Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Unnecessarily violent. Necessarily fun.

A man's sister is killed by Americans.  In return, the man decides to go on a decades-long rampage that ultimately results in his taking control of every drone in the world and using them to simultaneously attack the US and China.

Welcome back, Mason.  Time to save the world again.

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Recommended Age Minimum Age Available On... 18 16 PC, Xbox 360, PS3, Wii U Overall Fun Length Frustration   Violence Sexuality Substances Gambling 8 7 7   9 1 3 0 Mods Religion Anti-Law Community Sports Magic Miscellaneous 0 0 0 6 3 0 5

1.     Gameplay

• Overall Fun - 8

Due to its popularity, the Call of Duty series has become easy to hate.  New versions are churned out every year and the lack of any substantive differences between each version leave much to be desired.  However, there are a few elements in Black Ops 2 that made an otherwise boring game unbelievably fun and new.

We're not in 'nam anymore.

Players will take control of a number of characters over the course of the campaign.  Unfortunately, the story is so disjointed and boring that it was difficult to follow most of the logic.  The game is divided up into “past” sections that take place during the 1980s and “future” sections that take place in the year 2025.  Aside from the fact that there are connections between the future characters and the past characters, these two stories do very little real interaction.  In fact, the game could have cut out the past missions entirely and still had a very similar feel.

Relatively.

The part that made the entire game worth spending $60 was the fact that I could customize my loadout completely at the beginning of each mission.  This is probably a small thing to the average gamer, but to me it makes a huge difference.  Instead of being forced to use the weapons that the developers deem best for the situation, I could choose which weapons I wanted to take.  Not only did this mean I could choose weapons that were better suited for my play style, but it adds a significant amount of replayability to the overall experience.  One time I might decide to use an LMG, the next time I’d use an SMG.  If you can use it in multiplayer, you can use it in single-player.

What's this? An assault rifle with foregrip, red dot sight, extended mag, and fast reload? I'll take two!

There were some new things tried in single-player as well.  On more than one occasion the player was in control of drones that could attack enemies at the push of a button.  This was usually a pretty awesome element and made combat against large groups of enemies much simpler.  There were new mission types including a “Real-Time Strategy” type mission set.  However, the failures of the friendly A.I. kept these modes from being much fun.  This is discussed in more detail in the “Frustration Factor” section.

The drones could be a pain to fight.

Multiplayer has a few tweaks here and there, but the overall feel is extremely similar to the first Black Ops.  The action is very fast paced and seems to rely more on reflexes than on actual skill.  It was an experience that I didn’t enjoy and don’t expect to be going back to.

Surprisingly, for the first time in a long time, the campaign was the highlight of the game.  Most of the “overall fun” of this game is based on that alone.  For those who like the multiplayer, that’s what they’ll end up playing.  However, for the average gamer, the campaign was definitely a lot of fun and worth trying at least once.

• Length - 7

The length of this game will depend a lot on what the player decides to play and how dedicated they are to completing all of the challenges.  If a player enjoys multiplayer, this game could easily have hundreds of hours of replayability.  The single player campaign is short, but the choices do warrant at least two playthroughs.  The zombies game mode could be interesting to a player with a small group of allies, but I found it to be the weakest of the 3 parts by far.

I played about 16 hours of campaign over the course of two playthroughs.  This was definitely better than previous Call of Duty games and much better than other similar games.

• Frustration Factor - 7

There were a number of elements that were particularly frustrating about this game.  First, the AI tended to be entirely unable to deal with attacking an enemy, even if that enemy was standing out of cover and drawing absurd amounts of attention to himself.  The player will frequently have to eliminate the entire enemy force by himself.  This is a fairly common element in similar games, but it’s hard to let it slide when it’s been a problem for so long.  The day that an AI friend prevents me from being stabbed in the back by a flanking enemy is the day I will praise friendly AI in a game.

This is only somewhat frustrating in the normal sections of the game, but the failure of the friendly AI is especially evident during the weird optional strategy levels.  The friendly AI will not move or attack an enemy unless you tell them to do so.  They will, quite literally, let enemies walk up to them and kill them.  It was much easier for me to take control of an ally and use him to decimate the entire enemy force by myself than it was to actually control my allies.

These guys were useless. I did all the work.

The zombies game mode is supposed to be one of the highlights of the Black Ops games, but I found it to be confusing and boring.  It seemed like the levels had an objective, but the game never really made that clear.  It also failed to mention that zombies on fire explode when killed for some reason, which caused me to die randomly a number of times.  There was also something I could build out of random objects in the environment, but finding these objects wasn’t easy, so I never figured out what it was.

Multiplayer can be extremely frustrating for new players.  This is discussed in more detail in the “Online Community” section.

The choices that the player can make in the campaign were an interesting element, but most of them seemed to have very little weight on the outcome.  For example, you can find information that there is a mole in the CIA, but aside from a few lines of dialog the overall outcome will be exactly the same.  The mole will end up getting Mason (the dad) killed, and then end up dead.  This was frustrating at times because my actions never seemed to have as much weight as the game indicated.

2.     Parental Notices

• Violence - 9

The previous game in this series was absurdly violent.  Black Ops 2 has definitely toned down the “normal” violence level, but there are still plenty of times when even seasoned gamers will be left cringing a bit with how brutal some elements can be.

He fell on it. I'm serious.

The player will be able to attack enemies with a wide range of firearms.  All of these will simply result in some blood and a dying enemy.  Sometimes an enemy will scream in English as they die (even if their primary language is Spanish), but the most common examples of violence are normal for games of this type.

If you can see the blood here, you have better eyes than I do.

Explosions will cause enemies to fly forward a bit, but will not cause any extra gore.

The player can also perform melee attacks if an enemy gets close.  Most of these attacks will be about as violent as the firearms.  There will be some blood, but there isn’t usually gore.

See? You can barely see the knife!

There are some exceptions.  Occasionally the player will find a sword or machete.  If the player uses these weapons, there is a small chance that enemies can be dismembered.  Severing an arm clean off is not an uncommon sight.  This can also be caused more often by using high powered sniper rifles or shotguns, but is much less common.

But where did it go?

Given the right circumstances, the player can also decapitate enemies.  This is much less common, though.  I didn’t even notice it until my second playthrough.

At least he didn't bleed on the carpet.

There is one perk that will give the player access to extra weaponry that can be used to complete challenges within each level.  The most obvious weaponry are things like UAVs and mini drone tanks that will assist the player in moving forward through the level.  However, some levels have more deadly weaponry.  For example, the player can find bear traps in one level and molotov cocktails in another.  In the case of the molotovs, the enemy will light on fire briefly and die.  They hardly ever char, however, giving the impression that the fire does little damage to them (other than the fact that they scream and try to put themselves out).  Molotovs are only included in one level that I found, and even then they were somewhat well hidden.

...I just want to start a flame in your heart.

The more brutal examples of violence come in the form of cutscenes.  For example, the player will frequently stab enemies in the neck with his knife, resulting in a lot of blood.

I don't think blood normally forms splatter forms like that. Dexter said so.

The opening scene of the game will show a man being burned alive in a truck.  The process goes on for an absurdly long time and adds zero value to the overall game.  It was merely included for shock value.

Who comes up with this?

Late in the game the player will watch as his legs and the knees of an ally are blown off by a shotgun.  The remains of his ally’s knees are shown in detail, including the broken bones.

Is that really necessary?

At the end of the game, the player gets to choose whether or not to kill the main antagonist.  If he does, the player shoots the antagonist in the head with a pistol at point-blank range.   It’s a fairly brutal image.

You can choose not to kill him, though.

It should be noted, however, that the player can choose to turn most of these violent scenes off.  The player is prompted when starting the game for the first time and asked if he would like to exclude the most violent content.  If the player does so, he will miss much of the content shown here.  This setting can be changed at any time in the options menu.

• Sexuality - 1

In one section the player goes to a high-priced resort that is essentially a floating city.  The city contains a club called Solar.  The walls of the club have digital silhouettes of strippers.  Some are pole dancing, others are just dancing.  It fits with the overall feel of the club.

Except I don't understand the couple watching it. It's a bit weird...

• Substances - 3

There is one scene where the main antagonist is captured and subdued by military forces.  In order to subdue him, the forces have to inject some sort of sedative.  They use a rather large syringe.

My dentist used something like that once.

That same chapter has the player enter an underground bunker.  The bunker has been turned into a cocaine distribution factory.  Cocaine can be seen, both packaged and loose, in multiple sections of the bunker.  The firefight and explosions cause the room to be filled with a white haze.

Do you think you'd get high just breathing this air?

In a later chapter, the player uses the contents of a duffle bag to smear the reputation of a South American dictator.  The duffle bag contains bags of what is clearly cocaine.

Charlie Sheen's carry-on.

• Gambling - 0

Gambling is not a factor in this game.

3.     Other Factors

• Mods - 0

Mods are not a factor in this game.

• Religion - 0

Aside from the occasional crucifix, religion is not a factor in this game.

• Anti-Law - 0

Despite the campaigns inclusion of terrorism and treason, law enforcement in the traditional sense is not included (except as NPCs for certain levels).  Therefore, anti-law is not a factor in this game.

• Online Community - 6

The online community for this game is going to be almost exactly the same as the previous Call of Duty games, and in some ways it seems to be magnified.  There will be two groups of players, those who are extremely skilled and play Call of Duty multiplayer for hundreds of hours and those who are unskilled, untested, or unable to dedicate the amount of time necessary to reach the other group’s skill level.

I didn't kill this guy. I died first.

This is going to be compounded by player-formed parties that are an ever-present factor.  Good players will often form parties together and move from match to match as a group.  These groups will always have more skilled members who know each other’s strengths and weaknesses.  As a result a party filled with even mediocre players will almost always be better than a randomly formed team.

Even with the thousands of hours I have accumulated playing shooters online across all platforms, my first few Black Ops 2 multiplayer matches were frustrating.  The amount of times new players will die is absurd.  You will have essentially no weapons and no knowledge of the maps.  Any kills that you get for the first few matches will be more luck than skill.  You will always be placed against people that are at a much higher level with much better equipment than you.

If a player can make it past the first 20 matches without throwing the controller out the window, the rest of the experience will be somewhat enjoyable.  The usual trolls and bullies didn’t make much of an appearance, but that may be different for different consoles and different time periods.  However, since the multiplayer brought almost nothing new to the table, I put it down after a few matches.

• Extreme Sports - 3

There are a few examples of extreme sports included in the campaign.  There is one early section where the player will have to swing himself along a cliff in order to get from one location to another.  In order to do this, there is a person on both ends of a rope.  One person uses special gloves to grip to the cliff face while the other person uses them as a fulcrum to swing along the cliff.  When that person has reached a decent distance and a good height, he will attach to the cliff and the opposite person will do the same.  It’s an interesting take on a futuristic way to cover long, vertical distances in a short period of time.

Ready?

Immediately after that section, the player will attach wings to his suit and begin to glide.  Picture a flying squirrel, since that is exactly what the design is based on.  The player will glide at high speeds above a forest to a designated landing zone.  In order to slow before touchdown, the player will have to deploy a parachute.

Somehow I don't think a real version of this would work well.

Late in the game, the player will fall out of a destroyed Osprey.  Glide to the target area.  So he simply freefalls to a designated height, avoid missiles and planes, and opens his wings before hitting the ground.

Paratroopers sure have changed.

• Magic - 0

Magic is not a factor in this game.

• Miscellaneous - 5

Interrogation / Torture

There are a couple of sections where torture becomes an issue.  In one section, the main character and a few other allies interrogate a man known as Kravchenko, who made an appearance in the previous Black Ops game.  During the course of the interrogation, Kravchenko gets stabbed in the hand.

No knife.... yet....

One particularly gruesome example of torture comes in later in the game.  After the game forces the player to kill Mason (the father), the player has to watch as his own kneecaps are blown off with a shotgun.  Then he has to watch as another character’s kneecaps are also blown off.  That character eventually has his throat slit with a metal locket.

That seems a bit... excessive....

Kidnapping

In one level, a woman is kidnapped by the terrorist forces.  If the player is fast enough in catching her captors, though, he can free her quickly.  If the player is too slow, she will be taken and must be saved at a later time.

Human Disfigurement

There were two examples of human disfigurement in this game.  The first, and most obvious, is the zombies game mode.  Zombies are clearly designed to be weird, decomposing human bodies with glowing eyes.  It’s not particularly realistic though.

I hate zombies.

The second is Menendez, the main antagonist.  Early in the game the player shoots Menendez in the eye.  This, along with other injures that he suffers throughout the story, causes Menendez’ face to be disfigured.  Aside from the glass eye, it’s pretty subtle though.

See? You can barely even tell.