The stars are aligning, and rumors are bubbling up that an official Call of Duty reveal is coming in the eminent future – and it’s looking more and more likely that the sequel will, indeed, be Black Ops 2. What Cold War debauchery should we look forward to? We’ve got together a list of all of the things that we’d like to see from the inevitable FPS sequel.

Black Ops was at its best when it was filling in blurry areas of America’s political history. Meeting with JFK was an absolutely wonderful touch that really helped show what the Black Ops series was capable of. The ending, too, did a good job of bringing it all selling the Cold War espionage vibe, mixing in some nice Manchurian Candidate political storytelling into video games in a way that few other franchises have ever attempted. We want more of this – explain other weird, fuzzy spots in US history with awesome, action-based missions that’ll have gamers talking for months.

We were initially upset when we heard that Black Ops would be returning, solely because we wanted to see the series expand its horizons and visit more eras. Then we realized that keeping “Black Ops” in the title actually did just that. There are always shadowy operations going on, and we think the 1980s would be a good era for the game to really dig its feet in. Here, we have weird operations all over the world that did their best not to make the front-page, as well as secret military initiatives that we don’t even know about. It was the beginning of the end of the Cold War, and we’re sure there’s some cool 80s action movie tropes that would make for awesome gameplay.

On the same note as “there always were Black Ops,” we figure there always will be Black Ops. Let’s finally take the series to the future, and start shooting up enemy soldiers on space stations. It would be the easiest way to make a Call of Duty that feels nothing like the past games and it totally has to happen sooner or later… so why not this year?

While we’re on the subject of story, we’d like to see some lines connected. We’ve heard that Black Ops and Modern Warfare are connected, and we feel like it’s time to start seeing the dotted lines. Did the protagonists of Black Ops meet a young Vladimir Makarov at some point during their missions? Are they somehow responsible for his anger? There are plenty of opportunities to jump around and to bring the series’ together, and while we don’t want to be slapped in the face with references to other games we think that it would be nice fan service to unite the series.

Whatever era the game takes place, we feel like we should be getting some cool gadgets to play with. We’re placing as super secret undercover agents, right? It’s time that showed! Give us watches that shoot lasers and gum that turns into bombs. RC cars strapped with C4 should be the tamest tool we have at our disposal.

Call of Duty, for better or for worse, has shaped this generation’s first-person shooters. The pacing, the feeling – it has had rippling effects on every FPS. Because of this popularity, however, little has changed in terms of gameplay. Instead, new elements are piled on, and the core experience has been almost untouched. It’s time to change that with the addition of cover. We don’t need it to completely reinvent everything, but a cover system similar to the one found in Killzone 2 would definitely make the game feel more… well… modern.

Multiplayer, obviously, is going to return in a big way with Black Ops 2, and with it will come dozens of different perks and killstreak rewards. While we’re happy to see them return, we feel as though the developer might want to think about toning them down a little bit. Over the past few games they’ve continually gotten more powerful to the point where they essentially supersede much of the skill in the gameplay. We’d like to see this addressed and balanced to make sure that actual raw skill takes precedent over being able to get the perfect combination of killstreak rewards that makes for an utterly broken experience.

Since it’s an off-year, a zombie mode will undoubtedly be added to Call of Duty. Instead of speculating as to which political figures might be involved, or where it might be set, we’d like to see the idea taken in a different direction. Let’s have mini-missions involving Zombies, similar to the Spec Ops mode in Modern Warfare. Instead of hiding in one spot we want to travel around killing them throughout a larger, more open level – it would be a nice departure from the survival mode, and add some life into the undead-stomping adventures.

What, we didn’t cover the things you want to see? You have specific recommendations about period-specific weaponry or locations? Well why didn’t you say so?!

We’re sure you’ve got some stuff you’d like to see in the next Call of Duty, too, so sound off in the comments. With everything you want to see from Black Ops 2.