While staying within a familiar framework, Call of Duty: Black Ops showed what Treyarch could bring to the series: a heavier dose of narrative, a unique dive into an unseen era, and many beneficial tweaks to multiplayer. Black Ops II upholds those tenets, but aims to introduce another strong shift for the series — and what could be more radical than dipping its toes into speculative, futuristic tech?

Set in 2025, Black Ops II still feels like a modern Call of Duty game, but the sights are unfamiliar in parts. Flying attack drones hover above, delivering a new vertical threat, while large animal-like A.G.R. (Autonomous Ground Robot) walkers prove difficult to topple, although they can be sturdy allies. Add in a spectacular sniper rifle with charged shots that penetrate walls (to blast heat signatures from afar), sticky gloves that adhere to any surface, and even Halo-esque transport ships, and it’s clear the times have changed. Even the soundtrack has a newly electronic tinge to it.

Though multiplayer is fully invested in that future era, what may not be clear is that Black Ops II’s campaign isn’t. Instead, it frequently bounces back a few decades to the 1970s and ’80s via flashback missions, aiming to branch the actions of existing heroes Alex Mason and Frank Woods with those of the former’s son, future soldier David Mason. Both quests are tied together via villain Raul Menendez, who seeks revenge on America for his sister’s death by orchestrating a cyber-attack and global uprising to cripple large governments.

You'll fight alongside a crazed leader in this Angola-set campaign moment.

There's nothing like a bit of drone-on-drone action in the game's Strike Force missions.

Comparisons are inevitable in a series this iterative, and lined up against recent franchise treks, Black Ops II’s campaign comes up short — though it packs structural surprises. It lacks the bold set-pieces and moments from last year’s Modern Warfare 3 while also failing to serve up the same kind of narrative edge that the first Black Ops did; the overall experience, as a result, lacks consistent thrills. The game does offer some intriguing scenarios, including fighting on horseback in an Afghanistan desert and wading through a flooded city in Pakistan, plus the action picks up on the back end. It’s hard to describe surviving a downtown Los Angeles onslaught and zipping a fighter jet through skyscrapers as anything but “epic.”

Distressingly, the game struggles to strike a consistent and believable tone throughout. Menendez is a passionate and often interesting antagonist, but an emotion-fueled mission played through his perspective comes off as hokey rather than affecting, and swapping roles to play as the villain ends up muddling the story a bit. Moreover, Black Ops II tries to tell a more emotional and human tale, yet goes too far over the top with its intensely gruesome kill cinematics. And don’t get us started on the post-credits gag clip, which is one of the tackiest things we’ve seen in a videogame.

Black Ops II's overhead view gives you a tactical assist during Strike Force missions.

Part of the campaign malaise comes from the new Strike Force missions, as these less-scripted affairs pop you into open-level scenarios with real-time-strategy elements, letting you direct units (soldiers and drones alike) from overhead or take direct control of any ally. Some missions are optional, but none prove particularly absorbing. The game throws a lot of new controls and tactics your way, but we knocked out all five missions with ease mostly by running and gunning.

On the other hand, these scenarios feed into an unexpected change that may well shape the future of Call of Duty campaigns. By factoring in the results of the Strike Force missions (which you can fail) and other, often life-or-death decisions you’ll make elsewhere, Black Ops II has branching paths and a handful of different endings. Once you’ve seen one outcome, you can rewind back to earlier missions and change your path to experience an alternate resolution and varied story bits along the way. It might not result in a great campaign in this game — though this approach and the new customizable loadouts both add significant replay value — but it’s still an intriguing step forward that could yield brilliant results with further revision.

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