The Battlefield series is a major competitor for Call of Duty, but with Black Ops 2, Treyarch has taken a few cues from the rival game. Smooth gameplay and well-integrated team play are both areas where Battlefield has always stood out to fans. Gamers who enjoy these aspects of Battlefield will be pleased to know that Battlefield’s gameplay had a major impact on the way the Treyarch design team modified Black Ops 2’s multiplayer mode.
“The Battlefield series is really well put together,” said David Vonderhaar, Treyarch game designer. “There’s all sorts of great influence to draw from how they use their visual treatments and encourage teamplay. There’s a League of Legends influence in Black Ops II, a Quake 1 influence… Halo had a theatre mode and we created CoD’s version of it – of course there’s influence from other games.”
It’s cool to hear that the design team also referenced some old games while working on Black Ops 2. Quake 1 was forever ago, but it was a great game. While games have become more complex in the intervening years, old games like Quake still have their share of fans because there were things they did very well.
It’s great that Treyarch is reaching for influences from the past and from competing titles to craft something even more awesome in the present. A lot of gamers and critics cite the move to the year 2025 as the big change in Call of Duty this year, but if you think about it, that’s just the surface change. The real depth is going to come into play with all the changes in game mechanics. Black Ops 2 will unite the best in current technology with the best in game design, and that’s the formula for a top-notch product.