Test video Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

Time is not the revolution with Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2, as effective and relatively little surprising rhythm. Call of good, as usual.

Me, Call Of Duty, I do not play, and yet every year I bought the day of release. This is mandatory . NBA 2K13 producer by this innocuous sentence turning a presentation of his basketball game, puts his finger on something: since the first Modern Warfare, Call Of Duty franchise has become a commercial phenomenon also amazing that regular: with nearly 30 million copies sold, Modern Warfare 3 has finally sanctified the license of Activision, more than ever a symbol of a generation of consoles now in its twilight. For his latest Call Of Duty on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, the issue is not as fun as shopping for studio Treyarch, after proving that he could compete with Infinity Ward in the charts now must emancipate the model with Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.

Back in black :

David Mason has not really had time to know his father, Alex, CIA military between the years 60 and 80. I must say that the hero of the first Black Ops disappeared in 1989 during an operation in Panama while small was not ten years more than enough to push the kid to follow his trail in the U.S. Army . It is therefore at the mercy of the exchanges between young David and Frank Woods, a former teammate Alex, the player will be carted 80s, for operationsflashback to the year of grace 2025 . The wicked remains the same regardless of the time: the narco-terrorist Raul Hernandez, helped particularly by the "vile" Manuel Noriega (former president of Panama, a time imprisoned in Paris and still alive), stirs up tensions between Americans and Chinese in order to defeat the two powers. "A stone two birds" that we will obviously charge counter.

The bias of the screenplay is more attractive, since it promises two diametrically opposed moods (Cold War / future) and should a priori increase the gameplay . It is ultimately only partly true, since if equipment and environments are indeed different from one era to another, the bottom of the game remains the same: it is obviously to align hundreds of puppets motionless between two scripts . The formula has been proven and if it has its detractors, its spectacular makes a minimum necessarily friendly. In Black Ops 2, the earthiness is found on the side of the horse ride, which eliminates helicopters and Russian tanks back to nag on the aircraft carrier USS Barack Obama (true) in a remake of enjoyable Pearl Harbor or between buildings in Los Angeles on a jet. As usual, we will not get bored one second if you like the formula, especially during the last third especially removed. Always a bit player witness the grandiloquence of events, the player can not rely too on futuristic gadgets to transcend one gameplay has not really changed since the first Modern Warfare. For the better, since the adventure is very rhythmic and the gameplay still nervous, but also for worse, the omnipresence of scripts and the total absence of improvisation often relegated to the rank of the player viewer. This is evident in the sequence of climbing and at times infiltration, that they deserve a little to calm the game are absolutely uninteresting to play. Treyarch did fortunately not confined to applying the guide Modern Warfare nice to the letter, even though the vast majority of the country is confined to stack moments of bravery as the franchise has dozens.

Unfaithful to Call Of Duty?

In the most seasoned notice the few attempts to open environments . We are not talking here of a card worthy of Far Cry, but just as welcome opportunities bifurcation that shy. Complexity of this small level design , far from the player lost in a maze complex, sometimes offers a (very) tiny feeling of freedom which are completely devoid of the previous sections. It's not much, but find a raised platform at the corner of a crossroad for sniper enemies well away brings more sympathetic to the systematic search that characterizes the usual progression. We also appreciate the regular intervention of the Claw , four-legged robots ultra-powerful which can refer aiming, fighting against enemies equipped with optical camouflage or the Dragonfire, these AR Drones equipped with machine guns "verticalisent" a little clashes. The future can be good.

 

 As surprising and welcome choice is the use of "moral" coating this time a certain importance in the outcome of the story. Kill or not an individual such as avoiding a teammate gets hurt and change the course of the story , without, however, we can speak of branches. The campaign is always the same no matter what, but for different purposes will encourage fans to more willingly plunge into solo mode once it curly. Moreover, Treyarch has played the card of the "replay" allowing everyone to customize their equipment early in the mission (with weapons, strengths and gadgets to unlock) and affublant his campaign system scoring with leaderboards for the most strenuous. One can legitimately question the effectiveness of such a practice, but be careful not to criticize the approach that will appeal to complétistes from all sides. Meanwhile, the California studio added additional missions, called Strike Force . It is, on maps stitched multiplayer mode, directing a squad for a specific purpose: to defend and attack a base or retrieve a VIP are also part of the objectives of these four additional missions at strategic course slightly. It can take a little height with tactically in order to give orders to men, turrets and Claw at our disposal, while it is possible to embody any of our units at any time in one click. That lovers Company Of Heroes keep their calm as refreshing as the concept, the result is ultimately very beefy considering the problems of pathfinding and lack of initiative that characterizes our troops. It comes to must do everything yourself while the difficulty is not really an appointment. The idea was good, but it falls a little flat due to lack of challenge.

Invasive scripts, IA realization weak and antiquated: welcome CoD

Since it evokes what does not, difficult to forgive his Black Ops 2 artificial intelligence a paucity uncommon . If the behavior of our allies has been properly adjusted relative to the first game, the enemies is even more glaring stupidity that some byways mentioned previously raise faults. Static blind and suicidal enemies we earn tens spit again not on Veteran IQ: they are simply much more lethal, making this the only difficulty mode a minimum of interest for used the genre. It gets a little wearing, while the franchise celebrates its ninth candle, thugs defeat militias world without them do not offer a semblance of cohesion or traces of gumption. Will there be sentenced to headshoté pécores of our lives?

One could ask the same question about the scripts. If Treyarch has played in the economy of the QTE, but clearly present in relatively small numbers compared to previous episodes, small failures sequences "planned in advance" lend to smile if they were not commonplace in license since 2007. The player is a prisoner of the script , no matter what: impossible to anticipate our teammates when they are for ages to unlock the next door, kill an enemy before he made ​​his specific action under the game or take a shortcut jet to catch the main targets. The current studios have beautiful use all tricks to hide this dirty habit, the player is still victim when he has the misfortune to get nails . And we will not speak of invisible walls and other decorations impassable even our GI flows into the empty wingsuit in a storm. Any sequence of ideas in the Mason family. Admittedly, the engine of Call of Duty, also optimized it is, accuses the weight of years. Textures are always summary views closely and if the developers have multiplied caches to hide the misery-dated technology, the result is not really up to the current standards. Climatic conditions or fog prevents us from seeing too far, explosions too much reduce the number of steps in animation, particles that move continuously on the screen distracting, but nothing happens : Despite an excellent job on the faces during cutscenes using the game engine (prettier than CGI, go figure) and some dazzling design that put the pill, Black Ops 2 is a game visually quaint . At least its fluidity is never at fault.

Usually solid over time:

Devilish rhythm as usual, the campaign did not forget to be much shorter. Bouclé large maximum in seven hours (all side missions completed), the solo soon gives way to competitive multiplayer, which crystallizes as every year expectations of millions of players. Advances are also shy and questionable on the battlefield than real and inventive in the interface. Let's start with the class creation system, completely revised . A fighter can now equip than ten items. Main weapon / secondary additions weapons, perks , grenades: Each item uses a slot , constrain the power of combinations. Nice in theory, because it forces us to make choices - to shield assets but limit its weapons at their simplest device, create a balanced character or otherwise force the grenades and other sights cracked with wallhack integrated - system has already shown some flaws since it is already possible to create a superhuman fighter with some judicious combinations of perks . Time will show if the system is so unbalanced it looks.

Although views are new community opportunities that allow us to participate in leagues classified or even stream live its parts. It will obviously sort pearls waste will flood YouTube in the coming months, but the possibility is welcome. The arrival of Scorestreaks instead of Killstreaks is anecdotal, since the result is very close to the current system of Modern Warfare 3, the bonus allocated mark still a great return anything of Modern Warfare (without Nuke , though), which is sure to rage less skillés will die very quickly at the end of the game, especially if their team is dominated. The first Black Ops we had welcomed its relative simplicity at this level, this is clearly not the case in his suite.

Call Of Duty magic still remains intact due to pace that characterizes the confrontation line for five years. The increase is permanent, weapons and gadgets are unlocked in perfect rhythm, leaving us to believe that we never finished. The recipe has proven. If the sensations of combat are strictly identical to previous parts, this maps are available (and future DLC expensive) that will determine the success of Black Ops Multiplayer 2. As usual, Treyarch thought everyone by delivering a diverse membership in both environments used in the arrangement of them. Yacht Nuketown way to the train station through the wreckage of the plane, it sometimes seems to play old maps " re-skinnées ", but some stand still lot offering non-symmetrical arrangements . As usual, everyone has their preferences among the fourteen maps available.

A Call Of Duty by Treyarch would obviously nothing without its cooperative part against zombies , redesigned for the ninth Call Of Duty. The three play areas each share in two modes: the first map is playable in Tranzit , where it is clear a path to the exit like the Left 4 Dead campaigns, as well as survival, which more or less corresponds to the classic mode. The other two offer this second possibility, but also clashes between two teams of four players. All convinces partially the fault of playgrounds and various small bugs (collision, scripts, accuracy) that says this could be corrected quickly. This part of the game has interest between mates, and should once again fill the "net friends", but the system Tranzit promising indices and contextual events make it somewhat indigestible.

Conclusion:

Caught between the desire for change of Treyarch , evident in the level design as Strike Force in missions, and the strict specifications Activision, Call Of Duty Black Ops 2 is found a little cramped. The dated graphics engine does what it can to highlight the grandiloquence of game footage, but the gameplay does not always unfolds as it should. Often viewer epic moments of the single player campaign, it really suffers artificial intelligence and very basic script that spoil binding wills opening the game The parallel past / future work yet though, the last two hours of the campaign are excellent and the gameplay still nervous while leveraging Forces canonical license , Treyarch did, despite obvious goodwill, not totally gotten rid of the bad habits of the series. As a symbol, the competitive multiplayer is meant actually quite stingy with real news despite a nervy system overhaul equipment and extensive community opportunities. The content is obviously significant, with fourteen new maps, a progression system still as addictive and cooperation as a big cherry on the Type 95. This year, Call Of Duty delivers what is expected of him . No more, no less.