Collegiate Times

Image: 2012-12-03 21:23:24

Treyarch returned to the “Call of Duty” mantle this week with the much-anticipated “Black Ops II.” 

Despite the popularity of multiplayer play, Treyarch doesn’t disappoint with the single player campaign. Although the story won’t get many points for realism, it’s dramatic and filled with frantic firefights — it’s a storyline that just might leave you confused and excited at the same time.

The user plays as David Mason, son of Alex Mason, in a campaign that makes ample references to the Cold War storyline from the first game. Searching for the man who killed your father, you uncover a storyline just as action-packed and undeniably ridiculous as all of the previous “Call of Duty” games.

At first glance, “Call of Duty: Black Ops II” looks a lot like every other “Call of Duty” game, and in many ways, it is almost identical. What Treyarch has managed to do is to address a lot of problems that players had with “Modern Warfare 3” and other incarnations of the series.

Kill streaks and death streaks are both out. Now you earn score streaks, which are awarded for reaching a specific score without dying. Second chance, last stand and final stand — which all let you pull out a pistol in a last ditch effort to down your opponent — are also out in this version.

Multiplayer feels as tight as ever; fans of the series will probably be more comfortable with the multiplayer experience in “Black Ops II" than in any previous game.

“Black Ops II" introduces a new loadout system, which centers around 10 different items. You can mix and match perks, weapons and attachments in almost any way you want with a limit of 10 different selections for each class. This new system is amazing, giving you more flexibility in how you setup each of your classes. Unlock tokens are used to unlock weapons, perks and wildcards to slot into your setups.

Hardpoint is the highlight of the two new multiplayer modes added to the game. It’s a variation of Headquarters where respawning is always enabled. This game type makes for hectic matches, where hardpoints are constant kill zones.

The addition to the Zombies mode is probably Treyarch’s only real flop. The popular game mode now features two different gametypes: Survival, the game mode we all remember from “Black Ops;” and the new Tranzit mode, where there are actual objectives.

The problem with the Tranzit mode is the lack of tutorials and information to guide new players. As a mode that focuses on exploring an expansive map, while completing objectives and fending off waves of zombies, Tranzit is incredibly difficult to navigate without a guide or an experienced player helping you.

This isn’t a completely new experience, but it’s “Call of Duty” polished to a blinding shine. If you haven’t burnt out on the franchise, this is a worthy addition to the series with new modes, loadout systems and a campaign that rounds out an already close-to-perfect experience.

A version of this article appeared in the Dec 4 issue of the Collegiate Times.