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, abbreviated as COD: BO2, or simply BO2, is an upcoming first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. This is the ninth main installment for the Call of Duty franchise, set for release 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 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, Panama 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 a Chinese 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 2025 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.

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 camo patterns, then advanced challenges become available to unlock special camo. Challenges will also unlock reticules for the different sight attachments. Challenges do not reset after prestiging.

Gametypes
Black Ops 2 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 push players to 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.

United States of America

 * Los Angeles, California
 * "The Vault"

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 is set to return 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. Rather than a four player co-op, the game has set to put in an eight player co-op. While specific gameplay and story-related elements have yet to be announced, a promotional poster for the game depicts an unknown woman 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.

Hardened Edition

 * 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".
 * Collectable Two-Sided SteelBook – Limited edition game case featuring exclusive artwork.
 * Weapon Camo - Rank-up in style with an exclusive multiplayer weapon skin.
 * Two Player Card Backgrounds – Liven up any killcam with two exclusive player card backgrounds, inspired by Nuketown 2025 and Zombies.
 * Game Soundtrack - A digital copy of composer Jack Wall’s epic in-game score with Theme by Trent Reznor.

For Xbox players

 * Xbox LIVE CLAW Avatar Prop - An exclusive avatar prop, deployable to a dashboard near you.
 * 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

 * 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

 * Everything from the Hardened Edition plus:
 * Remote Controlled MQ-27 Dragonfire Drone  - Command cutting-edge technology, exclusively for this once-in-a-lifetime combat collection.
 * Comes packaged in a Care Package with the model taken directly from the game.

Digital Deluxe Edition (PC Exclusive)

 * Everything from Hardened edition except the Xbox Live and Playstation Content and the Steelbook.
 * 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 GamePad
The Wii U GamePad can be used to call in Scorestreaks and change classes without pausing when playing by oneself. If there are 2 players, one can play on the screen while the other can play on the Wii U GamePad, basically eliminating split screen. As confirmed by Activision, this version will have every feature that the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions have.

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.
 * This is the second Call of Duty game that spans over decades, the first being Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.
 * 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: Road to Victory.
 * It is the third game in the series to feature hitmarkers in a gamemode outside of multiplayer. The first is Road to Victory and the second is in Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 ' s Special Ops.
 * A prequel available only on the PS VITA has been announced entitled Call of Duty: Black Ops: Declassified.
 * 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 you move 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 will not be featured for the first time since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game where the player can attach three attachments to a single weapon in Multiplayer.
 * This is the second game since Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 that allows the addition of two attachments to handguns in Multiplayer.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game where the player can customize their loadout in the Campaign.