It was announced on January 8, 2013, and released for Xbox 360 on January 29 and PC and PS3 on February 28 [56] The pack contained four new multiplayer maps: Downhill, Hydro, Mirage and Grind; and two new Zombies modes: Turned and Die Rise.

Mason becomes afflicted by his brainwashing once again, struggling to resist the urge to kill Kravchenko.

Not all of them paid off, but knowing that the team was willing to eschew the safe route helped ward off any stagnation that may have begun to creep into the series as of late. B. Smoove joined Stormare in the second production of The Replacers, in which the two maintain a haphazard relationship. If the player dies in a Strike Force mission, the campaign continues recording that loss, as opposed to letting the player load a previously saved checkpoint.

In the canonical ending, the group aids Maxis, allowing him to use the power from the towers to enter the Aether and assume ultimate control, trapping Richtofen in a zombie's body. The four are contacted by both Richtofen and Maxis, who is now a digital artificial intelligence, for aid against the other.IGN editor Anthony Gallegos describes the game as "a good example of how to evolve an annualized franchise".

In reality, the escape plan never came to fruition, and Weasel was killed by the other three on New Year's Eve, while the rest were given the death penalty weeks later. It includes the new zombies map Mob of the Dead as well as new multiplayer maps Magma, Vertigo, Encore, and a re-imagining of fan-favorite from previous installment Black Ops Firing Range, known as Studio. These changes were introduced to shift the emphasis towards objective-based gameplay, to reward players who work in teams and to make the game more accessible to new players.

The game was officially revealed on May 1, 2012, following a set of leaked information released during the previous months. To promote the release of Black Ops II 's DLC packs, Activision released a series of live-action shorts starring Peter Stormare as The Replacer, an undercover agent sent to take the place of clients in their daily lives, while said clients can stay at home and play Black Ops II 's new content. If the player is successful, Kravchenko discloses that Menendez has moles inside the CIA, before Woods executes him. Known as League Play, the mode allows players of similar skill level to be matched together, and play according to the rules of Major League Gaming. Aiming to stop Germany, Japan, Russia and the United States of America send Takeo, Nikolai and Dempsey to capture Richtofen, the mastermind behind the advanced technology.

The game also features several historical and real-life characters, including: UNITA leader Jonas Savimbi ( Robert Wisdom), Panamanian General Manuel Noriega ( Benito Martinez), Colonel Oliver North (voiced by himself), and former CIA Director David Petraeus ( Jim Meskimen). Realizing her father has been corrupted by the Aether, Samantha reaches out to an alternate version of him, who resides in Dimension 63.

Stormare normally acts as a mentor to the new replacer Smoove by pointing out his various quirks while doing his job, such as his poor performance defending his client while he replaces a lawyer, admitting that he might be guilty. Further, Black Ops 2 was listed by the France international entertainment retail chain Fnac in March 2012, which touted a predictable November release date.