Near Future Setting with Classic CoD Feel

Treyarch gave themselves an interesting task when they started working on Call of Duty: Black Ops II. They wanted a game that took the CoD experience further than any other game in the line, but they didn't want to lose the series' unique feel.

So, what did they do? They took the story into the near-future, but made sure that the weapons and the tactics you use in the game feel the same. While you might be using a fancy new sniper rifle that can detect enemies behind walls, the feel of that sniper rifle is the same, and while you might be able to deploy some autonomous heavy guns to come to your aid, you won't survive long if you aren't in the trenches yourself.

Plus, not everything about Black Ops II is in 2025 with robotic warfare. A good portion of the game will take place in the 1980's where you play Alex Mason (as opposed to his son in 2025). Menendez, the leader of the terrorist forces that is behind the attacks seen in 2025, gets his start during the '80s, and it is during these missions that you really get to see the big picture and how he became such a major enemy to the U.S.

Couple this with classic multiplayer options, zombies and a new mode called Strike Force that takes you between the bird's-eye and grunt's-eye and you have a game that promises to be both a standard Call of Duty experience, but with enough newness to keep you more than interested. You can check out a much more indepth preview of Call of Duty: Black Ops II on PSIllustrated. You can also check out the below video. It goes behind the scenes as Treyarch talks about their goals with Black Ops II, how advances in technology helps them tell their story better and what they had to consider in order to make the game both bigger and better.