SANDBOX LEVELS AND RTS- CALL OF DUTY: BLACK OPS 2 DETAILS: PART 3

Treyarch’s direct sequel to Black Ops will not stray from the linear path of previous Call of Duty games but it will also introduce RTS elements with the Strike Force mode as well.

Infinity Ward may have settled on the perfect formula and be content with tweaking and optimising the Modern Warfare series, but for Treyarch it seems that innovation and experimenting with the game seems to be on top of their agenda.

In fact, it was Treyarch’s World at War that actually introduced co-op play to the Call of Duty franchise along with the iconic Zombies Mode, which led to Infinity Ward introducing Spec Ops for Modern Warfare 2 and 3.

Treyarch seem to be at it again as they introduce the ‘Strike Force’ game mode. The mode allows players to take part in missions, set in open-world levels, between or during actual missions. These missions will pit the player against enemy soldiers and the player will have to complete a number of objectives ranging from disarming bombs to holding checkpoints against waves of enemies.

However, players will have the option as to whether or not they wish to play these missions during their campaigns and can simply ignore them until their second playthrough of the campaign. In essence, Treyarch just introduced re-playability into a Call of Duty title, well done.

It is too soon to comment on whether or not gamers will take to the new mode but at this point anything that freshens up the series is more than welcome.

Another new component being introduced by Treyarch is a Real Time Strategy (RTS) game mode. Players will be able to jump out the campaign at any time and take control of all the bots on the battlefield in order to orchestrate how the non-playable characters and vehicles behave.

The concept is a potential game changer and adds a much needed level of depth and potentially, control as to how players will view Black Ops 2.

Once again though, gamers will be cautious and hope that the RTS mode is not tacked on and is more than just a half-hearted attempt at changing things up.