14 DAY TRIAL // For the first time in the history of the series, Call of Duty: Black Ops II will introduce branching stories into the shooter experience. As such, in order to make things clear with regard to this new mechanic, the game’s Director, David Anthony, has highlighted some of the choices littered through the title’s narrative.
When it came to their single-player campaign, the Call of Duty games were extremely linear, taking players through all sorts of environments and letting them interact with only a small margin for error.
In Black Ops 2, however, Treyarch is changing this, adding branching storylines just like in full-fledged role-playing games.
According to the studio’s David Anthony, these sandbox levels where choices matter are called Strike Force and we'll see that even small details make an impact on the potential outcome of the story and on the lives of non-playable characters.
"So the sandbox levels, these are called Strike Force," he told CVG. "Let me explain the overall branching story; you have characters - main characters - in the story who will live or die depending on what you do, and it's not just what you do - it's the choices you make and your skill in Strike Force. So depending on how skilful you are on those levels, it'll actually have an influence on the overall Cold War that's going on. So that's one example.”
Even smaller gestures, like trying to rescue a teammate pinned down by enemy fire, will make an impact, according to Anthony.
"But there are also decisions to be made in the campaign. Say you've got to stay on point during a mission but you see a squad mate in danger. So you have to ask yourself: are you going to help him, or are you going to stay on mission? Depending on how you approach that it'll influence the story; it may even influence the survival of characters.”
Treyarch’s goal is to make players go back through Black Ops II’s campaign and really talk with their friends about the choices they made and how they influenced their experience.
"You play the game when it comes out in November, and you're all likely to get different outcomes. So when you get to the end of the game we're going to make it very clear to you the different things that could have happened. We're going to make it clear that if somebody died, that that person could have survived.”
Are you happy that branching storylines are now present in Black Ops II, or do you want the return of the linear plots from previous games?