Call of Duty: Black Ops II offers a first look at its multiplayer

By Ryan Fleming August 7, 2012

If you are one of the millions of rabid Call of Duty fans, then the multiplayer offering is what you are probably most anticipating when Black Ops 2 is released later this year. The single player campaign may prove to be the best gaming experience in the history of the human race, but even if it brings tears to your eyes from the beauty of it all, the majority of fans are still looking for Call of Duty’s next entry in order to jump online and pummel their fellow gamers by punching them to death with bullets and tomahawks.

As you might expect of a game set in the future, the multiplayer mode will feature futuristic tech and plenty of gadgets to help you along. Judging from the aerial assaults and numerous devices you can use, killstreaks will also be a huge part of the game. Not surprising of course, but the question of how they are earned is still a question mark. Will Treyarch return to the traditional killstreak method of consecutive kills to unlock the chosen option, or will it use the multiple killstreak types, like the support killstreaks that earn points by actions regardless of deaths, as were introduced in Modern Warfare 3.

The video also raises the question of how important equipment—both killstreaks earned via equipment and equipment chosen at the loadout—will be. Finding a balance between useful and cool gadgets, and gadgets that are toopowerful is important, and something that many have criticized the series for not fully attaining. It is fun to earn enough kills to unleash a barrage from above, but it can quickly be overwhelming.

Beyond that, the game looks like standard Call of Duty gameplay, for both good and bad. The fans will likely love it, and are probably already putting in their requests for the day off work when it is released, while the haters shall continue to hate. Of course, that is just from the quick glimpse provided, there could be significant changes we haven’t seen yet.

We’ll find out more soon enough, when Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is released for PC, PS3, and Xbox 360 on November 13, with a Wii U release likely coming soon after.

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Former Digital Trends Contributor

Ryan Fleming is the Gaming and Cinema Editor for Digital Trends. He joined the DT staff in 2009 after spending time covering…

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