Difficulty:

Easy

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Mixed reactions"

Ahh where to begin, another entry into the Call of Duty series. What is this game, the 7th or 8th installment? Besides the fact that this game has the been there done that feel, it still exhibits moments of greatness; unfortunately, those moments of greatness are often short-lived, as this game frequently arouses feelings of frustration.

First thing is first, the single player is decent. Its the same tried and true linear story that goes for the action movie feel. On the whole, the roughly 6-7 hour campaign delivers a satisfying experience, but its nothing new, and its definitely nothing ground breaking.

Now, what every COD fan buys this game for, the multiplayer. BOII, per usual, has the exact same feel as previous games in the series. The control is sharp, responsive, and generally rewarding. The action is way TOO fast-paced this time around however. People run around with marathon, lightweight, and sub machine guns so quickly they'll look like a seizure inducing blur and be nearly impossible to hit. Sometimes, this game is so absurdly fast it reminds me of quake on the PC. The maps are generally below average, with the exception of Raid. While they're slightly better than MW3's rat-maze maps, they fall well short of BO1 and MW1. On the whole, they feel too small and too tight.

BOII does do a good job with class customization this time around. Instead of taking the obligatory primary weapon, secondary weapon, 3 perks, one explosive, and one tactical, this particular game allows you to completely customize your load out. You can place three attachments on your primary at the expense of a perk, grenade, or tactical. Or, you can have two perk ones, at the expense of a secondary weapon. The system is very good, and allows for new and exciting load outs.

Treyarch has also decided to remove enemy kills as the sole determining factor for obtaining killstreaks. Now, instead of just getting 3 kills and a uav, you are required to get a certain amount of in-game battle points to use your killstreaks. Therefore, this makes tactical decisions, like capturing a flag, or destroying an enemy uav more relevant, as points earned from these actions directly correlate to your own killstreak rewards. Its a very good system. Moreover, I found that it makes the battlefield a little more balanced, as a greater level of points seem to be required to get high-end killstreaks, thus making them rare. Too often in MW3, I felt like matches would get overwhelmed by air-support.

Unfortunately, the good news stops here. There is one area in particular where this game falls flat on its face just like its predecessor: spawning. What in the name of all the is holy have they done here? In MW3, spawning ruined the game, I mean flat out ruined it; it also comes dangerously close to ruining BOII.

FAR, FAR too often you will get shot in the back in this game. You could get 3 or 4 kills in a row, think your isolated in the corner of a map where no one can sneak up on you, and boom, shot in the back, all momentum dead. Or, like me, you stay on your team's spawn side, where generally speaking, you know its safe because thats where alot of your teammates are spawning. Enemies aren't going to just spawn next to your spawning teammates, because that's just crazy right? Wrong. Enemies seem to spawn with no rhyme or reason, ALL OVER a map.

In MW1, and BO1 too, I rarely got spawn killed. There was a general order to spawning so that one spawns in relative safety, gets their bearings, and then trudges back into battle. In MW3 and BOII, this delicate balance is destroyed. Often times you will spawn next to enemies, or enemies will spawn right next to you. And, because the maps are relatively tight, this leads to constant anxiety and frustration on the part of the player. It is very difficult to get in a good groove as death becomes far too frequent.

All of this, I'm sure, is a direct result of those who complain about "camping." I ask you though, in combat, do you constantly run right out into battle, making yourself repeatedly vulnerable? No. Of course you don't. So why force us to do it in BOII? I understand that excessive camping can be an annoyance, but an absolute inability to hold down a spot without getting shot in the back is utterly frustrating. I don't understand what Treyarch and Infinity Ward are trying to do here. A vast majority of gamers preferred the pace of MW1 and BO1. With every successive release in this series, I feel like the developers are trying to make the game smaller, tighter, and faster. Why? If it gets any faster or frenetic, I think I might have a damn seizure.

Look Treyarch, you've done well with in game battle points and great customization options. But, your willingness to lay down for those "camper haters" out there is threatening this series. As it stands now, this game is far behind the likes of MW1, BO1, and MW2, and barely ahead of MW3 in terms of enjoyment. Take heed, slow WAY down, and relax. It doesn't have to be so fast and so frenetic all the time. And one last note, stop releasing a COD every single year as if it were Madden. Merge the best talent from Teryarch and Infinity and work on building a completely new engine for the next generation of consoles. There is no need to release MW4 for the 360 and ps4. Just stop.