Call of Duty: Black Ops II

"THE FUTURE IS BLACK."

- Official tag line "They'll always need men like us. Those who are willing to do... what others cannot."

- Frank Woods in the Reveal Trailer Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. This is the ninth main installment for the Call of Duty franchise, and was released on November 13, 2012. It is the sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops and was announced on May 1, 2012, during the NBA basketball game. It is the first game made by Treyarch to be set in the future, and also the first direct sequel produced for the series by the studio. The game is also the first Call of Duty game for Nintendo's Wii U console, and it was available for the Wii U's launch day in North America, Europe, and Australia, whilst it will be available on December 20, 2012 in Japan, which is 12 days after the console's Japanese launch day.

The link to the Call of Duty: Black Ops II website was also granted access to the public to coincide with the world reveal during the NBA basketball playoffs.

Story
The story takes place across two separate arcs, one recounting events in the 1980s, and the other following characters in the year 2025.

1980s
The 1980s story arc follows the exploits of Alex Mason, fighting in a proxy war in Angola whilst suffering from a disorder as a result of his brainwashing in Vorkuta. Viktor Reznov will reportedly return in this section of the game, and it has been suggested that his friendship with Mason will continue to be explored.

This portion of the game chronicles the rise of Raul Menendez, the primary antagonist of the game in the 2025 chapter.

Known locations in this section are Angola, Afghanistan, Nicaragua, and parts of Central America.

2025
In 2025, a cyberattack targets the Chinese economy, crippling the Chinese Stock Exchange. In retaliation for this, the Chinese government has banned the export of rare earth elements, sparking a "Second Cold War" between the United States and the People's Republic of China. During an invasion of Los Angeles, David Mason - the son of Alex Mason - and a team from the United States Navy Special Warfare Development Group must escort the American and French presidents to safety as they come under attack from automated weapons and Menendez's men.

In the time since the 1980s, Raul Menendez has styled himself as the leader of the Cordis Die, a populist faction hailed as the champions of victims of economic inequality. In his role as their leader, Menendez has taken control of the "keys" to the armed forces, hijacking the United States' automated weapons systems and turning them against their masters.

Meanwhile, it is revealed that Frank Woods has survived his encounter with Lev Kravchenko and escaped from Hanoi. He has taken refuge in a secret location known as "The Vault" and has anticipated Menendez's rise to prominence. Woods serves as the narrator for the 1980's story arc.

Known locations are Los Angeles, The Vault, Singapore, Yemen and Cayman Trench.

Gameplay
Departing from the notorious linear campaign style of past Call of Duty games, Treyarch has decided to take a non-linear and sandbox approach to Call of Duty: Black Ops II, (meaning no back-to-back missions with the same outcome every time replayed) instead the old linear style has been dropped in favor of "a more open ended campaign that relies heavily on player choice."

There will be significant points within the single-player campaign where the player is essentially given control over the course the game will take. It won't be a simple "A, B or C" choice either, it will be more expansive than that, for example, not protecting a certain character won't lead to a mission failure, instead it will change the course the game will take.

To help with the departure from a linear campaign are a set of special missions dubbed Strike Force. These missions are sandbox, and play similarly to a Real Time Strategy game. The player can assume the role of a commander, command ground forces, and on top of this, there will be the ability to go back to the traditional first-person and take part in the action themselves. The player gets to have a chance of taking control of many different warfare technology such as unmanned vehicles, jets and robotic automobiles. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the story will go on, keeping the record of deaths rather than loading to the last saved checkpoint. The missions will go on to change the story, even change Menendez's plans. By the time the cold war ends the player will see that they have made the results different.

Multiplayer
The multiplayer portion of Black Ops II takes place in the near future setting of 2025. The multiplayer development team is challenging their assumptions on multiplayer, taking a "one size does not fit all" approach. They are pulling and re-examining the multiplayer features, such as create-a-class and killstreaks. The Create-a-Class was changed to a 10 point system; players are given 10 points to use on weapons, attachments, and perks, each costing 1 point. The game also introduces Wildcards, players can choose up to 3, which allows players to break the rules of create-a-class by either, having three attachments on their primary weapon, two perks of the first tier, or more lethal grenades, but more points are used.

The Playercard returns from the original Black Ops, which displays the Calling Cards, Emblem, Clan Tag, and current level. It will also display the current League Play rank. The Emblem Editor also returns, now with the addition of 32 layers, a RGB scaler, and transparency.

Another returning feature is Theater, which improves from what was available in Black Ops. Players can now bookmark past gameplay using an option called Social Features. Players can now create films and montages using the Highlight Reel.

Ranks
Black Ops II will have 55 levels and 10 Prestiges. Players receive an unlock token for every level, and will have 4 once they reach level 4, which also unlocks Create-A-Class. The unlock token can be used to unlock new weapons, perks, equipment, and Scorestreaks in Create-A-Class.

Once all 55 levels are completed, the player is able to prestige. The player will not be able to unlock every weapon, perk and equipment at level 55. It is now required to prestige to unlock everything. Weapon XP and unlocks do not reset after prestiging. It is also possible for weapons to prestige, which is separate from the player's own prestige.

When the player enters Prestige Mode, they receive an unlock token which can be used to unlock any item, gain another custom class slot, reset their stats, or refund their unlock tokens. When the player completes Level 55, Prestige 10, they are awarded the title of Prestige Master and unlock all items. However, the player use to have to be 20th Prestige level 80 on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3's multiplayer for the player to achieve Prestige Master, but a hotfix was release by Treyarch which allowed Prestige Master to be attained by all players, regardless of their ranks on the past games.

Challenges return to reward players with XP to level up faster and unlock cosmetic content, such as camouflage patterns, which can now also be applied to secondary weapons, including launchers and the Assault Shield. The player will first unlock basic camouflage patterns, then advanced challenges become available to unlock special camouflage. Challenges will also unlock reticules for the different sight attachments. Challenges do not reset after prestiging.

Gametypes
Black Ops II introduces a new game mode, Hardpoint. Players rush to the same place on the map and try to hold it for as long as possible until it moves. Kill Confirmed returns from Modern Warfare 3, with the scoring system changed to make players play the objective.

Wager Matches from the original Black Ops return, now known as Party Games. Due to the removal of CODPoints, players now earn XP in this gametype.

Combat Training from the original Black Ops also returns. In the original Black Ops, Combat Training was separate from a player's multiplayer profile. In Black Ops II, Combat Training is integrated with the player's public multiplayer profile. Players can play three different Combat Training gametypes. On Bootcamp, a team of players and bots face each other for full XP gain for the first 10 levels. Players can then play the Objective gametype, where a team of players and bots play objective modes, but receive half XP. Bot Stomp has players play against a team of bots without gaining XP.

All playlists will be available from the start at Level 1, instead of being level-gated.

United States of America

 * Los Angeles, California
 * "The Vault"

Angola (1986)

 * Cubango River
 * Jamba

Afghanistan (1986)

 * Khost

Cayman Trench

 * Colossus

Nicaragua (1986)

 * Wasa King

Panama (1989)

 * Fort Clayton
 * El Chorillo
 * Panama Canal

Singapore

 * Keppel Terminal

Yemen

 * Socotra Island

Myanmar

 * Hkababo Razi Mountains

Zombies
"If you like Zombies, you're gonna be really happy with what we're doing with Black Ops II. It's our biggest most ambitious Zombies effort—ever."

- Mark Lamia, Studio Head of Treyarch, confirming Zombies.

The Zombies mode from Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops returns in Black Ops II  with numerous additions and changes, such as it running on the game's multiplayer engine rather than a modified single-player engine, which lets it support twice as many zombies and twice as many players as before, and the inclusion of Theater Mode. A promotional poster for the game depicts an previously unknown woman, now known as Misty, holding the head of a zombie, as well as a and a sword, which is hanging on her right leg.

A teaser trailer was released prior to Treyarch having tweeted a zombie picture. It showed an automated bus going around a city that was infested with zombies. It then teased a full reveal trailer that was released on September 26.

On November 1, 2012, David Vonderhaar tweeted the menu of the mode for both Xbox 360 and PS3.

Hardened Edition
The Hardened Edition costs $79.99, it includes:
 * Nuketown Zombies - Take Nuketown to the Undead.
 * Nuketown 2025 - Relive the close quarters chaos of this classic fan-favorite map re-imagined in a 1960s visionary depiction of the “model home of the future".
 * Collectible Steelbook – Limited edition game case featuring exclusive artwork.
 * Limited Edition Challenge Coins - Coins that has codes written in it.
 * Exclusive Weapon Camo - Rank-up in style with an exclusive multiplayer weapon skin.
 * Exclusive Player Card Backgrounds – Liven up any killcam with two exclusive player card backgrounds, inspired by Nuketown 2025 and Zombies.
 * Official Game Soundtrack - A digital copy of composer Jack Wall’s epic in-game score with Theme by Trent Reznor.

For Xbox 360 players

 * Exclusive Xbox LIVE CLAW Avatar Prop - An exclusive avatar prop, deployable to a dashboard near you.
 * Exclusive Xbox LIVE Zombies Avatar Costume - Show off your pride with an avatar costume built exclusively for fans of the Call of Duty undead.

For PS3 players

 * Exclusive PS3 Dynamic Themes - A dynamic multiplayer theme of the Turbine map as well as a dynamic Zombies theme that shows off the game's zombies.

Care Package Edition
The Care Package Edition costs $179.99, it includes:
 * Nuketown Zombies - Take Nuketown to the Undead.
 * Nuketown 2025 - Relive the close quarters chaos of this classic fan-favorite map re-imagined in a 1960s visionary depiction of the “model home of the future".
 * Limited Edition Collectible Steelbook – Limited edition game case featuring exclusive artwork.
 * Limited Edition Challenge Coins - Coins that has codes written in it.
 * Exclusive Weapon Camo - Rank-up in style with an exclusive multiplayer weapon skin.
 * Exclusive Player Card Backgrounds – Liven up any killcam with two exclusive player card backgrounds, inspired by Nuketown 2025 and Zombies.
 * Official Game Soundtrack - A digital copy of composer Jack Wall’s epic in-game score with Theme by Trent Reznor.
 * Remote Controlled MQ-27 Dragonfire Drone - Command cutting-edge technology, exclusively for this once-in-a-lifetime combat collection.
 * Care Package - Comes in a Care Package with a model directly taken from the game.

For Xbox 360 players

 * Exclusive Xbox LIVE CLAW Avatar Prop - An exclusive avatar prop, deployable to a dashboard near you.
 * Exclusive Xbox LIVE Zombies Avatar Costume - Show off your pride with an avatar costume built exclusively for fans of the Call of Duty undead.

For PS3 players

 * Exclusive PS3 Dynamic Themes - A dynamic multiplayer theme of the Turbine map as well as a dynamic Zombies theme that shows off the game's zombies.

Digital Deluxe Edition (PC Exclusive)
The Digital Deluxe Edition costs $79.99, it includes:
 * Nuketown Zombies - Take Nuketown to the Undead.
 * Nuketown 2025 - Relive the close quarters chaos of this classic fan-favorite map re-imagined in a 1960s visionary depiction of the “model home of the future".
 * Exclusive Weapon Camo - Rank-up in style with an exclusive multiplayer weapon skin.
 * Exclusive Card Backgrounds – Liven up any killcam with two exclusive player card backgrounds, inspired by Nuketown 2025 and Zombies.
 * Official Game Soundtrack - A digital copy of composer Jack Wall’s epic in-game score with Theme by Trent Reznor.
 * Call of Duty: World at War Game Download Token - A digital download of Treyarch’s classic title, traversing World War II storylines from the Pacific to European theaters of war.

Wii U version
In the Wii U version, the Wii U GamePad (Wii U's standard, tablet-like controller) can be used to call in Scorestreaks and change classes without pausing when playing by oneself. If there are two players in the same room, one can play on the screen while the other can play on the Wii U GamePad, basically eliminating split screen. Regardless of these exclusive features, it is possible to play the game using a traditional Wii U Pro Controller, and the signature motion-controlled Wii Remote and Nunchuk. As confirmed by Activision, this version will have every feature that the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions have, however, some features such as ELITE support and live video-streaming may not be available for the Wii U version at launch, due to the unfamiliarity of the console's Nintendo Network online infrastructure to the developers. Although, it is possible that these features will be added in later.

Videos
Call of Duty Black Ops 2|Debut Trailer Villain Trailer - Official Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Trailer|Villain Trailer Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Exclusive Trailer E3 2012|E3 Trailer Treyarch Behind the Scenes|Behind the Scenes Behind the Scenes with Trent Reznor & David S. Goyer - Official Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Video|Black Ops II Interview with Trent Reznor & David S. Goyer Multiplayer Reveal Trailer - Official Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Video|Multiplayer Reveal Trailer Collector's Editions Reveal - Official Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Video|Collector's Editions Reveal Zombies Preview - Official Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Video|Zombies Teaser Trailer Zombies Reveal Trailer - Official Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Video|Zombies Reveal Trailer

Trivia

 * This is the first game in the Call of Duty franchise that contains mountable horses for transport.
 * This is the first Call of Duty that Treyarch has produced with a futuristic time setting.
 * The game box cover has the character sitting in the exact position as the character on the first Black Ops game box cover, with both characters resting their arms on their knees in the same spots, the only difference being that the right arm is pointed upwards.
 * This is the second Call of Duty game to feature hitmarkers in campaign mode, the first being Call of Duty: Roads to Victory.
 * It is the third game in the series to feature hitmarkers in a gamemode outside of multiplayer. The first is Roads to Victory and the second is in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ' s Special Ops.
 * In the Multiplayer reveal trailer, all players reuse the third person sprinting animation from Modern Warfare 3.
 * Some of the weapons in the multiplayer reveal trailer share the same firing sounds from weapons in Call of Duty: Black Ops. These weapons include the Commando, Skorpion, SPAS-12, Strela-3, and Python.
 * The player's gun no longer disappears if the player moves while prone; instead, crawling animations have been created.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game to not include Sleight of Hand and Steady Aim in multiplayer since their debut in Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare. Additionally, Pro Perks are not featured for the first time since Call of Duty: World at War.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game where the players can attach three attachments to a single weapon in Multiplayer.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game where players can customize their loadout in the Campaign.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game that has Spanish, Portuguese, and Mandarin Chinese voice overs.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game to have different endings depending on player's actions throughout the game.
 * There is now a death animation for players in zombies. It only appears when the last player is downed in zombies and it sees the player desperately trying to grab onto something before the screen turns back to the game menu.
 * There are now starting animations in multiplayer such as cocking the gun.
 * Also there are now complete animations for reloading most of the guns. Instead of putting the magazine in after the magazine "disappeared", the character now pulls out the emptied magazine and replaces it with a new one.
 * Taking out the magazine and replacing with the new one is seen in some of the weapons in the previous games.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game to be featured on the WiiU and the second game to not have a Wii counterpart (first being Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2).
 * Since Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare this is the first game to not depicts Spetsnaz as enemy in the campaign and a playable faction in multiplayer.
 * Also, is the first Call of Duty game to have weapon's actual render image rather than a draw when player pickup.
 * The game was named "Shooter of the Year" by Ben of TheGamerDrive. Praise was directed towards the choice based story, as well as the return of familiar characters.