World-building is at least slightly stronger, but mostly due to the fact that Declassified pulls on the prior narrative beats set up by previous titles.
Even the game’s final ‘boss’ is a disappointment due to the fact he’s never seen prior to you shooting him in the face, even though he has ties to the overall Black Ops narrative. It doesn’t help matters that there’s no character development either – Mason and Woods are completely unlikeable mercenary jerks who spout stupid one-liners yet say little else while mission briefings come from an un-named narrator between levels.