First week of Call of Duty:Black Ops 2 Multiplayer

Right, this time I’m not going to buy it. THIS time I mean it. It’s just a blockbuster and there’s nothing here for me and my PS3. I said this to myself for both Modern Warfare 3 and Black Ops 2 and on both occasions I’ve been lucky enough to try them first at conventions. And every time I go on the new Call Of Duty demo, I jump straight on the band wagon and accept my fate. Luckily, this time Treyarch have provided more than enough changes, extras and alterations to make me feel a lot less like I just got mugged for £40-£50 AGAIN.

A little on the offline…

Both the campaign and zombies have been cleaned up nicely and although I won’t go into great detail here they are improved. Zombies now has several modes, one of which is traditional survival and one is a loose objective mode which is actually quite interesting and certainly a good laugh if nothing else.

The campaign is the usual we have come to expect from COD but is a more structured experience and adds tactical missions a couple of times throughout which offer a nice change of pace. It’s still short but it is as spectacular as ever and provides a nice offline distraction for a few hours. Each mission now has a score which you can compare with friends but more than likely, you’ll want to take the fight online.

Online

Of course the multiplayer is the giant-eagle sized feather in COD’s ever expanding cap and this really is the best I’ve been on. After the first week I’ve managed to sink in a good 8 hours on the multiplayer and am prepping the energy drinks and crisps for a double XP weekend!

Game Modes

The game modes are great with many returning favourites and a few new modes such as Multi-Team death match were 3 teams of 3 compete in various game modes. So far it seems the core is still team death match but unsurprisingly people are flooding in and support is great for you to decide whatever you want to do.

Match Making and Stability

Match making is quick and although I was unable to connect to the servers for a good few hours at one point, things have run very smoothly so far. The connection issues seem to have effected both the XBOX 360 and the PS3 and have been account specific. At least on the PS3 version which I’m using they seem to have fixed the issue as I have had no problems since.

I’m not the worlds greatest COD player but when I get in a lobby the matches are generally fair and with only a few exceptions I’m not just cannon fodder which really reduces the frustration of some of the previous games.

“Pick 10”

The new "Pick 10" system is at the same time the simplest most basic way of customizing classes a COD title has ever had and by far the single best feature of Black Ops 2. For those who don’t know, each custom class now has 10 slots available and each and every item uses 1 point weather it’s a weapon, a grenade or a perk. Don’t want a grenade? OK have another attachment or perk instead. Or take 6 perks and equip no weapons at all, and rely on picking one up in battle and become a perk monster!

This allows for a huge range of custom class options and now that it’s here I can’t see the franchise going back, I certainly hope it doesn’t. It is brilliant.

Weapons

The guns handle great and you can tell that Treyarch has spent a lot of time on them. The 2025 setting allows for some interesting new weapons, scopes and attachments. Twists on classics are here in abundance, and not always what you might expect, but always interesting and great fun to use.

Progression

I constantly want to get back there and get some more XP, camos, weapons or even just emblem pictures. The sense of progression is persistent and allows for even better replay ability on a game notorious for just that. Weapon attachments are unlocked by weapon level (like MW3) which means if you want that rapid fire SMG you’re going to have to use it without first. This is great for familiarizing yourself with the weapons properly and also creates an interesting dilemma when a weapon is unlocked. I just got the final unlock for my gun, brilliant. Here’s a new gun. What do you do? Continue with levelling your gun? Or cut your losses and move into unknown territory with the potential benefits and losses.

On top of this you can now prestige any of your weapons in the usual prestige way, each time unlocking something unique. You also lose all the attachments and have to start levelling the weapon again. A great new little addition that can be ignored or not at your discretion.

Impressions after first week

I would genuinely recommend this for pretty much any gamer and if you’re a sceptic, as I have been in the past, at least try it and see if the new changes are exactly what you wanted out of COD. There really seems to be something here for all skills and tastes and Black Ops 2 should snare a much wider audience than any call of duty before it.

Call Of Duty:Black Ops 2 is available now on PS3, XBOX 360 and PC.

For now I am hoping to get my first prestige this weekend so I must get to "work".