Call of Duty: Black Ops II

by Activision

• Strike Force Levels: New to the Call of Duty Franchise, strike force levels provide sandbox-style gameplay experiences, allowing players to take command of any element of their squad at any time.
• Branching Storylines: Choices the player makes could mean the difference between life and death for some characters and there exists an even greater opportunity for multiple endings.
• Single Player Character Customization: Choose from a variety of weapons and loadouts providing multiple choices for how you approach single player missions.

Product Details

• Shipping: This item is also available for shipping to select countries outside the U.S.
• ASIN: B007XVTR3K
• Product Dimensions: 7.5 x 5.3 x 0.6 inches ; 2.4 ounces
• Media: Video Game
• Release Date: November 13, 2012
• Average Customer Review: 3.7 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (1,720 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #47 in Video Games (See Top 100 in Video Games)
  • #2 in Video Games > Xbox 360 > Games > Action > Shooter

Product Description

Platform: Xbox 360 | Edition: Standard

Amazon.com

Call of Duty®: Black Ops II is a First-Person Shooter (FPS) that revolves around unique gameplay that propels the Call of Duty® franchise into a world of future warfare, and back again to the modern era. The game is a sequel to the 2010 release, Call of Duty®: Black Ops, and features returning Black Ops characters Sgt. Frank Woods and Agent Alex Mason, joined by a wealth of new characters. Additional features include: two distinct yet linked playable time periods, advanced weaponry, branching storylines created by player choices in Strike Force missions, exciting multiplayer options, and more.

A whole new future war Call of Duty scenario affected by player decisions in mission play.
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To Understand the Future, you Must Understand the Past

Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty®: Black Ops II propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare between old and new foes. In this conflict, the mechanized creations of men reign supreme, facing off against each other as their creators stay safe and unconflicted, and in the process grow ever softer. In this scenario an important question will be asked: What happens when enemy steals the keys? To understand such a possible future, you must understand where you have been.

Players of Call of Duty®: Black Ops II gain an understanding of this and more through the game's additional timeline set in the late Cold War era of the 1980's. Within the campaign story, which spans these two eras, players will see familiar faces such as Alex Mason, his son David Mason, and Sgt. Frank Woods. Linking these together will be the rise of another player in the conflict, Raul Menendez.

Key Game Features

• An all-new Call of Duty®: Black Ops II storyline featuring new characters and and returning characters
• A unique single-player campaign that contains two time periods linked by characters and their actions
• Special Strike Force missions, in which the players action affect the outcome of gameplay and the overall campaign
• A variety of multiplayer modes and play options

Zombies

The Biggest Zombies Experience to Date: Call of Duty®: Black Ops II Zombies features three different ways to survive the zombie apocalypse. Unravel the mysteries of a dying Earth in Tranzit, fight endless waves of zombies in Survival mode, or compete in the new 4z4 last-human-standing mode, Grief.

Tranzit
1-4 player co-op in a large open world with a variety of locations. The new Buildables gameplay elements help players move through each area to find the key tidbits that reveal why they are there and what they must do to survive. All the while, public transportation is still operational, as a bus will regularly stop at each location. Zombies ride for free.

Survival
Recreating the classic mode of just purely surviving the shambling, incoming Zombie horde, Survival mode allows you to play 1-4 players co-op in specific locations from the much larger Tranzit area.

Grief
You and friends can take on up to 4 people in a team vs. Zombies vs. team scenario. 2-8 players are thrown in a situation to be the last humans standing.

MP Technology with Zombies: Call of Duty®: Black Ops II features new and extensive stat tracking as well as leaderboards for bragging rights. New skill-based matchmaking system will allow players of the same ability to take on the horrors of the night in public game modes. For players that are looking for an extra challenge, Zombies features custom games: Headshots only, higher starting rounds, and toggling of extra items are all available.

Additional Screenshots

Returning Black Ops characters. View larger

Startling future weaponry. View larger

A variety of multiplayer options. View larger

Product Description

Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty®: Black Ops II propels players into a near future, 21st Century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare.

Call of Duty®: Black Ops II Gamescom Accolades

• "The most ambitious Call of Duty to date" - USA Today
• "Poised to blow you away" - G4
• "Treyarch has just vaulted Black Ops II to a new level" - Joystiq
• "Black Ops II is changing multiplayer. A lot." - Kotaku
• "A bold departure" - IGN
• "A whole new level of competitive gaming" - MTV
• "Brilliant visuals and adrenaline-inducing gameplay" - Forbes
• "Best of Gamescom" - Gamespot

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

159 of 204 people found the following review helpful

3.0 out of 5 stars An enjoyable, but somewhat stale experience November 13, 2012

By Karen

Platform for Display:Xbox 360| Edition:Standard|Amazon Verified Purchase

Fun: 3.0 out of 5 stars   

I was actually quite a bit excited after skipping MW3 altogether(last cod being played seriously being black ops). After the first few games I played, I found myself being actually quite underwhelmed by this supposed "innovative" cod. I read a few reviews mentioning it expanding on its predecessors and how its the best cod yet. While this may be the "best cod yet" its still cod and after jumping right in, seasoned cod players will find out its more or less the same as the previous games.

Alot of people like to complain about camping, but I won't because I don't find it a major issue in this game, not nearly as much as the spawn system anyway. It really sucks to spawn and get instantly killed, but I don't think it has anything to do with a crappy spawning system. Its more in part that the maps are very small. When you compare these map sizes to previous games, there is definitely a notable difference.

I didn't really find anything about the weapons that made me go "Wow!". It was almost kind of boring to see that even though this game is set in the future. Were getting the same ole kind of guns we have always gotten. I was expecting more.

Alot of people either Praise this game too highly or criticize it to badly. What I am trying to say is, don't go into this game expecting a masterpiece, but also don't assume this game is garbage and that you won't enjoy it.

3/5

575 of 752 people found the following review helpful

1.0 out of 5 stars A thoughtful negative review November 15, 2012

By Lucas A. Knisely

Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Edition:Standard

Fun: 1.0 out of 5 stars   

Most negative reviews can either turn into too much of a rant or become so general that they are unhelpful (ie: this game sucks!). I am going to attempt to write an intelligent and helpful review that will be almost entirely negative because of the flaws and problems I see in this game that are central to the experience of the player. My review will focus entirely on multiplayer since that is all I have played and, if we are honest, it is why almost the entire community purchases the game at this point.

Now, to earn a little clout with those reading this review, I have been playing Call of Duty since the very first title released for PC back in 2003. I have played every single release since. I made the change from PC to XBOX when World at War came out. My experience with World at War was challenging because I no longer had my mouse and keyboard. After a few months of playing World at War I got my groove and have had a good experience with every release so far. Up until the release of Black Ops 2, I enjoyed World at War the most with MW2 and MW3 coming in second place. The first Black Ops suffered from poor spawns and irritating lag compensation, but it was still somewhat enjoyable to play. Also, keep in mind that for MW2, MW3, and even the first Black Ops I had a steady k/d of about 1.20 and a good win ratio, ranging from 5.00 to as high as 9.25 on MW3. So, needless to say, I became an above average player that won quite a bit more than I lost. My k/d was never very high because I preferred objective game modes over camping in team death match. This is why my win ratio is high and my k/d is average.

Fast forward to today. Black Ops 2. Where to begin?

First, lets start with the look of the game. The movement, frames per second, and textures are, in my opinion, a step up from the previous Black Ops. It seems smoother and brighter, and the HUD as well as guns look better. This is just my opinion, but I do think most people would agree there is a smoothness to the game that feels nice in comparison to the first Black Ops. Now, this is about as much as I can say that will be positive about the game. I also really like the new class building system of 10 slots for whatever you want and think it's a huge step forward for multiplayer, and I hope future COD titles include it. You want 4 perks instead of 3? Go for it!

Second, lets talk about the overall feel of the game. At first, the smooth frames per second and better aesthetic made me think the game was going to run better than the first Black Ops. I quickly discovered I wasn't just wrong, but that it was actually worse than its predecessor. I play with some very skilled players, some that make me look amateurish with their immensely high k/d, and even they have barely been able to maintain even k/d in this game. Why? What's the problem? What's so different about this game versus all the other Call of Duty releases up to this point? Two words: LAG COMPENSATION. Because they have kept an ultimately unhelpful auto kick for team killing in Hardcore you are forced to play Core unless you want to get kicked from games for simple accidents or teammates running into your score streaks. Why am I talking about Core vs Hardcore when I just said the problem was Lag Compensation? Because Core requires a high amount of bullets as well as accuracy to kill efficiently. And when Lag Compensation takes over, you are basically at the mercy of everyone else's connection and will find it very difficult to land a kill.

Essentially, this is how Lag Compensation works: John has a fast connection but Billy doesn't. John's experience is therefore altered to make up for his "advantage", which in turn gives Billy a fair shake. So when John starts to shoot Billy, there is a delay, and Billy has a few extra milliseconds to react. How this plays out when you are in the game is this: You round a corner, have the jump on a guy, start shooting him, and then you drop dead. You watch the killcam, and it turns out you only shot maybe one bullet before dying, not the 3-5 you thought you did. What happened to you was Lag Compensation. The player that killed you probably had a slower connection than you, so he is given a slight advantage. This is why some games you can feel like an unbeatable god, and others you feel like you're playing against wall hacking aim bots because all you do is come around corners and die. For those of us with faster connections, our experience is almost entirely the latter.

Now, there are people who defend Lag Compensation, saying it isn't fair to give an advantage to those with faster connections. While this may be a valid point, it is not a convincing one. Why is it not convincing? Because you are just changing you gets the advantage. And not only that, you are hurting the experience of any player with a good connection. When I played Quake 3 on my crappy old 786 PC with slow internet, I just figured out how to play with my disadvantage, and actually I got quite good. I didn't suddenly expect everyone else to be nerfed or slowed down in order that I could get as many kills as them. Changing who has the advantage in this situation is also unfair because you are going against what every gamer in existence is used to. Players with slow connections know and expect to have a tougher time. And Black Ops 2 should be a safe haven for them right? A great experience? Wrong. All it's doing is making those of us with fast connections stop playing, so the goal posts are just going to get moved. So now the guy with a mediocre connection is suddenly the guy with the best connection, and he is going to start to have a worse experience. In other words, there is always going to be someone with a slower connection and someone with a faster connection. So the experience of all players will be ever changing. There is no consistency, no standard, no constant. This is what makes the game so frustrating to play. You go from having a good experience and feeling like your first 3-4 bullets actually hit, to feeling like a worthless player, shooting blanks, falling to your death around every corner.

The reason I mentioned being "forced" to play Core, is because Hardcore would help with some of this. Because you have to shoot a player so much in Core, Lag Compensation can make it seem impossible to get a kill. If you are on the bad end of Lag Compensation, you will be helpless to change anything. In previous titles, if I was having a bad game, I could make alterations. If I'm not getting the jump on players, I'd switch to an SMG. If I am getting the jump on players but not killing them fast enough I might switch to a high damage AR or maybe the same SMG with rapid fire. I tried all my usual audibles when having a rough time in Black Ops 2, but it doesn't matter. Everyone I play with was saying the same thing, "There is nothing I can do."

Now, before moving on from the topic of Lag Compensation, there is one final thing I'd like to say about it. There is something inherently wrong with altering the experience of a player purely because their internet connection is better. The nature of online gaming has always been one where those with slower connections have to deal with their lot in life. But nobody is actively giving them a disadvantage, it is just the result of varying connection speeds. Actively giving someone an advantage over another player is, in one sense, cheating. And in a even greater sense, it is more unfair than just letting the chips of connection speed fall where they may. Many have said that Lag Compensation is present in all of the COD titles. While I have the "I swore I shot first" experience from time to time in previous titles, it is basically every gun fight in Black Ops 2. So something is dramatically different.

Third, lets talk about spawns. When players start complaining about spawns and getting shot in the back they are usually met with a response like this: "It is very difficult to have consistent spawns with how much people move and change location." Okay, that seems like a fair response, except it's a cop out that hopes to excuse a bad spawn system. If you want proof for how broken the spawn system is, play Nuketown, against Bots, and camp on one side of the map. My buddy and I tested this. It was just me and him versus 6 bots, and we never crossed over to the other side, in fact, we never went past the school bus. And still, without fail, the game would consistently, at random times, spawn a couple enemies behind us. This is why you can get caught in a spawn cycle where, even though you are spawning in different locations on the map, you take a few steps and get shot in the back. This little Nuketown experiment should make it crystal clear to any skeptic that the spawns are poor. Not to mention that almost every map the spawns are incredibly easy to control, and many games turn into "who can spawn trap the other team first". No creative ingenuity has come to the realm of spawning in any of the Call of Duty titles, so this isn't necessarily just a Black Ops 2 problem. However, it is quite frustrating to have the same problems persist in every release.

Now, to conclude this little review. The question has to be asked: How could it be this bad? How could they make a game with so many problems, so many flaws, and so many complaints after having 2 years to make it? The answer is: I honestly don't know. People blame the deadlines, claiming that having to make a game every two years is too short a time to iron out all the bugs. But we aren't talking about bugs and glitches (I haven't even had time to notice them) We are talking about a game that is essentially broken. Read more ›

68 of 87 people found the following review helpful

2.0 out of 5 stars Probably my last CoD purchase. November 30, 2012

By Andrew Gray

Platform for Display:Xbox 360|Edition:Standard

Fun: 2.0 out of 5 stars   

Another year has passed, which means that the hype machine for the next Call of Duty game has come and gone. All the snazzy marketing that we have come to expect over the years, trailers, spots with celebrities, multiple reveals, and the obligatory 2 hour special live multiplayer streams. With all the glitz and pizazz one would think that everything there is to know about the game, an alert gamer would know, that's not the case. It shouldn't really come as a surprise, but through the genius of marketing, gamers were only shown a very controlled portion of the game. That's to be expected to a point, but I did not know to what degree until I played the game.

Campaign mode is pretty much what gamers have come to expect from a Call of Duty game. Large set pieces litter the missions one after another, with a few twists and turns thrown in for good measure. But largely, there's nothing Earth shattering or anything that will have you sitting back and just saying "Wow." You have your requisite super evil villain and a few brave soldiers who take on an Army. Campaign missions in Black Ops 2 take part in either in the year 2025 or in the year 1986, being split up in order to follow the Mason family. Fans will remember that Alex Mason was a main character in the original Black Ops, and in Black Ops 2 his son David Mason plays a key role also. It is an interesting concept in theory, yet execution of the concept is lacking. In the past I have enjoyed Call of Duty campaigns, yet this one felt like a mash-up of a variety of levels just to showcase `new' features and game-play mechanics.

As a result the campaign feels choppy and disjointed, and there is very little real flow or pacing to it. In past campaigns I developed at least a modicum of interest in events and characters, not the case in this one. It quickly became a mind-numbing exercise just to get done with it. During the course of the story Treyarch decided it would be wise to add `side missions' called Strike Force missions. They play out like a poorly designed Command & Conquer or Tom Clancy's End War mission. While they are optional, they further added to the overall fragmented feel. This is the first Call of Duty game I have played where I was underwhelmed by the campaign experience.

The mode that put Treyarch on the map of many gamers makes a return. I am of course speaking of Zombies. In World at War, Zombies was a little mode hidden for those who finished the campaign. It quickly became popular and was a normal inclusion when map packs were released. In Black Ops it played an even more significant role, and was a major selling point. In Black Ops 2, there are three separate Zombie modes. Survival - which is the traditional horde mode - the simple goal of staying alive as long as you can. Tranzit mode, which puts a group of four people in a bus station with little notice of what they need to do other than survive. The third mode is Grief mode, which see's two groups of four try to not only outlast each other, but to outscore each other.

I will be the first to admit that I have never been as enamored as others have about the prospect of playing Zombies. To me it has always been a slight diversion from either playing the campaign or the multiplayer mode. With that said, of the time I have spent playing Zombies in Black Ops 2, Tranzit is a pretty interesting new addition. It's predicated on the player experimenting and trying to find things. Granted, just a little bit more direction as to what I am supposed to do would be helpful. I'm not sure of the value of having to watch three separate YouTube videos in order to have a general idea of what I should be doing. But Grief mode was not an enjoyable experience for me. There is no time limit, so theoretically, games can go on for hours and hours. I am all for long engaging games, but having a long mode just for the sake of having it doesn't make much sense or carry much value.

The last mode is the one that most gamers will get Call of Duty for; multiplayer. Multiplayer in Call of Duty is the meat of the game; it's where most players will spend a majority of their time. In the past, Call of Duty games have followed the same successful formula that was introduced in Call of Duty 4. I read a lot of articles, and watched a lot of trailers leading up to the release of this game and thought I had a good understanding of what to expect. I read a lot of promises made by David Vonderhaar , Game Design Director at Treyarch, about what Black Ops 2 would be. Yet, I realized everything I read and saw up to the point of release day was carefully planned to give false assumptions.

For starters, gone is the traditional Create a Class system. Yes, there is still a Create a Class, but now with the added element it has a Pick 10 setup. You essentially have ten slots to use however you want to build your classes. In theory it's an interesting idea and allows players to tailor their classes to their play style. This idea and concept has already been ruined by people making `Knife' classes. This class involves selecting five or six perks and equipping a knife as the secondary. The class basically allows users to run through shock charges, flash bangs, and lunge through gunfire to get cheap and easy kills. Almost every public game there is at least one or two people doing this. Some would say, just shoot them. But it's not so simple in practice, when half your bullets get hit markers and do not register as causing damage. It's been a cause of much frustration while playing the multiplayer.

Unfortunately, frustration seems to be the theme with multiplayer. Two things I was hoping would be fixed with the latest iteration of the franchise were not only not fixed, they were enhanced. Those would be Drop Shotting and Quick Scoping. Most know these terms and despise them. Drop Shotting, engaging in a fire fight with someone only to have them lay prone (while shooting) to get a cheap kill. I have long said going to prone there should be a one second delay on when you can fire. Lying down in the middle of a gun fight should not be a valid or easily abused tactic. Quick scoping is using the auto aim mechanic to get guaranteed one hit kills while using a sniper rifle. Again, I am frustrated that this is a tactic that is still allowed to exist in a game, especially when its plagued each iteration of the series for years.

Another addition that Treyarch promoted heavily is League Play. Get matched up against players of similar skill and work your way up ladders to be top in your group. Again, another idea that is good in theory and had potential to make things a little more competitive. They even added the ability to stream live, league play games. Unfortunately with all the `improvements' that Treyarch supposedly added, they used the same net coding as prior games. If you are in a League Play game and someone is streaming it, expect every person in the lobby to have a red bar connection and skipping across the screen. The most disappointing aspect of League Play, you cannot pick the specific game mode you want. So, for a gamer like me enjoys Kill Confirmed, Team Deathmatch and Hardpoint, well I may get to play them. But, I'll also be forced to play Capture the Flag, Search and Destroy, Demolition and whatever else pops up. Once you are in a room and the mode is locked in, there is no backing out. If you leave early, you are placed on Probation. Leave again, and you are prevented from playing for a set amount of time. Personally, I got the achievement for playing this mode but am done with it. I will never play it again.

The last thing that Treyarch wanted to make sure people knew about was CoD Casting and the eSports setup available in the game. Streaming content, doing commentaries, etc. is now all available from the games menus. Following and watching Mr. Vonderhaar's social media interactions leads me to believe that he is catering to a very select group of people. Many of the additions and changes made to the Call of Duty formula this year were inspired by the so called `Major League Gaming' crowd. Treyarch essentially robbed Peter to please Paul. The normal casual gamer was thrown to the wayside to make sure that the `hardcore' `pro' gamer had things they wanted. I am left feeling that Treyarch spent so much time and effort into pleasing that niche group that they completely ignored what true fans liked and enjoyed from past games.

I have been a Call of Duty fan for quite a while now. I have defended the series at times, and spent countless hours playing with friends online. Yet, even I can see that Black Ops 2 is not the game it could have been. I am all for innovation and change, as long as there is a clear and discernible reason to change and it's change for the better. One complaint that many gamers have is frustration that Call of Duty has not ungraded their gaming engine. Mr. Vonderhaar has said that the engine now is nowhere near what it was to start. Just because you paint a car red to cover up the rusty blue, doesn't make it vastly different. At its core it's the same game engine that was present in Call of Duty 4. It's really as simple as that. Until the Call of Duty franchise realizes that they need to upgrade that engine the franchise will become more and more stagnant, as is becoming more and more evident each year.
Even with all of its faults I still wanted to like Black Ops 2. I have played Call of Duty every year since Call of Duty 4. It's a habit, my friends all have it, and it's easy to pick up and play. Yet, gaming should be fun and relaxing, with its myriad of issues and flaws I don't know how much enjoyment I have gotten out of it. I have certainly gotten my fair share of frustration though. Read more ›