Black Ops II looks old, plays like every other game in the series, and feels tired and un-inspired
User Rating: 2 | Call of Duty: Black Ops II X360
After last years turd of a game also known as MW3, I avoided the risk of a purchase and decided to rent Black Ops II just to be safe. Boy, am I glad I rented it. Let me start off by saying the engine is SHOWING IT'S AGE all right! I normally don't nitpick at graphics, but when a company generates billions of dollars in revenue from one game series, I expect ground breaking graphics. Let's look at Halo 4. Now, I'm no fanboy of Halo. I still enjoy both Halo and COD. But Halo 4 was made by developers that actually had a passion to put out the best quality work. The graphics in Halo 4 are breath-taking as to COD looks old, muddled, and worn out. As for the gameplay, Black Ops 2 fails to bring anything new to the table. It trys to introduce futuristic warfare, but none of the tactics introduced seem worthwhile or well fleshed out. It was a rushed production, and with rushed production, you get choppy, limited gameplay. Controlling the drones can be fun at times, but it is just like any other machine you have controlled in previous COD's just reskinned. The game does offer the chance to make certain pivotal choices in the campaign, but the developers spewed crap out of their mouths as to the expectations they promised were crushed in my perspective. The ending isn't half bad, but again, the choices you make are only influenced for the majority by a cutscene. No major gameplay scenario changes. No increase in AI enemies. The AI are terrible in this game. Play RAGE or Halo 4 if you want actually good enemies to fight against.
Overall, Black Ops II is NOT worth your money. It isn't a terrible game to be honest. Why am I giving it a bad review? Because it is the same run-of-the-mill shooter like every other year. It isn't worth your money yet again and it probably never will be until Treyarch and the gang actually take a few years to actually build a new engine and create some fresh game play mechanics. Halo 4 and Battlefield 3 are prime examples of innovation and how to move a franschie forward. Please don't buy the game. I know I didn't and I don't regret it.
