Another year, another Call of Duty(COD). However, this years instalment looks to be a step in a different direction with a host of fresh ideas never seen before in the Call of Duty franchise. Will this be the year that Treyarch finally step out of the shadows of main series developer Infinity Ward?

You’ll play as Black Ops protagonist’s Alex Mason returns along with his son David,  globe trotting around the world from the 1970s to the 2025. You’ll travel from LA, to Central America and even lesser used locations in games such as Singapore. The core story is that China is the new big power in 2025. The US wants the precious materials, and so do China. Not a story that sounds overly captivating. However, this will be the first COD game that will have an interactive story mode with different endings as opposed to being on rails, giving the player decisions and choices to make, similar to that in modern RPGs that will affect the outcome of game’s story giving you a reason to play the story mode more than just once. Hell, characters can even die, and levels can be ‘lost’ as well!

GTA: COD.

[youtube]http://youtu.be/lJZAqKpZm4E[/youtube]

Two of the giants in the gaming world. Treyarch have created a new mode called Strike Force. Also part of the campaign, Strike force is played through the eyes of David in the year 2025 and takes away much of the hand holding in the past. It provides an open sandbox type level which the gamer traverses in completing the objectives in the manner that they choose to do so. Trailers have shown as well drones, mecha and tanks will be available to fight in, all done by hitting a button on the D-PAD, putting you in control straight away, bringing a vehicle element to the gameplay. Hopefully, they maps will be big enough to fully utilises the extra firepower you have at your disposal and be able to provide enough ground to give you different tactical choices.

Previous COD campaign modes have been heavy on the cinematic experience leaving the actually player very little control, providing a very on the rails experience. Will this new direction of story telling still be able to provide a solid experience?

Early suggestions seem to indicate so as the gun play is still as strong as ever with some interesting new weapons such as the new sniper rifle enabling you to see through walls and the same 60 FPS maintained as per usual.

Did we mention Zombies are back? In the past, game were limited to four players, that’s doubled this time round. This time, you’ll be playing with up to eight players. That’s because this years Zombies game is based around the multiplayer  engine that provides a much faster more lightweight feel which most players are used to.

Not only that, instead of just a small selection of levels, this time there’ll be a mini campaign to go with it.

Black Ops II will be available on November 13, 2012, on PC, Xbox 360, Playstation 3, Wii and Wii U.