WiiU port of Black Ops II with honest GamePad support. Online community now practically dead but solo content remains decent. The best CoD available on WiiU in terms of quality-content ratio.
Agent Mason Woods dismantles a global armed drone network in this FPS with highly developed multiplayer modes. Published by Activision, released in 2012 in Japan, the United States, Europe, and Germany. Wii U launch title featuring the GamePad for tactical maps and mini-games, Zombies mode, 5v5 online multiplayer, and exclusive second-screen integration for asymmetric play.
Call of Duty - Black Ops II review
4/5
Art direction
★★★★★
"Striking"
4/5
Music
★★★★★
"Excellent"
4/5
Story
★★★★★
"Captivating"
The game alternates two eras handled with opposite charters: the nineteen-eighties in warm tones and film grain, Central American jungles and dusty Afghanistan, and 2025 in cold blues, drones, touchscreens and smooth surfaces. That chromatic contrast replaces any explanatory caption, the period being read from the palette in the very first image.
The two periods receive distinct audio treatments, electric guitar and organic percussion for the past, electronic textures and saturated bass for the future, with themes that answer each other across the eras. The figure attached to the antagonist returns in both registers, the only element crossing the boundary and signalling his presence before he appears.
The plot links two generations through a single figure, a man whose formation is followed in the past and whose action is followed in the future, which gives his motives a thickness unusual for the genre. Several decisions taken along the way genuinely alter the outcome, so the ending is not written and depends on precise acts rather than on a final choice.
The Japanese Black Ops II on Wii U is the scarce piece of the series on the platform: Call of Duty barely sold in Japan, the local pressing was tiny, and the case carries a region-specific English and Japanese sleeve. The Wii U entries were never reissued and no backward-compatible port exists, locking access to the physical media and pushing sealed Japanese copies to the top of the price range.
Is Call of Duty - Black Ops II still worth playing in 2026?
A first person shooter from Treyarch, Call of Duty Black Ops II marks the series with its branching campaign, choices that affect the ending and a foray into the near future. The snappy multiplayer and the Zombies mode extend the lifespan, and the Wii U version uses the GamePad for a map and a second player on a separate screen. With the online servers closed, the appeal rests mainly on the solo. A good FPS for fans of scripted military action and local co-op.
