Treyarch confirmed that the Zombies mode would return for Black Ops II with new game modes. This is the third 🌜 Call of Duty game to feature a Zombies mode, following Call of Duty: World at War and Call of Duty: 🌜 Black Ops, and the first to have game modes other than the traditional Survival mode. Treyarch also confirmed that Zombies 🌜 would run on the game's multiplayer engine, allowing for a deeper community experience, along with new features. A new, 8 🌜 player co-op game called "Grief" is also supported, featuring 2 teams of 4 players competing to survive, unlike the previous 🌜 games which only supported 4 player online co-op. As with the previous installments, each Zombies map contains "Easter eggs" side 🌜 quests, which is used to progress the story. Another new mode, "Turned", is introduced with several downloadable content maps, in 🌜 which one player attempts to survive three player-controlled zombies who must turn the other player into a zombie.

The CIA later 🌜 authorize a strike against Menendez, now profiteering through the Soviet–Afghan War. In September 1986, the trio travel to Afghanistan and 🌜 meet with Chinese intelligence operative Tian Zhao to ally with the Afghan mujahideen against the Soviets. They capture Colonel Lev 🌜 Kravchenko,[a] and interrogate him. Mason becomes afflicted by his brainwashing once again, struggling to resist the urge to kill Kravchenko. 🌜 If the player is successful, Kravchenko discloses that Menendez has moles inside the CIA, before Woods executes him. The mujahideen 🌜 then betray the Americans and Zhao, leaving them to die in the desert until they are rescued by two civilians; 🌜 Mason hallucinates that one of them is Reznov.

A non-canon ending is unlocked by completing the game, depicting Menendez and Woods 🌜 performing at a concert with Synyster Gates and M. Shadows of Avenged Sevenfold, with the rest of the characters from 🌜 the game dancing, in a mid-credits scene; it acts as the game's official music video.

Whereas players still receive in-game rewards, 🌜 these are unlocked by performing certain actions – such as killing other players, successfully capturing territory, and so on – 🌜 rather than simply killing other players.[44][45] Furthermore, the "wager matches" feature included in Call of Duty: Black Ops was removed.[43] 🌜 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.[44]

The Replacers