We had the fortune of sitting down behind closed doors and viewing a couple levels from Treyarch’s newest entry in the Call of Duty series: Black Ops 2. The presentation covered a standard straight shooting level as well as a demo of the brand new Strike Force Missions, which I will cover a little later in this article. There was no information regarding the multiplayer portion of the game. All that was said was that more details for multiplayer would be released “at a later date.”
The first level of the demo is what you have come to expect from a Call of Duty title, but with a few added twists thrown into the mix. The level begins with Mason transporting the President to safety along the highway leading to downtown Los Angeles and at one point using the new sniper rifle with the x-ray scope to take out enemies that are behind cover. It quickly moves into downtown L.A. where you are fighting mercenaries and unmanned drones in order to secure a path for the President to safely travel. Along the way there, Mason pulled up his wrist computer and was able to command a squadron of quadrotor drones that would rain rounds down on the targeted area. This section ended with Mason jumping in a jet where the player was put in control and was able to fly it around. This was definitely a cool scene and something a little different from the standard Call of Duty formula.
The second half of the demo revolved around the brand new Strike Force Missions. These missions will allow players to choose the way they play their game. If you want to play it like an RTS, then you can pull the camera back and command forces from afar. If you want to play as a specific type of drone, then you can jump into the camera view and start mowing down the opposition using the drones. You can even take the traditional route and just jump into the viewpoint of a soldier and take the objectives from there. These missions definitely mix things up and add something a little different to the series. It was stated that these mission will tie into the main story and influence how it flows but they will be comprised of characters that aren’t important to the story. These missions will usually involve you capturing different points around the map in order to complete a certain objective.
While this mode was definitely something different in the Call of Duty franchise, I am unsure how I feel about the Strike Force Missions. They way they were explained makes them feel like they were hastily tacked on to the game to say they added something new to it. It also feels like the story won’t be as personal since they will be taking you out of the shoes of the main characters to put you into the boots of random soldiers storming a battlefield. Sure their actions will have consequences on the main story, but will they actually receive recognition for the things they accomplished? And will you be stepping into the shoes of the same squad each time? I suppose only time will tell what exactly is in store for this mode. Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 releases on November 13 for the Playstation 3 and Xbox 360.
