The reviews for Black Ops II are in at last.
Annualized series have a tendency to grow long in the tooth, and many gamers argue that Call of Duty has passed its prime, but the critics stand by developer Treyarch's efforts in the series' latest entry, applauding a dynamic campaign which encourages replayability and a multiplayer mode that features new additions that just make sense. While there was no clear consensus on the Zombies multiplayer mode, several sources noted that it felt out of place in Black Ops II and lacked the innovation that marked every other facet of the game. Check out what reviewers had to say below.
It doesn't reinvent the wheel, and some of the multiplayer changes feel more like they're propping up an aging concept rather than truly moving it forward, even though it's still a good way to spend time with your online friends. For me, it's the notion that Call of Duty is showing some terrific signs of life on the campaign side that left me the most impressed. It's got its share of flaws, but overall Treyarch has assembled a great, fast, and fun first-person shooter that, even if you were thinking about finally skipping a year, is still worth your time.
IGN
The team at Treyarch could have played it safe and Black Ops II would have sold well, but instead they challenged assumptions and pushed the series forward in awesome new directions. It'll be hard to return to a campaign where I don't have the ability to shape it, and I simply can't imagine going back to the old loadout system now that Pick 10 exists. Combined with the host of subtle and overt improvements to the array of other systems, the additions to make it more appealing to Esports, and the more fleshed out Zombies mode, this is not just a fantastic Call of Duty game, but one of the best shooters of the last decade.
Though zombies mode is stagnating, the rest of Black Ops II is lively, and it's great to see some shifting in the familiar structure. Developer Treyarch's storytelling prowess has once again resulted in an engaging, exciting campaign, and the addition of league play to the online multiplayer arena is an intriguing change that could reinvigorate the formula that has endured for so long. By reaching forward while remaining rooted in the things it does so well, Black Ops II offers a great shooter experience.
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is the most evolved sequel we've played in recent memory as it challenges the status quo at almost every turn. The elastic story provides plenty of incentive to replay the campaign, the strikeforce levels aren't executed perfectly, but they're a glimpse at the future, and the multiplayer features are tweaked to make every play style relevant and to level the playing field. It does so many new things so very well, making it the most groundbreaking Call of Duty since the first Modern Warfare. Shooters simply don't get much more deep, varied, surprising, or rewarding than this.
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