Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified

Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified was publisher Activision's attempt to bring the Call of Duty brand directly to a handheld – the game launched in November 2012 alongside Black Ops II and was meant to show that full-fledged action from the series could be experienced on the go too. Instead of the established studios Treyarch or Infinity Ward, development was handed to Nihilistic Software, which had to contend with the limitations of the PlayStation Vita of the time and the absence of the second analog control input that console players of the series were used to.

The result was a version that differed from the big console Black Ops games in practically everything except the name and a few visual references to the series. The campaign lasted only about one to two hours and consisted of short, loosely connected missions without a more elaborate story, so it has practically nothing in common with the plot of the numbered Black Ops entries. Controls combined the touchscreen and rear touchpad for movement and aiming instead of a second analog stick, which in practice proved imprecise and tiring, especially in faster firefights. Multiplayer offered only a handful of maps and game modes, and the technical execution – blocky models, poorer textures and noticeable frame rate drops – clearly revealed that this was a quickly stitched-together title rather than a full-fledged transfer of the home console experience.

Precisely because of this uneven quality, Black Ops Declassified remained the game's only release ever – Activision never ported it to any other platform, and the game never later appeared on any other console. Within the series, it is still remembered mainly as a cautionary example of how a big brand's transfer to a handheld should not look, and it is often ranked among the weakest titles bearing the Call of Duty name. For the PlayStation Vita, however, it is the only original series entry ever released on the console, and as such it holds a specific place in its library regardless of the quality of its execution.

Why play: It's the only series entry on PlayStation Vita, so it holds a specific place in its library, but due to its uneven execution quality it is often ranked among the weakest titles bearing the Call of Duty name.