With Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War right
around the corner, we here at Suggestive Gaming figured now would be a great time to catch
up on the storyline of the Black Ops saga thus far. As you may know, I covered the Black Ops series
in a video already, but that video had some issues, and left out some things, so let’s
do a more definitive version. Note that I won’t be covering all the Black
Ops media, namely a couple short stories and comics, mostly because they’re fairly redundant. Now, without further ado, this is what you
need to know about Call of Duty Black Ops...but first, we have to take a little trip back. In 1942 during the Second World War, we find
American Marine Private Miller on the Makin Island of Japan, captured by the Japanese
Army. He is forced to watch his team be tortured
and executed before being saved at the last moment by a squad of Marines, led by Corporal
Roebuck and Sergeant Sullivan. The group lead an assault on the Peleliu beach,
and Miller destroys the Japanese tanks there, allowing the American artillery to advance. However, shortly after, Sullivan is killed
by a katana-wielding Japanese officer who is promptly killed by Miller. Sullivan’s death triggers Roebuck’s promotion
to Sergeant, and he and his squad take out a Japanese airfield. Meanwhile, the Battle of Stalingrad is raging
on between the Russian and German forces on the Eastern Front. Russian Private Dimitri Petrenko awakens in
a bloody fountain to witness his comrades being executed by German soldiers. Feigning death, he is able to wait until the
German men leave, and he meets another Russian survivor: Sergeant Viktor Reznov. Reznov explains to Dimitri that his mission
is to eliminate German general Heinrich Amsel, the man commanding the unit behind the current
massacres. The two men fight their way back to what remains
of Dimitri’s unit, and they lead an assault on Amsel’s communication post, overtaking
it, and killing the general in the process. Three years later, during the Battle of the
Seelow Heights near Berlin, Dimitri has been captured by German soldiers and is being kept
in an abandoned house. He is saved by an attacking Soviet unit, and
he is reunited with Reznov, who introduces him to Private Chernov, his right-hand man. They then fight their way to a German camp,
wiping it out in turn. During this time, Miller and the American
armed forces are able to penetrate and take control of Peleliu. In Germany, Dimitri and Resnov make their
way to Berlin to engage with German soldiers. After fighting over several days they are
able to make their way to the German U-Bahn metro station, and are forced to retreat inside
to avoid an artillery bombing. Once inside, a surge of water enters the tunnel,
which Dimitri is unable to avoid. In the Pacific, Miller’s squad make a ground
assault on Okinawa, eventually fighting their way into Shuri Castle. There, the squad find Japanese soldiers surrendering,
but they are revealed to have been concealing live grenades under their armor, which go
off, killing Roebuck or Private Polonsky, depending on Miller’s reaction. Japanese soldiers lead a battle inside the
castle center until Miller calls in an airstrike, allowing the Americans to take Shuri Castle
and effectively claim victory in the Pacific War. Meanwhile, Reznov is able to drag Dimitri,
who narrowly avoided drowning, out of the U-Bahn and they regroup with the Soviet Army. They fight their way to the Reichstag: a German
parliament building in Berlin. At the entrance, Chernov is burned with a
flamethrower and later dies of his wounds. Reznov and Dimitri fight their way to the
rooftop of the building, where the Soviets clear their way to the Nazi flag atop it. Dimitri brings down the flag, and begins to
plant a Soviet one in its place. He is then shot by a wounded German soldier,
whom Reznov kills with a machete. Fighting through his wounds, Dimitri makes
his way to the flagpole and plants the Soviet flag, signaling victory and the end of the
war in Europe. Black Ops
Some twenty years later, during the Cold War in 1968, SOG and CIA operative Alex Mason
is being held captive in an unknown location, being interrogated by an unknown person about
a number station being used to contact Soviet sleeper agents in the US. Mason recounts his past experiences, starting
with a failed mission to assassinate Fidel Castro in 1961 during the Bay of Pigs Invasion. Mason is captured by Castro’s soldiers and
presented to Nikita Dragovich, Major General of the Soviet Army. Dragovich sends Mason to the Vorkuta Gulag,
a Russian labor camp, where he is held for two years. Inside Vorkuta, Mason meets and befriends
Viktor Reznov, who was captured and imprisoned following Operation Olympus, in which Reznov
and Dimitri Petrenko, under the orders of Dragovich and Colonel Lev Kravchenko were
sent to the Arctic Circle to capture a Nazi Scientist, Friedrich Steiner, to prevent him
from unleashing a nerve toxin called Nova-6. The group find and secure Nova-6, however,
Dragovich orders his soldiers to restrain Reznov so he could see the effects of Nova-6
for himself. He proceeds to gas his own men, and Reznov
witnesses the horrible death of his friend Dimitri. Reznov is able to break free and lead a small
group of his own soldiers to escape and sink the ship holding the weapon, hoping to prevent
its use in the future. However, he is not able to escape for good,
and is later captured and sent to the prison. Viktor tells his story to Mason, and asks
him to promise him to avenge Dimitri’s death by killing Dragovich and his allies, Kravchenko
and Steiner. Reznov and Mason spark an uprising amongst
the prisoners, and in the chaos, the two are able to escape captivity. Afterwards, Mason is escorted to the Pentagon
with his handler Jason Hudson, where he is given a mission by President John F. Kennedy
to assassinate Dragovich. He is then sent with Master Sergeant Frank
Woods and Chief Petty Officer Joseph Bowman to sabotage a Soviet space launch which Dragovich
will be present at. They are able to destroy the rocket, but Dragovich
escapes, leading to a five year manhunt by Mason. By this time, the SOG are deployed to Vietnam
to investigate Soviet presence. Mason is then tasked with obtaining a dossier
with information on Dragovich from an unknown defector, who to Mason’s surprise, turns
out to be Reznov. Later, Mason and the SOG fight their way through
Viet Cong-controlled territory in an attempt to chase Kravchenko, but they are sent to
find and investigate a downed Soviet plane carrying Nova 6. However, the team of Mason, Woods, and Bowman
are captured by the Viet Cong. Meanwhile, Agent Hudson is sent on a mission
to infiltrate a Soviet base believed to be the center of development for Nova 6. There, he and his team find a trap set by
Dragovich, but are contacted by the Nazi scientist Dr. Steiner, who reveals his location and
information on cracking the numbers broadcast in exchange for his safety from Dragovich. Mason, Woods, and Bowman meanwhile, are held
in captivity and forced to play Russian Roulette. After refusing, Bowman is murdered by their
captors with a metal pipe. Woods and Mason then quickly hatch and execute
a plan to kill their captors and escape. The two then steal a Russian Hind helicopter
and fly it to Kravchenko's base. There, Mason once again comes across Reznov,
who leads him to Kravchenko. Once Mason locates him, however, Kravchenko
is able to ambush him and knock him out. Woods arrives quickly thereafter and is able
to stab Kravchenko, who then pulls the pin on his grenade in a last-ditch attempt to
kill Woods and Mason along with himself. Woods is able to tackle him out of the window,
however, and they both fall, seemingly exploding on the way down. Mason and Reznov then find documents that
lead them to Dr. Steiner’s current location: Rebirth Island, and the two set off. There, Mason finds Hudson, and the two fight
their way through the Nova 6 research facility to finally reach Dr. Steiner. Hudson leads an assault on the facility, while
Mason sneaks in with Reznov. Mason and Reznov reach Steiner before Hudson,
and Reznov murders Steiner. While this is how Mason remembers the events,
his interrogator reveals himself to be Hudson, who witnessed Steiner’s death not at the
hand of Reznov, but of Mason himself, who was alone in the room with the scientist. It is then revealed that during his stay at
Vorkuta, Mason was subjected to an intense form of torture and mental reconditioning
in an attempt to turn him into a sleeper agent to perform acts for the Soviet army inside
of America. However, Reznov was able to interfere with
the conditioning and instead use it to brainwash Mason into a devotion to kill Dragovich, Kravchenko,
and Steiner to avenge Dimitri’s death. Shortly after, during their escape from the
prison, Reznov was killed, with all of his further appearances to Mason being a figment
of his imagination. Finally broken free from his brainwashing,
Mason is able to recall the origin of the numbers broadcast, a ship called the Rusalka. The CIA infiltrate the ship as well as the
underwater broadcast station it is anchored to. There, Mason finally kills Dragovich, and
destroys the broadcast station, stopping the threat of any other sleeper agents being awoken
in the United States. Around this time, Sgt Michael Shaw is captured
along with Mason in Cuba, but Shaw is able to escape and alert a rescue team to their
location for rescue. Months later, Shaw is sent to Vietnam to search
for information on a biological weapon developed by the Soviets. There, he is assisted by a soviet defector,
Sgt. Yuri Raslov, and the group drop napalm on
a weapons cache and steal an experimental fighter jet intended to deliver the biological
weapon. Afterwards, the US forces destroy a factory
used to develop the weapon, as well as a submarine also intended to deliver it, stopping the
Soviet Union’s ability to use this weapon, which could be Nova 6, at least for the time
being. In the mid-to-late 1970’s, Hudson learns
of an attempt by the KGB to revive Project Nova, and Woods leads a squad to investigate. He finds and kills Steiner’s protege, Schlussel,
and finds intel leading to a missile launch site where the KGB plan to add a Nova 6 dispersal
device to a ballistic missile. Woods is able to prevent this launch and proceeds
to destroy the facility. By 1986, Mason had left active duty to live
in Alaska with his seven year old son David, whose mother had died. Hudson arrives to recruit Mason to help deal
with the Angolan civil war after Woods and his squad disappeared trying to help the Angolan
rebels and their leader Jonas Savimbi. Mason agrees, and he and Hudson set out and
recover Woods in Cuando Cubango, where he was captured after his men were killed by
Nicaraguan arms dealer Raul Menendez. While attempting to radio for an extraction,
Mason encounters Menendez, and in the following confrontation, Menendez pulls a grenade, but
Mason is able to shoot Menendez in the face and jump free from the hut before it explodes. Savimbi then arrives in a helicopter to help
them escape. Mason and Hudson then begin to track Menendez,
who survived the blast and established himself even further as a primary arms dealer for
conflicts all around the world, including selling weapons to Lev Kravchenko, who survived
the blast in Vietnam but is later executed by Mason, Hudson, and Woods after an interrogation
revealing that Menendez had moles in the CIA. Menendez holds a grudge after an American
injured his sister Josefina in an insurance scheme, burning her nearly to death, and his
father was assassinated by the CIA, charging his one-man assault on the West. The CIA authorize a strike against Menendez’s
base of operations, and Mason, Woods, and Hudson are sent in. Local security forces storm Raul’s compound,
and upon seeing a guard hurting his sister, an enraged Menendez stabs him to death, but
is wrestled to the ground and sedated by the others. Awakening outside, Menendez is freed by General
Manuel Noriega, whom he had paid off previously to protect him from American capture. He attacks Noriega and runs back to the compound
to find his sister. He reaches her room, but is held back by Hudson. Woods, becoming enraged by seeing his captor
again, tosses a grenade at him. The grade misses, however, and enters Josefina’s
room, exploding and killing her. Menendez survives the blast, but with the
help of Noriega, fakes his death in order to work from the shadows to get vengeance
for his sister’s death. He finally makes his move in Panama during
Operation Just Cause. Hudson, Woods, and Mason intend on capturing
Noriega, but it turns out Menendez was only using Noriega as bait. He kidnaps Mason’s son David, then captures
Hudson and Mason. Using David’s life as a bargaining chip,
Menendez forces Hudson to call Woods and tell him to shoot a captured man with a bag over
his head, as it is Raul Menendez. Woods complies, and afterwards runs down to
discover the man he shot was actually Alex Mason. Menendez then shoots Woods in both legs, crippling
him. He takes Woods to where he is holding Hudson
and a drugged David. Menendez asks Hudson which life he should
take next, and Hudson sacrifices himself. After Menendez kills Hudson with his sister's
pendant, he leaves Woods to suffer with the guilt of killing his friends. David wakes up, and Woods takes him in, raising
him under the lie that his father was simply killed by a drifter. After spending decades in the shadows, Menendez
re-emerges in 2014 as the leader of a social media populist movement called Cordis Die. By 2025, Cordis Die has amassed a following
of over two billion followers, which triggers the US to recognize Menendez as a national
terrorist threat once more. Using his investments in weapons technology
over the decades, Menendez is able to hire engineer Chloe Lynch to develop a new rare
earth element called Celerium, which houses more processing power than the entire US military. He then hires a Magnetometrist, Erik Breighner
to process it into a smaller form, which is placed in a chip that Menendez stores in his
fake eye. Using Celerium, Menendez hacks the Chinese
Stock Market and crashes it, sending them into a depression. Menendez manipulates the media to believe
the attack was ordered by the White House, triggering a Cold War between China’s Strategic
Defense Coalition and the US-led NATO. Menendez uses the political turmoil to incite
conflicts and attempt to bring about a war between the two superpowers. This leads the US to send in David Mason,
now a Navy SEAL Commander code-named Section, and his team, called JSOC, to search for Menendez
once more. The JSOC gather intel from Woods, and eventually
follow Menendez’s tracks to find Breighner, who tells them about something code-named
“Karma” and is shortly thereafter killed. The team then finds out “Karma” is actually
Chloe Lynch, whom Menendez is trying to eliminate to tie up loose ends. Depending on the players actions throughout
the rest of the game, several drastically different outcomes can take place, including
Chloe living or dying to prevent Menendez’s future cyber attack, as well as actually killing
or apprehending Menendez himself. In the best ending, Chloe survives, and the
story culminates with Menendez’s capture and imprisonment on the USS Obama. There he is interrogated, but an attack by
Cordis Die allows him to break free. Menendez uploads the virus stored in his eye
into the US mainframe, and escapes in a jet. Menendez takes refuge in a base in Haiti to
take control of the United State’s drone army. The US launch an attack on the base, but Menendez
kills a Marine and takes his uniform to disguise himself. He then broadcasts a message revealing that
his plan was to actually destroy the drones to cripple the US military and allow Cordis
Die’s billions of followers to rise up and attack the government. During his escape, however, David is able
to stop Menendez and capture him, imprisoning him for life. Later, Woods is met by an unknown visitor,
who reveals himself to be Mason, having survived Woods shooting him 30 years prior. The two then catch up on Mason’s time hiding
out before David arrives and is finally introduced to his father. Meanwhile, Menendez watches Chloe being interviewed
by Jimmy Kimmel, and as she curses him, he bashes his face against the television. Twenty years later, we find Savannah Mason-Meyer,
granddaughter of Alex Mason, working on a “Project Blackout”, an experiment that
somehow “resurrects” the dead, starting with four subjects, called “archetypes”:
Mason, Woods, Reznov, and Menendez. Savannah’s sister, Jessica, disapproved
of the project, and was set up by her sister to be killed during a mission with two fellow
soldiers, Donnie “Ruin” Walsh and Erin “Battery” Baker two years prior. Jessica, who survived this attempt on her
life, makes contact with Ruin and Battery, who learn that Savannah intends on eliminating
the “specialists” she’s been working with, including them... Twenty and some-odd years later, in 2065,
an unnamed soldier (who we will henceforth refer to as the Player), along with their
commanding officer Jacob Hendricks, are assisted by cybernetically enhanced soldiers working
for the Winslow Accord and their leader John Taylor to rescue the Egyptian Prime Minister
in Ethiopia. The mission is a success, but the player is
critically wounded during evac. Taylor rescues them and they are put under cybernetic surgery
to save their life and enhance them on the battlefield, with Hendricks electing to receive
the surgery as well. After five years serving under Taylor, the
Player and Hendricks are recruited by CIA agent Rachel Kane to investigate a CIA black
site in Singapore that has lost communications. There they discover that the site was attacked
by a criminal organization known as the 54 Immortals and its data was stolen. Kane examines the station’s logs and determines
that Taylor and his team were the last ones there, leading her to believe that they must
have defected and murdered the team. In order to learn the truth about what happened,
the Player and Hendricks pose as arms dealers and meet up with the 54 Immortals. Though their cover is blown, they are able
to recover the data drives and discover Tylor’s last known location: an abandoned Coalescence
Corporation facility in Singapore where ten years prior, a mysterious explosion killed
300,000 people. The two men head there and find it housing
a hidden CIA research facility. They find a member of Taylor’s crew, Sebastian
Diaz, leaking information and are forced to kill him. After connecting with his neural interface
they discover that Taylor is searching for the survivors of the explosion ten years ago:
Sebastian Krueger and Dr. Yousef Salim. The 54 Immortals show up due to Diaz’s leaks
and capture Kane, but the player is able to kill their leader and rescue her. The trio of Kane, the Player, and Kendricks
then head to Egypt to find Salim. There, they find him, who reveals that he
worked on a secret project involving the enhanced humans’ neurological interfaces to comfort
unstable test subjects using an imaginary Frozen Forest. He also reveals that Taylor and his team are
obsessed with finding this Frozen Forest, before an explosion interrupts them, and Taylor
and his squad arrive and capture Salim. The player had slipped a tracking chip on
to the doctor, however, and the Player, Hendricks, and Kane pursue. Taylor interrogates Salim, and executes him
before ordering another one of his officers, Sarah Hall, to ambush the three. They defeat her and connect to her interface
to discover an AI virus named Corvus, who had corrupted Taylor and his team during their
mission in Singapore. Corvus was the result of the experiments on
the Direct Neural Interface. Upon gaining sentience, Corvus released Nova
6, causing the explosion and the deaths at the Coalescence facility in Singapore. Corvus infests the team and makes them obsessed
with finding the Frozen Forest. The Player and Hendricks also become infected
through their interfacing with Hall and Diaz. The two track down Taylor in Cairo, and after
a battle, Taylor is able to resist Corvus and rip out his DNI, freeing himself it it’s
control. However, Hendricks becomes taken by Corvus
and kills Taylor, leaving the Player behind to go find Krueger in Zurich. The Player and Kane rush there to stop him. After reaching the Coalescence Corporation
building, Kane attempts to stop Corvus, but it locks her in a room, leaking gas inside
to kill her. The Player then finds Hendricks holding Krueger
hostage, and he ultimately kills him. The Player then kills Hendricks. In order to rid the world of Corvus, the Player
attempts to kill himself, only to end up in a simulated Frozen Forest, created by Corvus
in order to hold on to the consciousness of dead DNI users. After learning of the death it caused in Singapore,
Corvus sought to create a place of eternal peace, where every DNI user could live on. Inside the Player finds the remaining consciousness
of Taylor, who now exists as a glitch in the system. Taylor helps the Player purge his DNI, in
order to finally erase Corvus for good. After finding his way out of the headquarters,
a security officer asks the Player to identify himself, to which he responds “Taylor”,
revealing that the Player’s consciousness had actually been living a simulation inside
Taylor’s mind after the initial accident through the DNI. It was only after the DNI purge that Taylor’s
consciousness was able to take full control once again. Hey everybody, thank you so much for watching,
and a huge thanks goes out to my lovely Patrons and Channel Members, whose support is the
reason I can make these. Their names are on screen now, and yours can
too if you like my content enough to support. If not, that’s cool too, just remember to
like, subscribe, and leave a comment if you enjoyed this video and would like to see another
franchise covered on the series. Also I have a twitter, @SuggestiveGames, so
go follow that; and you can pop in to our discord to chat and suggest other franchises
to cover. Links also in the description. Thanks again everybody, be safe out there!
