VGHomework

VGHomework: Ready for Call of Duty: Black Ops II?

May 18, 2012
1 Comment

Leaked Black Ops II screenshot

Welcome to your first VGHomework assignment! VGHomework is your chance to get in on the discussion from the latest episode of VGHangover. We’ll be adding our own thoughts as well, and will feature your best comments on a future show.

This week, we talked about the recently announced Call of Duty: Black Ops II and how Treyarch is trying to take the series in a new direction. As always, Call of Duty didn’t fail to bring the controversy. Here are some questions that arose:

Q: Are you looking forward to Black Ops II?
D.J. Ross (@metaly): I didn’t love the original Black Ops, but the sequel’s near-future setting has me interested for sure. It seems unlikely that we’ll see soldiers sporting laser guns and active camo, but I can’t wait to see what kind of futuristic gadgets, perks and killstreaks Treyarch will add to the game. Unleash the robo-dogs!

Q: Is “modern warfare” played out? What time period should Call of Duty invade next?
Randy Dickinson (@randy_wrecked): While trying to occupy a genuine historical period is certainly “on brand” for Call of Duty, I think it lends a stuffiness to the series that keeps me from appreciating it. I think they should go completely off the reservation and invent their own time period: muskets and jetpacks, rocket launchers on horseback, and giant steam-powered robots that shoot water balloons. Take the insanity and unpredictability of games like TimeSplitters, Ratchet and Clank and Armed and Dangerous and dump them in to a competitive online FPS and I’ll happily pony up my $60.

Q: Do you want a game’s story to change depending on how well you play?
Paul Sandhu (@spaulsandhu): I’d definitely be more interested in a game if it had a branching story that changed depending on what or how I did during certain segments of a game. But the devs would have to strike a very delicate balance and make sure each outcome would be equally “fair” and interesting for the player. Otherwise people will just try to get the “ideal” outcome during the branching segments. My advice, do what CD Projekt did with The Witcher 2. Make the branching paths and decision points quick, and subtle and have them play out hours later so the player is surprised by what actually happens!

Now that you’ve heard from us, it’s your turn! Comment below with an answer to one of these questions, or just tell us what you think about Black Ops II!

  • http://vghangover.com/ Matt Kernan

    As a Vita owner, I’m excited to hear about whatever the CoD Vita project that’s being worked on is.

    As for the game in general, the info and trailers I’ve seen so far seem to indicate that they’re striking a good balance between spicing things up and keeping existing fans happy. Though, I’ve bought every CoD game somewhere near launch since the first Modern Warfare, my interest has definitely waned a bit with each yearly release. I waited a month or two before buying Modern Warfare 3 and I’ve still yet to play through the campaign. These new changes do have me interested for BlOps 2 though.