Call of Duty: Black Ops 2

When I look back at my favorite video game experiences, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 ranks up there with the best of them. Released on November 13th, 2012, Black Ops 2 was the eleventh game in the Call of Duty franchise. Sure, the single player has some sort of story that links together with the other Black Ops games, but I don't remember anything about it. It was epic and exciting, but the meat of the gameplay was with the online multiplayer where I spent most of my time.

In 2012, I was managing a movie theater. Beginning with Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare, myself, along with some of my co-workers would stand in line for the midnight release of each Call of Duty game, and then go right home and play the hell out of it.

Working in a movie theater can a be a little strange. The hours are weird, we opened at 10 AM but sometimes didn't start showing movies until noon, and on an early night we might leave at 12:30 AM. Many nights we were there until 3 AM or later. Spending that much time with your co-workers, often alone just waiting for the final theater to let out, creates an environment to make friends. I think anyone who has worked retail understands that weird camaraderie that comes along, and it's only enriched by extremely strange hours, and super busy days like in a movie theater pre-COVID.

This meant that often we got off work at the same time and were just too ramped up to go to sleep. Driving home and playing Call of Duty for a few hours after work became a nightly ritual. It started with just two of us, and slowly grew to a group of about eight of us who'd play most nights. We joked, we laughed, and we talked a lot of shit to one another and it was wonderful. It also helped that the gameplay of Black Ops 2 was so great, and the map selection was peak Call of Duty as far as I'm concerned.

Of course, one night we played our final game together. I wish I'd known it was the end, but after five years of playing together, we all started finding new jobs. Suddenly our schedules didn't line up like they used to and life happened. I'd still pop in my disc on occasion and play a round or two, but after a couple of years the hackers took over and Black Ops 2 was lost to time.

Last year, I decided to look into some way I could play Black Ops 2 without the hackers and I discovered some impressive work on PC. However, my dream of buying a true gaming rig was still a ways off (and even more so now) and it just wasn't feasible for me.

Then, a few weeks ago, it was announced that Activision was porting over Black Ops and Black Ops 2 to the PS4 and PS5. Immediately folks began shitting all over the idea for a few reasons.

1. The games were not going to be remastered, these were straight ports where they fixed the glitch that allowed the hackers to take over.
2. The retail cost of the game was $39.99 (without the DLC).
3. Despite Microsoft owning Activision, they weren't fixing the Xbox 360 version of the game which seemed like a huge mistake.
4. There was no cross-play added, and to complicate things further, if you installed the PS5 version, you could only play with folks on PS5. If you installed the PS4 version, likewise.

For weeks, I saw doom and gloom articles about this release. My favorite Playstation site, Push Square titled their reviews: Call of Duty - Black Ops (One Big Rip-Off) and Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 (Overcharged for a Multiplayer Classic) both of which are editorials than an actual reviews. It was clear the pitchforks were out for greedy Microsoft.

But here is what happened... when the game was released last week, it debuted for $19.99. The DLC was sold for $9.99. So, for $30 you could play arguably the greatest Call of Duty ever with healthy lobbies. It was a no brainer, I bought the game the first day and have been playing it all week.

It's exactly the way it was fourteen years ago, warts and all. The gameplay is a little rigid compared to modern shooters, and the pace is a half a step slower (there's no one wall running or sliding behind barrels), but the game is still an absolute blast to play. The matchmaking is wonderful, this was back before they tried to put you in games with people of the same rank, and it makes every match unpredictable. It feels incredible to get a on a great run, and it feels challenging when you are getting dominated.

I haven't had any issues finding a game, I mostly play Team Deathmatch, and tonight I had a two hour marathon play session that was so damn fun I just had to write this blog before bed. I mean, it's 2026, I'm up past 1 AM on a Friday night after playing Black Ops 2 and at least for a little bit, all seems right in the world.

As for the actual releases, well... I think this article from Push Square says it all: Black Ops Fans Sure Showed Up for PS5's Overpriced Call of Duty Ports. Last week, Black Ops 2 had 5.25 million players on Playstation... which I guess just goes to show that Activision/Microsoft gave the fans what they wanted, and despite the non-stop negative commentary, and the complaints about a lack of physical release, the release was a success. It made money, and it made people like me happy.

This week the latest Battlefield received a huge update adding naval battles, yet, here I am spending all of my time playing Black Ops 2. Don't get me wrong, Battlefield is great, but it just doesn't compare the close combat twitch shooting of peak Call of Duty. I hope the success of these ports helps Activision get back on track with the franchise, especially after last year's very disappointing release.

So, I for one, am very happy this game was re-released, and I'm so happy I get to experience it all over. So far, I've gotten my thirty bucks out of it, and every time a map loads that I forgot about like Rush, Vertigo, or Studio (I totally forgot about this take on Firing Squad) a smile crosses my face and it reminds me that video games are supposed to be fun, and fuck all this noise.