The Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 trailer gets a big resounding “meh” from me. It’s set in a 21st century Cold War with explosions, horses and probably chatty Russians and looks very EActivision. It’s cool and confusing at the same time, but really, who cares?
Opinions are varied in the MMGN office. Stephen Heller is a notorious COD hater, so it comes as no shock that he’s dancing in the wake of a rather lacklustre trailer compared to previous offerings. Meanwhile, Gaetano Prestia is the resident fanboy. Naturally he’s fascinated by the potential, but anything he says comes covered in retched COD bias.
Therefore, due to a premeditated conflict of interest on the behalf of my colleagues, I’m forced to be the voice of reason, and it’s not a good look for me. Instead of carefully dissecting what Treyarch have done as the neutral party, I’m just going to tell you that it’s a waste of time.
”Hogswallop!” you may exclaim, if you were born before 1932. But no, it’s just a straight up fact. I couldn’t care less about the story behind Blops 2. I’m still probably going to buy it.
Come November 13, the day of the total solar eclipse, I will be inundated by tens of single-player games demanding my time, many of them placing quite a large emphasis on my ability to kill things without being killed myself. I won’t need another.
Where I might find solace, however, is in the world’s most popular online multiplayer game. Hello, Black Ops 2. That’s what I want from such a game. That’s why I actually play COD for about a month every year -- I think I actually got past level 30 in Modern Warfare 3 (pretty good, pretty, pretty, pretty good). There’s no denying that it’s still the king of multiplayer games on consoles, and that’s not to dismiss its appeal on PC, where it still pulls quite an audience.
The scope of that audience alone is enough to lock it in as the best-selling game of the year already, in May. Its accessibility is undeniable and that’s why it will come close to the 6.5 million copies sold that Modern Warfare 3 achieved during its first 24 hours. While it takes time to become an elite player, anyone can return serviceable results after a few warmup rounds. That’s why we play Call of Duty.
The trailer didn’t excite me. It was all over the shop and hasn’t made me any more excited than I was before the announcement. Having said that, we’ve known about Black Ops 2 for months, and that there was going to be a new Call of Duty in November for years. While it hasn’t made me any more excited, it hasn’t scared me away either.
Multiplayer gameplay footage is where it’s at. It’s why I play Call of Duty and how I will make my pre-release judgements. Who cares about this story reveal trailer?
By Ben Salter - Tweet @Ben_Salter