Review: 'Call of Duty: Black Ops II'

"Call of Duty: Black Ops II" will have gamers glued to their controllers for many nights to come.STORY HIGHLIGHTS"Call of Duty: Black Ops II" is an exciting ride that should keep gamers rivetedThe popular franchise is set in two time periods: the late 1980s and 2025Game is available in North America and will be released this month in Europe, Australia

(CNN) -- Forget the distracting cameo by David Petraeus. Despite its disjointed narrative, "Call of Duty: Black Ops II" twisted me around so many times with its compelling story that I really enjoyed myself.

Treyarch Studios set this new chapter of the popular first-person-shooter franchise in two time periods: the late 1980s and 2025. They consulted with military experts who helped guide what the future technology of war should and shouldn't look like.The game's single-player campaign staggers like a drunken New Year's reveler between the past and the future. Missions hop from one time to another with little or no continuity between the actions. One mission will have you battling in Panama during the late '80s, and then the next takes you to a luxury resort in the Cayman Islands in the near future, with different characters and different weapons.The reason for this back-and-forth is nestled in the father/son storyline of the Mason family. Dad Alex is a Black Ops vet who is called back into active duty in 1986 to help the CIA with some missions in Africa and Latin America. In the future, son David is a Navy SEAL, leading a Joint Special Operations Command team.Linking the two is a terrorist known as Raul Menendez. He harbors great anger toward the West and capitalism in general. Players discover Menendez's motivations through the past missions, which reveal how he plans his final revenge in the future.The backdrop for all this is the Cold War between the United States and the Soviet Union, and a new Cold War between the U.S. and China. The new tensions are spurred not by ideology but by a soon-to-be depleted resource known as rare earth minerals -- those materials used in nearly all our computer technology.CombatCombat is pretty typical for a first-person shooter game. Plenty of weapon choices and some destructible environments make for fast-paced, frenetic battle scenes. Some of the weapon effects are suspect though as shots to the head do not always kill their targets.The enemies aren't the brightest bulbs in the box and are predictable in their actions. There were times I cleared the area of bad guys, just to have another wave rush in before I could move forward. And then another one after that.

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