While the Call of Duty franchise continues to generate record-breaking sales number after record-breaking sales number, it has become a bit stale in the eyes of gamers. The lack of evolution iteration to iteration has many disappointed that the boundaries aren’t being pushed, and Activision isn’t allowing the brand to branch out all that much. Black Ops 2, on the other hand, was quite the unknown commodity after a trailer was released that was equal parts future and old school warfare, and left a lot of the old Call of Duty detractors wondering if this could be a fresh direction for the series.
Entering into the demo of Black Ops 2‘s single player campaign and its new Strike Force mode it was hard to predict just what would be shown. Would Treyarch focus on the new gadgets and gizmos at play in their vision of the year 2025, or would they showcase some of the flashback sequences alluded to in the trailer, which feature the character of Frank Woods? Read on for all the details.
The single player demo, unfortunately, played out very similar to the one that was shown during Microsoft’s aforementioned press conference. Los Angeles is amidst chaos, and it is up to David Mason (son of Black Ops’ Alex Mason) to protect the president. Rather than pull some jump cuts in the interest of time, though, the single player mission left in some of the interstitial moments that were classic Call of Duty.
This particular mission’s real focus was on the variety of gameplay, including a branching path, and on the types of cool pieces of future tech at the player’s disposal. Yes, the demo did keep in the moments between covering the female President’s escape from high ground and calling in quadrotor strikes with a wrist device, but those didn’t showcase anything altogether new.
Black Ops 2 is a different version of Call of Duty, but it’s still delivering the same always-at-11 experience, complete with the chance to fly a jet through war torn downtown LA. Some fans who scoffed at the generic look of the past games will find some new things to excite them, and die-hard COD fans will be happy to learn the core combat is relatively unchanged, and still action packed.
The real standout from the demo, however, was the first look at the Strike Force missions in the game. These missions, rather than focusing on telling an exciting narrative, are about giving the player a diverse selection of gameplay options and experiences that they can jump between on the fly.
In this particular mission the team was tasked with securing three specific points before then launching a missile at a nearby freighter – simple objective-based fodder when looked at apart from the gameplay, but it’s the gameplay that makes the mode so unique. Rather than give players just the first-person shooter combat they have become accustomed to experience in Call of Duty, Strike Force blends a little bit of real-time strategy with the game’s ability to jump into any player or control any vehicle at any time.
For example, the player can tell their group to head towards a specific way point, then take control over one soldier in order to lay down mines, and then take control of a hovering quadrotor to provide covering fire. Gamers of any persuasion will find a little something to enjoy, even though the experience is at its core an objective-based mode for Call of Duty.
Treyarch promises that Strike Force will have some story implications, and that failure will impact certain elements in the single player, but they wouldn’t give any concrete details. Apparently there aren’t too many of these missions packaged in with the game – it does feature multiplayer, single player, and zombies after all – so players should expect to be jumping back and forth in order to ensure the greatest success in the main campaign.
While the single player demo of Black Ops 2 didn’t do anything to prove Treyarch has reinvented the formula, the Strike Force mission had a lot of new and intriguing content. Black Ops 2 might not be the huge leap forward that many were expecting out of a Call of Duty title that featured futuristic warfare, but it’s a concerted effort to give players some new experiences.
What did you think of the single player demo that was shown during Microsoft’s E3 Press Conference? Will the Strike Force missions be a new enough mode for detractors of the franchise?
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releases November 13, 2012 for the PS3, PC, and Xbox 360.
Make sure to check out all of our E3 2012 coverage, including more previews of Activision’s upcoming titles.
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just die already, with all the sci-fi games that are going to be released and have already been released i dont thin there is any room for the wanna be that tries to hard to be something it isn’t – good.
if people chew this bs up then it proves that the ‘fans’ have no brains b/c what this PoS is offering has been done in tons of other sci-fi games in the past and present, and it will show that the current gen of gamers are f***ing sheep that cant think for themselves and just follow the herd without thought >:(
whilst sad little w***ers will be playing this all day long during the christmas break, i’ll be indulging myself with hitman, borderlands 2 and far cry 3 all of which are far more innovative and superior to anything anyone attached to activision and its yearly cycle will ever be able to produce
@jwalka
“…chew this bs up then it proves that the ‘fans’ have no brains b/c what this PoS is offering…”
Seems a little harsh…I believe so, and correct me if I am wrong, but the Call of Duty types games are the highest selling genre of games of all time. People enjoy playing these types of games and will continue to play them, does that make them “Sheep”? I hardly think so. its make them a fan base. A fan base that developers are going to continue creating games for, are some of the dynamics of the games the same? sure, objectives? sure, however, this is why we enjoy these types of games, also…
you stated “whilst sad little w***ers will be playing this all day long during the christmas break, i’ll be indulging myself with hitman, borderlands 2 and far cry 3″ again correct me if I am wrong, however doesn’t the “2″ and “3″ indicate sequels? meaning you’ll be playing the same character(s), with similar dynamics and completing the same type of objectives as parts 1 and 2? Isn’t this a little hypocritical? I mean you are clearly part of these games “fan base” so doesn’t that also make you a “sheep”?
Your childish post was nothing more then a “look at me! I have something to say” waste of space. If you disagree with an article or option, that’s fine, everyone is entitled to their opinions, however, posting things like “chew this bs” “this PoS” “sad little w***ers” and “f***ing sheep” just demonstrates how your opinion “tries to hard to be something it isn’t – good.”
@Spin
I wanna shake your hand
actuly if you reserch information about a cod game and not be a hater of cod black ops is working on their graphics and anamation what upsets me about your comment is if you relly think about it cod works real hard for thier fans and listens to them.you need to try new stuff. like me i play all the cod titles and the bf’s titles , and you better belive i am getting bk ops 2 and mohw2012 no matter what you say.and by the way didn’t your mom teach you anything about manners.p.s. to the maker’s of cod let your haters be your motivators.
Wow this guy above is gettin alil too worked up over this tho I do plan on gettig the same games (Borderlands 2 & Far Cry 3). I will also be gettin Black Ops 2 pretty much for the zombies. It has nothing to do with being a “sheep” since this is only my 2nd COD game but as long as people enjoy what theyre playing then that’s all that matters. Now if they buy it every year just because then that’s different lol.
Don’t understand why people still hate on this game? You don’t HAVE to buy it every year, its good to have options.
What I saw of this game at E3 looks pretty cool. CODs gameplay is solid and should remain unchanged. There’s plenty of content in this game to justify the $60 with single-player, multiplayer, zombies, and strike force. The only COD game that I did not like was MW3. And these graphics? What do people expect? In order to maintain their signature 60 fps they sacrifice graphics a bit and it still looks pretty good, dated sure but better than other current titles. Graphics don’t mean squat either, BF3 is gorgeous and I still get bored from time to time. I guarantee if that 60 fps was lost, many fans would be too. 30fps begins to feel clunky, which is no bueno for a game like this.
I’m impressed with what I saw and it does actually look fresh. This whole “they need a new engine” talk is garbage and only started when Frostbite 2.0 was put on display, admit it. Whether Call of Duty is the best or not is entirely up to the individual gamer so that debate is the definition of insane. At the end of the day a game needs to be fun and just that, a game. To call COD players brainless, sheep, children, etc only confirms your ignorance and immaturity. And why people get mad over this game is beyond me.
I wouldnt call people who are playing these games “sheep”. But a casual crowd of people who play games and dont want to take the time to get too invested in a cool complex game.
To people who sting-hate the cod series and it’s fans, i would say feel glad over the fact you dont play these games.
Because you’re above average
Best game ever
http://bestgamestores.org/call-of-duty-black-ops-ii/
I’m glad Black Ops 2 will be at least somewhat different from Black Ops. MW3 offered almost nothing new, which is why it is the worst CoD game to date.