Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review

Days of Future Past

Ryan Gilliam

The Call of Duty franchise has evolved quite a bit since the first one was released in

2003. The series hit an all time high five years after, in 2007, when Call of Duty 4:

Modern Warfare was released. Modern Warfare redesigned and changed multiplayer

games forever, a feat rarely achieved and only with such games as Quake, Counterstrike, and the original Halo. Now that the series is in its ninth year, Call of Duty: Black Ops II has been released, and while it is solid, and a good Call of Duty game, it fails at its major

marketing push, change.

Black Ops II is expansive and packs nearly three full games worth of content into its tiny

little box. For this reason, I have chosen to split this review up into three separate parts,

each detailing a specific mode.

Campaign:

To be frank, there hasn't been a great Call of Duty campaign since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. While Call of Duty: World at War, and Call of Duty: Black Ops certainly had some strong moments, nothing has really compared to getting hit by a nuke or the glory of sniping as your superior officer in “All Ghillied Up.”

Black Ops II’s campaign is quite an interesting one. The missions take place in both 2025, and the 1980s. The 2025 missions are full of some neat future gadgets, a surprisingly interesting story, and fun new future weapons. It is partially for this reason that I found myself dreading all of the 80s missions, and partially becauseI just didn't care about anything that was happening. The old guns all feel the same and the missions just fell flat more often than not.

While these missions “past missions” certainly bring forth important story elements,

such as the introduction to the grand villain of both past and future Raul Menedez, they

are generally little to no fun and often rely on lame set pieces and generic

environments.

The future missions, however, save this Call of Duty. The environments and encounters

are fun and varied. The “near future” gadgets and weaponry really shine whether it be

wrist launched grenades, flight suits, or Bond-like sticky gloves. The future campaign

does suffer from a few minor political hiccups however, such as the mission aboard the

U.S.S. Obama or the random female president. While these things are certainly possible for

2025, they feel forced in and too much attention is put on them to make it seem organic.

Black Ops II brings decision making to the usually straight forward Call of Duty

campaigns. Now, if you fail to stop a key target from being kidnapped, you lose them,

and could potentially change other missions. These “decisions,” or in some cases

“failures,” can change not only your ending, but cutscenes throughout the campagin.

Choosing who lives and who dies is nothing new to the video game world, but it is a

welcome addition to Call of Duty.

Keeping in the vain of “choice,” players are also allowed to bring their own custom

loadouts into a campaign mission. This adds some fun replayability, as you will not be able

to use all of the guns unless you complete mission specific challenges. While this isn't reinventing the wheel, being able to truly choose your play style in the campaign make it a

hell of a lot more fun.

Between the missions, you will have an option to do “Strike Force Missions.” In these

missions you can switch from soldier, to turret, to giant tank-bear-cannon-thing and

command them all using a RTS like “god mode” to complete the objective. Unfortunately,

unless you are playing as one of these units directly, there is little hope of accomplishing

your mission since the AI is so unintelligent and weak. The missions are occasionally

frustrating and don't add very much of anything. The only bonus, is that strike force

missions will allow you to fix an outcome of a previous story mission, or add something

entirely different to your unique story.

The story is fairly complex with a villain that actually has motivation and may not truly

just be “evil for evil’s sake.” I enjoyed the story and found it interesting to have a picture painted of 2025. It really embraces the idea of machinery dominating everything in the future and the dangers that potentially lie with complete automation.

While most characters are voiced very well and written fine, nobody stands out quite like

your future military buddy Harper, brought to life by the forever awesome Michael

Rooker. Rooker constantly makes you feel like your roaming around with a badass at

your side.

Black Ops II’s campaign has some great bits, mixed with an equal amount mediocre

moments. While this campaign isn't as good as Modern Warfare’s in 2007, it is certainly

a step in the right direction.

Multiplayer:

Multiplayer has obviously been a crucial aspect to the Call of Duty franchise since 2007.

This time around, there are a few noticeable tweaks, but nothing really life-changing

here.

All of the fan favorite modes return in Black Ops II multiplayer. The best additions, as far

as playlists are concerned, come in two forms, the first old, the second new.

First off, party games like “Gun Game,” “One In the Chamber,” and “Sticks and Stones,”

will now grant you experience. This is a change from the original Black Ops where you could bet the Call of Duty currency on the outcome of the game, you didn't earn any

experience, and nobody cared. While it may seem small, this change is a great

incentive to play these games. Not because they are experience boosters, but because

hardcore people who only care about ranking up will now get to enjoy these without

feeling as if they are wasting precious time.

Second, League Play has been added into Black Ops II. Very similar to “The Arena” in

Halo Reach, League Play allows the player (and their friends) to play a variety of

playlists to rank up and be placed in a league. This will match the players according to skill. What makes it even better, is that everything unlocked, meaning everyone is on equal ground. So whether you are a pro and want to tackle only the best of the best, or you have no idea what you are doing and you just want to try out all the guns, League Play really allows for the definitive Call of Duty experience.

Speaking of leveling up and loadouts, that is the biggest change from previous Call of

Duty games. Black Ops brings the “Pick 10 System” forward. With “Pick 10,” players are

able to completely customize a class, getting rid of secondary weapons in favor of an

extra perk. Everything is assigned one point, and you can add and remove up to ten

points. Don't want a pistol? Good, have a point back. Want an extra grenade? Its gonna

cost you a point.

It is a system that, in theory, sounds revolutionary, in practice however, it really doesn't

seem to effect much. This isn't to say its bad. I think it will be difficult to go back to the

very firm, straight forward loadouts in other Call of Duty’s. Despite how innovative this

system seems, you will still mostly see the same classes, with a few extra tweaks. If you

were hoping this would change everything, keep hoping for a few more years.

As far as gun and map design are concerned, this multiplayer seems just about “okay”. Very few guns feel unique, and all the maps are just generally mediocre. Like with every game, there are certainly favorite and least favorite maps. In this case however, I find my “favorites” to just be the maps I don’t detest.

One of the more annoying tweaks to Black Ops II, are the insanely quick deaths. Where

as in other Call of Duty games, I may escape from an encounter alive, in Black Ops II, it

appears to be “jump, or be jumped.” Rarely have I been attacked and managed to get

away, and the same is true for my victims. This can get tiresome in the beginning when you are unfamiliar with maps and common hiding places. Depending on how tolerant

you’re feeling that day, three instant deaths due to SMG could put you off for some time.

While this isn't the best Call of Duty multiplayer experience of late, it is still a hell of a lot of fun. With League Play and the “Pick 10 System,” I certainly think other iterations could learn from Black Ops II.

Conclusion:

When it all comes down to it, Black Ops II is fun. It’s not too innovative in most places

and sure it’s more of the same, but is that really that bad? If you cant get enough of

military shooters, or have taken a break from them, and are interested in getting back in,

consider jumping into Black Ops II for a helluva good time.