Call of Duty – Black Ops 2: Is the World Ready?

Call of Duty – Black Ops 2 may not have been officially revealed yet but that have certainly been enough leaks to to confirm it’s existence. But it begs the question, is the world ready for not only yet another Call of Duty game, but another Black Ops game at that.

2010 saw the release of the first Call of Duty – Black Ops offering from Treyarch and Activision. Common law dictates that the release of Call of Duty – Black Ops marks the point when call of Duty games got bad. Like the Principle Skinner episode of The Simpsons. Setting a game during the Cold War was a risky strategy for Treyarch. Previously the bad guys had always been Nazi’s (always bad) and generic terrorists from an unspecified region (always bad). Taking the Cold War as a time frame was always going to be very tricky. This is a morally grey area. Neither side was blameless. The problem with Call of Duty – Black Ops was that though it tried to handle the topic seriously at first, it just descended into total madness. The portrayal of Fidel Castro was a monstrous caricature, as was the ridiculous portrayal of the Russians, which looked, quite frankly, xenophobic. Then there was all that business with the zombies.

Screenshot from Call of Duty - Black Ops Annihilation DLC (Credit: Publisher)

Now before anybody jumps on my back for slamming Call of Duty – Black Ops, I just want to clarify that I did enjoy certain elements of the gameplay, and as a shooter it certainly hit the spot. It’s just with the market being so jaded about Call of Duty (as any trip to any gaming forums, or a glance at the comment section of any article about Call of Duty – Black Ops 2 will tell you), Treyarch will have to come up with something really special this time. Especially if they want to shake off the trappings the legacy of the previous game will undoubtedly bring. (AS)

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