As we fast-approach the end of the 2010s, one question is on gamers’ lips this week: which is the best Call of Duty of the decade?
We started the decade with a fresh boom after Call of Duty: Black Ops dropped in 2010. Since then, there’s been a further 10 games in the franchise, as first-person shooter players flock each year to get the newest release, for better or worse.
They’ve not all been crackers (looking at you, Advanced Warfare and Infinite Warfare), but there’s one game emerging in tweets as the fans’ favourite: Call of Duty: Black Ops 2.
Black Ops 2 was released in 2012, sending players back to the tumultuous story after a brief return to the world of Modern Warfare for 2011’s threequel.
On Xbox 360 and PS3, it has a score of 83 on Metacritic, with a large number of critics praising the game’s leaps (which would be indicative of the games to come).
The Gamers’ Temple wrote:
A truly complete gaming package. The multiplayer game is excellent, the expanded Zombies mode is an enjoyable and very welcome addition, and the single player campaign is a fun ride that will have you yelling ‘Josephina!’ at random times for weeks to come.
Prior to Black Ops 2, Call of Duty was a mostly boots-on-the-ground franchise, with flairs of futurism weaved through fairly standard gameplay. However, from 2012 onward, the series would change forever.
For those oblivious to gaming, here’s the synopsis for Call of Duty: Black Ops 2:
Pushing the boundaries of what fans have come to expect from the record-setting entertainment franchise, Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 propels players into a near future, 21st century Cold War, where technology and weapons have converged to create a new generation of warfare.
American e-sports personality Avalanche tweeted his support for the game, writing: ‘Black Ops 2 climbing up the worldwide trends simply because it’s the greatest Call of Duty of this decade and will be respected as such.’
Another fan of the game wrote: ‘Black Ops 2 was the pinnacle of the CoD franchise, I had a lot of epic moments and rage moments on that game, but it will always be the greatest Call of Duty of all time.’
Other players backed different games, with separate elements attracting praise: for example, one user wrote that while Black Ops 2 has their favourite single-player campaign, Call of Duty: WWII is their preferred multiplayer.
As long as we can all agree that Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 is the best of all-time.
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After graduating from Glasgow Caledonian University with an NCTJ and BCTJ-accredited Multimedia Journalism degree, Cameron ventured into the world of print journalism at The National, while also working as a freelance film journalist on the side, becoming an accredited Rotten Tomatoes critic in the process. He’s now left his Scottish homelands and took up residence at UNILAD as a journalist.