Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It was released for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and the Xbox 360 on November 13, 2012, and for the Wii U on November 18 in North America and November 30 elsewhere. Square Enix published more than Activision with the Japanese version.

Why It Rocks

 * 1) One big change to the formula of COD is the Access Kit. Using the Access Kit allows the player to access otherwise inaccessible areas or items, such as Mortars and Molotov Cocktails in the 1980's portion of the campaign, and access to remote controlled sentry turrets and the Kinetic Strike Weapon in the 2025 portion of the campaign. This in turn encourages players to search around the levels which makes them feel less linear and rewards the player for doing so. Sadly, this is the only entry in the franchise to do this.
 * 2) There are different endings, and each choice you make will determine what ending you get. The events of the player's ending is also determinant on the fates of Menendez, Lynch and Alex Mason, and whether the Strike Force missions were completed.
 * 3) * If David executes Menendez, Cordis Die supporters launch a massive worldwide revolution, resulting in global anarchy that results in the US President being assassinated, the disbanding of NATO and the eventual outbreak of a Third Cold War. This is the canonical ending and sets the background for Call of Duty: Black Ops III.
 * 4) * If David captures Menendez and Lynch survives, she will prevent Menendez's cyberattack and he will remain imprisoned, going berserk after seeing Lynch being interviewed on Jimmy Kimmel Live. This is the best possible ending of the game.
 * 5) * If David captures Menendez and Lynch was killed or not rescued, Menendez's cyberattack will succeed and he will break out of prison. After confronting and murdering Woods, Menendez commits suicide at his sister's grave by committing immolation.
 * 6) * If Mason survives being shot by Woods (must be shot anywhere but the head), he will reunite with him and David. Otherwise, David retires from the military after visiting his father's grave.
 * 7) * If all the Strike Force missions were completed, China and the United States enter into an alliance, ending the Second Cold War. The effect also spreads through the campaign, like for example, the USS Obama assault mission, many attack drones are deployed to provide support.
 * 8) The graphics look amazing by 2012 standards.
 * 9) The story is one of, if not, the best in the Call of Duty series. It follows the events that happen in the past (1986), tying them to the current story (2025) with a sympathetic villain whose hatred for the US makes sense.
 * 10) Weapon balancing was done pretty well at launch, though some patches did nerf weapons that were too overpowered (like the select fire FAL OSW).
 * 11) The acting is superb.
 * 12) There's a level from the perspective of Raul Menendez, a flashback where he is held captive by the Panamanian Army. When they take his disabled sister Josefina away from him, the man goes absolutely apeshit and the game turns into more like a boomer shooter. During the following sequence he literally sees red and cuts through an entire platoon while armed with nothing but a shotgun and a machete. He can tank more bullets than a Juggernaut and not even explosive fuel barrels and grenades going off right next to him can slow him down. He even instantly reloads his weapons. Not only is it incredibly awesome, it pushes the character right into anti-villain territory as it is clear his vendetta against America is motivated by his deep love for his sister and his need to avenge her death when she dies to a grenade that was meant to kill him.
 * 13) For the first time, the setting is set in the near future (set in 2025) with weaponry and technology that isn't so advance that it's nearly improbable for it to exist.
 * 14) Great soundtrack that was composed by Nine Inch Nails front man, Trent Reznor.
 * 15) There's a non-canon post-credits scene unlocked by completing the game, depicting Menendez and Woods performing at a concert with Synyster Gates and M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold.
 * 16) Raul Menendez is an awesome and intimidating villain that unlike other COD villains has a backstory and reasoning for wanting to attack America other than being just a run-of-the-mill bad guy.

Bad Qualities

 * 1) Treyarch sinned of recycling content, some of the reloading animations for the weapons are taken from the Infinity Ward games, while in former game (Black Ops) they used original animations.
 * 2) Plot Hole:
 * 3) *Alex Mason can survive being shot by Frank, but it's never revealed as to where Alex had been for 30 years and how no one knew he was alive.
 * 4) It's digital versions are still sold at full price!, with Bundle containing all DLC's being the most expensive even through the game came out nearly 10 years ago.
 * 5) Raul Menendez receives significant build-up throughout the game as a powerful combatant, more so than almost any other Call of Duty villain, yet at the end he's not defeated in a dramatic confrontation but rather due to Section literally dropping on top of him by accident. To add insult to injury, Vladimir Makarov, the antagonist of Modern Warfare, goes down only after being the victim of a helicopter crash, being shot twice, getting beaten senseless and choked out at the same time, slammed through a glass ceiling, having his neck broken and an outright hanging, all of which is, in some form or another, under player control. Conversely, Menendez is taken down in a cutscene, as one only has to shoot his two guards (or one guard and Defalco if he survived Chloe's kidnapping attempt) and then the game automatically stabs him twice for you and forces the final decision regarding his fate.
 * 6) The requirements to get the best ending are so specific and easy to fail that it's unlikely you'll get the best ending on your first playthrough unless you use a guide.
 * 7) *In order to get the best ending you have to: Shoot Mason in the leg twice, let Defalco take Chole, complete all the Strike Missions, kill Harper, and spare Menendez.
 * 8) The friendly AI for the Strike Force missions are dumb as rocks and can neither shoot worth shit nor understand the most basic instructions, often forcing you to assume direct control of one of the soldiers in order to get the job done.
 * 9) The PlayStation 3 version now always freezes on loading screens when newer PSN accounts or accounts that have had name changes are logged in due to recent firmware updates. Not only will the game freeze, but the entire console will likely freeze as well, which can have a small risk of corrupting the hard drive. It is still possible to access and progress through online multiplayer and Zombies, though the process is annoying and has to be repeated every time after starting up the game.
 * 10) The multiplayer has its issues.
 * 11) * Overpowered weapons which crushed the balance in multiplayer, though it's not as bad as it was in Modern Warfare 2 and 3.
 * 12) *Hackers are rampant on multiplayer nowadays, especially on Xbox 360 and PS3 thanks to modded consoles.
 * 13) *League Play is shutdown, and attempting to select it in the main menu will always crash the game. This also makes it impossible for completionists to obtain all achievements/trophies since Big Leagues requires playing it. Not only that, but Big Leagues is the only achievement/trophy (excluding the platinum trophy for the game) that is unobtainable in the entire Call of Duty franchise. Even World at War which is four years older than Black Ops II has its online trophies obtainable as of November 2020.
 * 14) Missed Opportunities:
 * 15) *The intel files and hidden emails in the first Black Ops contains several sequel hooks. Among them being hints that a shadowy group is pulling the strings of the CIA and they're the ones responsible for JFK's assassination, Grigori Weaver's sister working as a Soviet spy and being assigned to seduce Mason, and also Mason, Weaver, and Hudson going rogue and being hunted by the British SAS. None of these things are followed up on in Black Ops II. The Cold War missions that did appear in this game were very well done, and many players felt the game would have been much better if Treyarch stuck with that instead of having it focus on the future.
 * 16) *Some fans weren't as pleased with Hudson being demoted to a minor character with Hudson being ultimately killed off (a fate that, unlike with Woods and Mason, can't be determined by the player).
 * 17) *Salazar's motivation for turning on you is rather vague, and some believe it could've been explored more in detail.
 * 18) *Raul Menendez's backstory could've been further explored since we don't see why he and his sister are so close or why she was deformed to begin with.

Reception
Call of Duty: Black Ops II received "generally positive" reviews for the PlayStation 3, Xbox 360, and Wii U versions, but "mixed or average" reviews for the PC version, according to review aggregator Metacritic. Many critics praised the visuals, story, and the interesting villain. Many fans have considered the game to be one, if not the best game in the Call of Duty series.

Sales and revenue
Activision reported Black Ops II grossed over $500 million in its first 24 hours, making it the biggest entertainment launch of all time until the record was surpassed by Grand Theft Auto V in September 2013. It is the fourth year in a row that the Call of Duty series has broken the same record. 2011's Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 grossed $400 million on one full day; 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops grossed $360 million on day one; in 2009, Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 brought in $310 million. By November 24, 2012, it had sold more than 7.5 million copies in the United States.

Black Ops II went on to gross $1 billion in the first 15 days of availability, beating Modern Warfare 3 's record of the first 16 days. On November 5, 2013, IGN confirmed that the game sold 24.2 million copies, making it the third highest-selling game in the series, behind 2010's Black Ops, and 2011's Modern Warfare 3.