We have a lot of ground to cover still, so I’ll get right to it. If you haven’t already read the first part of this review, I suggest you do so before reading this as it covers the single player campaign.

Call of Duty multiplayer is relatively the same game in Black Ops II. Except, the Pick 10 system that has been implemented in the latest installment, redefines the entire create a class mode.

This time around, you have complete freedom to do whatever you want. Right from the get go, you have ten points to spend. Each perk, weapon upgrade and customization you choose costs one point. You can mix and match the different options until you’ve used up the full ten points. The freedom lies in the number of choices that you have to make. You can spend your ten points on anything you deem fit. If you only want to bring a pistol, and sacrifice the bigger weapons so that you can have more perks, it’s possible. If you want to forget your secondary weapon and deck out your primary weapon instead, with three separate attachments, that’s also possible. You can actually do what you want, when you want.

Robust Customization Features

The real beauty is that you can change your loadout at any time. If you experiment with a new loadout and totally hate it, you have an unlimited number of times to revise it until you get it just right.

Perks no longer have anything to do with weapons in Black Ops II. If you’d like to reload faster, or shoot more accurately, then you need to equip the proper weapon attachment instead of the necessary perk. Don’t worry though, perks still exist, they just work to augment your character’s general abilities.

One of the greatest things, and it’s something I’ve been saying they need to add for a long time, is the fact that your levels don’t reset when you prestige. When you prestige you are awarded both an item token, and a Prestige Token, which you can use for several different things:

• You can unlock an item of your choice, regardless of the level requirements (for each Prestige earned this is a definite)
• You can also do one of the following:
  • You can unlock an additional Create a Class slot
  • You can reset all stats in the traditional Prestige fashion and start from scratch
  • You can refund all of your unlock tokens you’ve spent to respec, along with the weapons you unlocked.

This essentially gives you a reason to Prestige, and something to work for. Instead of just throwing a useless Prestige level at you, the developers have actually given you a reason, to keep going. You also continue to increase your weapon experience and challenge progress, meaning they will not reset when you want to Prestige.

Multiplayer Game Modes

The standard game modes are back including TDM, CTF, Search and Destroy and more. There are also sub-categories of each game type to provide a bigger collection of gameplay modes. What is truly exciting though, is brand new game modes.

Hardpoint is essentially a King of the Hill clone. You fight it out with opponents to occupy a specific location for a period of time. When the game ends, the team with the most points, or the most time spent in the region, wins.

There are new options to play some of the different game modes with larger teams. For example, in Black Ops II Kill Confirmed returns, but you can play with a team of three now, against three other teams. In case you can’t count, that’s a total of four teams of three fighting against each other. Trust me when I say it’s a lot more fun with more people and larger teams, and it just changes up the gameplay a bit.

If you so desire, split-screen multiplayer still exists so you can play with friends and family in the same living room too. This game support has been included in every Call of Duty title until now, so it’s expected.

Multiplayer has been changed enough to keep things interesting and compelling, yet the basic structure remains the same to keep long time fans appeased, as well.

I enjoyed my time with multiplayer in Black Ops II and I’m sure you will also. There are plenty of customization options and features to keep you playing for months. Black Ops II should be able to hold you over until the next title in the series arrives at your doorstep. Plus there’s always Call of Duty Elite, which will bring loads of DLC goodness to the latest offering.

The Complete Black Ops II Review

Because this review grew to be so lengthy, I have split it into three parts. You can find direct links to the other portions of the review below.

If you haven’t already, remember to check out the other portions of this review:

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review – Single Player Campaign (Part 1)

Call of Duty: Black Ops II Review – Zombies and Conclusion (Part 3)