3. Treyarch > Infinity Ward

One thing that gives me immense confidence about Black Ops 2 is that Infinity Ward are not in charge of its development. Don't get me wrong, the Modern Warfare series has had its moments, but there were too many missteps in the last addition to that sub-franchise, and the blame has to lie with the developers who too actively went after the casual market with more accessible gameplay, despite the more controversial content of the games. Treyarch however proved with Black Ops that they could take the Modern Warfare model and tweak it to create a far more substantial feeling game - perhaps still a little on the accessible side for more hardcore gamers, but at least balanced with an engrossing story and characters, and an interesting narrative style as well as the usual flash-bangs and fireworks. What Treyarch also do better is the multiplayer portion of the game, and more specifically the level design. Black Ops' arenas out-stripped those of both MW2 and 3 by some distance, feeling more appropriate to online multiplayer play, and as a result less levels outstayed their welcome as the months ticked on. With Black Ops, Treyarch also proved their willingness to up their game, after the relatively cooler reception to World At War: they worked on the engine to bring more balanced play than MW2 had managed, and the difference in quality between WaW and Black Ops is infinite in comparison to the uplift in quality between the Modern Warfare titles, and it is for good reason that fans pinpointed MW3's lack of progression as one of the reasons behind what negative feedback the game attracted. The developers also have a well-documented affection for vehicular gameplay, and we can expect tanks, boats, planes and helicopters (not to mention drones), which also means they will have had their work cut out on building the right kind of environments to suit vehicular play, which can only spell a positive for the game as a whole. Time will tell if Treyarch are going to be able to offer anything like the up-step in quality for Black Ops 2 that they did between their last two COD titles, but with Treyarch we certainly know that the fate of the game is in the right hands.