Call of duty black ops ii
Call of Duty: Black Ops II is a 2012 first-person shooter video game, developed by Treyarch and published by Activision (Square Enix of Japan). It was released on November 13, 2012 for Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 3, and Xbox 360 and on November 18, 2012 in North America, November 30, 2012 in Europe and Australia for the Wii U. Square Enix released the game for the Japanese market on November 22, 2012 as a subbed version. A Japanese voice-dubbed version was released separately on December 20, 2012. The script for this version was translated by Zenigame Nakamoto. The translated version was criticized for its translation errors.
Characters and setting
The single-player campaign features two connected storylines, with the first set from 1986 to 1989 during the final years of the first Cold War, and the other set in 2025 during a second Cold War. The protagonist of Black Ops, Alex Mason returns as the protagonist in the first Cold War section, and chronicles the rise to infamy of the game's primary antagonist, Raul Menendez, a Nicaraguan narco-terrorist and the leader of "Cordis Die", a populist movement celebrated as the champion of victims of economic inequality.
The 2025 section of the game features Alex Mason's son David (code named Section) as the protagonist, in which Menendez is plotting against the United States and China with one of his ultimate goals being to see the United States locked in a new Cold War with China, in revenge for many of his misfortunes. In this era, wars are defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles, and other futuristic technology.
Plot
In 2025, US Special Forces operatives led by David Mason and his partner, Harper, arrive at "the Vault", a top-security location home to an elderly Frank Woods, whom they suspect possesses vital information on the whereabouts of Raul Menendez. Woods concedes that Menendez has recently visited him, and shows them a locket that the latter had left behind. Frank then narrates several covert missions undertaken during his military career which span their previous encounters.
1980s
In 1986 Alex Mason had effectively retired from active duty to pursue an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, the seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is further strained when Mason is solicited by Jason Hudson, seeking to recruit him for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan civil and South African Border Wars. Woods had disappeared with his men while aiding Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels against Angola's Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA and Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. With UNITA assistance, Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Kavango River, subsequently locating Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. However, a firefight breaks out, and their quarry escapes as the Americans are rescued by Savimbi in a Hind D. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team.
In light of this information, Mason, Woods, and Hudson began tracking Menendez, who has established himself as a primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in South Africa and Latin America. Later in the year, the CIA authorize a striker against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Mason, Woods, and Hudson assist the Mujahideen in their battle against the Soviets, along with Chinese operative Tian Zhao. Woods and Mason find Lev Kravchenko, who had survived the grenade incident with Woods in Vietnam, causing Mason to see the numbers and hear the voice of Viktor Reznov again.
Kravchenko is interrogated by the group and the player is given the option of executing Kravchenko by Reznov's orders inside Mason's head or resisting and finishing the interrogation. In the latter scenario, Woods executes Kravchenko after admitting that he associated with Menendez and that he has men inside the CIA. Regardless of how Kravchenko is killed, the Mujahideen are revealed to be allied with Menendez, and double-cross Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Zhao. The four are beaten, tied, and left for dead in the middle of the desert, unconscious until rescued by two unknown civilians, one of whom Mason believed to be Reznov.
At this point, Menendez's motive for his seemingly senseless vendetta against the West become clear: his beloved sister was grievously injured in an act of arson committed by American businessmen for insurance money. The Menendez clan, which dominates a powerful drug cartel, was again rocked by loss when the CIA sanctioned the assassination of Raul's father. An embittered Menendez now considers the conflict to be personal, but his one-man struggle against the West is interrupted when Mason, Woods, Hudson, and the Panama Defense Force raid his headquarters in Nicaragua; an enraged Woods inadvertently kills Raul's sister with a grenade.
Faking his demise with the assistance of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, Menendez lives to retaliate against those he holds personally responsible for his sister's death. During the 1989 invasion of Panama, he utilizes moles in the CIA to kidnap Hudson and David, using them as bait for a trap. He then uses Hudson to mislead Woods, manipulating him into shooting Mason instead of himself. In the ensuing chaos, Menendez kills Hudson and cripples Woods. Unsatisfied with his revenge, Menendez allows Woods and David to live, promising to return to complete his revenge when the time is right.
2025
36 years later, Menendez re-emerges as the leader of Cordis Die, a massive populist movement with over a billion followers. He stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange; in response, the Chinese government bans the export of rare earth elements which the entire infrastructure of the US Army runs and relies on, fermenting the start of the Second Cold War between the United States and NATO, against the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition. Taking advantage of this stand-off, Menendez attempts to bring the two superpowers to a full-blown war by inciting conflicts between the two, secretly aiding SDC leader Chairman Tian Zhao. Using the intelligence provided by Woods, David, now a Navy SEAL code-named Section, leads JSOC units in the search for Menendez.
Shortly after gathering intelligence from Woods, Section and JSOC infiltrates Myanmar investigating suspicious activities in the region. There, Section's team encounter Erik Breighner, a magnetometrist working at Tacitus Corporation under Menendez's employment, warning them of a cyberattack with a Celerium device, a quantum computer capable of hacking any computer system. Section's team is later deployed in Pakistan, attempting to gather intelligence on Menendez's plots. During the infiltration, Erik discloses the name of a target, "Karma" in the Cayman Islands. Section and SEAL operatives Harper and Salazar later infiltrate the Cayman Islands, finding out that "Karma" is a woman named Chloe Lynch, a former employee of Menendez's shell corporation, Tacitus. Lynch was the main developer of the Celerium device, and as a means of wrapping up loose ends, Menendez had deployed mercenaries for her abduction.
JSOC later has a lead on Menendez in Yemen, where JSOC asset Farid infiltrates Menendez's cell to help Section facilitate the leader's capture. The player, as Farid has a choice during the mission. Menendez, suspecting Farid's disloyalty, orders him to shoot the captured Harper. If the player chooses not to shoot Harper, and instead attempts to shoot Menendez, he fails, but Harper survives and is rescued. If the player chooses to shoot Harper, Farid survives, and Harper is not present in any conversations or missions thereafter. Menendez is successfully captured, but this was a ruse for Menendez to hack into the U.S. military's computer infrastructure on the aircraft carrier Barack Obama, seizing control of the United States' entire drone fleet. Salazar is revealed to be Menendez's mole within JSOC, and facilitates Menendez's attack—Menendez escapes with Salazar's aid, and when Menendez breaks in to the bridge of the Obama, Salazar shoots the soldiers guarding Admiral Briggs, with Lynch's survival dependent on Farid's survival in the previous mission.
The player, playing as Menendez, has the choice of either killing or wounding Admiral Briggs. If the player only wounds Briggs, and the player has completed all of the Strike Force missions, JSOC and SDC enter an alliance, then the player is later informed that the SDC sent hundreds of drones to defend the Obama, and consequently Briggs was able to save the ship and its crew. Menendez hacks into the military satellite to gain access to the entire U.S. drone fleet to stage an attack on Los Angeles during a meeting of G20 leaders, hoping to kill them and cause catastrophic damage to the global economy and to attack several targeted cites in America and China to cripple their infrastructure. Section escorts the President of the United States to safety amidst the drone attacks.
JSOC eventually traces the source of the transmissions responsible for the hacking to Haiti, where Section leads JSOC forces into recapturing the facility in the final mission, and apprehending or killing Menendez. There are different endings depending on the actions the player takes throughout the campaign, such as whether or not the United States and China are able to enter an alliance with each other, as well as determining the fates of certain individuals in the game.
During the main campaign, the player may choose to participate in optional Strike Missions. The Strike Missions involve JSOC attempting to curb the SDC's global influence by preventing them from forcing neighboring countries into the alliance. If all of the missions are completed successfully, the SDC is weakened enough to ally with JSOC, forming an alliance between the United States and China, with the Chinese assisting the player later in the campaign.
Endings
The storyline of Call of Duty: Black Ops II has several possible endings. The one shown depends on decisions and tasks completed over the course of the game. If the player spares Menendez's life, completes all of the Strike Force Missions, and the characters Chloe Lynch and Alex Mason survive the events of the game, then the preferred ending will result. The player will have secured an alliance between China and the United States, ending the Second Cold War. Lynch's survival prevents Menendez's cyberattack from succeeding. And finally, Alex's survival allows him to visit Frank Woods in retirement, reuniting with David. The final scene shows Menendez in prison becoming enraged after watching a talk show with Jimmy Kimmel interviewing Lynch, who insults Menendez during the interview.
If Menendez is spared and Lynch survives but Alex Mason is killed in action then the Second Cold War will end and Menendez's cyberattack will fail. David Mason will visit his father's grave with Woods and decide to retire from soldiering. Woods comments that his father would approve of the decision.
If Menendez is spared and Lynch is killed, David will take Menendez into custody. The cyberattack will, however, succeed, allowing Menendez to escape. He then kills Woods in the retirement home before visiting his sister's grave, dousing himself in gasoline and readying a lit match.
If Menendez is killed regardless of Lynch and Mason's fate, a YouTube video that Menendez recorded earlier will air, inciting the civilian population to riot and burn down the White House.
If the players complete the game once, players can unlock the non-canonical Special Ending. The ending showing Menendez and Woods having some practice in the backroom with Avenged Sevenfold. They then perform at Club Solar together, with Menendez playing the guitar and Woods on the drums. Several characters from the game also make an appearance in the cheering crowd.
Gameplay
Tactical view in a Strike Force mission
Strike Force
Black Ops II is the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. Known as "Strike Force missions", these branching storylines appear during the 2025 storyline and feature permanent death. The success or failure of these missions can have ramifications for the wider campaign storyline. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.
Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War, and the player is shown what could have gone differently.[citation needed]
Zombies
Treyarch has confirmed that the Zombies mode will return for Black Ops II with new game modes. Its predecessors were Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This is the third time for the Zombies mode to appear in a Call of Duty game, and the first time to have game modes other than the traditional Survival mode. Treyarch has also confirmed that Zombies will run on the game's multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience, along with new features. A new, 8 player co-op game called "Grief" is also supported, featuring 2 teams of 4 players competing to survive, unlike Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which only supported 4 player online co-op. As with the previous game, each map contains "Easter eggs" side quests, which is used to progress the story.
The first map featured in the game, "Green Run", introduces four new characters: Samuel Stuhlinger, Marlton Johnson, Misty Briarton and Russman. The map is set in an abandoned town in Washington, USA. Dr. Edward Richtofen , the anti-hero of Zombies and one of the previous playable characters from the previous game, returns as the announcer. Another returning character is Dr. Ludvig Maxis the true antagonist of Zombies, who instructs the new group to help him defeat Richtofen. Stuhlinger, meanwhile, is the only one who can hear Richtofen, and therefore is ordered to help him instead of helping Maxis. Players can choose whether to help Maxis or Richtofen, which will have different results once the story ends. There are 4 sections to play on "Green Run": Bus Depot, Town, and Farm. Diner is also available as part of the Revolution DLC pack. Each section has a different mode. The Bus Depot features a Survival mode and TranZit, which acts as a story mode that plays throughout the entire map. Town and Farm both have Survival and Grief modes.
The first downloadable map, Nuketown Zombies, is a Zombies rendition of the multiplayer map featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is set in a nuclear testing ground in Nevada, USA, and features unnamed CIA and CDC agents fighting against zombies in traditional Survival mode. There is no side quest in this map, but there are audio transmissions connecting to the side quest on the map "Moon", previously featured in Black Ops.
The first DLC pack, Revolution, featured the Zombies map "Great Leap Forward". It follows the four characters from the TranZit mode. The map takes place in three destroyed high-rise skyscrapers in Shanghai, China. There is only one section to play in "Great Leap Forward" called Skyscraper which features the story mode, Die Rise. Also, there was an add-on on to the previous map "Green Run" where you could play a new section of the map that was only playable on the TranZit mode. The section is called Diner and is the only section to not have Survival or Grief as a playable mode. Instead a new game mode called Turned is introduced, where three players can play as the zombies and must kill a lone human player. The player that succeeds will then spawn as a human and will have to fend off the undead players.
The second DLC pack, Uprising, featured a brand new Zombies map called "Alcatraz Island". The map is set in the infamous Alcatraz Prison during New Year's Eve 1933, and features 4 new characters: Albert "The Weasel" Arlington, Billy Handsome, Michael "Finn" O'Leary and Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca (voiced by Chazz Palminteri), who plan to escape the island only to run into the Zombie outbreak. The characters are modeled after the voice actors themselves. Mob of the Dead is also the first Zombies map possible to "complete", rather than fighting through the waves until being overwhelmed. There are two sections to play on "Alcatraz Island". They are Sunset Strip and Cell Block. Grief is featured on Cell Block, while the main story mode on Sunset Strip is called Mob of the Dead.
The third DLC pack, Vengeance, features the Zombies map "Resolution 1295", which is set in an underground Western town. The four TranZit characters return, along with a brand new character known as "Leroy" who may or may not aid them in the fight against the Zombies. The map also marks the debut of a new Zombies weapon, the Ray Gun Mark II, which is made available on all Zombies map of Black Ops II. This map sets the end of the new crew's story in Black Ops II, with two different endings depending on whether players helped Maxis or Richtofen on all three maps: Green Run, Great Leap Forward and Resolution 1295. The map has two sections: Processing and Borough. Buried is the main story mode played on Processing, while Grief and Turned modes are available on Borough.
The final DLC pack, Apocalypse, features the Zombies map "Excavation Site 64", which is set in a digging site in Northern France in the year 1918 during the First World War. The map explores the origin of the zombies, the discovery of Element 115, and also the first meeting of the original group: Tank Dempsey (voiced by Steven Blum), Nikolai Belinski (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), Takeo Masaki (voiced by Tom Kane), and Edward Richtofen. The map is set to be Dieselpunk-themed, featuring a Mark IV tank as the main transport mode for the players, as well as three giant mechanical robots which roam free across the map. The map has only one section, Dig Site, which contains the story mode, "Origins".
Story
In Cold War-era Nevada, a team of CDC operatives investigate a nuclear testing site known as "Nuketown", where they are attacked by zombies. Dr. Edward Richtofen is heard via a television, carrying out his scheme on the Moon. Richtofen seizes control of the zombies by entering the Aether, but Dr. Ludvig Maxis works with his daughter Samantha and Richtofen's former allies, Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki to thwart him. To this end, Maxis launches three massive nuclear missiles filled with Element 115, the element responsible for the reanimation of dead cells, at the Earth, destroying it. One missile completely destroys Nuketown and all present.
Years later, Earth has been reduced to a crumbling, hellish wasteland overrun by zombies. In this new world, four survivors - Samuel J. Stuhlinger, Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton Johnson, and Russman - have banded together to survive in Washington with the help of a bus driven by a robotic driver. The four are contacted by Maxis, now an digitally-rendered A.I., who is seeking humanity's aid against Richtofen. Maxis implores them to power up a tower in a cornfield using an electricity-based zombie. However, Richtofen contacts Samuel, who is able to hear voices from the Aether, and commands him to convince his friends to power up the tower in his favor. The player may choose to follow either Maxis or Richtofen's orders. It is revealed in audio transmissions that survivors from all over the world have been contacted by both Maxis and Richtofen, though there is widespread conflict between the followers of both Germans; particularly in a settlement known as Jackass Flats, which was initially a safe haven, only to fall to the zombies when the Maxis-Richtofen conflict consumed it.
Regardless of who they choose to aid, the four are teleported to a crumbling skyline in Shanghai, China. Here, Richtofen commands Samuel to "mend the rift" and accept his fate as a follower of Richtofen, threatening to expose his past as a member of a cannibalistic cult known as The Flesh, who eat zombie flesh to survive. Richtofen continuously revives the group whenever they fall to the zombies until they follow his orders. Maxis, who is no longer hampered by electric devices, contacts the group again for aid. The four learn through televisions scattered across the area of the Flesh, as well as the beginnings of a new airborne plague of Element 115, the element that reanimates dead cells and causes zombies.
Following their battles in Shanghai, Russman leads the group across the continents to a large hole in the ground known as "the Rift" in Africa, hoping to find answers about the unseen forces commanding them. Maxis and Richtofen contact them once again, more desperate than ever to achieve their goals. Both of them ask the group to power up the third and final tower in their favor. Maxis promises to heal the Earth, and Richtofen promises to save them from Maxis. The four gain a new ally in the form of a mute, unnamed giant in a western town built underground, and are hampered by a ghostly woman in a massive mansion. Depending on who the player has aided in the story, there are two possible endings. If the player has aided Richtofen, he will gain unlimited power over the Aether and the Earth, kill Maxis and condemn Samantha Maxis' soul to eternal damnation. He will then enter the body of Samuel as a reward for his aid, but finds he cannot exit it, and is at the mercy of the zombies as he was before. If the player has aided Maxis, he uses the power from the towers to enter the Aether and assume ultimate control, trapping Richtofen in a zombie's body. However, the Earth begins shaking, and Maxis explains to the four that he is beginning the process of the destruction of the Earth and humanity to reach Agartha, where he believes Samantha is.
Unbeknownst to all, Samantha is indeed in Agartha (which her father ultimately fails to enter) but reaches out to her father in 1918 France during World War I. Maxis is a leader of Group 935, who operate to secure Germany's victory in the war. To this end, they have created towering mechanical robots, suits of armor, and staffs that control the powers of the elements. Group 935 also stumbles upon an ancient tomb believed to be of Vril origin, but this unleashes the first known zombie outbreak in history. Aiming to stop Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States of America send Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey to capture Richtofen, the mastermind behind the advanced technology. By this time, Group 935's operatives have been wiped out, and Maxis himself was lobotomized when he began to turn into a zombie. The group put aside their nationalities to fight the undead, and are contacted by Samantha, begging to be freed from Agartha. Richtofen puts Maxis' brain in a flying drone, and he joins the fight against the zombies and to free Samantha. The group is eventually successful, and while Maxis meets his daughter, they enter Agartha to be rewarded. A cutscene is played of Samantha with a boy named Eddie, playing with toys of the characters who have appeared in the Zombies game mode throughout all three games. Air raid sirens are heard and the two children retreat to the basement with Maxis, with Samantha noting her father has a plan to make their games real. It is ambiguous as to whether the events of the game mode have actually occurred or has all along been simply in Samantha's imagination.
The single-player campaign features two connected storylines, with the first set from 1986 to 1989 during the final years of the first Cold War, and the other set in 2025 during a second Cold War. The protagonist of Black Ops, Alex Mason returns as the protagonist in the first Cold War section, and chronicles the rise to infamy of the game's primary antagonist, Raul Menendez, a Nicaraguan narco-terrorist and the leader of "Cordis Die", a populist movement celebrated as the champion of victims of economic inequality.
The 2025 section of the game features Alex Mason's son David (code named Section) as the protagonist, in which Menendez is plotting against the United States and China with one of his ultimate goals being to see the United States locked in a new Cold War with China, in revenge for many of his misfortunes. In this era, wars are defined by robotics, cyberwarfare, unmanned vehicles, and other futuristic technology.
Plot
In 2025, US Special Forces operatives led by David Mason and his partner, Harper, arrive at "the Vault", a top-security location home to an elderly Frank Woods, whom they suspect possesses vital information on the whereabouts of Raul Menendez. Woods concedes that Menendez has recently visited him, and shows them a locket that the latter had left behind. Frank then narrates several covert missions undertaken during his military career which span their previous encounters.
1980s
In 1986 Alex Mason had effectively retired from active duty to pursue an obscure existence in Alaska with his son, the seven-year-old David. Their shaky relationship is further strained when Mason is solicited by Jason Hudson, seeking to recruit him for an assignment in Cuando Cubango during the height of the Angolan civil and South African Border Wars. Woods had disappeared with his men while aiding Jonas Savimbi's UNITA rebels against Angola's Marxist government; their actions have already been disavowed by the CIA and Hudson hopes to rescue any survivors. With UNITA assistance, Mason and Hudson recover Woods from the Kavango River, subsequently locating Menendez among a contingent of Cuban military advisers. However, a firefight breaks out, and their quarry escapes as the Americans are rescued by Savimbi in a Hind D. It is revealed that Menendez is responsible for holding Woods captive after murdering his team.
In light of this information, Mason, Woods, and Hudson began tracking Menendez, who has established himself as a primary arms dealer for bush conflicts in South Africa and Latin America. Later in the year, the CIA authorize a striker against the unscrupulous Nicaraguan, now making a healthy profit running arms across Soviet-occupied Afghanistan. In Afghanistan, Mason, Woods, and Hudson assist the Mujahideen in their battle against the Soviets, along with Chinese operative Tian Zhao. Woods and Mason find Lev Kravchenko, who had survived the grenade incident with Woods in Vietnam, causing Mason to see the numbers and hear the voice of Viktor Reznov again.
Kravchenko is interrogated by the group and the player is given the option of executing Kravchenko by Reznov's orders inside Mason's head or resisting and finishing the interrogation. In the latter scenario, Woods executes Kravchenko after admitting that he associated with Menendez and that he has men inside the CIA. Regardless of how Kravchenko is killed, the Mujahideen are revealed to be allied with Menendez, and double-cross Mason, Woods, Hudson, and Zhao. The four are beaten, tied, and left for dead in the middle of the desert, unconscious until rescued by two unknown civilians, one of whom Mason believed to be Reznov.
At this point, Menendez's motive for his seemingly senseless vendetta against the West become clear: his beloved sister was grievously injured in an act of arson committed by American businessmen for insurance money. The Menendez clan, which dominates a powerful drug cartel, was again rocked by loss when the CIA sanctioned the assassination of Raul's father. An embittered Menendez now considers the conflict to be personal, but his one-man struggle against the West is interrupted when Mason, Woods, Hudson, and the Panama Defense Force raid his headquarters in Nicaragua; an enraged Woods inadvertently kills Raul's sister with a grenade.
Faking his demise with the assistance of Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega, Menendez lives to retaliate against those he holds personally responsible for his sister's death. During the 1989 invasion of Panama, he utilizes moles in the CIA to kidnap Hudson and David, using them as bait for a trap. He then uses Hudson to mislead Woods, manipulating him into shooting Mason instead of himself. In the ensuing chaos, Menendez kills Hudson and cripples Woods. Unsatisfied with his revenge, Menendez allows Woods and David to live, promising to return to complete his revenge when the time is right.
2025
36 years later, Menendez re-emerges as the leader of Cordis Die, a massive populist movement with over a billion followers. He stages a cyberattack that cripples the Chinese Stock Exchange; in response, the Chinese government bans the export of rare earth elements which the entire infrastructure of the US Army runs and relies on, fermenting the start of the Second Cold War between the United States and NATO, against the Chinese-led Strategic Defense Coalition. Taking advantage of this stand-off, Menendez attempts to bring the two superpowers to a full-blown war by inciting conflicts between the two, secretly aiding SDC leader Chairman Tian Zhao. Using the intelligence provided by Woods, David, now a Navy SEAL code-named Section, leads JSOC units in the search for Menendez.
Shortly after gathering intelligence from Woods, Section and JSOC infiltrates Myanmar investigating suspicious activities in the region. There, Section's team encounter Erik Breighner, a magnetometrist working at Tacitus Corporation under Menendez's employment, warning them of a cyberattack with a Celerium device, a quantum computer capable of hacking any computer system. Section's team is later deployed in Pakistan, attempting to gather intelligence on Menendez's plots. During the infiltration, Erik discloses the name of a target, "Karma" in the Cayman Islands. Section and SEAL operatives Harper and Salazar later infiltrate the Cayman Islands, finding out that "Karma" is a woman named Chloe Lynch, a former employee of Menendez's shell corporation, Tacitus. Lynch was the main developer of the Celerium device, and as a means of wrapping up loose ends, Menendez had deployed mercenaries for her abduction.
JSOC later has a lead on Menendez in Yemen, where JSOC asset Farid infiltrates Menendez's cell to help Section facilitate the leader's capture. The player, as Farid has a choice during the mission. Menendez, suspecting Farid's disloyalty, orders him to shoot the captured Harper. If the player chooses not to shoot Harper, and instead attempts to shoot Menendez, he fails, but Harper survives and is rescued. If the player chooses to shoot Harper, Farid survives, and Harper is not present in any conversations or missions thereafter. Menendez is successfully captured, but this was a ruse for Menendez to hack into the U.S. military's computer infrastructure on the aircraft carrier Barack Obama, seizing control of the United States' entire drone fleet. Salazar is revealed to be Menendez's mole within JSOC, and facilitates Menendez's attack—Menendez escapes with Salazar's aid, and when Menendez breaks in to the bridge of the Obama, Salazar shoots the soldiers guarding Admiral Briggs, with Lynch's survival dependent on Farid's survival in the previous mission.
The player, playing as Menendez, has the choice of either killing or wounding Admiral Briggs. If the player only wounds Briggs, and the player has completed all of the Strike Force missions, JSOC and SDC enter an alliance, then the player is later informed that the SDC sent hundreds of drones to defend the Obama, and consequently Briggs was able to save the ship and its crew. Menendez hacks into the military satellite to gain access to the entire U.S. drone fleet to stage an attack on Los Angeles during a meeting of G20 leaders, hoping to kill them and cause catastrophic damage to the global economy and to attack several targeted cites in America and China to cripple their infrastructure. Section escorts the President of the United States to safety amidst the drone attacks.
JSOC eventually traces the source of the transmissions responsible for the hacking to Haiti, where Section leads JSOC forces into recapturing the facility in the final mission, and apprehending or killing Menendez. There are different endings depending on the actions the player takes throughout the campaign, such as whether or not the United States and China are able to enter an alliance with each other, as well as determining the fates of certain individuals in the game.
During the main campaign, the player may choose to participate in optional Strike Missions. The Strike Missions involve JSOC attempting to curb the SDC's global influence by preventing them from forcing neighboring countries into the alliance. If all of the missions are completed successfully, the SDC is weakened enough to ally with JSOC, forming an alliance between the United States and China, with the Chinese assisting the player later in the campaign.
Endings
The storyline of Call of Duty: Black Ops II has several possible endings. The one shown depends on decisions and tasks completed over the course of the game. If the player spares Menendez's life, completes all of the Strike Force Missions, and the characters Chloe Lynch and Alex Mason survive the events of the game, then the preferred ending will result. The player will have secured an alliance between China and the United States, ending the Second Cold War. Lynch's survival prevents Menendez's cyberattack from succeeding. And finally, Alex's survival allows him to visit Frank Woods in retirement, reuniting with David. The final scene shows Menendez in prison becoming enraged after watching a talk show with Jimmy Kimmel interviewing Lynch, who insults Menendez during the interview.
If Menendez is spared and Lynch survives but Alex Mason is killed in action then the Second Cold War will end and Menendez's cyberattack will fail. David Mason will visit his father's grave with Woods and decide to retire from soldiering. Woods comments that his father would approve of the decision.
If Menendez is spared and Lynch is killed, David will take Menendez into custody. The cyberattack will, however, succeed, allowing Menendez to escape. He then kills Woods in the retirement home before visiting his sister's grave, dousing himself in gasoline and readying a lit match.
If Menendez is killed regardless of Lynch and Mason's fate, a YouTube video that Menendez recorded earlier will air, inciting the civilian population to riot and burn down the White House.
If the players complete the game once, players can unlock the non-canonical Special Ending. The ending showing Menendez and Woods having some practice in the backroom with Avenged Sevenfold. They then perform at Club Solar together, with Menendez playing the guitar and Woods on the drums. Several characters from the game also make an appearance in the cheering crowd.
Gameplay
Tactical view in a Strike Force mission
Strike Force
Black Ops II is the first Call of Duty video game to feature branching storylines, in which the player's choice affects both the current mission and in turn, the overall course of the story. Known as "Strike Force missions", these branching storylines appear during the 2025 storyline and feature permanent death. The success or failure of these missions can have ramifications for the wider campaign storyline. Choosing one of the missions locks out the others unless the player begins a fresh campaign.
Strike Force missions allow the player to control a number of different war assets, such as unmanned aerial vehicles, jet fighters and robots. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint. The player's progress in the Strike Force missions may go on to change even the plans of the story's antagonist, Raul Menendez. By the end of the game, the player may have changed the results of the new Cold War, and the player is shown what could have gone differently.[citation needed]
Zombies
Treyarch has confirmed that the Zombies mode will return for Black Ops II with new game modes. Its predecessors were Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops. This is the third time for the Zombies mode to appear in a Call of Duty game, and the first time to have game modes other than the traditional Survival mode. Treyarch has also confirmed that Zombies will run on the game's multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience, along with new features. A new, 8 player co-op game called "Grief" is also supported, featuring 2 teams of 4 players competing to survive, unlike Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: Black Ops, which only supported 4 player online co-op. As with the previous game, each map contains "Easter eggs" side quests, which is used to progress the story.
The first map featured in the game, "Green Run", introduces four new characters: Samuel Stuhlinger, Marlton Johnson, Misty Briarton and Russman. The map is set in an abandoned town in Washington, USA. Dr. Edward Richtofen , the anti-hero of Zombies and one of the previous playable characters from the previous game, returns as the announcer. Another returning character is Dr. Ludvig Maxis the true antagonist of Zombies, who instructs the new group to help him defeat Richtofen. Stuhlinger, meanwhile, is the only one who can hear Richtofen, and therefore is ordered to help him instead of helping Maxis. Players can choose whether to help Maxis or Richtofen, which will have different results once the story ends. There are 4 sections to play on "Green Run": Bus Depot, Town, and Farm. Diner is also available as part of the Revolution DLC pack. Each section has a different mode. The Bus Depot features a Survival mode and TranZit, which acts as a story mode that plays throughout the entire map. Town and Farm both have Survival and Grief modes.
The first downloadable map, Nuketown Zombies, is a Zombies rendition of the multiplayer map featured in Call of Duty: Black Ops. It is set in a nuclear testing ground in Nevada, USA, and features unnamed CIA and CDC agents fighting against zombies in traditional Survival mode. There is no side quest in this map, but there are audio transmissions connecting to the side quest on the map "Moon", previously featured in Black Ops.
The first DLC pack, Revolution, featured the Zombies map "Great Leap Forward". It follows the four characters from the TranZit mode. The map takes place in three destroyed high-rise skyscrapers in Shanghai, China. There is only one section to play in "Great Leap Forward" called Skyscraper which features the story mode, Die Rise. Also, there was an add-on on to the previous map "Green Run" where you could play a new section of the map that was only playable on the TranZit mode. The section is called Diner and is the only section to not have Survival or Grief as a playable mode. Instead a new game mode called Turned is introduced, where three players can play as the zombies and must kill a lone human player. The player that succeeds will then spawn as a human and will have to fend off the undead players.
The second DLC pack, Uprising, featured a brand new Zombies map called "Alcatraz Island". The map is set in the infamous Alcatraz Prison during New Year's Eve 1933, and features 4 new characters: Albert "The Weasel" Arlington, Billy Handsome, Michael "Finn" O'Leary and Salvatore "Sal" DeLuca (voiced by Chazz Palminteri), who plan to escape the island only to run into the Zombie outbreak. The characters are modeled after the voice actors themselves. Mob of the Dead is also the first Zombies map possible to "complete", rather than fighting through the waves until being overwhelmed. There are two sections to play on "Alcatraz Island". They are Sunset Strip and Cell Block. Grief is featured on Cell Block, while the main story mode on Sunset Strip is called Mob of the Dead.
The third DLC pack, Vengeance, features the Zombies map "Resolution 1295", which is set in an underground Western town. The four TranZit characters return, along with a brand new character known as "Leroy" who may or may not aid them in the fight against the Zombies. The map also marks the debut of a new Zombies weapon, the Ray Gun Mark II, which is made available on all Zombies map of Black Ops II. This map sets the end of the new crew's story in Black Ops II, with two different endings depending on whether players helped Maxis or Richtofen on all three maps: Green Run, Great Leap Forward and Resolution 1295. The map has two sections: Processing and Borough. Buried is the main story mode played on Processing, while Grief and Turned modes are available on Borough.
The final DLC pack, Apocalypse, features the Zombies map "Excavation Site 64", which is set in a digging site in Northern France in the year 1918 during the First World War. The map explores the origin of the zombies, the discovery of Element 115, and also the first meeting of the original group: Tank Dempsey (voiced by Steven Blum), Nikolai Belinski (voiced by Fred Tatasciore), Takeo Masaki (voiced by Tom Kane), and Edward Richtofen. The map is set to be Dieselpunk-themed, featuring a Mark IV tank as the main transport mode for the players, as well as three giant mechanical robots which roam free across the map. The map has only one section, Dig Site, which contains the story mode, "Origins".
Story
In Cold War-era Nevada, a team of CDC operatives investigate a nuclear testing site known as "Nuketown", where they are attacked by zombies. Dr. Edward Richtofen is heard via a television, carrying out his scheme on the Moon. Richtofen seizes control of the zombies by entering the Aether, but Dr. Ludvig Maxis works with his daughter Samantha and Richtofen's former allies, Tank Dempsey, Nikolai Belinski, and Takeo Masaki to thwart him. To this end, Maxis launches three massive nuclear missiles filled with Element 115, the element responsible for the reanimation of dead cells, at the Earth, destroying it. One missile completely destroys Nuketown and all present.
Years later, Earth has been reduced to a crumbling, hellish wasteland overrun by zombies. In this new world, four survivors - Samuel J. Stuhlinger, Abigail "Misty" Briarton, Marlton Johnson, and Russman - have banded together to survive in Washington with the help of a bus driven by a robotic driver. The four are contacted by Maxis, now an digitally-rendered A.I., who is seeking humanity's aid against Richtofen. Maxis implores them to power up a tower in a cornfield using an electricity-based zombie. However, Richtofen contacts Samuel, who is able to hear voices from the Aether, and commands him to convince his friends to power up the tower in his favor. The player may choose to follow either Maxis or Richtofen's orders. It is revealed in audio transmissions that survivors from all over the world have been contacted by both Maxis and Richtofen, though there is widespread conflict between the followers of both Germans; particularly in a settlement known as Jackass Flats, which was initially a safe haven, only to fall to the zombies when the Maxis-Richtofen conflict consumed it.
Regardless of who they choose to aid, the four are teleported to a crumbling skyline in Shanghai, China. Here, Richtofen commands Samuel to "mend the rift" and accept his fate as a follower of Richtofen, threatening to expose his past as a member of a cannibalistic cult known as The Flesh, who eat zombie flesh to survive. Richtofen continuously revives the group whenever they fall to the zombies until they follow his orders. Maxis, who is no longer hampered by electric devices, contacts the group again for aid. The four learn through televisions scattered across the area of the Flesh, as well as the beginnings of a new airborne plague of Element 115, the element that reanimates dead cells and causes zombies.
Following their battles in Shanghai, Russman leads the group across the continents to a large hole in the ground known as "the Rift" in Africa, hoping to find answers about the unseen forces commanding them. Maxis and Richtofen contact them once again, more desperate than ever to achieve their goals. Both of them ask the group to power up the third and final tower in their favor. Maxis promises to heal the Earth, and Richtofen promises to save them from Maxis. The four gain a new ally in the form of a mute, unnamed giant in a western town built underground, and are hampered by a ghostly woman in a massive mansion. Depending on who the player has aided in the story, there are two possible endings. If the player has aided Richtofen, he will gain unlimited power over the Aether and the Earth, kill Maxis and condemn Samantha Maxis' soul to eternal damnation. He will then enter the body of Samuel as a reward for his aid, but finds he cannot exit it, and is at the mercy of the zombies as he was before. If the player has aided Maxis, he uses the power from the towers to enter the Aether and assume ultimate control, trapping Richtofen in a zombie's body. However, the Earth begins shaking, and Maxis explains to the four that he is beginning the process of the destruction of the Earth and humanity to reach Agartha, where he believes Samantha is.
Unbeknownst to all, Samantha is indeed in Agartha (which her father ultimately fails to enter) but reaches out to her father in 1918 France during World War I. Maxis is a leader of Group 935, who operate to secure Germany's victory in the war. To this end, they have created towering mechanical robots, suits of armor, and staffs that control the powers of the elements. Group 935 also stumbles upon an ancient tomb believed to be of Vril origin, but this unleashes the first known zombie outbreak in history. Aiming to stop Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States of America send Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey to capture Richtofen, the mastermind behind the advanced technology. By this time, Group 935's operatives have been wiped out, and Maxis himself was lobotomized when he began to turn into a zombie. The group put aside their nationalities to fight the undead, and are contacted by Samantha, begging to be freed from Agartha. Richtofen puts Maxis' brain in a flying drone, and he joins the fight against the zombies and to free Samantha. The group is eventually successful, and while Maxis meets his daughter, they enter Agartha to be rewarded. A cutscene is played of Samantha with a boy named Eddie, playing with toys of the characters who have appeared in the Zombies game mode throughout all three games. Air raid sirens are heard and the two children retreat to the basement with Maxis, with Samantha noting her father has a plan to make their games real. It is ambiguous as to whether the events of the game mode have actually occurred or has all along been simply in Samantha's imagination.