» Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

This review should have been finished a couple of days ago, but I’ve been having too much fun playing the game to work on it.

Anyway, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 gets virtually everything right.

The single-player experience is a tightly-wound tale of bloodshed and revenge that tries to explain how someone becomes a “madman.”

The year is 2025. You play, for the most part, as David Mason, a soldier whose father was killed in combat when you were a child. At the same time, you were kidnapped by a shadowy figure who may be connected to your father’s death.

As an adult, you are an elite member of the Special Forces, pursuing master terrorist Raul Menendez, the leader of Cordis Die – a network of terrorists across the globe waiting for the signal to attack. Action takes place around the world as you pursue Menendez, using futuristic weapons and gadgets at your disposal.

New to the Call of Duty series are “strike force” missions – squad-based, sandbox-style levels in which you can switch between assets, playing as a soldier or one of the robotic elements of your squad. You can also take an overview of the level during the action to best allocate assets.

Strike force missions are not required to be completed for the overall mission to proceed, but completing them affects the progression of the storyline.

Of course, the heart and soul and kidneys of a first-person shooter is the multiplayer, and this is where Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 shines.

Jumping into an online match is quick and painless, with everything geared to get you shooting and not waiting.

Finding a match is faster, the wait between matches is shorter and even starting a match can be faster, since the minimum number of players has been decreased from eight players to six.

And since the storyline is set in the (near) future, there are a host of new gadgets to help in your effort to defeat the other team.

All the favorite gametypes are back – from the old standby TeamDeathmatch to Capture the Flag and Domination. And speaking of Domination, this game tweaks the gametype in a way that greatly improves it.

In Domination, two teams battle for control of three flags set across the map. In past games (especially Modern Warfare 3), the flag placement was such that it often gave one team an immediate advantage at the start. In Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Domination matches are now played out in two rounds, with sides switching at halftime.

All gametypes are available in Core mode, with a few (Team Deathmatch, Free-For-all, Search & Destroy and Capture the Flag) also playable in Hardcore mode.

Players can also play unique modes in Party Games – such as Sticks and Stones, where each player has only a crossbow, a knife and an axe; and One in the Chamber, where each player has a pistol with one bullet and a knife and earn a new bullet each time a kill is made.

Some of the new weaponry soldiers can access include the Hunter Killer drone (a hand-launched drone that resembles a paper airplane that targets the nearest enemy); the Guardian (a dish that emits a cone of microwave radiation that stuns enemies); Dragonfire (a remote controlled flying machine gun); and the A.G.R. (a ground robot that can be remote controlled). Back after being elimiated from Modern Warfare 3 is the RC-XD, a remote-controlled mini-car that can be driven up to and detonated at the feet of an enemy.

The game has also redone the method of equipping your soldier, called “Pick Ten.” Players are allowed to have up to ten items in their loadout, which includes weapons, attachments and auxiliary assets.

This setup give you options not available previously. If, for instance, you have no need for lethal grenades, you could sub out an additional perk to strengthen another area of your soldier. On the other hand, you could choose to not carry a secondary weapon in order to carry another lethal grenade.

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 also has a full-fledged zombie mode that allows players to assault and be assaulted by waves of the undead.

A new effort to socialize players of similar abilities is League Play. You play five matches, with all weapons, attachments and add-ons available, after which, you’re placed in a league with similar players. Season 1 starts Dec. 1. There are two series – Moshpit Series and Champions Series.

Moshpit is limited to 6 against 6 action, with no split-screen players (your buddy playing next to you on the same TV) and solo rank. In Champions, team and solo rank are available, with no split-screen, no care packages (additional supplies you can call in), no tactical insertion (choosing where you will next spawn) and matches are 4 players to a side.

Gone are Death Streaks, little perks handed out when you “succeed” in dying too many times in a row.

Also new is the ability to create custom emblems, with layers that can have weaponry, rank insignias, letters, numbesr and shapes that can be resized and colored to make the perfect emblem.

CODTV is new. It is a common place where you can post your favorite videos of combat. An old favorite that returns are custom games – matches you can play by yourself or with a friend, with computer generated “bots” filling out the teams on both sides.

Review: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 has the venerable series running on all cylinders. It’s near perfect.

Platform: PlayStation3, Xbox 360

Manufacturer: Activision

Rating: Mature

Score: 9.75 chilies