Call of Duty Black Ops 2: Behind the closed curtains

Blops 2 was to be expected, but I never expected the game to look so good. The Call of Duty franchise has taken its toll on me over the years. Heck, I’ve played the games since the first one came out in 2003. And I thought that game was revolutionary…

This year’s annual installment promises an all-new unique storyline that promises branching story lines for the first time in Call of Duty history and then your typical hectic, fast paced combat with lots and lots of explosions.

The Story

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is a direct sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops, which took place during the first cold war. The game is set to take place in a fictional world not to far off in 2025. You will play as David Mason, who is ironically the son of Alex Mason, the previous game’s protagonist.

Alex however, will return as a playable character via flashbacks set in the late 1980s. Though it is not clear about how he is tied into the game’s story, he will be in charge of igniting and arming proxy wars with Russia in locations like Nicaragua and Afghanistan.

What is most exciting though is how big the game’s story is. Written once again by Screenwriter David Goyer (The Dark Knight, Superman: Man of Steel), the game is set to span not just a few weeks or months, it will span generations.

The game will heavily emphasis on the father and son mutual enemy situation with David and Alex Mason pitted against Raul Menedez, a mysterious figure who is somehow tied to the Reagan-era conflict in Nicaragua.

Both of the Masons will be receiving help from Frank woods, who somehow didn’t die in the original Black Ops. If you don’t remember, he was the one who tackled villain Victor Kravchenko out of a window who was wearing a belt of live grenades. Easy said, easy done?

He is the awkward old-man in the game’s trailer narrating the events that befell the United States. Roughly a third of the game will be set in the 80s where you’ll get to see how Menedez became of a monster of a man. While disturbing as it is told to be, Treyarch claims the events are going to be very believable. Meaning that they weren’t thrown into just to brainwash our minds with just the aspect of how crazy it is.

And for those of you who happened to notice the horses in the game’s trailer, you saw horses. Lots of them. Unfortunately, I thought they were going to be used as a form of transportation in the 2025 apocalyptic setting since our vehicles have been turned against us. Instead, they are used only in a mission set during the 1980s in Afghanistan.

Revisiting the events back in 2025, the “tragic” event that has befallen America is an invasion by China, not over resources, but rare earth elements. Huh?

After doing a little research on these “rare earth elements” I found out that they’re actually very essential to many of today’s most important products for things like cars and cell-phones. Considering that everything in this game is powered by un-manned machinery, it would make sense about why China would need more of these minerals.

And in comparison, China today, in the real world, controls about 95% of the world’s rare earth elements. And in this futuristic, technology driven world that Treyarch has imagined up, a single hacker would have the power to bring entire superpowers to their knees.

All of the military’s drones, advanced robotics, security systems could all one day be used against us. Oliver North, who is a consultant on the game, says he’s not worried about “the guy who hijacks the one plane, but about the guy who hijacks all of them.”

Strike Force

An interesting new game mode coming to Black Ops 2 is Strike Force, which was inspired by adventure games that allow players to choose what happens next. Meaning, for the first time, player choices will impact the game’s story. This is mainly done through the Strike Force game mode.

Skill alone won’t have the same significance on the story as narrative point of view would. Main squad members and villains’ henchmen will live or die depending on what you do and how you do it. The result of the new Cold War and the success of villain Raul Menedez will depend solely on you. By the end of the campaign, you will realize the different things that could have happened.

Strike Force missions are sets of levels that shape the outcome of the Cold War between the U.S. and China in non-linear, sandbox campaign missions.The missions are like team-based multiplayer scrimmages, only they’re player by one player. That player will be able to shift between all the available soldiers that you have, including the different robot machinery available to you.

Meaning you could switch from a ground point of view to that of an aerial view with the touch of a button. From each perspective, you will have to issue out commands like you would in a Real Time strategy game. Send this guy here, have this guy flank this guy, etc. Your end goal would be to obviously kill all the opposing A.I. controlled team, along with the series of objectives given to you that can be done in any given order. Run out of people or time will result in failure.

It is a shame that this mode won’t be implemented into the multiplayer, as one on one Strike Force matches sounds like a load of fun!

All of the missions exist within the single-player campaign’s main story at different choke points. Players will be notified of different conflicts happening around the world and as a covert operative, you will select on mission from the list of those available to you.

Live or die, the outcome of your mission will affect the game’s story.

The Multiplayer

Your typical multiplayer is back, but what sounds most enticing about Blops 2′s multiplayer is the much more diverse Zombie mode. There will be an entire new world with all new game modes you can play . No longer is there just the simple survival mode that eventually grows boring after the first 30 minutes of doing the same old thing.

For the first time, Zombies will run in the multiplayer engine. Previous Zombies modes were jury rigged using the campaign engine. Will there be some human versus zombie action on the way?

In terms of the real multiplayer that I know you all you love to play, is set exclusively in 2025. Although no new game modes, weapons, or things like killstreaks and perks have been announced, Treyarch has confirmed that the game will once again run in 60 frames per second on consoles.

The verdict

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 in general looks very, very good. Featuring an all new setting backed by what sounds to be an excellent and long story, Call of Duty may manage to squeeze in some new life to the franchise after all. Modern Warfare 3 was good, but there was little to nothing to be seen that hasn’t been done already.

Look for the game to launch later this year on November 13, 2012 on PC, PS3 and 360.