Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified is an interquel serving as a prelude companion game to Call of Duty: Black Ops II, bridging the gap between it and the original Call of Duty: Black Ops. It was developed by Nihilistic Software, published by Activision, and released on the Play Station Vita in 2012, alongside Black Ops II. To summarize the game, it's basically a mobile port of Black Ops. Years later, another interquel, Call of Duty: Black Ops Cold War was released.
Call of Duty: Black Ops Declassified provides examples of the following tropes:
- The '70s: This is the time period of the game, in between The '60s of Black Ops and The '80s of Alex's side of Black Ops II. Subverted in the final mission of the game, which takes place on May 21st of 1982; the day of Jose Luiz Menendez's assassination.
- Artificial Stupidity: A common criticism of this game amongst many is its poor AI. Enemies will very often spot you and hesitate to shoot, allowing you free kills. Other times they will shoot at you when there's an object blocking their fire-even if said object is explosive.
- Canon Discontinuity: Downplayed. It's more or less gotten this treatment from the very start. Black Ops II doesn't acknowledge it at all despite being designed to fill in the gaps between it and the original game, and Black Ops Cold War basically rewrites Jose Luiz Menendez's assassination, contradicting how it plays out here. Black Ops III however does drop a Freeze-Frame Bonus cameo containing Ryan Jackson's documents.
- Dramatic Irony: The CIA operative witnesses Raul Menendez escape after witnessing his father's assassination. His superior tells him that he's not a target, and lets him go. A few years later, he will become quite a bit of a target.
- First-Name Basis: Hudson calls Woods "Frank" occasionally. Usually only Mason seems to have that privilege.
- Gaiden Game: Of the Black Ops series. It acts as an interquel between I and II, with Mason, Woods, and a random CIA operative all being playable.
- Mission-Pack Sequel: It's essentially a Spec Ops mode for Black Ops.
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: A double whammy. In the final mission of the game, the CIA launches an attack on the Menendez Cartel, resulting in the death of Jose Luiz Menendez. When the playable operative sees his son Raul escaping in a truck, his superior tells him to leave him be, as he is not a target. We all know how that turns out..
- Promoted to Playable:
- Ryan Jackson was a background character that was only referenced in unlockables in Black Ops I. Here he is the player character.
- Woods, who was not playable in Black Ops I, is playable here, as he is in Black Ops II.
- Shout-Out: CIA Operative Ryan Jackson's name is an inverse of Jack Ryan.
