This is my review of Call of Duty Black Ops II^® Hardened Edition.  I love the Call of Duty Franchise, and I couldn’t wait for Black ops II to come out.

I got the Hardened edition which included:

• Collectible Steelbook^®

• Official Soundtrack by Jack Wall with theme by Trent Reznor

• Exclusive Xbox Live^®   Claw Avatar Prop and Zombie Avatar Costume

• Bonus  In-Game: Nuketown Zombies and Nuketown 2025

• 2 collectible coins

Well the packing is top notch. The new graphics are top notch,  The story line goes between present and past. Most campaigns are interesting and have good game play. You get to use wing suits, control the “claw” for one campaign. The new weapons are really cool just wish they were all available on xbox Live.

The cinematography is really well done and is needed to tie all the campaigns together. So far most are really well thought out and well done. I did have some issues  with one  campaign that involved riding a horse through the desert. After completing the main battle your run the horses straight at a tank and you have no control, till the horse falls on you and you have to “push” him off.  That is a really lame ending /transition. But that was the only down point of the entire game so far. Overall everything was very solid and realistic the sounds and video are sharper and have more detail. If you like the previous versions then you will love this one.

I love xbox Live and that is where I spend most of my time. The new maps are really great my favorites are Meltdown, Turbine, Carrier and Nuketown  2025.. All the maps have pinch points to force interaction and the overall look of the maps and weapons are really good. They did a great job on details and map layout to create blind spots and attack points through out the maps. Turbine and Carrier are my current favorites for the longer distance shots. I enjoy the sniping aspects of Call of Duty vs the run and gun.

With all the new improvements this is a must have game ,you will love this version. The new weapons and sights are top notch and the fact that you can prestige a single weapon at a time is a great improvement. Hands down this is the best game of the franchise so far and a must have if you like first person shooters.

Author Mr. Superexhausted

Disclosure:   The game was sent to us from Activision to review, the blog post is of my own opinion.