Daniel’s Game Corner

Daniel Kalmouni, Psychology

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, developed by Treyarch, and published by Activision, is a first-person shooter and released on November 13, 2012, for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3, and PC.

Not that Call of Duty needs any introduction, but love it or hate it, Activision releases a new one year after year, and for several years in a row now, each release breaks sales records in the gaming industry. With such an enormously successful franchise with yearly entries, it is easy to get lost in either the pro-CoD camp, or the anti-CoD camp. It’s hard to look at each iteration of Call of Duty without finding past entries highly influencing. However, with that said, this does not necessarily make for a bad game. Black Ops 2 is the latest entry in the series, and attempts to distinguish itself from past entries in a multitude of ways.

 For those of you who are familiar with Call of Duty on the console, the major draw of each entry is the multiplayer, which has remained on the top of the Xbox Live charts for years. However, each game does feature a full-length campaign, and while I won’t delve too deeply in Black Ops 2’s, I’ll quickly mention a few things.

For the most part, Black Ops 2’s campaign features the same big set pieces that the series is known for, with a mediocre story to back up the gratuitous amount of action. Since Black Ops 2 takes place during the 80’s as well as the near-future, you can expect to see many different settings and weaponry that make appearances throughout the game. The future missions are particular entertaining, due to the interesting science-fiction, but plausible, weaponry and gadgets that you are able to use. Black Ops 2’s campaign also features branching storylines, a first for the series, which can change depending on special Strike Force missions.

To break up the normal mission structure, Treyarch has introduced these special missions that players can opt to play in order to affect the outcome of the story. These missions feature an overhead view of a particular battlefield, where you can control squads and equipment from a top-down perspective, or take over an individual character or equipment to control them yourself. While interesting in theory, these missions are poorly paced and implemented throughout the campaign, and serve as a distraction and weak-point in the campaign. While innovative to a degree, these missions ultimately fail to be entertaining.

Anyway, the important aspect of any Call of Duty game revolves around the online multiplayer, which has always been highly competitive and popular. Black Ops 2 is no different, and while it doesn’t delve too far from the tried and true CoD online strategy, it implements a few unique features that work well.

As with past games, you are able to customize your loadout of weapons, equipment, and perks (special options that alter your character to some degree, like giving him the ability to jump over obstacles quicker, to move silently, or able to take more explosive damage before dying). This time, however, Treyarch has introduced the Pick 10 system, which allows you to choose weapons, attachments, equipment, and perks at one point per piece, with a maximum of ten points to be spent per class. The addition of Wildcards adds even more customization to classes, allowing you to double stack on perks of a certain class (each perk is put into the Perk 1, Perk 2, or Perk 3 groupings.), or giving you the option to put three attachments on your main gun instead of two. This Pick 10 system is a great success, and allows you to further customize classes that you can utilize in certain situations, or to compliment your play-style.

The weapons and equipment themselves are standard fare, and while Black Ops 2 takes place in the future, most of the weaponry is based on current guns. Some of the equipment branches out into futuristic territory, like the shock charge, which allows you to throw an electrically charged stick, embedding itself into the first surface it comes into contact with. Once triggered by a nearby enemy, the shock charge will stun and damage your opponent and alert you to his presence.

 Each weapon takes time to master, with different fire-rates, recoil, ammo capacities, and a whole host of other aspects that make each gun unique. Each weapon class this time around is much more viable to use, which was not the case in previous Call of Duty games. For instance, the rifle, smg, and sniper classes usually dominated the multiplayer scene, with rifles edging out every other class for the most part. In Black Ops 2, the rifle, sniper, smg, shotgun, lmg, and secondary classes are all highly effective. This obviously causes some balance issues in some of the guns, particularly with shotguns and light machine guns, which are considered a bit overpowered and too easy to use effectively. While not game-breaking, certain weapons can ruin a match simply by how easy it is to use. (I’m thinking about the Remington shotgun with a laser site and L-SAT lmg with the target finder sight in particular. The first allows the player to run around and kill people in one shot without having to aim down the sights of the gun, while the second provides players with a nearly-recoilless, accurate, high-ammo capacity gun with a sight that highlights enemy players for you) Overall, the weapons are fairly balanced, and individual skill is ultimately the determining factor in match outcomes.

In addition to the vast array of weapons and equipment, the popular Killstreaks come back in the form of Scorestreaks, which are awarded to players based on a continuous build of score, instead of kills-only. If you are doing well supporting your team in objective-based maps, or get a lot of assists in team kills, you are awarded with Scorestreaks this time around, which are not only kill-dependent. The Scorestreaks range from the iconic UAV to some very powerful and effective Scorestreaks like the Warthog and K9 Unit. You can pick up to three Scorestreaks, which you unlock via score throughout a match. As with every Call of Duty game, the game is incredibly smooth, running at 60 fps throughout most matches. These 60 fps come at a cost though, the tried and aging CoD engine has been around for many years, since 2007, and definitely shows its age. Additionally, there are many instances of poor lag-compensation and connection issues that crop up almost daily, resulting in dropped matches and poor network experiences. These happen frequently enough to warrant mention, and while not game-breaking, hinder the multiplayer experience from time to time.

The last game mode in Black Ops 2 is Zombies, a very popular addition that debuted in Treyarch’s Call of Duty: World at War back in 2008. This cooperative mode pits up to 8 (as opposed to the standard 4 of the other titles) players against a never ending wave of zombies. Black Ops 2’s version of Zombies is more robust than past entries, offering a barebones campaign and larger maps. Weapon and character upgrades are persistent in every map, and add to the overall experience. The Zombies mode serves as a great distraction from time to time, and can be incredibly fun with a group of friends.

Black Ops 2 does a lot of things right, but that also means it does a lot of things the same, which can get a little old after so many years of similar entries. A couple of innovations steer CoD in the right direction, but fans and non-fans will know what to expect from Black Ops 2 for the most part. The multiplayer remains just as frantic and competitive as in previous entries, which serves as CoD’s strongpoint, and while highly enjoyable and implementing some interesting features, sometimes falls short due to game imbalances and technical issues. The campaign and Zombies mode only add to the package, but both are relatively short-lived and do not make up the bulk of the game. Black Ops 2 is more of the same, which is a relief or disappointment depending on who you ask.

I would rate Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 an 8.5/10 bricks.

Questions and comments? Email me at dkalmouni@gmail.com!