Call of Duty: Black Ops

Mini FAQ based on PC version of single player campaign, covering the first five missions.

Call of Duty: Black Ops

Welcome to the mini-FAQ to the Call of Duty: Black Ops single player campaign, which will cover the first five missions of the game, and help you locate the hidden Enemy Intel documents found throughout those missions. Finding the Intel un-redacts a series of documents that help illuminate the length and breadth of the conspiracy throughout the whole game, so there is some incentive to find them all beyond achievements alone!

Black Ops does not follow the Modern Warfare storyline, but takes place in the turbulent Cold War 60's following, via flashbacks, the covert and highly classified missions of Alex Mason in his service to the United States. Fans of CoD: World at War will find a familiar face in Viktor Reznov, the zealous Soviet soldier who accompanied players throughout the Russian campaign in that game. Similar to Treyarch's WaW, Black Ops is a very violent game compared to the rest of the franchise, with graphic dismemberment and depictions of torture. Despite the turned up violence factor, and slightly schizophrenic plotline, the gameplay is classic Call of Duty first person shoot 'em up through and through.

Black Ops is divided into three major portions: The Singleplayer Campaign, Multiplayer, and the popular Zombie mode, featuring a rather...interesting cast for each individual Zombie level (assuming you purchase each DLC pack). There are also quite a few hidden features available from the start menu that range from quirky to genuinely awesome.

If you only intend on collecting the Intels or just want to experience the cinematic nature of the game, I recommend playing on the Regular or Recruit difficulty settings. As always, there is a greater challenge on Hardened or Veteran, it can be quite frustrating to deal with the deluge of grenades and clairvoyant nature of the enemy (and their tendency to ignore your AI comrades to gun specifically you down). A Veteran run of any CoD title generally asks quite a bit of patience, luck, and skill (usually in that order), so jump up to that difficulty at your own discretion.

For the record, I played the PC version of Black Ops, which includes differences such as dedicated servers for multiplayer, a larger player counter per game, a distinct lack of auto-aim. However, the single player content differences between the PC and PS3/Xbox 360 editions of Black Ops are essentially non-existent.

GENERAL SINGLEPLAYER HINTS

1. Cover

While in the Call of Duty universe we no longer have need of such things as proper medical attentions, or health kits to restore our health, there's still no value in being reckless. Cover gives you a chance to take a breather, regenerate your health, and makes you less of a target . Use it whenever you can, you can die an embarrassing number of times otherwise, and you don't even get inspirational war quotes for your trouble this time around. Yes yes, I too miss being told by Donald Rumsfeld different things about Modern Warfare.

2. Aim...

...because we all like shooting assault rifles with accuracy closer to a laser than that of a shotgun. You can get away with spray and pray, but aiming usually leads to faster kills in single and multiplayer with most guns.

3. Watch your grenade indicators

This is a Call of Duty, and on higher difficulties you may as well be swimming in the things. It isn't always as safe to throw them back as you might suspect, either, so watch out for that, too.

4. Reload wisely

Reloading means you're out of the fight for that very brief second, only able to switch to another gun or lash out with your knife. In single and multiplayer, this can be a very compromising position. Make sure it's safe before you reload, or switch to a back up weapon to continue clearing away the enemy to give you that chance you need.

5. You have grenades too!

So don't be shy; the enemy isn't going to be with theirs.

6. The Knife

It still kills instantly, so work that thing! Generally, if you're close to an enemy, the knife is going to hit and they'll be dead.

SINGLEPLAYER WALKTHROUGH START

When you start the game, you will find yourself strapped in a chair, with the main menu on the left side of the screen. An interrogator asks you repeated questions about numbers, places, battles, and people. Before you even start the campaign though, there are some secrets you can access right away.

If you tap the right mouse button and space bar repeatedly (or left trigger/right trigger on the console editions), you can break out of the chair (and nobody tries to stop you). From there, you can walk behind the chair and to the right of where you originally were facing, and find a small computer terminal there. Access it.

There is a surprising amount little easter eggs on this terminal. The two most important are (in my opinion) to type in 'zork', to play the original text adventure Zork (released back in 1980!) and 'doa', which allows you to play the arcade game homage 'Dead Ops Arcade'. There are tons of little things you can do on this terminal!

When you're done messing around, follow the prompt to go back to the chair, and start the Campaign.

NOTE: This walkthrough is on Regular. Expect more significant resistance on higher difficulties.

Mission 1: Operation 40, Bay of Pigs

Enemy Intel: 3

After a short interrogation session, you are taken back to 1961, to the Bay of Pigs invasion. Alex Mason (you) have a very simple mission: Kill Fidel Castro. If you're a student of history, you might already feel a bit spoiled here.

You start in a bar, taking last minute instructions from Carlos, the proprietor of the establishment, with allies Woods and Bowman at your side. Cuban soldiers burst in and demand everyone present their papers. Woods takes action, and the level really gets started. Clear the bar, and get armed up by your allies, and prepare to move out. This section is fairly straight forward. Advance out the bar, down the street, stopping to eliminate all hostile resistance as you go. Cars can be blown up gunfire, of a single grenade, just be sure not to stand too close to the cars as they detonate, or they will take you with them. Careful with the police cars, some of them will try to ram into you, and standing your ground trying to blow them apart isn't the best option.

Eventually, you will get you a large intersection, with an alley to the left leading to your escape vehicle. Make a beeline for it, Woods and Bowman will join you. Follow the on screen prompt until a cutscene occurs.

Once that scene is finished, you are back in control. Follow Woods and Bowman down the zipline when prompted. The Bay of Pigs invasion has begun, and you're about to make history.

Entering the first building, silently kill the radio man, and then follow Woods' advice and let the enemy convoy pass by, then follow Woods up the hill through the archway. You're now free to engage the soldiers as you move. Climb up the stairs to the door where Woods will lead the way inside. Clear out the room. There are three guards in the room, and to the right there are many more outside leading up another hill through an archway.

Don't leave the shed too fast, straight ahead from where you enter is the first Intel, behind an RPG launcher.

Leave this shed, and follow Wood and Bowman up the stairs on the left, continuing to engage soldiers as they appear. Bowman will split off from you, continue to support Woods as you cut through the opposition. You eventually get to a locked door, requiring you to stack up behind Woods. Upon breaching the door, the game slows down to bullet-time, allowing you to easily pick off the three men in the room. Continue to follow Woods into the next door.

Fidel Castro is behind this door, with a mistress. Aim, and put a bullet between his eyes. A short cutscene will ensue, and afterwards the woman will pick up a weapon and try to kill you. Eliminate her, and get ready to move out, you're done here.

The invasion is falling apart, and you need to get out. Continue to support Woods, following his lead. You will exit Castro's room, and be immediately ambushed by more soldiers. Cut them down, and move into the next corridor to the right. You will see Bowman come through a side door, taking out an enemy soldier as he does. More soldiers will engage you on this level through a double door opposite from where you enter the room, with more streaming in from the stairs leading to the ground floor.

The second Intel is on this floor, through the doorway that Bowman makes his entrance through, and then follow the rooms to the left. You will pass a bed, and the second Intel will be to the left of a door, on top of a small dresser.

Clear out the enemies on the top floor, and then take advantage of your elevated position to clear out enemies on the lower level before charging down below. Get ready for a pretty heavy ambush just outside the door. You can use the conveniently located RPG to help take out vehicles, but as far as the man on the machine gun is concerned, it's best you just down him with a quick double-tap of your chosen assault rifle or light machine gun. After a short firefight, Carlos and his men will counterattack with RPG's from the hill to the right, helping break the enemy line. A BTR will attempt to cut you off, but you or Carlos' men can put it down with more RPG fire. Follow Woods and Bowman into the sugar fields behind the destroyed BTR, you're running out of time to escape.

Once through the field, you'll come across a destroyed stone wall, and an excellent view to the battle. The rebels are losing. Rappel quickly down the cliff when prompted, and follow your allies into the hangar.

Conveniently, the last Intel is in this hangar. You'll see a set of stairs to the left of the hangar exit. Climb those, and the Intel tape awaits collection.

Now, get across the airfield, which is currently the site of a heated battle. On higher difficulties you can expect significantly more fire to head your way, and it's just as good a practice to clear out some hostiles before moving across the runway. In a larger hangar on the other side of the airfield is your escape craft. Once you get on board, you'll be given a machine gun. Mow down the enemy as the plane moves to ensure its safety. There are just enough explosive barrels, fuel trucks, and other military vehicles to help with this.

Eventually, an anti-aircraft gun will threaten your plane, take it out. Unfortunately, trucks line the end of the runway and threaten to block your escape. Mason elects to jump out of the plane to man another AA gun to help take out the trucks. You need to run your way to the gun, kill the soldiers on it, the turn it on the trucks in the plane's path, careful not to shoot your allies. Once the trucks are gone, enjoy a brief moment of triumph before you're yanked forcefully off the gun and captured.

In the ensuing cutscene, you find out you didn't change history at all, and are now in possession of a scary Russian named Dragovich. There are bad days, and then there's this. Mission...complete...ish?

Mission 2: Vorkuta

Enemy Intel: 3

After some brief plot and torture back in the interrogation room, we flashback to the Vorkuta labor camp, and Viktor Reznov beating you senseless. After knocking him away, a guard foolishly comes to break it up, putting his back to you. End him, and the uprising begins. Follow Reznov through the tunnels, stabbing guards that attack you. Eventually you will meet Sergei, a monster of a man. Follow Sergei and Reznov to an elevator, where a short scene will play out. Once the elevator reaches the top, Sergei will gently dispatch a guard with a mining pick. Pick up the dropped pistol, and get ready to break out into a meatgrinder with your fellow prisoners.

Once the door opens, mounted machine guns will cut through your allies. Make your way to the right with Reznov and Sergei, towards a mine cart. Stick close, lest you get picked off by the machine guns. As the cart is pushed forward, Reznov will call out where the enemy is coming from (LEFT FLANK! or RIGHT FLANK!), use your pistol to deal with them. Once the cart reaches the end, wait for prisoners to take out the mounted gun with a makeshift slingshot . After this, follow Reznov until you enter a building. He will order Sergei to break open the arms locker, and tell you to go upstairs.

The first Intel can be found here. Part way up the stairs, Reznov will stop at a radio room. To the right of the radio, atop a stack of drawers, the Intel waits

Keep climbing the stairs until you reach the roof. Two prisoners with an improvised slingshot wait for you. Follow the prompts to use the sling to take out the three designated targets. If you're really skilled, taking out all three targets with only three shots unlocks the Slingshot Kid achievement. Once all three towers are taken out, get back downstairs to the now opened weapons locker and pick up shotgun. Follow him outside and shoot the lock off the gate. Take the first right, and keep pressing on, killing guards as you proceed. Watch the raised sections of walls for enterprising troops with RPGs or assault rifles. As you head towards the next objective marker, a truck with guards will try and cut you off. Just shoot the truck from a safe distance until it blows, and keep moving. Enter the marked building, and go upstairs. Two prisoners will be killed by the chopper, but they will leave you with the harpoon gun you need. Use it on the chopper to bring it down, the get back downstairs and through the back door, across the clearing into the next building. Guards have held up the prisoners inside, and some will use large moving shields to cover their advance, others will use available cover. There is an AK47 with grenade launcher here that can help equalize the odds. Use the grenades, or flank the enemy, then go up the stairs. Cut down yet more guards, and hurry to the closing shutter. Sergei will appear to try and hold up the door, but will be killed by guards on the other side, leaving you without support, with guards up on the catwalks above you and on the ground level with you. Hurry and hit the switch to open the door to let in Reznov and the others, and then clear the room.

The second Intel is located on the ground level. Leaving the switch room, check to your left. You will see a stairway leading up, but behind it a door with prisoners watching over it. Go to that doorway, through a darkened hall way. The intel is on a lit desk on the left.

Go up the stairs, and support Reznov as you head towards the next objective: a blowtorch to open the next secured weapons locker. Once he acquires it, guards in heavy riot gear will try to breach the room to kill you all. They are significantly tougher that the average guard, but the shotgun cuts them down just fine with a well placed shot to the upper body. Now follow Reznov back to the sealed locker, and cover him as he goes to work.

Armored guards and regular guards will enter from various passages on the second and first floors. If you still have the AK47 and it's grenade launcher, this is a perfect time to use it to deal with the armored guards before they get too close. Reznov will eventually break open the locker, and reveal a 'Death Machine' minigun with your name on it. You don't have unlimited ammo with this weapon, but you should certainly have more than enough. Puree any remaining guards in the building, then look outside from the now destroyed second floor walls. Hose down any guards or vehicles that impede you and march forward. To make the prisoners advance faster, take out any vehicles you see, and generally shoot anything that might explode. Eventually, the guards will halt your assault with tear gas when you get to a small clearing, and Reznov tries to drag you to safety. After a short flash-forward to the interrogation room, you return to Reznov in a room with motorcycles.

The last mission Intel is here, behind the bike Reznov uncovers. A small lamp illuminates a darkened part of the room, shining at the Intel at the bottom of a set of shelves

Man the other bike, and follow Reznov. You have a shotgun, so use that to deal with pursuing riders. Eventually, you and Reznov will hijack a truck with a mounted gun. Use the gun to cover yourself until Reznov pulls up alongside a train. Leap when prompted, but Reznov...will not be coming with you. Mission Complete.

Mission 3: Executive Order

Enemy Intel: 3

After more interrogation, and an intense briefing with Secretary Defense Robert McNamara and President John F. Kennedy, Mason is reunited with Woods, deep inside Russian territory. Your mission is to infiltrate the Baikonur Cosmodrom, recover planted agent Grigory Weaver, and to sabotage the Russian space program. Easy!

Follow Woods' lead throughout this opening section. Eventually, he will say something is wrong, and have you look through binoculars to scout out the target area. Weaver is being 'pressed' for information in a bad way, and about to get worse. After that scene, follow Woods again, across a road, and take cover behind the pipeline. You'll be prompted to silently take out the next two guards. After this, you'll hide the bodies, and return to the interrogation room for a brief burst of plot, then return to the mission, now disguised as a Russian. Woods will talk his way past the two guards running up. You will meet up with Bowman and another man, and work your way toward the silo. Don't engage ANYONE just yet. Bowman and his ally will remove the guards guarding the silo entrance, and Woods will open the door. Now you can engage. Clear out the first floor, then climb up the stairs, clearing each floor as you move.

The first Intel is on the third floor of the silo. As you approach the ladder leading to the roof, check to your right. The Intel is on one of the desks.

Climb the ladder and push the unprepared guard off the balcony, then secure the rest of the roof. Woods joins you up top, and hands you a crossbow with explosive bolts. Use this to cover Bowman on the ground level by shooting the vehicles the guards stand next to. As Bowman moves up, keep picking off guards, taking out clusters by explosive barrels or cars. Woods will eventually give you a zipline you can shoot to a blinking target on the marked building. Once the zip line is secure, use it to fly from the silo to the target building where Weaver is trapped. Kill the the guards as you break through the class, and free your spy.

More plot, and then follow Woods down the slope with Weaver. You have five minutes to make your way through this next section, so work quickly. You may want to ditch the MP5 you start with if you already haven't, taking out enemies from afar and quickly is the name of the game if you want to move swiftly. Following the path of resistance before you, you will eventually reach a small control room you are ordered to blow open with a demolition charge.

Once the charge goes off, move inside. Opposite to where you enter, atop one of the control panels, is the second Intel.

Weaver claims he can't stop the rocket launch, fortunately there's a prototype remote-controlled missile launcher stashed nearby. Use it, and aim roughly at the nose of the rocket as you guide the missile in. Once that is done, enjoy your handiwork until it starts falling all around you, and follow Weaver and the others to the tunnels. Grab a shotgun as you descend into the corridors, as it will be close quarters fighting. Advance with caution, as there will be very heavy resistance. The enemy here is markedly more grenade-happy than what you've faced so far, and are quick to roll out of the line of fire.

As you fight your way through the tunnels, keep an eye out for a control room on your right, with a large projector running inside. Once you've cleared out the Russian presence, inspect the control panels near the doors leading into this room, the Intel is on top of one of them.

The last Intel secured, leave the control room and keep fighting through the tunnel. Eventually, steam will burst from a damaged pipe, obscuring much of your vision. Don't get careless, running ahead into the steam without clearing it is suicidal, as at least three guards are waiting inside it. Past them, you reach the exit door, and the end of the mission.

Mission 4: S.O.G.

Enemy Intel: 3

We fast-forward to Mason's deployment in Vietnam, in Khe San. Hudson meets Woods, and you both take a jeep to be briefed on the current situation. Mid-way through the drive, you come under heavy bombardment and lose the jeep rather spectacularly. Once you have control, bring Hudson safely inside the bunker, where he recovers, picks up a rifle, and is ready to fight.

Continue down the trench until you are suddenly jumped by an enemy soldier. Follow the prompt to fight him off, and keep moving. Eventually you reach a trench overlooked by machine gun nests. The trenches have two detonators, so make use of them to clear out swaths of the enemy. The two machine gun nests overlook the hills and valley beyond the trenches. Inside, there are LAW rocket launchers, convenient as three tanks begin making a run on your position. Take out the tanks, then clear out enough NVA so it is safer for you to move on.

The first Intel is up the hill behind the machine gun nests. Go towards the ammunition dump at the top of the hill, and inspect the crate to find the Intel tape resting among some boxes of ammo.

Now follow the indicator to get to Woods, going down a ladder and down another trench. You'll want to pick up a China Lake launcher as soon as you can. After you exit the tunnel, you will be at the top of a hill. You need to clear out the hill, level by level, and that means going from turret to turret. Enemies will infinitely respawn here as well, making the task more challenging. The China Lake can take out large groups of targets in one shot, so use that liberally. Eventually, Woods will kick a barrel down the hill at the enemy. Follow suit with the other barrels by running up to them and following the on screen prompt to help clear the trenches.

The second Intel is easy to miss. From the top of this hill, it is on a window slit of one of the bunkers built into the hill, to the left and behind the central bunker at the very front of the defensive lines.

Now that you've fought down this hill, keep following Woods and Hudson. This time you get to fight up a hill. As always, take your time as you advance and make sure you are clear to move forward before you commit to it. There are many places for enemy troops to take cover and you can find yourself taking fire from all directions in very short order if you're reckless. Fight your way to the top of the hill until you are suddenly knocked down by an explosion. An enemy will pin down Woods, you will draw a revolver automatically, then save Woods. After this, keep following him into a bunker.

The third Intel is inside this bunker. As you navigate on through the bunker, you'll pass a fire on your right. On the right side just past the burning debris, the Intel is on a shelf in the corner of the room, just before you enter another room with a flag on the wall

Board the jeep waiting outside. You'll be equipped with a China Lake and an M60, both of which are more than adequate. The jeep will will move between locations on the firebase, occasionally having you take up use of the mounted TOW missile launcher to take out incoming tanks. Between positions, make liberal use of the M60 to clear out enemy soldiers who break into the base. Once all six tanks are destroyed, you're in the clear. It is possible to get the Tough Economy achievement by using only one TOW per tank.

Mission Complete! Now feel bad that Woods and Bowman totally disrespect Hudson even though he just fought through Khe San with you. I did, anyway.

Mission 5: The Defector

Enemy Intel: 3

Hue City is getting ravaged by enemy troops, and the MACV compound is burning down. Mason, Woods, and Bowman are rappelling into this mess to locate a defector. The mission starts and Call of Duty Happens in record time to your insertion chopper, sending it out of control as you're rappelling in. After a dynamic entry, Woods acquires a shotgun from a helpful enemy soldiers, and tosses it to you. The Dragon's Breath rounds are going to be the great equalizer in this mission. Fortunately, the start of the mission is fairly straight forward.

Tear through the enemy troops and follow the the fairly straightforward path in front of you. Bowman's chopper will clear out a cluster of troops, and as you keep moving forward, Bowman and a soon to be dead grunt will deploy to meet you. As you push deeper into the MACV, you discover the safe room has been compromised, and troops stand between you and other location the defector could be.

After more g7un battles, eventually you will reach a hallway. Woods and Bowman will take a door to your left, and you take the door straight ahead. Upon breaching it, you are ambushed by an enemy soldier, but are saved by none other than Reznov. He bears an ominous warning for you and the US government.

The first Intel is in a small room to your right just as you leave the room where you meet Reznov. The Intel tape is on a desk

Follow Reznov outside and rejoin Woods and Bowman. Follow them outside, and move up the crumbled building to the radioman and take it from him. Abuse this as much as you can, as there's no reason not to. Target buildings with heavy hostile presence, and let the air support go to work. You have also have support in the armored fighting vehicle code names 'Bottom Feeders'. Keep it safe. After you clear the first target house, Bottom Feeder will move up, and will continue to move up whenever a pocket of resistance is eliminated.

Intel two is in a house down the road where Bottom Feeder makes it's first right. There is heavy enemy presence there, so call in air support to deal with that, as well as to move Bottom Feeder forward. There are two cars near the front entrance of the house that may or may not be destroyed by the time you get there. The Intel is on a desk on the ground floor of the house.

Keep clearing the way through the streets. with liberal air support. A tank will ambush you, give him an airstrike for its trouble. Enemy resistance will get even thicker, so watch your flanks as you move down this street, and keep pushing towards the marked target. Anti aircraft fire drives away your air-support, so you need to help Woods shove through a doorway flank the position. Follow the on-screen prompts to avoid an untimely death. Once through, move into the next room and up the stairs, taking out resistance as you go. You'll see a cluster of enemy troops through a window in the building next door, down them, and make your way to the next marker, just in time to be blasted unconscious. After more interrogation plot, you awaken with Reznov at your side. Travel through the burning building until you see the AA position, inside the second floor of another building. A C4 charge underneath it will take care of business.

The last Intel is in a building near the former AA nest, across a street to the north, on a small desk

Now head to the evac point. Choppers are going to take the wounded first, meaning you get to be left behind while the North Vietnamese army brings down the hammer on you. Explosives are available at the evac site to help set up defenses. The enemy will be coming from a street heading east, and a street heading south-west. Set your claymore mines accordingly, and grab C4.

When the enemy pops smoke grenades to cover the start of their assault, if you're feeling bold you can toss C4 directly into smoke and then detonate it when you see evidence of the enemy charge. After holding off the assault waves, a tank will show up just as you're given air support to kill it. A call on the radio also informs you a boat is coming to the nearby dock. As soon as the tank goes down, a timer set to 20 seconds starts. Get to the boat before then, and this mission is complete.

This concludes the mini-FAQ to the single player campaign of Call of Duty: Black Ops! If you've followed it thoroughly, you should not have missed a single piece of Enemy Intel in these first five missions.