50 Fun Facts About Call of Duty: Black Ops II

Which US president gives his name to the Black Ops II aircraft carrier where Raul Menendez is held?

Barack Obama was in the White House when the game came out in 2012, and its writers imagined a supercarrier bearing his name by 2025. Menendez escapes the ship with help from a mole.

Which heavy metal band plays a concert with Woods and Menendez after the Black Ops II credits?

Avenged Sevenfold put Woods behind the drum kit as a nod to The Rev, the band's own drummer, who died in 2009. Menendez plays rhythm guitar in the scene.

Which former Latin American dictator sued Activision in 2014 over his portrayal in Black Ops II?

Manuel Noriega objected to being shown as a kidnapper, murderer and enemy of the state. A Los Angeles court dismissed the case, ruling that his portrayal was protected as free speech.

Black Ops II held the record for biggest entertainment launch until which 2013 game surpassed it?

Grand Theft Auto V took the record in September 2013, ending four straight years in which a Call of Duty game had set it. Black Ops II had grossed over $500 million in its first day.

What replaced killstreaks in Black Ops II multiplayer so that playing objectives also earns rewards?

Scorestreaks count points rather than kills, so planting a bomb or holding a flag moves a player toward a reward. The change was meant to pull teams onto the objective.

In Black Ops II, Alex Mason charges Soviet troops in 1980s Afghanistan while riding which animal?

A horse carries the player through the mission Old Wounds, and sprinting it into enemy soldiers kills them instantly. The studio motion-captured a real animal for the level.

Besides fire, ice and wind, which element powers a buildable staff in the Zombies map Origins?

Lightning powers the fourth staff, whose parts sit in hidden areas that players can only reach by riding the map's Mark IV tank. The wind staff's parts are inside the three giant robots.

Which weapon camouflage is unlocked in Black Ops II by earning gold on every gun in a class?

Diamond camouflage stays hidden until it is earned, then covers the gun in gold studded with cut gems. For assault rifles, that means unlocking gold on every assault rifle first.

Which tiny Black Ops map returned in Black Ops II as a pre-order bonus with a 1960s makeover?

Nuketown came back with 2025 added to its name, trading the 1950s test-town look for a 1960s idea of the home of the future. Buyers of the special editions also got a Zombies version of the map.

Which Batman actor took over from Ed Harris as CIA handler Jason Hudson in Black Ops II?

Michael Keaton gave Hudson a new voice for the sequel, though the character does not survive it. Raul Menendez kills him in Panama in 1989 after using him to lure Mason into a trap.

Which populist movement with two billion followers does Raul Menendez lead in Black Ops II?

Cordis Die starts a new cold war on its own: in 2018 its cyberattack cripples the Chinese stock exchanges and sets NATO against a Chinese-led alliance.

Which Australian actor returned from the first Black Ops to voice Alex Mason in Black Ops II?

Sam Worthington voices the older, retired Mason of the 1980s missions, while the 2025 story hands the lead to his grown-up son. In 1986 Mason is living quietly in Alaska when he is called back.

Which actor, known as Merle Dixon in The Walking Dead, plays squadmate Mike Harper in Black Ops II?

Michael Rooker gave Harper his voice, face and movements through performance capture. Harper's survival is in the player's hands during the mission in Yemen.

Which fictional rare-earth element lets Raul Menendez seize the US drone fleet in Black Ops II?

Celerium first comes to light during a mission in Myanmar, and it can power a computer virus strong enough to send every American drone against US and Chinese cities.

Raul Menendez cripples Frank Woods for life in Black Ops II by shooting which part of his body?

Shooting the kneecaps leaves Woods alive to suffer, and Menendez promises to finish his revenge in the future. By 2025 Woods lives in a CIA retirement home called the Vault.

Black Ops II opens in 1986 with Alex Mason fighting beside UNITA rebels in which African country?

Angola is where Frank Woods has gone missing, and Mason pulls him off a barge on the Cubango River. The rescue also brings the first meeting with the villain, Raul Menendez.

In Black Ops II, the hacker Chloe Lynch is hunted by Raul Menendez under which codename?

Karma is also the title of the mission that tracks her to Colossus, a floating resort city in the Cayman Islands. Whether she survives helps decide which ending the player sees.

Which Black Ops II missions let players command squads and drones and can change the ending?

Strike Force missions have no checkpoints: lose the squad and the campaign simply moves on with that defeat on the record. Finishing all of them brings China over to the American side.

In one Black Ops II ending, jailed Raul Menendez watches Chloe Lynch mock him on which talk show?

Jimmy Kimmel Live appears in the ending where Menendez is taken alive and Lynch survives to stop his cyberattack. He can only rage in his cell as she insults him on air.

Which wonder weapon, a single-shot shotgun, debuted in the Black Ops II Zombies map Mob of the Dead?

The Blundergat can be won without the Mystery Box by collecting five hidden blue skulls, after which it appears on the warden's desk. Its design borrows from the blunderbuss and the Gatling gun.

Which studio, also behind the first Black Ops and Black Ops III, developed Black Ops II?

Treyarch began work on the sequel soon after Black Ops shipped, and made it the first Call of Duty campaign with branching storylines and several endings.

Black Ops II was the first Call of Duty game released for which Nintendo console, new in late 2012?

Wii U owners could play two-player games with one person on the TV and the other on the GamePad's own screen, with no split screen. None of the game's DLC map packs were ever released for the console.

Which industrial rock frontman and film composer wrote the main theme of Black Ops II?

Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails wrote only the theme, and Jack Wall composed the rest of the score. The soundtrack album also slips in a movement of a Mozart symphony.

Which Swedish actor plays The Replacer in live-action adverts for the Black Ops II map packs?

Peter Stormare's Replacer takes over clients' jobs and family duties so they can stay home and play the new maps. Comedian J.B. Smoove joined him as a trainee in the second advert.

Which screenwriter of Batman Begins co-wrote the campaign of Black Ops II?

The sequel's script was a joint effort with game director Dave Anthony. On the first Black Ops, David S. Goyer had served only as a story consultant.

Which Create-a-Class system, new in Black Ops II, lets players trade perks for extra attachments?

Pick 10 gives each class a fixed budget of points to spend on guns, attachments, perks and grenades, so a player can skip grenades entirely to afford more attachments.

Which objective mode, introduced in Black Ops II, has teams hold a zone that moves around the map?

Hardpoint awards a point for every second a team holds the zone alone, and nothing while both teams are inside it. Unlike Headquarters, the defenders keep respawning.

Which Black Ops II ranked mode places players in skill divisions and uses esports tournament rules?

League Play was the first dedicated competitive mode in a Call of Duty game, with divisions running from Iron up to Master. It followed the rules of Major League Gaming.

Which small Black Ops II multiplayer map is set aboard a luxury superyacht in international waters?

Hijacked crams two teams onto a single boat, and Black Ops III later remade it as Skyjacked. The yacht can also be spotted out at sea from the map Cove.

Which machine introduced in the Zombies map Origins gives players a random Perk-a-Cola?

Der Wunderfizz works much like the Mystery Box: after a few uses a teddy bear appears and the machine moves to another part of the map. Each drink costs 1,500 points.

Which Black Ops II submachine gun was the first downloadable multiplayer weapon in Call of Duty?

The Peacekeeper arrived with the Revolution map pack as a hybrid, pairing a submachine gun's mobility with an assault rifle's reach. Owners of the pack unlocked it at level 4.

Which Black Ops II assault rifle, the last weapon unlocked, fires its first two rounds faster?

The AN-94 fires its opening pair of shots at 937 rounds per minute before settling to 625, which rewards short, controlled bursts. It unlocks at level 55 alongside the Ghost perk.

Which bolt-action Black Ops II sniper rifle is the only one that can swap its scope for iron sights?

The Ballista has an Iron Sight attachment that no other sniper rifle in the game is offered. An iron-sighted one is also sold off the wall in the Zombies map Origins.

Which Black Ops II special weapon blocks bullets and can be planted in the ground as cover?

The Assault Shield works like the Riot Shield of earlier games with one addition: planted in the ground, it becomes a small bulletproof wall. A stuck Semtex still kills its carrier.

Which Black Ops II assault rifle fires four-round bursts by default in multiplayer?

The M8A1 is modelled on the Heckler & Koch XM8, and each of its bursts comes out at 1,250 rounds per minute. A Select Fire attachment turns it fully automatic.

Which Black Ops II handgun is a revolver that fires shotgun shells instead of pistol rounds?

The Executioner is based on the real Taurus Raging Judge, and its shells make it brutal up close but weak at range. Raul Menendez carries one in the campaign.

Which Black Ops II optic attachment automatically marks enemies in red when the player aims?

The Target Finder narrows the player's view to a tunnel in exchange for flagging every enemy it sees. Opponents running the Cold-Blooded perk never light up.

Which explosive toy car returns from Black Ops as a cheap reward in Black Ops II multiplayer?

The RC-XD costs just 450 points and handles better than it did in the first game, though it is noticeably slower. Running a UAV first helps the driver find a target in time.

Which Black Ops II multiplayer reward, costing 1,900 points, is the most expensive in the game?

The Swarm sends a cloud of Hunter Killer drones circling the map, and they keep hunting players as they respawn. An EMP is the best answer, destroying every drone at once.

Which Reservoir Dogs actor voices the mobster Finn O'Leary in the Zombies map Mob of the Dead?

Michael Madsen plays Finn beside Ray Liotta, Chazz Palminteri and Joe Pantoliano as four mobsters locked up during the Great Depression. Weasel, not Finn, designs their escape plane.

The Black Ops II Zombies map Origins is set at a dig site in northern France during which conflict?

World War I gives the map its trenches and mud, and the story places the first zombie outbreak in history here, unleashed when German scientists open an ancient tomb in 1918.

Which American is one of the four original Zombies heroes who return as the cast of Origins?

Tank Dempsey is sent by the United States, alongside Nikolai from Russia and Takeo from Japan, to capture the German scientist behind the giant machines.

In Mob of the Dead, the makeshift plane built on the roof of Alcatraz crash-lands at which landmark?

The Golden Gate Bridge is as far as the plane ever gets: after the crash the mobsters are pulled back to the prison, and the escape begins again.

Which wonder weapon was added to every Black Ops II Zombies map alongside the Vengeance map pack?

The Ray Gun Mark II fires three-round bursts that punch through whole lines of zombies. It was also one of the rarest prizes the Mystery Box could hand out.

Which Perk-a-Cola, new in Mob of the Dead, punishes nearby zombies each time the player reloads?

Electric Cherry sends out a shockwave on every reload, and the emptier the magazine, the wider the blast. A player who goes down also lets off one last stunning burst.

The Black Ops II Zombies map Buried is set in an underground town built in the style of which era?

The Old West town sits beneath a vast hole in Africa called the Rift. A mute giant named Arthur lives there, and will smash barricades or fight zombies in exchange for booze or candy.

The three giant robots in the Zombies map Origins are named after gods of which mythology?

Norse gods Freya, Odin and Thor lend their names to the 1,000-foot machines, which stride endlessly across the battlefield. A fourth robot was deployed too, but it had been disabled.

Which boss with a flamethrower and grappling claw first attacks on round eight of Origins?

The Panzersoldat is a zombie in an armoured suit that flies in on a rocket pack, and decoys such as the Monkey Bomb cannot distract it. Killing the first one yields a part of the fire staff.

In the Zombies map TranZit, which rival of Edward Richtofen asks the survivors for help?

Ludvig Maxis wants the survivors to power a tower in his favour, and the canonical ending follows his side. It backfires: once in control, he starts destroying the Earth.

In the Zombies map Origins, Samantha begs the four heroes to free her from which mythical realm?

Agartha is where Samantha's soul has been taken, and the heroes are promised a reward there for setting her free. The closing scene shows her playing with toys of the Zombies cast.