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Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a military first-person shooter developed by Treyarch (Company) and published by Activision (Company) (Square Enix (Company) in Japan) for the Xbox 360 (Platform), PlayStation 3 (Platform) and PC (Platform) on November 13, 2012. It was later released as a launch title for the Wii U (Platform) on November 18th, 2012.
The ninth official installment of the Call of Duty (Franchise) series (and the sequel to 2010's Call of Duty: Black Ops), the game shifts from the 1960's Cold War (Concept) to near-future 2025, where military technology has advanced significantly and a new "Cold War" has arisen between the United States (with its Joint Special Operation Command, or JSOC) and China (Location) (with its Strategic Defense Coalition, or SDC).
In the main single-player campaign, players take the role of JSOC Lieutenant Commander (and DEVGRU operative) David Mason (Character), son of Alex Mason (Character) (a CIA agent and the main protagonist of the game's predecessor). David (codenamed "Section") must investigate and stop the plans of Raul Menendez (Character), a wealthy Nicaraguan narco-terrorist who is using cyberterrorism to fuel the new Cold War. As David puts the pieces together (both from playable 1980's flashbacks from his father's aging comrade-in-arms Frank Woods (Character), and from infiltration missions with fellow DEVGRU operatives Mike Harper (Character) and Javier Salazar), he begins to draw a disturbing connection between Menendez and the two Masons.
Along with a main campaign that introduces branching storylines (with multiple endings), per-mission challenges, and custom mission weapon/gear loadouts to the franchise, the game introduces side-missions called "Strike Force", in which players must complete objectives as a soldier, a remote operator of a combat vehicle, or as a tactical commander (in a mode similar to real-time strategy games), switching between these modes at any time. Completing all available missions directly affect the main storyline (even affecting the game's ending), but each single-player campaign has a limited amount of retries ("strike forces") for all Strike Force missions.
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Both Zombies and Multiplayer modes return, each with their own unique enhancements. For Zombies, the game adds a variety of new modes (including a large "open world" co-operative mode, a 4v4 competitive co-operative mode, and a duel mode in which one player tries to respawn by controlling the zombie horde). For Multiplayer, the game adds a unique "Ten Point" Create-a-Class system in which players can add and remove components of their class to shift priorities (sometimes breaking traditional Create-a-Class rules, such as adding a second Perk or replacing lethal grenades with another tactical grenade). Multiplayer mode also adds a new game mode (Hardpoint), enhanced Wager Matches (now Party Games) and Combat Training playlists (integrating them with the standard public playlist system, including granting experience points), a Weapon Prestige system (in which players can re-unlock attachments to grant new cosmetic perks), and enhanced social integration (including the ability to livestream via [http:/www.twitch.tv Twitch]).
The main soundtrack was composed by Jack Wall (Person) (previously known for the first two Mass Effect (Franchise) soundtracks). The game's main theme ("Theme from Call of Duty: Black Ops II") was composed by Trent Reznor (Person) (front-man for Nine Inch Nails, whose previous video game soundtrack was Quake (Game)).
The campaign includes official appearances by comedian (and television host) Jimmy Kemmel and retired USMC Lieutenant Colonel (and political commentator) OIiver North. Rock/metal band Avenged Sevenfold appears in a post-credit "easter egg" music video. The campaign also includes characters based on former CIA director David Petraeus, former Panaman dictator Manuel Noriega (Character), and former Angolan political leader Jonas Savimbi.
