CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 2
Publisher: Activision
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: 13/11/12
Format: PS3/XBOX/PC
Players: 1(offline) 2-16(online)
Two contradicting phrases can sum up Call of Duty, “If it isn't broke don’t fix it” and “if you’re not moving forward, your'e going backwards”. Both are completely true regarding Call of Duty these days. Ever since CoD4 catapulted the franchise into the mainstream 5 years ago, little has changed. But it’s the lack of change that has made the series drop in favour recently, MW3 proved this last year. So what could they change to bring it back to the fold? Well they have done a lot, some things work, some don’t, but at least they're making an effort. When you first load the game you’re offered a choice - Campaign, Online or Zombies, each mode has become a game in its own right, making it a good candidate for ‘best value for money’ of the year. So where to start?
The Campaign follows the story of David Mason, son of Alex from Black Ops 1 and his mission to stop a mad man hell-bent on revenge for what his father and Woods did after the events after Black Ops 1. The story pings around the 1980s and 2025. If you’re not watching the cut scenes it won’t make sense. But then you have to ask yourself, why you are playing this game? Just so you can shoot people or to play through a good story? Black Ops 1 set-up a very good story and told it well. This sequel is no different, for the most part; after two thirds into the game you stop going back to the 1980s and the plot concentrates on 2025 and it then reverts to the normal blow-everything-up Duty.
A low point in the game, after building up a fantastic story just to let everything crash into pieces is a shame. The gadgets in 2025 at your disposal are handy; sending quad drones to dispatch enemies behind cover is great. The gun sights that mark bad guys make all the difference. But there are some that should have been included more often. You gain an invisible camo suit and within 3 seconds of putting it on an explosion disables it and it’s never seen again. The wing suits are a pain to steer and end up crashing into cliffs, even the fighter jet sequence is a ball ache; I kept flying out of the combat area, I couldn't turn and didn't have a clue where I was going anyway. And you’ll be glad to hear the endless frags the enemy throw at you still remain and cars randomly blow up around you with a single stray bullet.
Same old CoD you may say, well yes and no. They have added a lot of features to improve the experience. You now have the option to choose your loadout before starting each mission. These unlock over the course of the game but the option to use an FAL in 2025 is a nice touch. You can ditch the pistol for a sniper rifle and have an SMG, perfect for close quarters and open areas. You have a few options when tackling certain areas, you have the option to provide cover or escort the objective while a friendly provides the sniper support. There are a few multiple paths to advance in certain areas, get the high ground or attack guns blazing on the ground. It's limited, but mixes up the linearity of the gameplay.
Side missions are added, these are not required to finish the game and become locked if not played within a certain amount of time. These offer something entirely different, remember Command and Conquer? Yes, you play Black Ops 2 as a Real Time Strategy game, with the added ability to zoom in and take over any drone or solider. This doesn't work well and I ended up having to control everything myself, just to complete the objective. Which in themselves are not difficult. Capture this, defend that, all set on one of the Online Multiplayer maps. But one feature they have got right is the alternate endings, there are 4 different ones to be played depending on your choices throughout the game. Some may seem like the obvious decision, but have unforeseen consequences, it all adds the need to replay the story again.
Developer: Treyarch
Release Date: 13/11/12
Format: PS3/XBOX/PC
Players: 1(offline) 2-16(online)
Two contradicting phrases can sum up Call of Duty, “If it isn't broke don’t fix it” and “if you’re not moving forward, your'e going backwards”. Both are completely true regarding Call of Duty these days. Ever since CoD4 catapulted the franchise into the mainstream 5 years ago, little has changed. But it’s the lack of change that has made the series drop in favour recently, MW3 proved this last year. So what could they change to bring it back to the fold? Well they have done a lot, some things work, some don’t, but at least they're making an effort. When you first load the game you’re offered a choice - Campaign, Online or Zombies, each mode has become a game in its own right, making it a good candidate for ‘best value for money’ of the year. So where to start?
The Campaign follows the story of David Mason, son of Alex from Black Ops 1 and his mission to stop a mad man hell-bent on revenge for what his father and Woods did after the events after Black Ops 1. The story pings around the 1980s and 2025. If you’re not watching the cut scenes it won’t make sense. But then you have to ask yourself, why you are playing this game? Just so you can shoot people or to play through a good story? Black Ops 1 set-up a very good story and told it well. This sequel is no different, for the most part; after two thirds into the game you stop going back to the 1980s and the plot concentrates on 2025 and it then reverts to the normal blow-everything-up Duty.
A low point in the game, after building up a fantastic story just to let everything crash into pieces is a shame. The gadgets in 2025 at your disposal are handy; sending quad drones to dispatch enemies behind cover is great. The gun sights that mark bad guys make all the difference. But there are some that should have been included more often. You gain an invisible camo suit and within 3 seconds of putting it on an explosion disables it and it’s never seen again. The wing suits are a pain to steer and end up crashing into cliffs, even the fighter jet sequence is a ball ache; I kept flying out of the combat area, I couldn't turn and didn't have a clue where I was going anyway. And you’ll be glad to hear the endless frags the enemy throw at you still remain and cars randomly blow up around you with a single stray bullet.
Same old CoD you may say, well yes and no. They have added a lot of features to improve the experience. You now have the option to choose your loadout before starting each mission. These unlock over the course of the game but the option to use an FAL in 2025 is a nice touch. You can ditch the pistol for a sniper rifle and have an SMG, perfect for close quarters and open areas. You have a few options when tackling certain areas, you have the option to provide cover or escort the objective while a friendly provides the sniper support. There are a few multiple paths to advance in certain areas, get the high ground or attack guns blazing on the ground. It's limited, but mixes up the linearity of the gameplay.
Side missions are added, these are not required to finish the game and become locked if not played within a certain amount of time. These offer something entirely different, remember Command and Conquer? Yes, you play Black Ops 2 as a Real Time Strategy game, with the added ability to zoom in and take over any drone or solider. This doesn't work well and I ended up having to control everything myself, just to complete the objective. Which in themselves are not difficult. Capture this, defend that, all set on one of the Online Multiplayer maps. But one feature they have got right is the alternate endings, there are 4 different ones to be played depending on your choices throughout the game. Some may seem like the obvious decision, but have unforeseen consequences, it all adds the need to replay the story again.
Zombies returns and after a mammoth success on Black Ops 1, new modes are added. TranZit sees 4 players travel from location to location via Bus in a story driven game. And now the chance to play 4v4 adds a competitive side to survival. Each 4 player team cannot kill the other, but you can stop or hinder each other (It's best when the other team is trying to revive another on their team). Stats are recorded and you even now level up and unlock more goodies. There’s enough here to warrant a title in itself.
Now to the infamous online competitive multiplayer, the main reason anyone would buy this game. They have slowly shaken things up with every passing game, customisable killstreaks, tweaking perks and attachments. Now things have been shaken up again, first the COD currentcy has been taken away. I know some of you will breath a sign of relif, but I personally liked the concept. Once I had unlocked my weapon of chioce I didnt what to spend another few hours unlocking my desired attachment. Can we all remember the Extended Mags with MW2? With the currency everything was avaible providing you had enough money. The other down side to this is the Wager Matchs are gone. The game modes of Sharpshooter, One in the Chamber and the like are now avaible with the other game modes. But with no money at risk, it just becomes the same as any other game. No ergensy to make sure you finish in the money, or feel of loss when you blow half your CoD points and gain nothing. Killstreaks have been removed, instead scorestreaks now help balacne the game as you are rewarded for playing the objective as well as kills. You will still gain XP from your Scorestreaks, but nowhere but not enough to rely on them to gain the next. The create-a-class has had an overhaul as well, instead
of picking from predetermined perks and attachments, you can pick up to ten of anything. Don’t want a pistol; ditch it for an extra special grenade or a second attachment on your primary weapon. You can also pick Wildcards, these cost one of your ten, but allow you to take an extra blue perk or 2 lethal grenades. You can customise it more to your suiting and not be restricted by what the developers want you to have.
The future setting has not harmed the online, infact its given it a lease of life. Some weapons are reconisable from today, others are possible future ones that have taken todays real life counterparts and given them a futureisitc look. The new equipment is also very handy and can cause great moments. The new Shock Charges that electocute any passer bys. Senor Balls, simular to the ones seen in Bad Company2, show enemies within its line of sight or even better the Hard Hat, able to turn turrents and Scoreskeaks against their own people. The maps and gameplay are as you would expect form any CoD, fast and furious, with little respite. It plays smooth and there's very little to complain about in general. It is still plagued by host migration and lag, but this will never change unless Activison provide dedicated servers. Some games you will rage quit and in others you'll feel like a God as everyone is wasted before you. This can happen from game to game, even with the same people. Let’s be honest, if you want to play this, nothing I say is not going to stop you.
As a whole package Black Ops 2 is great. Not the stand out master class of Cod4, but enjoyable nonetheless. Value for money is the key feature here, three games that are solid. Look past the few problems and it's CoD back to where it belongs.
By Chris Sowry 9/10
Now to the infamous online competitive multiplayer, the main reason anyone would buy this game. They have slowly shaken things up with every passing game, customisable killstreaks, tweaking perks and attachments. Now things have been shaken up again, first the COD currentcy has been taken away. I know some of you will breath a sign of relif, but I personally liked the concept. Once I had unlocked my weapon of chioce I didnt what to spend another few hours unlocking my desired attachment. Can we all remember the Extended Mags with MW2? With the currency everything was avaible providing you had enough money. The other down side to this is the Wager Matchs are gone. The game modes of Sharpshooter, One in the Chamber and the like are now avaible with the other game modes. But with no money at risk, it just becomes the same as any other game. No ergensy to make sure you finish in the money, or feel of loss when you blow half your CoD points and gain nothing. Killstreaks have been removed, instead scorestreaks now help balacne the game as you are rewarded for playing the objective as well as kills. You will still gain XP from your Scorestreaks, but nowhere but not enough to rely on them to gain the next. The create-a-class has had an overhaul as well, instead
of picking from predetermined perks and attachments, you can pick up to ten of anything. Don’t want a pistol; ditch it for an extra special grenade or a second attachment on your primary weapon. You can also pick Wildcards, these cost one of your ten, but allow you to take an extra blue perk or 2 lethal grenades. You can customise it more to your suiting and not be restricted by what the developers want you to have.
The future setting has not harmed the online, infact its given it a lease of life. Some weapons are reconisable from today, others are possible future ones that have taken todays real life counterparts and given them a futureisitc look. The new equipment is also very handy and can cause great moments. The new Shock Charges that electocute any passer bys. Senor Balls, simular to the ones seen in Bad Company2, show enemies within its line of sight or even better the Hard Hat, able to turn turrents and Scoreskeaks against their own people. The maps and gameplay are as you would expect form any CoD, fast and furious, with little respite. It plays smooth and there's very little to complain about in general. It is still plagued by host migration and lag, but this will never change unless Activison provide dedicated servers. Some games you will rage quit and in others you'll feel like a God as everyone is wasted before you. This can happen from game to game, even with the same people. Let’s be honest, if you want to play this, nothing I say is not going to stop you.
As a whole package Black Ops 2 is great. Not the stand out master class of Cod4, but enjoyable nonetheless. Value for money is the key feature here, three games that are solid. Look past the few problems and it's CoD back to where it belongs.
By Chris Sowry 9/10
