The launch of Call of Duty: Black Ops II draws near. The 13^th of November has been marked in the calendars of FPS (First Person Shooter) video game fans around the world. One of the most popular video game franchises in history will soon have a new edition.

The build up to a big budget video game is every bit as impressive as a Hollywood blockbuster. Activision and Treyarch are keen for the new Call of Duty to be as popular as previous titles. Since Call of Duty’s first release in 2003 over 100 million copies have been sold. Servers around the world host millions of games daily while 40 million players hold active accounts.

Joining the publicity campaign for Black Ops II is YouTube celebrity FPSRussia and his Quadrotor named Charlene. Charlene is no ordinary Quadrotor mind you, armed with a 100 round magazine and machine gun she is built to kill. Included for your viewing pleasure is the video of Charlene in action controlled by YouTube’s favourite Russian used car salesman FPSRussian.

The video itself is pure internet, a fake that caught the world’s attention simply for being so damned cool. As a part of the marketing campaign for Call of Duty: Black Ops II, also known as Attack of the Drones, it was a huge success. The similarities between Charlene and the COD drones are more than obvious once seen side by side.

An immensely popular video it went viral straight away, setting YouTube on fire. It has to date clocked up 13million hits in 6 months, the majority in the first month when the world had the quad-rotor buzz.

Adding to the many layers in this tale of marketing hype is the fact that FPSRussia is in fact an American playing a Russian flying an imaginary quad-rotor that looks real but isn’t, the quad-rotor however will really be in the game.

Call of Duty: Black Ops II
The first level of Black Ops 2 was previewed in May at E3. Abundant fast paced action at its best, the heart of Call of Duty is still there. Treyarch, the games producers, have attempted to add more action to an already crowded plate. With war in the air and the ground the battlefield has become truly 3 dimensional. The story unfolds with the action as the player moves through the world around him. A storyline with twists we hear.

Multi-player latency is being tackled once again, this time round instead of region based matches players will be matched based on latencies or ping time. Theoretically allowing a good connection to play anyone in the world.

A strong storyline has been developed for Black Ops II. The scene is set with LA under attack as the cold war of 2025 heats up. When the super villain Raul Menendez hacks and takes control of a fleet of drones the entire world is in danger.

Any futuristic game worth its salt must have an array of futuristic weapons systems. Treyarch have delivered with a sniper rifle that can see through objects and shoot around corners. Monsterous mech warriors called Cognitive Land Assault Weapons (CLAW) crawl the battlefield while quad-rotor and dual-rotor of drones attack in waves from above. At times you will climb aboard your F22 jet fighter clear the air. The always fun to use shotgun has been given a modern twist with Dragon’s Breath shotgun shells that explode in flames.

There’s even special zombie mode in which you can test your nerve against the undead. Zombies really are taking over the world. Other game modes include CTF and 4×4 will also be included, keeping the multi-player action challenging.

Call of Duty Black Ops 2 Gameplay Mission 1 (Walkthrough)

FPS was correct to say the technology that Charlene represents will be seen in 10 years. Autonomous in nature Charlene puts fly by wire to shame, with the craft drawing its own wire. Current large UAV’s such as Predator already use this system.

Who is FPSRussia?
Starting his YouTube career with videos of first person shooter game play, FPSRussia has been in the business of posting videos for many years. Performing stunts in classic FPS games like Call of Duty FPSRussian quickly built a following of a million subscribers. He has since evolved other channels that relate to shooting things and blowing stuff up, most of it with pretty funny results.

A farmer’s son from Georgia in the USA FPS Russia actually talks with a distinctive southern drawl; the Russian accent is pure internet.The accent was developed in a previous career as a car salesman. Becoming obsessed with his bosses Russian accent he imitated the accent ad nauseum.

Conclusion
Would Charlene hold up in the Attack of the Drones, here at Highpants we think she would kick some butt. At the very least she has demonstrated the popularity of the quad-rotor, and potentially that everything is better with guns.

Call of Duty is back for one more round of mayhem. Activision has to make its money, and it looks worth every penny. The game can be pre-ordered now and will be released on November 13 for PS3, Xbox 360 and PC.

Reference: Call of Duty: Black Ops II
Reference: FPSRussia’s Youtube Channel

Launch Trailer – Official Call of Duty: Black Ops 2 Video