Call of Duty: Black Ops II is an upcoming first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision(Square Enix for Japan), to be released on November 13, 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3 and the Xbox 360.[1][2][3]Black Ops II is the ninth game in the Call of Duty franchise of video games and a sequel to the 2010 game Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Black Ops II is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise to have a completely futuristic setting and feature future warfare technology. It also presents branching storylines driven by player choice for the first time in the franchise's history.
Characters and Setting
Black Ops II is set in 2025, as opposed to the Cold War setting of Black Ops. In this new setting, China and the United Statesare locked in a cold war after China bans the export of rare earth elements following a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange.[4] War is now defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles and other modern technology.[5] The game's story deals with the speculation that this unmanned technology could just as well be used against those it was meant to protect.
Although the game is set in 2025, it will start in the 1980s Cold War era in order to focus on the origin story of the primary antagonist of Black Ops II: Raul Menendez,[5] who, in 2025, is provoking a war between China and the USA. In the 1980s section of the game, the player protagonist will be Alex Mason, protagonist of Black Ops. Much of the action in this section will take place in the proxy wars of Central America. Another character from Black Ops, Frank Woods will be returning in Black Ops II and will narrate the story into 2025. In the 2025 section, the player protagonist will be David Mason, son of Alex Mason.[6]
It has been hinted at that the side-plot of Viktor Reznov and his relationship with Alex Mason, which began in World at War and was advanced by Black Ops, will be continued in Black Ops II.[6]
Strike Force missions
Black Ops II will be the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. The game will feature special 'Strike Force' missions that are offered as a choice to the player during the campaign. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.[6]
Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez.[6] By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War, and the player will be shown what could have gone differently.
Zombies
Treyarch has confirmed that the Zombies mode will return for Black Ops II with its own campaign. Its predecessors were Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This is the third time for the Zombies mode to appear in a Call of Duty game, and the first time to have its own campaign along with the main story. Treyarch has also confirmed that Zombies will implement the multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience along with new game modes. It has also been confirmed that the Zombies mode will support 8 player co-op, unlike Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which only support in it's multiplayer 4 player co-op. Further information about the Zombies mode is unknown.
Development
Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick stated on November 8, 2011 that a new Call of Duty game was in development for a 2012 release and will be the newest installment in the franchise.[7] The game was officially confirmed by Activision during its fourth-quarter earnings call on February 9, 2012, and promised that it will feature "meaningful innovation" for the series.[8][9]
Black Ops 2 reports
Reports of Black Ops 2 surfaced following a product page for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 appeared Amazon France before quickly being taken down in February 2012. No information has yet been released by Activision, but Gameblog claimed that Activision demanded it remove its original report too.[10] When it refused to do so, the publisher cut off GameBlog from ad support, review game mailings and future Activision events for refusing to comply.[11] Later Activision denied Gameblog’s claims that it has been blacklisted.[12] Around the same time, computer game artist Hugo Beyer also listed "Black Ops 2" as his current project in his Linkedin CV, before his LinkedIn page was taken down.[13] Beyer is an artist working for Nerve Software, "a Dallas-based independent developer" which has "helped" with previous Activision games including, Black Ops in 2010.[14] A "Black Ops 2" trademark by Activision was spotted January 2012.[15] Further Black Ops 2 was listed by the France international entertainment retail chain Fnac in March 2012, which touted a predictable November release date.[16]
On April 9, 2012, an image was leaked from a URL on the official Call of Duty website, which leaked the Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 logo, as well as a reveal date of April 28, 2012. The URL was later removed.[17] On April 18, 2012, Kotaku received an image from "a retail source", which showed a teaser poster that lacked a game title but had clear nods toBlack Ops and a May 2 date that seemingly points to a reveal.[18] On April 27, 2012, an image containing two Target pre-order cards sent by IGN reader Richard confirmed the game's title and release date. The cards clearly display the Call of Duty: Black Ops II logo, and the release date November 13, 2012.[19][20]
Reveal
On April 23, 2012, Activison redesigned CallofDuty.com to announce that the game will be revealed on May 1, 2012 during the NBA playoffs on TNT.[21] The art featured on the site matches up perfectly with the supposed retailer leak received by Kotaku.[22] However, parts of the official website went live hours prior to the announcement, which revealed the title, confirmed the release date for PC, PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, and the "21st Century Cold War" setting.[23] Activision had hinted that the game may eventually become available for Nintendo's own consoles, although has no official announcements for the time being.[24] As promised by Activision, the preview for the game was revealed in the form of a Youtube trailer that detailed the futuristic setting, the characters carried over from the previous games, and the conflict.[25] After the game was revealed, the preorder rates on the game set records three times higher than for the preorders of the first Black Ops.[26] Several critics have noted the trailer's similarities to that of Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots.
