Like the film Inglourious Basterds, Black Ops II becomes less about you and the “good” guys, and more about the motivations and perspective of the villain. Hell, I even vacillate between agreeing with his end goals. At times I wanted him dead, while at others I felt like he had a right to want revenge. The story successfully casts Menendez in a light where I’m still not sure how I feel about him.

Menendez is a tragic character, a product of imperialist nations’ meddling during the Cold War and a survivor of some truly traumatic experiences. Thing is, he’s not your typical, “I’m evil cause I do bad things,” bad guy. Menendez is the sort of villain you just can’t seem to kill and, consequently, who knows how to hold a grudge. All of these soldiers’ fates are intertwined with the villain, Raul Menendez, and his organization Cordis Die. Frank Woods from the first Black Ops, while the 2025 missions follow Alex’s son, David. The Cold War-era missions follows characters such as Alex Mason and Sgt. Play You Can Shape It, but This Story Isn’t About the HeroThe campaign narrative jumps between various characters’ perspectives and also in time.

It occasionally feels like the team might have strayed into territory they’re not quite masters of, but significant tweaks to the multiplayer loadout system, as well as the realization of player agency in the campaign, make this far more than “just another Call of Duty.” This is an evolution. While large portions of the design conform to the tenets established by prior iterations of the franchise, the unparalleled wealth of gameplay options and brilliant twists on the formula have shaped Black Ops II into the most ambitious and exciting Call of Duty ever made. What if Call of Duty was different? This appears to be the defining question informing the direction of developer Treyarch’s latest, Call of Duty: Black Ops II. We still plan to review the Wii U version, but did not receive them prior to launch and should have a review up shortly that highlights how it's different. Editor's Note: The following review is based off of the Xbox 360 version of Call of Duty: Black Ops II, and has been updated after playing the similarly featured PC and PS3 versions.

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