Call of Duty Black Ops 2(Playstation 3) Review

In some circles of the internet, CoD Black Ops 2 is considered to be the last "good" CoD game before the series would become "bad". From that you know what it entails, it either spawns "the loyal few" who still cling on or is a cut off point for many. With that said, while I don't dislike Black Ops 2, replaying it now makes me notices the issues it has all the more. There's also things that I can't help but find head scratching since later games would get lambasted hard for being too "futuristic" but yet this game has that glossy sleek sci fi look that those games would get attacked for. I try not to bring any of this stuff up in my write ups but it was hard to unshake this when playing BLOPS 2. To put it simpily, at it's best BLOPS 2 is just more CoD. At it's worst, nothing added here amounts to anything interesting and come off as trivial additions.

The story here tries to be far more ambitious than the first Black Ops. Where that game was a framing story underline with a conspiracy plot. BLOPS 2 tries to tell a story that is a sequel to it that spans over the course of the cold war all the way to the far "near" future. As a result the story can feel disjointed due their being so many flashbacks. Also I forgot to mention that this was the first CoD game to have actual cinematics and is not entirely told in first person with load screens giving exposition and background details like in past games.

Not only is the order of events harder to follow but there is also other aspects like how the main villain Raul Menendez is trying to get his revenge but it's over the course of 40 years? The guy has multiple goals within goals but due to the how ambitious this story and like every CoD game that tries to tell a more ambitious story, they also very poorly presented within the game's narrative. The only one that is decently presented is getting revenge on Woods for his sister's accidental death but it goes back to the 40 years question I asked before.

There is also the other issues that games like MW2(2009) had like the villains always needing ways to be 10 steps ahead of the player. For example Raul gets captured late game but it turns out he was expecting a traitor to apprehend him and get captured on a battleship.

Jason Hudson is also a barely even much of a character here even though the game reveals he turns heel later.

A choice system is also here but it adds so little and the only major way to effect the outcome is either killing or sparing Hemendez. The bad ending is hilariously awesome so I'll give the game that. There is a reason why later CoD games would never add a choice system again since BLOPS 2 added so little.

Gameplay is the same as you expect at this point. Regen health, hitscan weapons, two weapon limit, scripted sequences, ducking behind cover, ADS, throwable equipment that's just there.

Now you get a custom loadout system but what's selectable are machine guns that mostly operate the same way. The enemy line up is mostly the same. The whole scripted nature of levels are the same so this barely adds anything to the game. You could cut this out and nothing would change.

You got the the FOB missions which are just terrible first person RTS levels and every time you replay the campaign, you got to do the tutorial for it every time. I skip these whenever given the chance.

There are drone enemies now but you kill them the same way by just riddling them with bullets and maybe use throwables to kill them faster.

Another issue is how sometimes levels will have the cinematic play inbetween which can also be very immersion breaking and awkward. I don't mind these at the start and end of every level but not in the middle of one since it can feel like jarring cut inbetween takes. It can also make the levels feel longer since you think a cinematic playing mean a level is done but it's still going.

This could be me playing so many of these games but the scripted nature is so noticeable here. One example is during Phyrrhic Victory when Woods was being dragged the game would not continue unless if I activate a cinematic of him being dragged. Later on in Suffer With Me there is a part where you jump across a balcony and you have to jump at a specific time or you will die.

Shooting has remained the same and the issues with past games are still present. The one off sequences stand out more now. Multiple being in the same level like a stealth section and a car chase both being in Fallen Angel or controlling the robot spider in Karma. This just highlights how the devs are just becoming more aware of the issues

I will add that the music is quite good but the music in the earlier Treyarch CoDs tend to be quite good. I do like the main theme, Pakistani Run and Adrenaline.

Overall that's just BLOPS 2. It's the same old CoD. Nothing new it brings adds to anything substantial. It's strange how this is considered the last "good" CoD when it inherents many of the issues as before with no improvents