Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is the highly anticipated first person shooter game; sequel to the record breaking and critically acclaimed Call of Duty: Black Ops. This sequel is the ninth game in the world renowned and iconic franchise, and was developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. The campaign storyline was written in conjunction with the renowned script writer David Goyer, who is responsible for such groundbreaking classics as Batman Begins.

The campaign spans the time period from the 1980s to 2025, making it the first game in the Call of Duty series to have a futuristic setting. Beginning in the 1980s, the campaign tells the origin story of the game’s main antagonist Raul Menendez, with players getting to step into the shoes of the original Black Ops protagonist Alex Mason once again, and then the chance to play as his son David Mason in the year 2025. In both time periods, the world is caught in a Cold War; in the year 2025, China and the United States are at logger heads as China bans the export of rare earth elements following a cyber attack that crippled the Chinese stock exchange. Cyber terrorism plays an enormous threat to the world and its inhabitants in this time period, with the vicious and vindictive villain Raul Menendez himself being a terrorist leader.

Black Ops 2 presents itself as the first in the franchise to have branching storylines, completely player-driven based upon the player’s decisions and choices. Within parts of the campaign, there are missions, etc. which you can either fail or succeed in, inevitably either enabling or hindering the antagonist Menendez with his ultimate terrorist goals. The ability for the player to make important decisions allows the campaign’s storyline to be completely non-linear, and also allows for replayability to see other ways in which the game could play out. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the futuristic Cold War, and will be shown what could have gone differently.

The setting of Black Ops 2 is designed to follow as realistic a route as possible, with all the technology based on current designs or future plans. There are new interfaces and weapons systems based on current technology, including wrist-mounted launchers that fire small explosives, sniper rifles that use millimetre wave technology, VTOL aircraft, other unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters, machine gun mounted UAVs, mechanised soldiers, and a great deal more. Alongside the inclusion of a great deal of both modern and slightly futuristic weaponry, technology, and general warfare (all of which strikes a very deep chord with reality), Black Ops 2 has tweaked the graphics engine to allow better visuals, making all that you can feast your eyes on within this game all the better.

Featured within Black Ops 2 is the introduction of Strike Force missions, which are available for the player to choose to take on throughout the campaign. Within these Strike Force missions you will be able to control a black ops group, with each mission playing out as a small sandbox battlefield in which you can choose both the order you complete objectives, as well as what units you play, with human soldiers fighting alongside robots and UAVs. These missions can be played out in a real-time strategy fashion, and from two perspectives; overmatch view, and from the perspective of the unit you have selected. At any given time during the mission you can zoom out to an overmatch view of the battlefield and then select a new unit, which will shift your view to this unit’s perspective; this zooming allows you to rapidly possess whatever unit suits your needs at any given time, although you can also issue commands to your units from the overmatch view. The progress you make within these missions will be reflected in the course of the antagonist Raul Menendez’s plans, although sometimes a player may choose one mission at the cost of others, meaning each and every player will experience a different and more personal battlefield, driven by their choices and decisions. The success of these Strike Forces missions isn’t guaranteed, and should all of your operatives die you will lose the missions, inevitably changing the course of conflict.

The Zombie mode will also make a reappearance with Black Ops 2, making it the third time this mode has appeared within the franchise, but the first to have its own campaign alongside the main storyline. The Zombie mode will make full use of Call of Duty’s multiplayer capabilities, as it utilises the multiplayer engine, and also supports eight player co-op play. These alterations to the mode mean you get the best out of the blood, gore, and guts, hand in hand with a deeper community experience. The multiplayer itself will be set in the future year of 2025, complete with all the new technology, as well as a revamped combat training system for new players.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 boasts a whole multitude of futuristic technology and weaponry for you to get your hands on, alongside new modes that enable you to explore every inch available to you in practically every way possible. With Black Ops 2 also being player-driven, you will never be short of choices and decisions to make, each one affecting the outcome of how the campaign itself plays out, and meaning that only you, and you alone, can tailor just exactly how you want this Cold War to play out. (Cat Emerson)

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