Call of Duty: Black Ops II Box Art

This game was released on November 13, 2012 and is no longer available to pre-order. Any incentives that were offered are listed below.

Black Ops 2 is an upcoming FPS from the ever-popular Call of Duty series. It is a direct sequel to the original Black Ops. The single-player campaign features two different timelines: the late 1980’s with Alex Mason as the protagonist, and year 2025 where you play as his son, David Mason. Most of the story takes place during the latter timeline, where United States and China are locked in a conflict over rare earth elements.

BO2 introduces a number of features previously unseen in any Call of Duty game. Perhaps the biggest addition is the branching storyline: your choices and performance actually affect the ending of the game, and even the conclusion of the second Cold War. There’s also a new type of mission called Strike Force, where you have to achieve various objectives using a limited amount of units (that you can switch between at will). It goes without saying that the battlefield itself looks quite different in the future, with unmanned combat drones, airships, and even robots fighting alongside regular soldiers.

Pre-order bonuses

There is little doubt that Call of Duty: Black Ops II is going to be one of the biggest video game releases in 2012. Several retailers have already announced exclusive bonuses in hopes that players will pre-order CoD: BO2 from them:

  • GameStop: four waves of bonus offers that are being revealed as the game comes closer to launch. The final fourth one gives you a choice between an exclusive MQ-27 Dragonfire player card background for your killcam, a chance to win a customized Teryx4 Kawasaki off-road vehicle, or a chance to win a trip for two to LA to take part in a helicopter flyover of Call of Duty HQ as well as a tour of Sacred Sword prop house.
  • Amazon: an exclusive Kindle ebook Rightful King, which tells the story of the game’s villain Raul Menendez. You also get a CoD: BO2 wallpaper.
  • Best Buy: an exclusive set of Black Ops 2 dog tags (as in, physical items). Sold out online.

In addition, all Black Ops II pre-orders include an arena-style Nuketown 2025 downloadable bonus map and access to Double XP Weekend (Nov 16-18).

Dev interview

Learn more about the cool new features in CoD: Black Ops 2 from this official preview. Mark Lamia from Treyarch talks about the story which spans two Cold wars, the non-linear campaign, and the futuristic military technology.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 is set to launch worldwide on November 13, 2012. The game will run on Playstation 3, Xbox 360, and Windows PCs. More information like news, videos, and screenshots can be found on the official BO2 website.

Check out our other upcoming shooter games and upcoming pc games.