Game of the week: Call Of Duty: Black Ops II

As Christmas approaches, gamers revel in the annual glut of big releases, and they don’t come much bigger than world-conquering first-person shooter Call Of Duty. Black Ops II flips between missions in the 1980s and 2025, and has perhaps the most multi-layered narrative of the series so far (from screenwriter David Goyer). As we have come to expect from CoD, the battlefield combat is excellent, fast and frenetic, packed with exhilarating set pieces. What doesn’t work quite so well are the new Strike Force missions, which are sort of real-time strategy levels. Developer Treyarch should be commended for attempting something new, but you only feel vaguely in control of your forces.

Henry Northmore