Difficulty:

Very Easy

Time Spent:

10 to 20 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"All flash, no substance"

You know what they say: "Another year, another Call of Duty".

This years turn, it's finally Treyarch's run at the series again, and boy, is there a lot of room for improvement.

Let me start off by saying I have been a fan of Call of Duty since the PC original. That game always stood out when it came to fun and action in war games. It often went up against games like Medal of Honor, battling over fans. Now, in 2012, the original creators of Call of Duty have been thrown in the road ditch and the game has been living off in it's own shadow with Call of Duty 4. The game after, World at War, was a commercial success, bringing an all star campaign with a new and exciting game mode called Nazi Zombies. While Infinity Ward was living the past with the first Modern Warfare, Treyarch has been living in the past with World at War.

I assume when the developers at Infinity Ward or Treyarch are making a Call of Duty game, they often call each other up and ask to copy and paste for more money. With Black Ops 2, it is no different. The game has absolutely no substance and lacks complete staying power.

Let's start with the campaign:

Call of Duty games have always been known for their multiplayer, with barely any gamers diving into the single player. There is a reason for that. The campaigns have also been over the top, Michael Bay-esq stories with your typical macho man characters. Needless to say, most campaigns (Gears of War, Drake's, Assassin's Creed, etc.) have some of these characters, but they actually develop through out the story and provide some sort of emotion towards the player. For example, in Gears of War 3, the ending is a tearjerker for some, because the character is relevant to the player. In a Call of Duty game, when an important character dies, the player almost has this "eh" emotion towards them, because they never develop their characters. Also, expect a typical "Wow, I almost died there. Lucky I caught this tiny rock that saved my life." quicktime event in every mission. The campaign may be difficult, but that doesn't make up for the terrible AI that runs past you to take cover, or the awful, cheesy gameplay.

Now onto the multiplayer:

It is exactly the same as last year's, with a few new tweaks. This could of just been released as an expansion, that's how copy-and-paste this series has become.

My final words to Treyarch and Infinity Ward are this:

Put the Call of Duty series to bed, and start something fresh and new. This is getting tiring.

Please.