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Call of Duty: Black
Ops II
is getting praised
as a landmark game,
the best CoD ever,
the best game of
2012, and one of the
best games of the
past decade. There
are some great
improvements from
the past few
releases, especially
in multiplayer and
zombie modes, but
the campaign mode
lacks some of the
power that previous
games have had.
First, lets remember
how Call of Duty
started more than a
decade ago. It was a
WWII game and the
first of it's class.
Since then,
Activision and it's
developers have
taken the game to
some interesting
places. Modern
Warfare provided
some excellent
modern-era
storytelling with
the Call of Duty
formula.
Call
of Duty: Black Ops
was a Cold War era
game that mixed CoD
with a blockbuster
movie angle with
tons of talent
providing voice work
for the game and the
end product being an
edgy, slightly
darker CoD game that
was a ton of fun.
Call of Duty: Black
Ops II is a bit
harder to figure
out. It jumps around
from character to
character and from
time period to time
period to assemble a
story. Here’s
where I’m
slightly torn on the
main single player
venture of Black Ops
II. There are
elements to the
story that I like,
others I don’t
particularly care
for. The older-era
stuff that goes back
years ago to the
guys fighting in
Honduras are amazing
levels. However,
when they’re
in the current era,
the story and the
new gadgets in the
game just aren’t
believable. It’s
like they’ve
added a bunch of
things to make Call
of Duty more like
Halo, and no sir- I
don’t
like it. That stuff
is great in
multiplayer, but it
just feels too
far-fetched in
campaign mode. The
story all-combined
is fine, but I’d
say it’s
my least favorite
out of all of the
CoD games. Things
would have been
better here if they
would have called
this something
different. I think
it’s
too different from
the first Black Ops
game to brand it as
a sequel. There are
some fun moments
throughout the
campaign, and the
new loadout system
complete with the
new scoring system
give it a boost.
There’s
a lot of good with
this story and what
you can do in
campaign, but there’s
also a lot of bad.
The multiplayer is
more of a focus with
Call of Duty these
days than the
campaign mode, and
for good reason. It’s
played by legions of
peoples, it’s
powered by a social
network that’s
wonderfully
integrated and used,
and it’s
some of the best
multiplayer action
you can find on a
console. Black Ops
II has some serious
upgrades in that
department. Not only
are the new weapons
a ton of fun to play
in multiplayer, the
biggest upgrade is
Treyarch’s
Pick 10 system. At
the beginning of
each round, you get
to pick 10 items for
your loadout. With
the system you get
ten points and every
weapon, attachment,
explosive, or perk
counts as a point.
You pick 10 and you
hop in a match. The
other fun upgrade
with multiplayer is
the hardpoint mode.
You capture areas
and defend them as
long as you can to
earn points. It’s
easily my favorite
option here.
What I’ve
had the most fun
with CoD: Black Ops
II is the zombie
mode. It’s
the most polished
and flushed-out
zombie CoD to date.
There’s
a cool story that
you can play along
to or you can just
pick up a controller
and jump in to try
and beat your high
score. The zombie
system is the best
it’s
ever been here and
you’ll
get more hours of
enjoyment out of it.
There are some
remarkable
innovations with
Black Ops II, I’m
not denying that.
But the campaign
mode just isn’t
what I’m
used to with a Call
of Duty game due to
it’s
story. Honestly, I
hated parts of it
and found it to be
too ridiculous to
wrap my head around.
That doesn’t
take away from
multiplayer and
zombie options here.
But It would have
been nice for this
game to be called
something different
than Black Ops II,
like Past and
Present, something
cool like that. But
looking past my
problems with the
story, this is still
a great game and a
can't-miss for the
holiday season.
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