9. Call of Duty: Black Ops II (2012)

This Call of Duty entry attracted unnecessary publicity after Activision was sued by former dictator Manuel Noriega, who appears briefly in the game…

This follow up to 2010’s Black Ops mostly managed to live up to its predecessor, with its clever campaign storyline taking place in two different time periods: the Cold War, and a future 2025 setting. It was nice to play around with futuristic technologies like jetpacks in one timeline and then go back to shooting foes with Cold War-era weapons in another mission, and some player choices like deciding the fate of earlier characters like Captain Mason added emotional weight to the campaign.

The multiplayer was still ace although it lacked innovation, even if the new league mode, which saved players the grind of having to unlock perks or kill streak bonuses, was tons of fun.