Call of Duty: Black Ops revealed

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Remember when–largely because the studio behind it simply wasn’t Infinity Ward–Call of Duty: World At War was derided as a no-hoper? You know who you are. The naysayers deserved a sound (if proverbial) smack in the chops when the team produced an enthralling shooter for which the highest praise possible is that it earned and deserved to be part of the Call of Duty family. Treyarch is back at it with an all-new Call of Duty campaign set in a new era, but with all the hallmark action moments if the early demo we saw was any indication. More details after the break…

As controversy surrounds the parent development group, Treyarch remains focused on building games. The big kahuma in that arrangement is Call of Duty: Black Ops.  Take the action and set pieces that has defined this franchise since its first WWII installment, and paint those gameplay features over a setting that is stylish and original, and you get a whole new war to fight through.

Black Ops focuses on the Cold War, with the missions we saw set around 1968 though the full game arc will likely start earlier and end later. “Fighting deniable operations” was how Treyarch boss Mark Lamia described the missions that are inspired by real world events performed by Black Ops teams in locations such as deepest, darkest Russia and Vietnam.

So what will you do? Even the evidence from segments of just two missions indicated quite a wide variety of play mechanics at work. From directing ground troops from the perspective of an aerial recon position to then getting on the ground and sneaking through the snow to take out patrols around a potential Russian nuke site each mission appears to present various views of covert combat. Your equipment is state-of-the-art for the time. That includes explosive-tipped crossbow bolts. The stealth aspect of taking out a patrol with the silent bow comes undone quickly when you detonate the explosives stuck in some poor, staggering fool. Good times, clearly.

This particular winterscape event concluded with a race across ravines as an avalanche began rumbling, culminating in a death-defying leap seemingly into the abyss (but no doubt ending with a parachute pull and a soft landing… though we didn’t get to see that part).

The next mission was set in Vietnam. From a more stealth-style approach as you tracked a Russian nuke, this setting was crazy-loud action from start to finish. After rappelling from a chopper that gets hit by a rocket, the action never stopped in a five-minute presentation that undeniably captured the craziness that gamers expect from Vietnam-era action. With the volume at the presentation turned up to at least 11, the impact was spectacular.

Treyarch has taken some lumps from the community as the fallout from the Infinity Ward disruption clouds Activision’s bigger plans for the jewel in its corporate crown, but if World at War wasn’t convincing enough, this brief showcase illustrated a clear understanding of the kind of action moments that have turned this first-person shooter franchise into one of the biggest gaming brands in the world.

Of course, multiplayer and co-op modes are expected, though no details were revealed, but you can expect the team to be tapping into the latest social media options to help makret the game and build its community when it ships 11.9.10.

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