Skip to main content
GamesRadar+ GamesRadar+ The Games, Movies, TV & Comics You Love
flag of UK
UK
flag of US
US
flag of Canada
Canada
flag of Australia
Australia
Sign in
  • View Profile
  • Sign out
  • Games
  • TV
  • Movies
  • Hardware
  • Video
  • News
  • Reviews
  • Guides
  • Deals
  • More
    • PS5
    • Xbox Series X
    • Nintendo Switch
    • Nintendo Switch 2
    • PC
    • Platforms
    • Tabletop Gaming
    • Comics
    • Toys & Collectibles
    • Newsarama
    • Retro Gamer
    • Newsletters
    • About us
    • Features
Total Film
Gaming Magazines
Gaming Magazines
Why subscribe?
  • Subscribe from just £3
  • Takes you closer to the games, movies and TV you love
  • Try a single issue or save on a subscription
  • Issues delivered straight to your door or device
From$12
Subscribe now
Trending
  • Gamescom 2025 schedule
  • Gamescom
  • Battlefield 6
  • New Games for 2025
Don't miss these
Black Ops 7 new screenshot
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 is fighting franchise fatigue in the most unexpected of ways with an ambitious co-op adventure which Treyarch believes can "redefine what campaign can be in Call of Duty"
A woman with tattoos looking up during the trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Call of Duty As Battlefield 6 keeps skins grounded, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 goes the other way by carrying over all of Black Ops 6's goofy skins as devs are still "figuring out" how to keep everyone happy
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Call of Duty Black Ops 7 lead says FPS fans are "eating" thanks to the head-to-head release with Battlefield 6, "but if you want maximum variety..." play the new Call of Duty game
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beavis and Butthead skins
Call of Duty Activision owns up to ugly Call of Duty skins, reverses course on Black Ops 6 skins transferring and promises "authentic" skins for Black Ops 7 – a game that is already selling cyborgs and murder robots
A robot standing in a green room during the trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 dev doesn't care about former Blizzard president calling the series "lazy" or saying it'll get "boot stomped" by Battlefield 6: "You just don't worry about it, right?"
A close up of a man holding a gun during the reveal for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Call of Duty Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – Everything we know so far about the upcoming shooter
Battlefield 6 multiplayer gameplay showing a first-person view of a gun sights aiming at a helicopter
FPS Games I've played Battlefield 6 for an afternoon, and while it's a clear successor to Battlefield 3 and 4, I wish there was more destruction
Battlefield 6 multiplayer screenshot showing soldiers running away from a collapsing building
Battlefield Battlefield 6 won't actually boot stomp Black Ops 7, analyst says, because Call of Duty fans on "autopilot" will "buy it even if they complain about it"
A close up of a man holding a gun during the reveal for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Call of Duty If you're wondering how Call of Duty's Black Ops 7 trailer is going down, the top comment on YouTube by some way is "this actually made me pre-order Battlefield 6"
Borderlands 4 screenshot showing a player on a Digirunner
FPS Games After 4 hours with Borderlands 4 I'm not yet sold on its biggest changes, but Gearbox says "it would be strange" if Borderlands wasn't "constantly growing and adapting"
Shooting through a portal in Splitgate 2
FPS Games Splitgate 2 review: "A slick and enjoyable free-to-play FPS, but a disappointing sequel"
 Battlefield Bad Company screenshot with two soldiers, one of which is pointing out a target to the second
Battlefield Battlefield 6 multiplayer is taking inspiration from Bad Company 2, but I hope its single player campaign looks further back to the series' best story
Borderlands 4 Timekeeper concept art
Borderlands "It is a turning point in our universe": Gearbox explains Borderlands 4's deliberately less-stupid story, and it feels weird to actually be interested in a Borderlands plot
Hershel Wilk jumps from a boat to solid ground in Zero Parades, with the GamesRadar+ Autumn Preview frame.
RPGs Some of Disco Elysium's best ideas are still around in Zero Parades, but the CRPG thriller has an almost impossible task ahead of it
Borderlands 4 trailer screenshot of Rafa around a bonfire
Borderlands The new Borderlands 4 trailer feels like an extreme parody of the 2025 games industry: a (literal) bloodbath caused by board members killing cool ideas to save money
  1. Games
  2. FPS
  3. Call of Duty

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - How it's a definite revolution, and definitely the same tired old formula

Features
By David Houghton published 2 May 2012

Black Ops 2's new additions could change the series forever. But they could just as easily add nothing

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works.

Is it good? Is it crap? Right now it's both

Is it good? Is it crap? Right now it's both

The chances are you've already decided what you think about Call of Duty: Black Ops 2. CoD is one of those series that divide opinion immediately. But the interesting bit is that whether you see Black Ops II as an exciting next chapter in gaming's biggest, most high-octane FPS or just another slice of stale old more-of-the-same pie, the fact is that you're absolutely right at this stage.

You see Black Ops 2 is currently a bit of a Schroedinger's Cat of a game. With only demos, screens and dev promises to go on, all the new additions it supposedly brings to the series are unknown quantities. Thinking about them today, I've found it incredibly easy to get excited about what they could achieve, but also pretty easy to get a bit sad about how easily they could just be PR spin for the tiniest of incremental changes. Because let's face it, whether you like Call of Duty or not, you have to admit that it's a series pretty stuck in its ways.

All that in mind, I've picked out the biggest potential game-changers at play and filtered them through my twin lenses of optimism and pessimism to see just how fresh (or not) Black Ops 2 may turn out to be. Have a look, and then let me know which way you're swinging at the moment.

Page 1 of 6
Page 1 of 6
The near-future setting

The near-future setting

The optimistic interpretation: Treyarch will use the near future setting to finally break completely free and create its own, fresh Call of Duty sub-series. With the Modern Warfare series still the focus of a messy legal battle with ex-Infinity-Ward staff, a 'future warfare' series is a logical replacement.

Unrestrained by historical accuracy, and exempt from the responsibility of plausibly reconciling its story with current reality (though Modern Warfare eventually solved that problem with a great big Screw that", admittedly) Treyarch can now weave an epic bespoke narrative of its own. And a cleverly disturbing one at that, if it's smart about how it extrapolates its future history.

The pessimistic interpretation: It'll be a re-tread of Modern Warfare 2 and 3, only with China instead of Russia and LA standing in for New York.

Page 2 of 6
Page 2 of 6
The automated mecha-tanks

The automated mecha-tanks

The optimistic interpretation: They will completely change the whole flow and focus of battle, becoming terrifying, all-conquering signature enemies whenever they appear, See them as Call of Duty's equivalent of BioShock's Big Daddies or Half-Life 2's Striders. Huge, lumbering harbingers of nigh-guaranteed death whose simultaneous avoidance and destruction must become immediate priority.

The second they appear, the fight will become about them and them alone. All other enemies will become a secondary consideration compared to their terrifying destructive power. Each encounter will become a tactical cat-and-mouse sandbox duel, as we use every ounce of cunning and every environmental advantage to wring a win out of desperately unfavourable odds.

The pessimistic interpretation: They'll just be reskinned versions of Call of Duty's usual tanks. They'll look cooler, but it'll still just be a case of hurling grenades from cover or conveniently gaining the scripted use of a set-piece rocket launcher at just the right time.

Page 3 of 6
Page 3 of 6
Horses!

Horses!

The optimistic interpretation: Black Ops 2's theme of high technology turned against its owners by a hack-happy enemy will lead to a Terminator 3-style situation whereby tech just cannot be trusted. Even the noble toaster will be looked upon with suspicion, before being promptly shot in half. Can you imagine that? A world without toast. These terrorists are monsters.

Anyway, modern technology as much a risk as an asset, we'll eventually be forced to eschew as much of its use as possible, leading to a cool and clever set-up during the second half of the campaign in which we 'go analogue', combating our own advanced hardware with more antiquated, more traditional tools of warfare.

Enter the horses vs. choppers encounter seen in the trailer, in which we must use the versatility of our swift but vulnerable steeds to evade an ever-present metallic threat from the sky, using environmental and manoeuvrability advantages to gain the upper hand. Horses can't be hacked, you see. Unless you have a really nice carrot, or an absolute crapload of sugar lumps.

The pessimistic interpretation: The horse bit will be one of the campaigns 80s-set levels, and will be just another Call of Duty on-rails shooting bit, only with the skidoos reskinned with horses. Horses are cool since Red Dead Redemption, you see. Just ask Uncharted 3.

Page 4 of 6
Page 4 of 6
The non-linear Strike Force mode

The non-linear Strike Force mode

The optimistic interpretation: These semi-open world missions - which appear along the course of the campaign, and do not have to be successfully completed in order to progress - could be a revelation in regards to the way Call of Duty's campaigns play out. With several Strike Force missions selectable each time they appear, and real repercussions promised within the later campaign depending on the player's choices and levels of success, they could add a much-needed sense of real, player-driven involvement to a series that feels increasingly like a high-gloss rail-shooter.

They won't turn CoD into Skyrim, but they might well add a light dose of Deus Ex. Your choices will return unexpectedly to reward or haunt you hours down the line, and whole levels will play out differently via the appearance of new areas and new set-pieces.

The pessimistic interpretation: Call of Duty always has bits where things switch out to a different gameplay style for a while. Modern Warfare's air support levels have been doing the perspective-switching bit for years, albeit over linear routes. Strike Force will just be a bigger version of that, given a formal name. And the repercussions will be relatively self-contained, mattering only for the remainder of the current level, and changing only simple things like the number of enemies faced and the number of squad-mates alive.

Page 5 of 6
Page 5 of 6
The scaled-up Zombies mode

The scaled-up Zombies mode

The optimistic interpretation: Zombies being fleshed out into a fully-featured game in and of itself will mean great things. Treyarch is often at its best when allowed to go off-track and experimental with more irreverent ideas. The fact that CoD Zombies exists at all is a testament to this. With promised new game modes and a bigger zombie world, Black Ops 2's iteration could spin out into proper Left 4 Dead territory, with a full, set-piece-driven narrative co-op campaign complimenting the traditional survival arenas, and heaps of new lore and a full-scale mythology tied into the main 'serious' campaign.

The pessimistic interpretation: It'll be more of the same, but with way more DLC maps.

Want all the rest of the details on Black Ops 2? Check out Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 - the new setting, sandbox gameplay, player choice and more

Page 6 of 6
Page 6 of 6
CATEGORIES
PC Gaming PlayStation Xbox Platforms
PRODUCTS
Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Call of Duty
David Houghton
David Houghton
Long-time GR+ writer Dave has been gaming with immense dedication ever since he failed dismally at some '80s arcade racer on a childhood day at the seaside (due to being too small to reach the controls without help). These days he's an enigmatic blend of beard-stroking narrative discussion and hard-hitting Psycho Crushers.
See more PC Gaming Features
Read more
Black Ops 7 new screenshot
Black Ops 7 is fighting franchise fatigue in the most unexpected of ways with an ambitious co-op adventure which Treyarch believes can "redefine what campaign can be in Call of Duty"
A woman with tattoos looking up during the trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
As Battlefield 6 keeps skins grounded, Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 goes the other way by carrying over all of Black Ops 6's goofy skins as devs are still "figuring out" how to keep everyone happy
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Black Ops 7 lead says FPS fans are "eating" thanks to the head-to-head release with Battlefield 6, "but if you want maximum variety..." play the new Call of Duty game
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beavis and Butthead skins
Activision owns up to ugly Call of Duty skins, reverses course on Black Ops 6 skins transferring and promises "authentic" skins for Black Ops 7 – a game that is already selling cyborgs and murder robots
A robot standing in a green room during the trailer for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 dev doesn't care about former Blizzard president calling the series "lazy" or saying it'll get "boot stomped" by Battlefield 6: "You just don't worry about it, right?"
A close up of a man holding a gun during the reveal for Call of Duty: Black Ops 7.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7 – Everything we know so far about the upcoming shooter
Latest in Call of Duty
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Call of Duty drops a whopping 100 GB on PS5, and fans think it's due to Battlefield 6: "Competition is always good for gaming"
A soldier in a jungle setting and a bandana in Call of Duty: Black Ops
Cancelled Call of Duty: Fog of War would have had you playing hide and seek with a B52 bomber crashing in "a scary version of Vietnam"
A brightened Code Violet trailer screenshot shows a female character facing a huge dinosaur, with flames in the background.
PS5 exclusive horror game bucks the trend, announces a delay to get out of Call of Duty: Black Ops 7's way instead of Hollow Knight: Silksong
Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 Beavis and Butthead skins
Activision owns up to ugly Call of Duty skins, reverses course on Black Ops 6 skins transferring and promises "authentic" skins for Black Ops 7 – a game that is already selling cyborgs and murder robots
Black Ops 7 rewards
All Black Ops 7 rewards explained
Call of Duty: Black Ops 7
Black Ops 7 lead says FPS fans are "eating" thanks to the head-to-head release with Battlefield 6, "but if you want maximum variety..." play the new Call of Duty game
Latest in Features
Borderlands 4 screenshot shows someone holding a weapon forward towards the camera.
"We tend to commit to the bit": Gearbox boss Randy Pitchford talks Borderlands 4, the evolution of looter-shooters, and $80 game discourse
A mech firing a machine gun in the desert in Menace
Menace is an XCOM-Warhammer hybrid that makes turn-based strategy feel like an immersive sim, and for the first time in my life I'm playing a game that seems made for me
Metal Gear Solid 5 showing Snake and Ocelot looking to the horizon in front of more soldiers
10 years later, Metal Gear Solid 5 remains a masterpiece that was never going to live up to its own hype
Dogtooth
The new Yorgos Lanthimos movie is getting rave first reactions out of Venice Film Festival, but I think it's worth revisiting his breakout feature Dogtooth before Bugonia hits theaters this fall
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 Legacy of the Forge DLC showing Henry and two allies standing looking down
I built a home and ran a business in Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2's next DLC, and the added role-playing guarantees I'll spend another 70 hours in my current game of the year
D&D Player's Handbook laid out on a wooden surface
Will romantasy be the next great crossover for Dungeons & Dragons? Fourth Wing could be the perfect D&D setting, if you ask me
  1. Kaser clad in black and Victor in white clash swords in Lost Soul Aside
    1
    Lost Soul Aside review: "We (don't) have Final Fantasy Versus 13 at home"
  2. 2
    Hell is Us review: "The lack of waypoints and explicit objectives is a double-edged magical sword that pulls me deep into its harsh world"
  3. 3
    Shuten Order review: "The Danganronpa creator's new multi-genre mystery feels like a forgotten DS cult classic I would have been obsessed with"
  4. 4
    The Rogue Prince of Persia review: "I roguelike but don't roguelove this freerunner – there's just not enough to stand out"
  5. 5
    Shinobi: Art of Vengeance review: "So close to being to a pitch-perfect revival of a classic series, but just can't quite line up the killing blow"
  1. Jacob Elordi as the monster in Guillermo del Toro's Frankenstein
    1
    Frankenstein review: "A classy, if somewhat safe, adaptation"
  2. 2
    Weapons review: "A twisted fairytale that bests Barbarian"
  3. 3
    The Fantastic Four: First Steps review: "An occasionally thrilling heroic adventure that sits safely within a B-tier MCU range"
  4. 4
    Superman review: "A triumphant reinvention and a promising start for the DCU"
  5. 5
    Jurassic World Rebirth Review: "An unscary sequel that needed a little more time in amber"
  1. John Cena as Peacemaker holds a gun to the head of a different John Cena as Peacemaker in Peacemaker season 2.
    1
    Peacemaker season 2 review: "Darker and sadder than the first year, but there's still a lot of fun to be had with the 11th Street Kids."
  2. 2
    Wednesday season 2 part 1 review: "Complex and exciting but weighed down by too many subplots"
  3. 3
    Alien: Earth review: "Arguably the franchise's strongest outing since James Cameron's Aliens"
  4. 4
    King of the Hill season 14 review: "Hank Hill himself has evolved into a much more open and accepting person"
  5. 5
    Eyes of Wakanda review: "A creative premise shortchanged by the runtime and Marvel bloat"

GamesRadar+ is part of Future US Inc, an international media group and leading digital publisher. Visit our corporate site.

  • About Us
  • Contact Future's experts
  • Terms and conditions
  • Privacy policy
  • Cookies policy
  • Advertise with us
  • Review guidelines
  • Write for us
  • Accessibility Statement
  • Careers

© Future US, Inc. Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY 10036.

Please login or signup to comment

Please wait...