Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Like snow or Christmas decorations, Call of Duty shows itself by the end of the year. Like every year since Modern Warfare. This time, it's the turn of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, developed by Treyarch. Unlike its predecessor, the story sets in two distinct eras, the 80's and the year 2025. Two viewpoints which allow the game to offer many side roads in the story, and 8 different endings. This is a first for such a mainstream series. Of course the game's core remains the same on the basics: cinematic action, epic scenes and a percussive score. Even if Black Ops 2 reuses old recipes, it does it really well and remains a great experience.

Call of Duty Black Ops II is saved by its multiplayer, as the campaign has surprisingly too many bad sections. Maybe now it's time to move on? [Dec 2012]

A very pleasant surprise. The game's single-player is scripted all the way, but the experience is huge, it's rightly put together, it's even entertaining. On the other hand, the game's multiplayer has its qualities without a doubt, it's even trying to be revolutionary in a way. The undead are beginning to lose their breath, however, after many years this is the Call of Duty title I am willing to recommend.

More importantly, choice is another element that helps take the Black Ops 2 campaign off of the carbon-copy conveyor belt of typical Call of Duty shooting. It doesn't make the same whole-hearted dramatic franchise leap forward that Modern Warfare did, which is disappointing, but after five years of more of the same, it's a big step in the right direction.

Caught between striving for the future and remaining rooted in the past, Black Ops II finds solid footing, providing another great ride on the Call of Duty rollercoaster.

Even though its graphics engine won't win awards anymore, especially on PC, the game succeeds in finding its place in the upper echelons of multiplayer-shooting. If you're looking for a great offline experience, though, you might want to look somewhere else.

Though hokey, tired and periodically shambolic, the campaign has a few new tricks, but it's the fulsome multiplayer that saves Blops 2 from shame.

The Corn Flakes of multiplayer first-person shooters. We've been sick of eating it for some time, now. [Jan 2013, p.80, 81]

Black Ops II brings evolution to the series unfortunately, the evolution that is incomplete. Only one part of the game deserves a top ranking – multiplayer. [Christmas 2012]