Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Call of Duty: Black Ops II, stylized as CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS II, and also 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 13th, 2012. It is the sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops and was announced on May 1st, 2012, during the NBA basketball game.

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
This video confirms that Call of Duty: Black Ops II takes place in the 1980s for the first 1/3 of the game, and in 2025 for the final 2/3. The video mentions that it will be sandbox style, meaning the player can make choices that will affect the story. This confirms that the campaign will have multiple endings. The campaign includes "unmanned armies" built to keep populations safe which turn against their own countries when the enemies steal the "keys". The campaign also includes a new vehicles, such as C.L.A.W. Tiltjet Planes, X47 Pegasus, Quadrotors and new weapons, such as an Unknown Rifle, and old ones, like M249 SAW and AK-47 (seen briefly in trailer). As seen in reveal trailer, player may also have an opportunity to fly a jet. As seen in reveal trailer, players can operate with a Quadrotor, and, it is also seen that they can control their squadron of Quadrotors.

The majority of the game, as indicated by the trailer, appears to be set in war-torn Los Angeles.

Frank Woods returns from Call of Duty: Black Ops, this time much older and retired. Also, what is assumed to be the protagonist of the game has the name David Mason.

A new character known as Harper is also present in the game. Not much else is known about this character.

This video also mentions that a lot of characters from Call of Duty: Black Ops will be returning as playable characters. He specifically named Alex Mason, Frank Woods, and Jason Hudson.

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 favour 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 yourself.

United States of America

 * Los Angeles, California 2025
 * "The Vault"

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. 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 gun.

Trivia

 * Despite all the technological advances in the game, this is the first Call of Duty game that contains mountable horses for transport.
 * Call of Duty: Black Ops II is the first direct sequel created by Treyarch; however, its predecessor contained several major characters from Call of Duty: World at War and had its storyline slightly based on the events of the latter game.
 * This is the first Call of Duty game set mainly in the future, that Treyarch has developed. Despite this, the game still features segments set during the Cold War first seen in Call of Duty: Black Ops.