5 Reasons why Black Ops 2 will be the best Call of Duty Ever Despite being the most popular gaming franchise in the known universe, I’ve not met anybody who claims to actually like Call of Duty. Everyone complains about it: whether they’re whinging about the linearity and shortness of the campaign or getting uppity because the online mode is “broken” it seems that Call of Duty has no fans at all. It’s like Michael McIntyre, or fish pie – phenomenally successful, despite the fact that it makes everybody who goes near it throw up. After a few years of super-stardom back in the Infinity Ward days, the series quickly lost direction and a lot of its fanbase. These days, CoD forums exist only to highlight gameplay flaws and bitch about Activision; with its glory days long gone, and only a few bloated follow-ups since, Call of Duty is the gaming industry’s fallen rock-star. One of these days we’re going to find Call of Duty dead in a hotel room, overdosed on weapon perks and lying in a pool of its own revenue. At least, that’s what I thought until I saw the Black Ops II trailers. Undoubtedly my pick of E3, CoDBLOPS II has all the makings of the best Call of Duty game since 2007. Big, bold and boisterous, Treyarch’s future-shooter looks exactly like the gun-shot to the arm that Call of Duty needs. Here’s why: 5. It’s Set In The Future It was only a matter of time before Call of Duty hit 88mph. Having blown-up most of the twentieth century and the noughties, Treyarch are quantum-leaping into 2025 for Black Ops II. It’s a bold move – swapping the trademark military realism for sleek futuristic fantasy marks a huge step out of CoD’s comfort zone – but it shows balls, and that’s what the series has been missing. Ever since Modern Warfare went twenty-six times platinum, Activision has been naturally reluctant to change the formula. Military advisors, real-world locations and spot-on ballistics have defined Call of Duty for the past five years. But Black Ops II does away with all that, and the results look fantastic: robots, flying turrets, and Aliens-style mech battle suits give you more toys to play with than ever. Where the endless shoot-reload-repeat of Modern Warfare was starting to give everybody a thousand-yard stare, now you can zap enemies with laser guns or sneak up on them with unmanned drones. There are bazookas that can launch twenty missiles at once, or sniper rifles that can be charged up to shoot through brick walls and armoured vehicles. And that’s all we’ve seen so far: by the time Black Ops II lands in November, it’ll probably include a gun that fires helicopters, or something. 4. David S. Goyer Is Writing It Every time you go to a Halloween party and see fourteen different idiots all wearing the same Heath Ledger-Joker costume, David S. Goyer is the man to blame. This is the guy that co-wrote Batman Begins, The Dark Knight and The Dark Knight Rises, and now he’s on board for Black Ops II. That means we can expect big action, sharp dialogue and gravelly voices. He’s not the first Hollywood screenwriter to take a swing at Call of Duty – Casino Royale and Quantum of Solace writer Paul Haggis was behind the script for last year’s Modern Warfare 3, which unfortunately ended up more incomprehensible and hammy than a gammon labyrinth. Goyer’s got the goods. Having reinvented the most ailing franchise in comic books, he’s the perfect guy to relaunch Call of Duty as a fresh, futuristic first-person shooter. And with his penchant for blockbuster set-pieces, David S. Goyer is set to make the next CoD the most spectacular yet. He’s currently the only big name attached to the project, but it’s expected that plenty of A-listers will be lending their diaphragms to Black Ops II. Sam Worthington, Idris Elba, Timothy Olyphant and Gary Oldman have all popped up in the past so it’s exciting to see who Goyer will get to work with. Christian Bale anyone? 3. Strike Force Missions. More Zombies For all its rambunctiousness and bombs, the Call of Duty single player is painfully straightforward. Whether you’re dropping airstrikes from a Cold War jet or slotting terrorists with a silenced M4, the campaign mode leads you around by the nose. Not anymore. Black Ops II’s Strike Force missions mean that at last, players have a say on the action. Taking place between the main missions, Strike Force puts you in charge of your squad via an RTS style interface, as you guide them from objective to objective. Screw things up and there’s no rowing back: characters that die on Strike Force missions stay dead, and any big decisions you make impact on the narrative. With different ways to play and multiple endings, Treyarch is looking to inject their campaign mode with the same replayabilty that keeps the online servers packed, and Mountain Dew in business. And that’s not all. The beloved zombies mini-game that kicked off in World at War is finally getting its own feature-length story mode. Details are sketchy at the moment, but the few pictures that have sprung up on Treyarch’s website suggest a Left 4 Dead style co-op mode. Future zombies? At least we wont have to argue over who gets the Ray Gun anymore. 2. They’re Rebalancing the Multiplayer If you’ve ever played Call of Duty online (statistics show that at least all of you have) then you know that it sucks to be the new guy. There’s nothing quite so disheartening as gleefully heading onto the field for the first time, only to be met by some Prestiging bumhole’s fleet of Harriers. CoD’s online mode has less balance than a pissed QWOP: try as you might, your keen aim and tactical thinking is no match for a level seventy and his laser-sighted, akimbo, gold-plated Predator missile. Black Ops II will be different. Weapon attachments and killstreak perks are being rebuilt and rebalanced from the ground up, so whatever gadgets your opponent is using you’ll always have some way of fighting back. Theatre Mode is coming back, too, so if you’re having trouble with a certain map you can just head online and catch a how-to video of the best vantage points. Add that to the revamped Nuketown map, and the new game modes that Treyarch are promising, and Black Ops II’s multiplayer is shaping up to be the best CoD experience ever. 1. No More Philosophising This is the one I’m most excited about. Call of Duty has always been bogged down by some inexplicable desire to be intellectual; whenever you die, there are quotes from Gore Vidal and Albert Einstein. At the end of every mission, your comrades invariably launch into some soul-searching monologue, soliloquising over the horrors of war. What nonsense. This is a game that lets you kill bad guys by the hemisphere-load, and gives you RC car bombs to do it with. You can’t have your cake and drop an airstrike on it: none of this chin-stroking and topicality works when you spend most of the game snow-skiing over chasms with a grin on your face. But by dragging Call of Duty into the future, Treyarch is binning realism and letting loose. It’s complete fantasy – where contemporary and historical settings tempt jarring melodrama, Black Ops II’s future is the perfect place for CoD to get silly, guilt-free. Nukes, lasers and death: it’s all in the name of fun now Call of Duty has pried off the verisimilitude collar. I can’t wait to see what Treyarch comes up with now they’ve ditched the pretentiousness. November 13th can’t get here fast enough. Source: Please login or register to view links
