Call of Duty was an instant hit after its launch but the frenzy saw a downward slide for the later parts of the franchise. It was the release of Modern Warfare in 2007 that saved Call of Duty from expiration and introduced the new theme of modern warfare. It was a welcome change from the same World War sets to modern era for enthusiastic players. 2009 witnessed the released of Modern Warfare II and in 2010 Black Ops was released. Black Ops II is the continuation of the story of Alex Madison and Frank Woods of Black Ops. Although the promotional by Activision created the impression of breaking all barriers with the latest production of Treyarch, Black Ops II is being stated as next to Modern Warfare II by many. Post-release reviews reveal that some game enthusiasts have rated Modern Warfare II as the climax of Call of Duty franchise.

It, however, does not affect Black Ops II in any way significant. The game already created enough hype to succeed. With successful launch and nearly flawless service for multi-player version, Black Ops II has already sold millions of copies and is counting actively. The story repeatedly moves between 1980s where it connects to Alex Mason’s story and 2025 where his son is shown as the protagonist against a very interesting antagonist, Raul Menedez.

Much of the game-play remains the same and the story, much of which has already been written about, must be left to be discovered by the players. Strike force missions, which could have been a great innovation, may disappoint many. Players may feel hastily assigned a important task in the form strike force as Treyarch spends less time to explain it to players. Since it was innovation, it could have been slightly relaxed. Although strike force missions are optional they do impact the story. That story has dependent upon the cause and course of game-play makes Black Ops II immensely interesting and re-playable.

If Strike force may disappoint some, Zombies mode would surely intrigue many. The famous and much-loved version is up to the expectation and would allow teams of 4 to take on the living deads.

Multi-player version has been, by far the most, successful and promising. Although some players have commented that more number of players are required for maintenance of proper balance, multiplayer version is the key to success of Black Ops II. Single-player version, as it was suspected, somewhat lacks sheen in comparison to multi-player mode. Although minor hitches are here and there around Black Ops II, the game has shot off to a magnificent start.

David S. Goyer of ‘The Dark Knight’ fame and Dave Anthony, the game director at Treyarch have co-written the story of the game. While the story is quite capturing and layered, the presence of Petraeus in it has absolutely horribly coincided with the reports of sex scandal and launch of Black Ops II. However, Treyarch and Activision are not alone to have faced the awkwardness of situation; ‘General David Petraeus’ rules of living’ was published by Newsweek merely a few days before the general resigned.

In order to connect with the present political scenarios, Treyarch has incorporated characters, objects, situations, etc from the real-life. This was achieved through thorough research and assistance from some of the great military theorists like P.W. Singer. In the game, David Petraeus is the Secretary of Defence of the United States in 2025. He has a brief but quite good part in the game. Voiced himself, the general has done justice to the character of Secretary of Defence.

The cameo was incorporated to provide realistic military credibility to the game. Other than Petraeus, Manuel Noriega has also been shown in one of the levels of the game. Another character which is connected with the real-life personality is of President Bosworth who has been depicted as the Commander in Chief of future. This character has been observed by many to have appearance which resembles that of Hillary Clinton, the present Secretary of State of the United States. Moreover, the present President of the United States – Barrack Obama has also been depicted as drowning in one of the scenes in the game. Most interestingly, whether he lives or drowns depends upon the action of the players.

The cameo of Secretary of Defence David Petraeus is being pronounced as miss-timed because of the recent resignation of the general following the revelation of his extra-marital affair. David Petraeus has earned four-stars and became the general and commander of the U.S. military in Afghanistan. He used to be Director General of CIA at present. However, his quite lustrous career in the army of the United States faced the doom when he was alleged to be involved in an extra-marital sexual relationship with a journalist named Paula Broadwell who was writing his biography named ‘All in: The Education of General David Petraeus’. Petraeus later confessed the allegations and resigned from his position.

The fact that the sex-scandal to fore just when around the time of release of Black Ops II must have brought awkwardness to Treyarch and Activision. However, that the part of Petraeus is relatively small is going to save the game from any kind of business’ shortcomings. Still, Activision has made sure that it explains the role and presence of the character to customers.

Quite obviously, Activision has been consistently updating through Twitter but has not generated confidence. The comments could not clarify the cause of the issue and failed to state any dead-line for the resolution of the issue. Some of the comments from Treyarch and Activision are:

“We are aware of connectivity issues that some players are facing in Black Ops 2 on PlayStation 3. We are working on resolution,”

“We are working on resolution, thank you.”

“We are currently testing backend matchmaking changes that we think can help with this. I don’t have a timetable, or I would tell you. The ‘Waiting to balance teams’ thing is something else entirely. More on that shortly.”
The last comment mentions two of the other issues, viz., missing DLC codes and team imbalance.

The DLC code that some of the payers have received could not be input. DLC codes are the key to Nuketown 2025’s and Zombies’ maps of Black Ops II. This was going to mightily frustrate users, if it was to happen, and so it did. According to reports, only hardened and Care Packages edition has witnessed the issue of DLC codes. Several customers contacted technical departments of their console’s manufacturers and some of them have found their codes already redeemed which indicates duplicity. The reason, as said, has not been confirmed by Activision.

Message regarding imbalance in team is another concern. Players have received message which reads “more players are needed to balance teams” even if the lobby is full. Apart from these, the game has been reported to freeze at the end of online play, during creation of an emblem, during single-player campaigns, while the game updates, while multi-player loads, etc. Moreover, the Zombies mode has sound glitches too.

Although issues exist, Activision has constantly maintained that it is working on them and that they would be resolved soon. It must be mentioned here as a matter of fact that millions of copies of Black Ops II that have been purchased have no issues at all; it is only with some of the editions that these issues have been reported.

Let’s go through the factual information this time. At the first sight, the game seems to have merged single-player and multi-player campaigns. Although the two versions are not merged, the feel establishes that the standard of even single-player mode has been considerably upgraded.

Various missions in the game have lists of weapons. Players have the privilege to choose weapons between two missions. Even perks can be used in mode of a story. Initially the choices for weapons are less but increase as players progress through levels of game. There certain number of challenges at every level. Successful completion of these challenges unlocks advanced weapons and gears.

The story of the game is continuation of Black Ops. Those who have played Black Ops would realise that they begin the campaign of Black Ops II from where the former ended. However, since the story of Black Ops II is split into two eras, player may get to play the lead character of Alex Mason in the 1980s and that of his son – David Mason in 2025.
Strike-force missions have been included in the campaign. These are special, optional missions that may or may not be completed by users. However, these missions are woven with the story and results of these missions impact the story of the game. This incorporation of story and strike-force missions has made Black Ops II more realistic and interesting. For instance, Players are required to fend enemies off a facility for certain period. Success or failure in this mission decides whether India remains free or gets captured by enemy troops. A number of strike-force missions are present throughout the course of the game. These missions have made the game dynamic as the end-result of a specific player may differ between two of his/her game-play.

The currency tokens that were first introduced with Black Ops exist in Black Ops II too. The token system in the multi-player allows a player to unlock tokens through successful completion of a level. These tokens can then be used to unlock kill-streaks, perks, weapons, etc.

More interestingly, the multi-player version has the Zombies mode but with slight difference. In Zombies version of Black Ops II there is map with the help of which players may choose a location to attack zombies. Zombies edition also has various levels and the game-play also changes in different levels.
Everything that had been said about Black Ops II was almost correct. How
ever, players reviews post-release are interesting as they agree and disagree with each other about different aspects of the game.

It should be known by fans of CoD that game-play or other aspects of the game are same in both multi-player as well as single-player versions of the game. It is rather the feel of the game and involvement of player in it that might seem different in the 2 versions of Black Ops II. The story spans two separate centuries. Majority of the story is in 2025 but there are considerable sequences in 1970-80s. This has been quite artistically done. The part of the story in 20th century connects Black Ops II with Black Ops. On the other hand, the plots in 21st century give a realistic approach to combat bring to life Modern Warfare. Thus, the story of the game is intricately and interestingly woven to make Black Ops II a complete experience.

The presumption about the connection between two different times was memory-flashbacks until more details from Activision suggested that time-travel might be involved in Black Ops II. Futuristic weapons, time-travel and people’s favourite Zombies are sure to make the latest version of Call of Duty a thrilling science fiction. So many fantasies are rare to be found together in a single game without affecting the originality of the game.

Another appreciable innovation is the branching of the story in Black Ops II. This is, by far, an exceptionally good addition to the single-player mode. The story branches from the mainstream in the form strike-force missions at certain juncture of game-play. This adds a new dimension to an individual player’s involvement with the game as the final result is depends upon the player’s tactical decisions. This means that end-results of different players may be entirely different from each other; so much that a player may even lose the game. Such dependant branching makes the game utmost realistic.

After all, the villain of Black Ops II does deserve a mention too. Much like the joker of the Dark Knight, Raul Menendez is a villain with layered personality which would tough to be entirely hated or sympathised. While Raul has been depicted as a villain, players are going to find soft corners in their minds for the character.
Thus, true to its name, Black Ops II in single-player format is going to be as interesting as its other format.

Certain modifications and additions to the game indicate that Black Ops II is going to allow players to carry the game forward instead of the game carrying the players. This let players test their decision-making skills, leadership capability, presence of mind, etc. The story of the game appears to get influenced by players’ decisions and choices. Moreover, the game would demand leadership of certain soldiers by the players which would stir the sense of responsibility as team-members may get affected due to players’ inappropriate decision. In terms of business, this feature also increases the re-playability of the game by any player. For those who have played Modern Warfare III, this must be a welcome innovation.

More specific modification by Treyarch is the Theatre mode of the game. As the name suggests, this mode is to give the game-play a theatrical presentation. Enhanced versatility of the camera, one-button editing, meta-data, etc. are features that would allow players to capture and share their performance with others. Black Ops II also features thumbnails for record matches and to list meta-data like date stamps, game mode, scores, time, etc. therefore players will be able to identify, classify and share desired game sequences without much ado. Besides, the theatre mode also supports voting where viewers and players can vote their favourite clips which would move up or down accordingly.
The theatre mode has a lot to offer. The editing has been simplified and has been made semi-automated. There is only one button that allows all types of edit options. In fact, players do not have much to do as the High Reel features automatically sorts the best kills from the selected footage. Different camera perspectives of these kills are then entwined together to bring out the best editing experience and result. In addition to this, players are allowed to fix cameras on different objects in the battle-field to capture the desired view of the action from the desired angle.

The fact that Treyarch sought the service of David Goyer for a story that is as good as that of his latest Batman series may also play a major role in the success of the game. Settings, game-play, story and its villain, etc,
everything about Black Ops II might have much more for its fans than expected. Besides, Treyarch’s full involvement with all the aspects of the game ensures a better game than Black Ops, of which Infinity ward was in charge. Whether Black Ops II will overwhelm its players or would be just as good as its previous versions could only be found post-13th November.

Still there are some exceptions and you can hide from the enemy by actively doing something. For example if you stop to defuse or plant a bomb then you can remain safe from the enemy radar. Since you are performing some action and not sitting idle you are kept safe from the eyes of the enemy. But if you continue to sit still and don’t move after completing the work then you will come under the radar and be visible in the enemy map. The other exception in this is that if you have scorestreaks active then the invisibility can remain in effect. This includes the Dragonfire, Lodestar, AGR and RC-XD, etc.

Ghost perk is just one change among many other changes brought in Black Ops II. Treyarch has been continuously working to bring more such changes to make it a more creative and balanced game. Previously many gamers had complained about camping and this was the main reason why this change has been brought into effect.

The other update related to Black Ops II is the last minute incentive brought by Amazon. Just weeks before the release of the game Amazon has upgraded the bonuses that come with pre-order of COD: Black Ops II. Along with Double XP Weekend and free Nuketown 2025 bonus map one can look forward to several other exclusive perks by Amazon. One off them is the Black Ops II exclusive wallpaper but the most exciting is the Amazon Kindle backstory Rightful King. This feature provides you more information about the villain Raul Menendez. These bonuses reach you after your order has been shipped.

Black Ops II is being released for PlayStation 3, PC, Xbox 360 but will come out 5 days later in the Wii U. Treyarch has been continuously trying to bring more changes and upgrades to make the game interesting. You can surely look forward to more updates in the coming days.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is to be released on 13th November of this year. It would be released in single-player as well as multi-player mode. The operations in the single-player mode are not different from that of multi-player mode. However, in multi-player mode, players get a more real feel of combat than in the single-player mode. Besides, the very famous and favourite of all, Zombies version is available only in multi-player mode.

One logical change that this version of Black Ops II has lies in the kill streaks. When a player kills certain numbers of enemy soldiers, he/she gets additional benefits but, unlike earlier version, the number of kills is not increased by kill of an enemy that had reward on him. There are various other perks in the game though.

Apart from the addition Zombies version in the multi-player mode and modification of kill-streaks, certain additions or modifications can be witnessed during the game-play too. For instance, the ownership and possession of weapons may seem a tad tougher than previous versions. In Black Ops II, equipments can be purchased by spending earned points. However, points increase and perks unlock with accomplishment of missions as before.

The ‘player card’ is a new addition to Black Ops II. It can be used to view complete statistics of game-play. This allows players to compare their performance with that of other players (in multi-player mode) or with that of other players who might have played the game some time. Interestingly, a new feature by the name ‘Theatre’ has been introduced through which an entire plot of the game can be viewed as a movie by players or by others.

Another fantastic addition is the feature of ‘codcasting’ (which is a variable for broadcasting). This feature allows people other than players of the game to telecast certain sequences of it or the entire complete game-play like an episode or a documentary. This feature is being seen as very fascinating addition as it allows non-players to get involved in the game like reporters or commentators. Moreover, the codcasting supports sharing and viewing game-play in real-time through internet.

The success of Black Ops and the popularity of CoD Black Ops II have raised the number of perks offered by dealers on purchase of the game. Even the time of purchase is a factor behind the number of gifts that a buyer gets. Nuke town map, posters, quad rotor drones, sweepstakes, etc. are some of the names to mention in this context. Besides, there are exclusive retail plans and programmes for the game too.

The end of anticipation and the beginning excitement is due until 13th November.

The kind of investment that Activision has done for Treyarch’s latest Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 reveals the interest that Activision has vested upon the game. Recently, Activision launched a 60 minutes long promotional trailer of Black Ops 2 with live actions during a sports event. The promotional trailer is titled ‘surprise’ and is directed by Guy Ritchie. The involvement of Hollywood celebrities and that of other industries is an indication of how far Activision has planned to go for Black Ops 2.

FPS Russia, Jack Black, iJustine, Omar Sy and Robert Downey were included in the celebrity cameos that feature in the said promotional trailer of Black Ops 2. Although the trailer was only a minute long, inclusion of celebrities in it ensures that it is viewed by as many people as expected. Besides, the event for the debut of the promotional was also a sports event that assured maximum viewership of the live action trailer. Activision has adopted similar promotional strategies for previous version of Call of Duty too. While CoD is one of the biggest franchise in the video-games industry, Activision is making sure that it becomes the dominating one (in a positive way) too.

In the action trailer, Robert Downey junior is shown to bring a fighter jet to a gun-fight. The trailer depicts players with less arms and ammunition being outdone by another player with more firepower. Robert Downing is shown with a Harrier jet and outperforming a soldier with 2 tanks.

Now that the promotional trailer has already debuted, it would be released throughout the world via all the high-profile and popular telecasts or events. Apart from advertisements, Activision has plans for other forms of promotions too. The free downloadable application named Action Movie FX is going to be taken over by Activision. With the help of this application, fans will be allowed to film environment of the real world by using their mobile phones and then use the game’s weaponry to destroy the same. A global outdoor advertising campaign is also being run by Activision in 8 cities as part of Black Ops-II promotional.

Additionally, Activision has partnered with LG Electronics that is supposed to showcase the 3D features of Black Ops 2. The showcase would include first person’s game-play and emphasis on some of the dialogues of characters of the game. All these clearly suggest that the developers and promoters want no one to be unaware of the latest edition of CoD. The strategies that Activision has adopted to promote the game are indeed worth the earning-potential of Black Ops 2. Its previous version had passed $1 billion sales and Black Ops 2 can certainly beat that too. To ensure that it does sell as expected, gameplay, weapons and many more aspects have been slightly or considerably tweaked. Moreover, the ability to stream live game-play in real time through the internet is also going to generate some avenues of income. If nothing else, then this innovation (called codcasting instead of broadcasting) is definitely very interesting (at least).

Black Ops 2, which is due to release on 13th November has more to it than the previous versions of the series. The addition of ‘codcasting’ to Black Ops 2 is the most interesting innovation in the history of the Call of Duty franchise. Some ideas must have already developed in several minds about what codcasting might be. Yes, it is broadcasting Black Ops 2 in CoD terminology. It is like live news broadcast where newsagents relentlessly follow a personality or an event in real time. The only difference would be that a ‘codcaster’ would be in pursuit of the soldiers in the virtual battlefield (game players).

This new feature is less known to many but so close to the release of BO2, codcasting has caught the eyes and fantasies of many. A Codcaster does not have the privilege to be present (virtually) in the battlefield alongwith the soldiers but a codcaster can switch between views of players. This allows a codcaster to comment on the most crucial plot of an instant. Anyone who can or likes commentary may join broadcasting team by joining the multiplayer lobby. A codcaster has soldiers’ eyes-view of every plot and proceedings. He/she may switch to map of present stage to see who where and facing to where.

If gameplay of Call of Duty Black Ops 2 is adventure, codcasting is exciting. In fact, to many it may appear more interesting as a codcaster sees the game the way not even soldiers do. In multiplayer format, players have little knowledge of what goes on elsewhere in the virtual battlefield. As a result, most crucial moments in a stage would always have commentary. A codcaster may follow players on streaks to find out rewards and weapons that they use. Since BO2 can be live streamed through the internet, the game may appear like live telecast of an enraged battle with codcasters commentary to leave nothing to anyone’s imagination.

Codcasting offers so much more to be done than just gameplay. Only gameplay is raw but with codcasting it becomes more like a presentation. There is so much that can be done through codcasting. The game can be presented with commentary on various plots and actions very much like reporting live news. With a different approach, the entire flow of the game can be presented together in a dramatic style which would appear more like a documentary. Moreover, codcasters can also form a team and co-ordinate to ensure that every exciting twist and thrilling actions is commented upon. They can even tap into strategic discussions of players to more accurately predict what may come next and be present at the right place at the right time. Thus, while players face ups and downs in the game, codcasters go through the thrill of similar but parallel roller-coaster ride.

Although it is for the viewers’ sake, codcasting is more than just an impressive innovation to CoD series. It may play a role in marketing of CoD: Black Ops 2 as well as generate scope of revenue, which Treyarch and Activision can recognise far better than any of us.