Change is as good as a holiday, they say. And I hear the best place for a holiday in the 25s is the floating man-made island of Colossus with its thousands of rooms, dubstep-heavy nightclubs, fresh sea air and harboured terrorists. Well, maybe that last part is less a break from the norm and a bigger reminder that no matter where you holiday, work is always going to be waiting for you.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is the most ambitious move in the series since Infinity Ward shook up the brass at Activision with the crazy notion people would actually want to face conflict in the modern era and not on the front lines of WWII anymore. And hey, look how that turned out. So it’s easy to see why Treyarch’s idea to move into the future resonated so well at the Activision top end.

But it’s not specifically about the game moving into the future. Like so many Call of Duty scenarios, the future is mainly a contextual opportunity to explore new weapons and uniquely set single-player chapters.



Don’t get me wrong, the futuristic portion of the whole game is perhaps its strongest point, across both multiplayer and the single-player, but I’d rather look at it more from a metaphorical point of view in that the new tech, settings and ideologies let you experience Call of Duty in a new way, and Treyarch has done an amazing job embracing all the freedom of expression (in as free as someone can be in an established blockbuster series) this allows.

So what’s changed? First of all, the Pick 10 system we’ve been talking about allows for a more heavily customised multiplayer experience. You can create your own variance on your playstyle now, and you’re not specifically locked into classic multiplayer tropes. But like previous games, not everything is available to you from the start, and concepts such as having to level up each weapon you unlock, in order to unlock its own specific attachments, levels the playing field immeasurably. Moreover, this also encourages players to invest in the game’s new, futuristic weapons more than just finding a favourite that works for them and sticking to it.

In fact, from an exploratory level with all of its components, multiplayer is by far the most robust in the series, and every map in the mode is easily the most well-designed to-date. Structurally there isn’t much of a difference between entrants with the usual inclusions of exploding vehicles, vantage points, subterrania, choke-points et al, but every arena feels tightly designed and balanced to the absolute nines. Pacing is either eerily broad or viscerally chaotic and each mode feels completely at home on each map - a real triumph across the board.

For players coming in off the first Black Ops, Treyarch has done away with their currency system in place of giving you pretty much all you need in a creation sense from the outset, barring what you need to unlock through play. Wager matches are still there, only now they’re part of the custom game set-up and obviously feature no wagers. You can also amplify the Pick 10 system to as high as 17 which, believe me, among a Private match with mates, will create some pretty amazing gameplay moments.



And that’s the value of this year’s multiplayer offering: it’s the most rewarding and accessible option ever, without being dumbed down. In fact, if anything, there’s a deeper level of complexity spread across the experience thanks to how the game’s future tech and Scorestreaks work. This also employs a much more rewarding emphasis on teamwork, where something as simple as catching a Domination point and killing an encroacher will immediately give you enough points to activate the first tier of your Scorestreak reward. It also means games like Domination will no longer be dominated kill crews, but rather those who play the mode in the way it was always intended.

From a content perspective, Black Ops II is easily the cream of the crop, with your usual affair of TDM, DM, Domination, CTF, Demolition, Headquarters, Kill Confirmed and more, all in tow. But you now also have the likes of Multi-Team which allows for small multi groups to inhabit the same game, which switches up the map real-estate in interesting ways, as well as other new additions. And as mentioned before, you can set up Party games however you see fit, partake in Combat Training and more. More new options, however, come in the form of League Play, which is a Season-by-Season championship replete with ladders and points based on how you play. This is for your more hardcore players out there and just another step in the right eSports direction for the series.

League Play is amplified further with the CODCasting option, full match streaming and the usual option to record matches as you play -- all baked into the final retail product with no Elite needs in sight. Ultimately, multiplayer really has something for everyone.

Obviously beyond the multiplayer option we also have the fan-favourite Zombies, and with the new Grief and Tranzit game modes, it is equally the best offering yet and in co-op leaves so much room for trainbus-wreck potential.



But this isn’t all there is. Single-player has been bolstered in ways that aren’t just about the new multi-ending direction as a result of the sandbox challenge maps supplied by Strike Force. Now, single-player levels are no longer narrow corridors you’re funnelled through -- there are multiple ways through each chapter’s massive environments, with various goodies to find on your way through. There are also a number of areas throughout that employ things I thought made more sense in Mass Effect than Call of Duty, such as level interaction on a narrative plane (main characters will comment, dynamically, on various areas you visit based on what you decide to look at, for example), deeper character-to-character banter and more. Not only does all of this change up the sprint-to-Checkpoint design of the previous outings, it piques the interest of players in ways that help open up the complex (and sometimes convoluted) story.

Initially, however, the single-player is a bit of a mess. It takes a little while for the game’s groove and structure to really make sense, and if I had to quantify this, I’d say the first quarter is the hardest to really get to grips with, or be gripped by. Exposition is short and uninformative, and the character jumps make things a bit awkward to follow at times, but the third quarter is brilliant and offers some pretty jarring moments. It’s a shame a balance couldn’t be found for the whole journey, but at least there’s an excellent arcade-driven mission early on that makes you feel like you’re in Rambo III, with Rambo being played by Sam Worthington, whose accent is still as jumpy as the initial story, I might add.

The aforementioned Strike Force missions are also pretty interesting, and definitely add a positive to whole experience. You’re given a set amount of time before you can no longer choose to do them, and failing in them means a retry will kick off with serious handicaps. And they’re not easy, by any measure. You’ll also have different outcomes in your story based on whether or not you’re successful in completing each Strike Force mission or, conversely, you’ll be rewarded with Strike Force missions based on certain actions you do in your single-player experience. It’s an interesting and engaging addition to the single-player portion of the game, to be sure.

All of the above said though, a few issues arise as a result of some of these additions. The inflated level-design, for example, reveals just how stupid the game’s AI is and you’ll often find you’ve flanked around a group (who your teammates have failed to fell) and can be standing right next to them, without so much as a flinch in your direction. Moreover, an option to choose, or customise your loadout before each single-player mission is a nice touch, but in the wake of such poor AI it comes off as a little redundant in parts.



Perhaps the biggest and most glaring feature though, is the game’s dated visuals. Treyarch has been staunch in standing by the tech they use, but there’s just no denying that it’s beginning to show its age in a big way. We’re also talking about the same engine that was used for Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare (albeit expanded upon and endlessly tinkered with). Since then there have been six games. It’s an enormous feat to not only get so much mileage out of a single game-engine, but to also have it driving the most successful game series of modern times, but it really needs an update, and given the vision the game carries as far as the future of the franchise goes, and, in fact, it’s own artistic inclusion of the future it feels like a missed opportunity.

And full circle we’re left at an interesting cross-roads from a review perspective, because I have no qualms saying this is the most robust and forward-thinking Call of Duty yet, but there are some glaring points mentioned above that have me wondering what’s in-store for the series if Activision and any one of the teams involved with it, don’t hunker down and get some new tech driving it. Expanding on this new formula in bigger, more dynamic ways is the right way to take Call of Duty, but in order to foster this, components such as AI and visuals need more love, especially with a next-gen looming on the horizon. It might sound like nitpicking, but both of those are massively important in creating a visceral, rewarding experience that moves beyond the sprint-to-Checkpoint design we’ve come to expect.

However, in saying that, the package as a whole is still an incredibly rewarding one and anyone who takes their time with the single-player will find a lot to take away from its rich narrative and jarring moments. It’s also the longest campaign the series has ever seen, clocking in at roughly 10-11 hours for me on Hardened. Add to this a massively expanded and incredibly fun Zombies option and what I’d argue is the best multiplayer the series has ever seen, and the price of admission becomes an afterthought, because as far as value for your money goes, Black Ops II is a veritable waterslide of enjoyment, and for a change, actually does a lot different to what we’ve come to expect.