Difficulty:

Just Right

Time Spent:

40 to 100 Hours

The Bottom Line:

"Overrated"

I've been playing Call of Duty games for the last several years. Like many people, I've often referred back to the original Modern Warfare time and again as the standard classic. Unfortunately, for all its bells and whistles, Black Ops 2 doesn't really do anything to distinguish itself from the pack. The Pick 10 system for customizing your load-out is fairly neat, and the graphics provide a clean, bright palette which is refreshing to see. Game play wise though, its all the same. My biggest complaint is that there are ALWAYS hackers finding a way to ruin the game and boost their stats, the sad part being that the developers rarely address these issues. Lag is lag, and this has been a pretty come theme for COD games in the past, but it seems more prevalent than ever. How is it that I never had this kind of lag with the original Modern Warfare? The guns in the game are okay, but due to balancing issues (Treyarch LOVES making sub machine guns overpowered), it becomes old REALLY quick when people use the same tired old 'mega guns' over and over simply because everything else is under powered in comparison. That being said, its a fairly fun game. You can get into games relatively easy and the sounds, game play, and overall sense of COD is still here. The story in the single player game is way over the top and ridiculous, but that's pretty much a given these days and not much to fuss over. I'm seriously missing 'Survival' mode from Modern Warfare 3, the Zombies alternate game play mode loses its luster fairly quickly and isn't really fun. Also, many people (like me) were massively dissapointed when we found out that the pre-order NukeTown map was nothing more than a ruse: You can only play this map on a rotation that includes a variety of game modes, and its just NukeTown only, so its very tiresome and is a real shame that they aren't including it in the regular rotation of maps. That being said, again, its a fairly fun game, but its really nothing new. I'm very concerned that the latest map pack (as of this posting) decided to offer a new gun along with the new maps, I don't like that the core part of a game (the guns) are now going the way of DLC. Whereas its not a game changer, it does make anyone who hasn't bought the DLC at somewhat of a disadvantage, given they don't have all the weapon load out options. So if you like COD, feel free to pick it up, its fun and delivers the same kind of thrills you would probably like. However, if you're looking for a change of pace, this might not be it.