By now you’ve probably heard of Call of Duty. In fact, I bet you’ve already made your mind up about the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops II. Well, even if you already have an opinion about the Call of Duty franchise, I still want to tell you about what you can expect on November 13 when Black Ops II comes out and I urge you to give it a second look. I’ve heard a lot of people compare Call of Duty to Madden, a game series that releases one game a year with cookie cutter features and hardly any updates or additions. While this may have been the case in the past, this year’s addition to the Black Ops series promises a brand new setting, weaponry, multiplayer features, and much more.
For the first time in the franchise, players will battle in a future time period. This means that Treyarch won’t be bogged down by historical inaccuracies and can instead focus on creating a unique narrative of their own. The year is 2025 and advanced technology has brought humanity to an age ruled by sentient weapons, heavy vehicles, and devious political masterminds, all of which pose an imminent threat. Now you are probably saying to yourself, “Haven’t we seen this before?” Where many other games have attempted to tread, Black Ops II promises to deliver a unique experience. When was the last time you played a game where you fought on horseback? It worked in Red Dead Redemption. Imagine a world where technology is taking over and the line between control and complete chaos is becoming thinner by the day. The Black Ops II campaign is guaranteed to keep you coming back for more, but Treyarch has much more in store for us than just a stellar campaign.
Call of Duty can attribute its Triple-A juggernaut status to its multiplayer. Gamers have returned to the battlefield each year to fight in the trenches along with their friends, storm objectives, and emerge victorious in a battle to prestige and outrank everyone else. Black Ops II is much more than just multiplayer though. While Call of Duty has a bad rap for supposedly being nothing but “12 year olds and dirtbags,” there is much more for those of you aren’t interested in online competitive multiplayer. Zombies mode has returned and will feature three different modes, new zombie types, and robust maps that will allow for travel by foot or even bus! Up to four players can fight the undead, but this isn’t the Zombies mode you remember. You can now also go up against another team of four to see who can outlast the zombies longer. Your only hope is to aim for the head and pray that you win!
The newest addition that has many fans dying to play are Strike Force missions, which will deliver optional objectives that play out in a sandbox setting. Played out in a combination of RTS and FPS, you will command Quadrotors, Imperial Walkers, and order your troops to take strategic actions. The biggest feature of Strike Force is Overwatch which allows you to get a detailed overview of your surroundings. You can zoom out to see where enemies are located and then take control of any one of your soldiers to eliminate the opposition. Depending on how you do on these levels, the main story will take note of your achievements and accomplishments. The idea is that the better you do on these missions, the more advantageous the effects will be in the main campaign. These missions will add plot, deliver more action, and bring about change unseen in the series up to this point.
Even if you’ve already made up your mind about Black Ops II, I again urge you to give it another look. Black Ops II comes out on November 13, 2012 on the Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and PC, as well as on the Wii U on November 18. Black Ops II is rated “M for Mature”.
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