Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Pros

• A gripping story that addresses the horrors of war firsthand
• A clever customization system that gives you more control over your actions

Cons

• Story choices sometimes border on the tasteless
• Utilizes mechanics that have been further polished with newer iterations

In the seemingly endless stream of Call of Duty releases, Black Ops 2 manages to stand out from the rest of the pack as one of the most visceral and polished first person shooters on the market. Call of Duty has come to be recognized as one of the preeminent shooters around, but any long running franchises is bound to have its ups and downs. Black Ops 2 is undoubtedly the former, and for many fans of the genre, it occupies a place as the pinnacle of what a shooter can be. That's reflected in both the single player and multiplayer experience.

While this isn't the first time the series has ventured outside the well worn territory of World War II, it's the first to manage an identity all its own. That's especially well reflected in the single player story campaign, where actions have consequences, and the foreboding sense that our weapons have become a trap rather than a tool is centered in the heart of the game. By jumping back and forth between the Cold War and the near future, Black Ops 2 highlights how much war has changed over time, and it puts the threats and dangers that come from those changes into clear relief. This is especially typified in a mission that places you in the shoes of a terrorist, tasked with shooting up a mass of unarmed civilians in a crowded airport. It's a harrowing mission, and whether it defies good taste or not is in the eye of the beholder, but it's a clear and present indication that Treyarch is looking to tell a serious story with their single player campaign. While it's by far the boldest choice taken in the narrative, the entire story is littered with circumstances that force you to make harsh decisions and make you question the distinction between friendly and enemy combatant.

There's little of those moral questions in the multiplayer campaign, but there is plenty of polish. Black Ops 2 upended the traditional components of the multiplayer shooter with the addition of significant customization options. Before going into the field, you have the option to outfit your character with a unique loadout of weapons and perks. The former gives you a lot of control over your character's role in the battlefield, while the latter provides you with small but meaningful adjustments to how you play the game. While this sort of quasi-class system has been expanded upon over the years, it remains one of the most important innovations in the modern shooter, and it's arguably the game that pulls it off best.

Many versions of Call of Duty have been released since Black Ops 2, but it's still a game well worth checking out. It's an artifact of a turning point in gaming, but the experience still manages to hold up in its own right.

Pros

• A gripping story that addresses the horrors of war firsthand
• A clever customization system that gives you more control over your actions

Cons

• Story choices sometimes border on the tasteless
• Utilizes mechanics that have been further polished with newer iterations