When I think of Black Ops II, I think of the word ‘Creative’. The first Call Of Duty game to have a non-linear story line, an actually balanced multiplayer, and a great zombies mode, this COD blew people away, and was the highest-grossing video game ever until GTA V came out.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a 2012 First Person Shooter game developed by Treyarch and released by Activision. Set in the 1980’s and 2025, the Plot follows Alex Mason after the events of Black Ops I, and his son, David, taking down Raul Menendez in 2025. It grossed $800 million, and has sold 29.01 copies as of September of 2019.
Let’s get ready for the Plot!
In 1986, Alex Mason, now retired from active duty, pursues an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is further strained when Mason is approached by Jason Hudson for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan Civil and South African Border Wars. Frank Woods and his team have disappeared aiding Jonas Savimbi’s UNITA rebels against Angola’s Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA, but Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Kavango River, subsequently locating Raul Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. As a lengthy firefight breaks out, the trio are rescued by Savimbi. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team.
In light of this, Mason, Woods, and Hudson begin tracking Menendez, an established primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in Southern Africa and Latin America. The CIA later authorize a strike against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. The trio and Chinese operative Tian Zhao ally with the Afghan Mujahideen against the Soviets. They locate Lev Kravchenko, who survived the grenade explosion with Woods in Vietnam, and interrogate him into disclosing that Menendez has moles inside the CIA. The Mujahideen then betray the Americans and Zhao, leaving them to die in the Afghan wilderness until their rescue by two unidentified civilians.
The origins of Menendez’s anti-American sentiment is revealed at this point. His sister Josefina was disfigured in a fire as part of an insurance fraud masterminded by an American businessman. The CIA sanctions the assassination of Menendez’s father after uncovering his ties to South American drug trade. Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Panamanian security forces led by President Manuel Noriega raid Menendez’s compound in Nicaragua; during the chaos, Woods inadvertently kills Josefina with a grenade. Conspiring with Noriega to fake his demise, Menendez crosses paths with Mason and Woods again during the American invasion of Panama. Utilizing moles within the CIA, Menendez captures Hudson and David, and has Hudson manipulate Woods into shooting Mason before crippling Woods. He then executes Hudson, promising to return and complete his revenge at a later date.
In 2025, Menendez reemerges as the charismatic leader of Cordis Die, a militant populist movement. His organization stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese stock exchanges, forcing their government to leverage its economic influence and sparking a second Cold War between NATO and the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition headed by Zhao. David, now a Navy SEAL code-named Section, spearheads an effort by American Joint Special Operations Command (JSOC) to track down Menendez. They fail to apprehend him, but learn that Menendez is planning a second cyberattack with global repercussions, dependent on a quantum supercomputer engineered by rogue developer Chloe Lynch. Section and two other SEALs, Harper and Salazar, either rescue Lynch by killing Menendez’s second-in-command, DeFalco, or he escapes. The “Strike Force” mission “Second Chance” must be completed to rescue Lynch if the latter occurs.
JSOC finally capture Menendez in Yemen with the assistance of undercover CIA agent, Farid. However, prior to being apprehended, Menendez orders Farid to kill a captured Harper. Farid will be executed by Menendez if he refuses. American forces take Menendez aboard the aircraft carrier U.S.S. Barack Obama, commanded by Admiral Briggs; however, Menendez escapes with the aid of a mole inside JSOC: Salazar. How Salazar’s betrayal pans out is determinant on the fates of Lynch, Farid, and DeFalco. Menendez hacks into the U.S. military satellite to seize control of their entire drone fleet. Whether the Americans regain control is determined on whether the Strike Force missions were completed and whether Briggs remains alive to activate the ship’s defenses.
Regardless, Menendez uses the drones to attack Los Angeles during a meeting of G-20 leaders, hoping to kill them and foment widespread economic and civil chaos. With the drones also targeting several other strategic cities across the U.S. and China, Section escorts the President of the United States, who appears to be Hillary Clinton, to safety in a Cougar HE. Menendez is tracked to Haiti, where he reveals that the reason that he took control of the drones to destroy all of them. He tells his followers to rise up and strike, before destroying the base and attempting to escape. However, Section catches up to him, and Section must either execute or apprehend him.
Now, I’m going to go over the multiplayer and zombies modes.
The Multiplayer is fairly balanced, with no overpowered weapons standing out from the rest (although the AN-94 and M8A1 stand out a bit), and no stupidly overpowered attachments/killstreaks standing out either. The map selection is great, with Hijacked, Raid, Plaza, Slums, and Carrier being fan favorites. The community was not toxic, and it is widely regarded as the most balanced (and best) COD multiplayer.
The Zombies is a bit harder to praise. It is split 50/50, with three amazing maps and three terrible maps. Mob Of The Dead, Origins, and Buried are the good ones, while Tranzit, Die Rise, and Nuketown Zombies are the bad ones (although Nuketown wasn’t bad, just unnecessary). I have to give praise where it’s due, and criticize as well. I will go more in-depth during my COD zombies review in October.
Here’s the Cast.
Sam Worthington(Alex Mason) is an Australian actor(age 43) who does a good job of making me nostalgic for BO1. While he plays it low-key in this game, he does a fair job. His career includes: Avatar, Hacksaw Ridge, Clash Of The Titans, and Call of Duty: Black Ops I.
Micheal Keaton(Jason Hudson) is an American actor(age 68) who does an amazing job of making me hate him in the campaign. He replaced Ed Harris from the first game, but he’s lit here. His career includes: Batman(1989), Beetlejuice, Spider-Man: Homecoming, Batman Returns, The Founder, Birdman(Or The Unexpected Virtue Of Ignorance), Jackie Brown, and Toy Story 3.
Micheal Rooker(Harper) is an American actor(age 64) who does a decent job as a military man in this game, though I prefer him in zombies from Black Ops One. I don’t have much to say about the cast of this book, so he is the last cast member I look at. His career includes: Guardians of The Galaxy Vol 1 and 2, The Walking Dead, Brightburn, Days of Thunder, and The Belko Experiment.
The actual Critic reviews:
Metacritic: 83%
Alright, I can’t talk a lot about this game further without spoiling it(and I want you to go see the movies I cover here and play the games I cover here), and I will go more in-depth in my COD zombies reviews, but this is a good game. It is available for Xbox 360, PS3, and PC, and it is quite a good game. Until next time!
The Underage Critic 