14 DAY TRIAL // Without a doubt one of the most anticipated games of the year is Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 as the franchise’s millions of fans want to see how developer Treyarch will handle the jump into the near future with the game’s story and its multiplayer mode.
Black Ops 1 took place in the Cold War and now Black Ops II takes players to 2025, where warfare has evolved in a variety of ways.
With several RPG-like multiple-choice missions, as well as a variety of improvements, Black Ops 2 is looking to take the series in a bold new direction. Does it succeed or should no one answer its call? Let’s have a quick look.
Black Ops 2 starts off in a not so glamorous way: a complicated cut scene unfolds right after witnessing the logos of Treyarch and Activision, showing two young siblings trying to survive a fire in 1972 while a rampaging warlord addresses a crowd of believers in 2025.
This doesn’t make a lot of sense and I even skipped it while trying to get past the splash screens the first time I booted up the game.
The story then begins in the near future as you get to hear from old Sergeant Woods as he remembers a mission from the 1970s, in which Alex Mason, the star of Black Ops 1, is forced to exit retirement in order to save Woods, who was captured by enemies.
While the whole mechanic is a bit contrived, it does help ease players into the Black Ops 2 experience and features some pretty simple battles, as Mason helps an African warlord take over Angola.
While the Call of Duty engine shows its age during in-game cut scenes, actual gameplay is still quite decent, although its visual quality pales in comparison to other shooters nowadays, like Medal of Honor: Warfighter.
Overall, judging by the first couple of missions, Black Ops 2 retains the intense first-person shooter actions seen in its predecessors although it’s way too eager to share its complex plot with players.
Check out a video with the game above and look forward to our review later this week.