Despite all the techno-gobbledegook, conspiracy, brainwashing and betrayal, Black Ops 2 presents a paint-by-numbers world, in which the primary colours are fear, jingoism and self-righteous aggression. Still, such pivotal moments, when they work, do perk interest in the otherwise daft plot as it maniacally flings itself around history, occasionally stamping on the bits of it wingnuts don't like. Deciding whether or not to kill someone should be dramatic, but here it felt more like attempting to interpret faded washing instructions. I tried to wait the decision out, but eventually I assumed there was only one interactive option available. I tried shooting other people in the room, but the gun just didn't fire. When the opportunity arose to execute someone, I couldn't work out how to decline – or even if I could. But so trammelled are you in the interim that you may not realise your own power. At key points during the game you are given choices which dramatically change its outcome. This seems like a shame because it torpedoes one of Black Ops 2's most ambitious endeavours. Several reloads later, I discover that I have to press F on my companion and initiate an ending cutscene. “Keep running, Mason!” shouts my AI partner, apparently unaware that we are hemmed into this tiny sandy deathzone by invisible walls. I'd been told there were some boats on the beach, which would seem like a mission-critical observation, were it possible to interact with them. The sign above my AI partner said, 'Follow'. The very first level kills you if you stray outside the invisibly defined battle zone later you are gifted with an entire canyon to roam – assuming your horse remains above ground level.Īt one point, I found myself stuck on a beach while angry locals swarmed through the jungle behind.

Playing it is to tiresomely re-analyse the ever-shifting boundaries of interaction. It's not even that Blops 2 is buggy: it's just so inflexible and brittle as to splinter at the most gentle pressure in any direction other than the one in which it is ordained to move.

Call of duty black ops 2 pc reviews