pleased. Down in the lab, there's only three or four guys you need to look for, the ones at the end of the hall who I try to grenade without a lot of success.

The lab main room is easily clearable though, and that doesn't case a problem. You need to wait at the code panel for a few moments anyway to get through.

I was quite pleased with this, but a few seconds might be saved.

Estimated Timing: 13:26:32 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to save on improvements: 7-20 seconds. (Vague as I might have missed a few tricks.)
Speed rating: 4.5/5.

Revelations:

Time starts as the interrogators begin arguing, and ends just after you get punched by Hudson, and the spiraling that follows finally ends.

Nothing really to say here. The only way to improve this is to cut the corners a bit more sharply, perhaps cutting past doors, only a few seconds to gain/lose.

Estimated timing: 4:54:12 (mm:ss:ms)
Time to gain on improvements: <3 seconds?
Speed Rating: 4.9/5.

Redemption:

Timing starts when Location/Identity/Time text starts appearing, and ends when the screen starts flashing after Weaver has pulled you aboard the PT boat.

I attempted to destroy everything on the boat systematically. One after another I blast them in order. I believed this was faster, obviously. RPG teams were easy. AAA, easy. Hind. I tried to be as close to the Helipad as possible when I shot the Hind down, so I could bail almost immediately after putting the final shot in. It worked, and made sure I didn't need to hover and wobble slowly for too long.

I switch to the M10, as it has 30 rounds and you can run faster with it. I switch it promptly with the Valkyrie, and take down the HIPs, and then push to the ship door. However you do need to kill a lot to get under the deck, and my teammates weren't that good, so I needed to help them slightly. Didn't lose as much as it seems though. Maybe 3-4 seconds though.

Weaver can be an idiot on the lower decks if you don't kill everyone properly, so I attack properly to try and alleviate this problem. That is why I am thorough to kill them. It works, and all that it requires is a teammate kill one more I missed. Might have lost 1-2 seconds tops. Not too bad.

Once I am inside the broadcast station, I push through the front door as quickly as I can. I have made the mistake of running upstairs before, but I didn't do that this time. I clear it as fast as I can and run through the back door. As soon as the water rushes, I win that fight.

Running through here is more or less self explanatory. I might miss getting up a ladder or set of stairs very quickly, but that's probably as fast as I could push forwards. The dual mags help me massively in this respect. I take cover for a quick health boost before making the final run, to kill Dragovich. I lost a second getting caught on the juggernaut-esque guy. Andddd... I get to choke that bastard at last. I win. Simple run out of the station, and that's the end of that.

Swimming up is just a matter of letting it happen. I hold the sticks forwards just in case it gives you an extra speed boost. Mission accomplished. One Call of Duty title, speed ran.

AND FINISH!

Estimated timing: 11:18:55 (mm:ss:ms)
Improvements to be had: 15-20 seconds?
Speed rating: 4.3/5.

OVERALL GAME PERFORMANCE.
I may need to help a go a bit more, but overall, I enjoyed this game quite nicely, and I think I did quite well. Obviously not perfect, but anything done by human error can't be perfect right?

Thanks for your time gentlemen :)

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