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
Product Details:
- 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.
Customer Reviews:
An enjoyable, but somewhat stale experience By Karen
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.
3/5A thoughtful negative review By Lucas A. Knisely
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. When a 10 year veteran like myself cannot go positive or equal with k/d in almost every game I've played, then something is wrong. I did not suddenly become a terrible player. All of my 50+ friends that play this game did not suddenly become horrendously bad at this game. They have changed the very core of the gameplay and just like the first Black Ops, have turned many people away. Not because we don't like the maps, the guns, or the gadgets, but because we are defeated before we even start. Our fate is determined not by our strategy, skill, or in-game decisions. It is determined by an arbitrary "compensation" that ultimately decides who will win and who will lose.
And if you read this and think I'm crazy or think all of us who are complaining are off base, think about this... Why do they push so hard to motivate people to pre-order? Why do they push so hard to get you to purchase a season pass for the DLC? Why are they seemingly more concerned with getting your commitment and money prior to any reviews or consumer feedback? Could it be because they know the game is sub par and most people are going to spurn the DLC? Could it be because, just like the new Medal of Honor, negative reviews actually keep people from purchasing?245 of 323 An unbiased approach By Drew
Alright everyone, this is my first attempt at a review on Amazon mainly because I think what I have to say needs to be heard and understood. I'm not going to drone on forever, but I'll give you a basic concept of what to expect from Black ops 2.
Like a lot of people here, I have been playing Call of Duty long before anyone else saw it as a viable franchise, straight back to the first title and every single one thereafter.
Campaign:
Like most Call of Duty campaigns, its generic, feels similar to other previous titles, and doesn't necessarily awe or wow you in any particular way. The graphics DO seem sub-par in the cut scenes, but the actual game-play graphics are up to par with previous titles.
Those who buy this game are not likely to be purchasing it for the campaign, so I will conclude by saying I have enjoyed it thus far because it allows you to create your own class prior to the mission, which is a first for Call of Duty. Props for trying to take a step forward.
Multiplayer:
Again, trying to be unbiased as I can, I will give you my view of the multiplayer. It IS essentially the same thing we have seen in previous titles, but I enjoy it because it takes steps forward and trys to be innovative.
Easy to play, right off the bat, decent guns and perks. They opted not to go with a points system for purchasing items, like in the original Black Ops, but instead, for each level you pass, you gain new guns, perks, killstreaks, and you can use tokens to unlock them at your discretion.
The maps are somewhat smaller than in previous titles, but it doesn't, in my opinion, affect the gameplay so much. There seem to be a lot more maps than in previous titles, and at my current level of 21, I still haven't played them all yet.
The guns feel solid and, with the new Pick 10 system, there are virtually THOUSANDS of combinations for class setups, giving an untold amount of experiment and replay-ability. Some perks like quickdraw and sleight of hand have been scrapped for attachments that now accomplish those themes. The wildcard system of Pick 10 allows you to ditch all your secondary grenades and guns if neccesary in an effort to stock up your gun with up to 3 attachments, which I really enjoy.
One last thing to mention is that this game is very similar in speed to the first Black Ops. Its not as fast as the Modern Warfare games. That being said, if you liked the speed of gameplay in Black Ops, you will enjoy it in this game. Rushing is not as easy, Kill/Death ratio is harder to come by, but you can still make it work for yourself with tons of new attachments and upgrades to class creation.
All of this being said, there are some very general things worth mentioning.
1) Spawning is not that great. You WILL get shot in the back and you WILL spawn occasionally right next to gunfire. That being said, this is easily fixed by being more aware of your surroundings and simply turning around now and then after you make a kill!
Not to mention, this is SOMEWHAT fixable by patches and updates, so stay tuned.
2) It IS reheated, redone, and is VERY similar to MOST other Call of Duty titles. There are elements that change game-play, such a the Pick 10, wildcards, and a bevvy of attachments and new styled kill-streaks, but the game-play and graphics remain relatively the same.
3) The amount of health you have in this game seems lower than other titles. You die somewhat quicker and most shotguns and sniper rifles are one hit kills. This, however, works both ways. You can GET kills easier, but you also GET dead easier.
4) Zombies is wicked fun as always and even for my friends that don't care for the multiplayer love the new zombie additions.
FINAL CONCLUSION
I'm giving this game 4/5 because it comes through with new innovations and trys to renew life into the Call of Duty franchise. It is fun, enjoyable, but certainly not without its minor issues.
I've always said if you get a game and play with your friends, you can have lots of fun even if its frustrating and you don't like every single aspect. Just enjoy it for what it is and that is why people buy Call of Duty. ITS NOT MODERN WARFARE 3 OR BLACK OPS 1. Its a new game with a new style and new adventures. If you are expecting the same exact thing as before, you WILL be disappointed. I think the innovations do a good job of trying to expand into uncharted territory.
I'm liking it, most of my friends are liking it, and you will too if you love gaming and aren't overly critical.
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