Call Of Duty: Black Ops II debut trailer and interview

Now it’s been officially announced, more details about Treyarch’s next Call of Duty, Black Ops II, have been released, including the official trailer and a developer interview, which you can see below.

The game’s going to be set in the near future, where many countries have automated a good deal of their armies, with drone jets and robotic walkers being amongst some of the units on offer.

This new technological warfare is all well and good, that is, until someone steals the keys to Armageddon. Cue plenty of terrorist-controlled hardware and the employ of a seasoned black ops team to head into action to sort things out.

The setting for the game borrows elements from a range of sources. Mechwarrior-style robots can be seen clomping around, Ghost Recon-style drones and armour are utilised and worn, and there’s even a scene with a Total Recall-inspired x-ray machine to detect weapons. It’s going to make a change from the increasingly dull real world military setting, that’s for sure.

Along with the futuristic campaign, Treyarch has stated that this is the most ambitious Call of Duty yet, not just where the setting is concerned, but also when it comes to features. The story won’t be as straightforward and linear as previous efforts, and will feature branching missions and alternate routes through levels.

These branching missions, called ‘Strike Force’, will let you choose how to proceed, and the objectives you choose clear can affect later levels. So, failing an objective in an earlier mission may well make your life more difficult later on.

Fans of moving down zombies with high-powered weaponry will be well catered for too, and Treyarch has said that Black Ops II will have the biggest and best implementation of the popular mode yet.

“If you like zombies, you’re going to be really happy with what we’re doing with Black Ops 2. it’s our biggest, most ambitious zombies effort ever,” explains Treyarch’s Mark Lamia on the Roll Call web show.

The trailer certainly shows that this won’t be your typical setting for Call of Duty, and whilst it clearly contains the usual Bay-esque explosions and set pieces, the move to a more interesting future setting may be enough to cure many people’s series fatigue.

No multiplayer info has been (officially) released as of yet, but don’t expect to wait too long until the floodgates open and the world goes CoD crazy once again.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II will arrive on November 13 for Xbox 360, PlayStation 3 and PC.