Call of Duty: Black Ops II - PlayStation 3

Great Condition. Works Perfect

One of the all time great call of duty games

Treyarch returns with the sequel to the hit title Call of Duty: Black Ops. This time around, Treyarch seeks to revitalize the stale franchise in ways that often actually work. After the reorganizing of Infinity Ward, I wasn't sure if I would ever really love a Call of Duty title again. I really enjoyed Black Ops but it still had that "sameness" to it. Looking back, I think a big portion of that was due to the recent modern military settings the franchise had been exploring. It was, in a sense, repeating the same mistakes it had made by constantly utilizing the World War II setting.With Black Ops 2, we are transported to an imagined future filled with high tech gadgets and fast paced warfare. The campaign is short as the previous Call of Duty titles since the popularization of online multiplayer have been. Imagine playing through a triple size action movie. Now imagine playing through a good action movie. That's exactly what the single player experience feels like. The integration of futuristic gadgets and methods of warfare is very refreshing as opposed to the old "walk down the corridor until all the enemies" are dead scenario. To be certain, there is still much of that. However, the large set pieces and action moments serve the story well and mix things up. The Strike Force additions are also a nice, innovative touch with the primary drawback being your allies' AI. I commend Treyarch for their well done attempt at moving the series forward.Multiplayer in Black Ops 2 is definitely the best we've seen. There have been many changes to discourage camping such as making Ghost and suppressors harder to unlock (Ghost also only works when you are in motion). The new scorestreaks (previously killstreaks) are very fun to play with and further immerse the player into that futuristic world of war. Scorestreaks, by the way, is perhaps the best system I've seen to reward players. Everything you do in game (assists, caputring objectives, etc) gives you points towards your overall scorestreak. This does well to encourage team play and get those pesky run-and-gunners to provide some level of support. The create-a-class system has been revamped with the all new 10 point system. This allows you to cater to your favored playing style in a way we've not seen before in the franchise. Customization is still there with playercards, weapon attatchments and camo (no face paint this time). The maps are also wonderfully designed and a welcome break from the trainwreck design featured in MW3. There are also a lack of contracts as seen in the first Black Ops. That was a feature I really enjoyed and so it is sad to see that wasn't carried over. Leveling up is somewhat harder and thus unlocking items for use is also more difficult. Most players are thus on a pretty equal footing for the first half of the leveling system.Overall, this is the best entry in the Call of Duty franchise since the initial Modern Warfare. Detractors of the franchise are still not going to find anything to like about the game while fans are going to revel in the very welcome changes. I think it is necessary to point out that Black Ops 2 serves to change and perfect what needs to be done while still preserving the essence that is Call of Duty. Players really don't want the series to change into something that is hardly recognizable as Call of Duty. More like they want the experience to feel fresh. I think Black Ops 2 does that well.

I gave this game five stars. You will wonder why in a few minutes.OK. So, I am a smart guy. Got a few degrees and a doctorate in law. Which means, I should read and know better. BUT, I do give credit where credit is due, and Activision has a scam to make money that makes lawyers look like...Girl Scout Cookie sellers.Black OPs 2 crashed my PS3 within three minutes. I have an original PS3. Never been a problem. In fact, it works perfectly all the time. I bought it because it had a Blu Ray player in it when Blu Ray players were selling for a grand. The PS3 was on sale for around three bills if I bought a Sony Bravia TV on sale for a grand in 2006. Sold.So,. I have played LOTS of games on this system. When I purchased Black Ops 2, I purchased an Xbox type PS3 controller for a friend who likes that controller, and I got the Frag thingie that lets me use a mouse in the right hand and an erg controller for the left. I don't like the PS3 controller. Just me.So,. we load the game, the game calls for the famous NOVEMBER UPDATE...and my PS3 crashes. After four attempts, after clearing everything off the drive, after hours of wasted time, the system crashes every time I try to load this FIFTY DOLLAR GAME.The short of it...DO NOT BUY THIS GAME UNLESS YOU HAVE RENTED IT AND TESTED IT ON YOUR PS3.AFTER buying it, and it seems it is not refundable after opened, which makes no sense, since you can't KNOW if it will crash your console until AFTER you own it, I did what I usually do and did not do in this case.....google PS3 crashing when loading Black Ops 2.Well, imagine my surprise when millions of hits showed up of folks JUST LIKE ME...we gave our money to Activision for NO SANE REASON.Yes, I gave away fifty bucks. Just like that. I know folks who have tried too many times to load the game, and guess what?It destroys their console. Done. Kapupt. Won't ever start again.Morale of story: Activision did a horrible job on this game for PS3. My Xbox friends just LOOOOVE this game. I will never know. I like my PS3 because it streams perfectly, plays Blu Ray perfectly, and plays all my OTHER games perfectly.Skip Black Ops.Oh, and why did I give it five stars?Because any company that can get away with stealing fifty bucks, legally, is worthy of my respect. After all, I am a lawyer. And winning is everything.Caveat emptor, folks. Caveat emptor.I lost. They won.The end.