Treyarch assures fans that Black Ops 2 doesn’t have lasers or aliens

By: Moses Abaortae

  |   November 6th, 2012   |  

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The latest instalment in the Call of Duty series is taking major risking and making a number of changes but the developer assures fans that the game still holds the series experience.

Before Black Ops 2 was revealed Treyarch and Infinity Ward both had their own theme going with the Call of Duty franchise. Infinity Ward made the breakthrough with the first Modern Warfare game.

That meant Treyarch had to mark out its own territory and decided to continue the series’ more traditional approach of staying in the past. World at War was set in World War II but its real selling point was the newly introduced Zombies mode.

Since then, Infinity Ward marked the modern military shooter genre as its own, which left every preceding time period over to Treyarch. The studio decided to set their next game, Black Ops during the Cold War.

However, this time around, Treyarch is taking a considerable risk and many are terming their near-future setting as a gamble that may not pay off, especially since the game has entered the sci-fi category somewhat.

The director of communications, John Rafacz, was on hand to put any fears to rest relating to the game going too far into the future.

“The near future setting is really that jumping off point, because there’s this universe of fresh creativity that it brings up. In multiplayer it has some real-world applications.” Before continuing, “This is not laser beams and alien stuff. It retains its plausibility, its authenticity, but at the same time it opens up a new world of gameplay.”

When asked where the idea of going near-future came from, John replied that it was inspired by the staff, who wanted to give players a reason to return to the franchise.

“Coming out of the first Black Ops, the team really asked themselves a couple of questions. What can we do that’s new that will give people a reason to come back, and ultimately, where are we bringing this style of storytelling? From there everyone started gravitating towards this near-future setting.”

Black Ops was criticised for being somewhat sub-standard, especially on the PlayStation 3 where players felt they had been sold a sub-standard product. However, the game has expanded on its Zombies mode, which has become a major reason players bother playing any of Treyarch games at all.

Plenty depends on whether or not the studio can deliver a cohesive, immersive and engaging Call of Duty experience. Treyarch is taking a huge leap of faith but if it pays off then the series will have reinvented itself and that may not be a bad thing.

But what do the readers think about Treyarch’s change in setting? Let us know in the comments section below.