Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 worldwide reveal trailer shows off future warfare

As expected, last night we saw the worldwide reveal of Call of Duty: Black Ops 2, Activision's next installment for the Call of Duty franchise.  After the company announced the earlier in the day, the trailer debuted at night during the NBA playoffs, giving us a first look at what Treyarch has in store for us with Black Ops 2.

Unlike previous Call of Duty games which primarily focus on either the past or modern warfare, Black Ops 2 is going fully futuristic – full mech, quadrotor, Terminator-like weapons.  Set in the year 2025, the ma in story of Black Ops 2 revolves around the notion of a "21st Century Cold War."

The trailer reintroduces one of the main characters from the first Black Ops game: an aged Sgt. Frank Woods.  The trailer depicts what you'd typically expect from a Call of Dutygame: big explosions, dramatic slow-motion scenes, lots of chaos and destruction.

Aside from the montage of new high-tech gadgets, you may have also noticed a scene with horses.  Yes, horses are in this game.  Black Ops 2 isn't totally abandoning the past.  Some levels are said to take place in the 1980s, with Afghanistan confirmed as one of the historical locales – featuring a gun battle on horseback.

Black Ops 2 will also abandon the strictly linear gameplay seen in all of the Call of Duty games to date.  Black Ops 2 is expected to offer more choice and variety.  At key points in the game, player actions will dictate the direction of the overall narrative.  Some of the single-player levels are now built to allow players to freely choose the order in which they approach directives.  Enemies will spawn and react according to those decisions.

While I remain skeptical of Call of Duty – particularly after the past few installments – this one definitely has peaked my interest.  It looks like Treyarch is taking everything we know about the franchise and throwing it out the window.  And I have to say, I'm glad.

With all of these changes taking place, are you impressed with what you see and hear so far?