By: Spencer Gordon

Call of Duty is a video game series most of us would know or have heard of. The series first became popular with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare in 2007, a major year for gaming. From then until 2012, the series would give players HOURS of fun and entertainment by playing the story mode’s set in WWII, Vietnam War, 2010’s and even 2020’s! But after 2013 onward, the series started to go downhill with problems like Skill Based Match Making (SBMM), Lack of launch content, disliked jetpack controls, and UNFINISHED Products. Call of Duty Vanguard is a VERY good example of that, launching in a glitchy and broken state that now has over 200+ bugs. That’s nearly as bad as Cyberpunk2077! But why not take a trip back to 2012 and 2013 when one COD title was released and was considered one of the top 3 Call of Duty titles of all time.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is a First Person Shooter (FPS) created by Treyarch and published by Activision. The game has 3 game modes with a unique feel to each of them. The campaign is set after the events of Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War. (Formerly Call of Duty Black Ops) The story has you swap between the years of 1985-89 and 2025 as the characters: Alex Mason, Frank Woods and Section aka David Mason. The story involves swapping between the First Cold War and the Second Cold War. The story has multiple endings that can be earned by completing certain objectives or “Strike” missions to change your outcome of the story. I won’t go any more in detail of the story, so you don’t get spoiled until you play it yourself.

Next, we have the Legendary multiplayer mode. With this title, Treyarch introduced a multiplayer feature called the “Pick 10”. Pick 10 was a feature that was used in all loadout slots in the “Create-a-class” system in every COD Treyarch title with the exception of Cold War. This feature allowed players to choose their weapons and number of attachments, equipment or perks in each slot. For example, you start with an assault rifle, pistol, 2 equipment and 3 perks. Thus, you have 7 out of 10 items for your loadout selected. This can be changed in any way the player wants. The killstreaks were changed to scorestreaks making it easier to get limited use items during your match. A progression system for unlocking weapon attachments was introduced. It was also known for being the first COD title to have a ranked/competitive mode known as league play. This game mode is also known for a “360 No-scope” (This is when a player manages to use a sniper, spin a full circle while in a lethal area such as a cliff, and kill a player out of pure luck or location.)

Finally, Zombies mode. Treyarch is known for making zombies mode a VERY fun experience. The game mode has a story that is connected from Call of Duty World at War to the recent Call of Duty Black Ops Cold War and Vanguard. This mode has only a few maps but has a lot of weapons and a quest on each map that leads to the next map or game. The zombie’s mode has a capacity of 1-4 players per game with maps in this game being: Nuke town zombies, Tranzit, Die Rise, Buried, Origins and more. You will be tasked with solving a complex story puzzle, or you can just survive as long as you can. Perks found on the map allow you to get an upper advantage and stay alive longer. Examples of perks include: “Juggernog, Speed Cola, Tombstone Soda, Quick revive and more.” Each map comes with a “Wonder weapon” that is unique to the map you play on. These maps are either fun, or frustrating to some players so play with a plan.

Today Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is still an amazing masterpiece that is turning 10 years old this year! The game is (for some reason) still at a high price of $50-60 and is played often by OG players. The game is dealing with hackers, so if you get shot through 10 layers of cement wall, or an announcement appears on the top of your screen with rainbow letters, the best thing to do is quit and find a better lobby to play in. Still the game is one that most Call of Duty fans call a “Classic” in their hearts.

Sources: Call of Duty: Black Ops II – Wikipedia

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Review – IGN