CoD Black Ops: What We Know.

If we were to put money on the biggest selling game this winter we’d lay a lot on it being Call of Duty: Black Ops. While Infinity Ward isn’t on development duty, Treyarch seems more than up to the job. Here’s all we know about the recently revealed shooter.

Time period

Prior to Treyarch’s big reveal, several people had predicted that the next Call of Duty would be set during the Vietnam War. This is partly true, but the game’s timeframe will cover a much wider period than previous entries in the series. The two levels revealed last week were both set during 1968, but we’ve been told to expect stages that are set both before and after this date. It seems safe to assume that we’ll see the ’70s, but given the Cold War themes it’s quite possible that we could reach the ’80s too.

Characters

The main characters are Black Ops – US military specialists engaged in secret, off-the record activities. As with previous CoD titles, it seems as if we’ll be jumping about between several perspectives: the mission “Slaughterhouse” begins with the player piloting a SR-71 Blackbird Reconnaissance plane and guiding a squad from on high; players then jump into the shoes of one of the ops on the ground. Expect to see characters age and develop over the course of the game’s timeline.

Locations

Only two locations have been confirmed so far: “Slaughterhouse” takes place in Russia’s Ural Mountain range, with the player’s squad attempting to take out a communications relay. “W.M.D.” is set during the infamous Battle of Huế, in the Vietnamese city of the same name. Huế was invaded by Communist forces as part of the Tet Offensive in 1968, and while the US and South Vietnamese troops eventually drove them off, the battle was one of the bloodiest fights of the war.

Vehicles

The opening moments of “Slaughterhouse” find the player steering the Blackbird down the deck of an aircraft carrier and up into the skies; once the craft reaches the upper atmosphere, gameplay becomes more focused on the plane’s reconnaissance footage – like the AC130 sections in Modern Warfare. However, we’ve also seen moments where the player takes full control of a Mi-24 Hind Gunship.

Weapons

Treyarch’s demo levels featured Ak47s and SPAS-12 shotguns, as well as a scoped crossbow and some form of silenced assault rifle; to my untrained eye it looked like a Steyr AUG – but since that gun was only developed in the ’70s, it was probably something else. Alternative ammo types will be available for some weapons: the crossbow can be loaded with explosive bolts, while shotguns can take fiery Dragon’s Breath rounds.

Co-op

Alongside the single-player campaign there will be some form of stand-alone co-op mode, offering support for up to four players online. There will also be an option for two players to play offline split-screen. Treyarch is keeping shtum about whether or not World At War’s Zombies will return, but given how immensely popular that game mode was, it seems likely.

Pacing

The Huế-set stage was typical balls-out, it’s all-gone-to-Hell CoD chaos, but Slaughterhouse shows that we’ll be getting at least one sneaky, softly-softly assignment. True, that mission did eventually turn into a rampant bullet festival, but supposedly that was because the demo player decided to “go loud”. Treyarch claims that you’ll be able to maintain the stealth for most of the mission, although we’ll have to see for ourselves how viable this approach really is.

New Ideas

For the first time ever in a Call of Duty game, the playable characters will have a voice of their own. True, we’ve not heard them say much of note beyond an excited “Holy s**t!” during W.M.D., but it’s an interesting development nonetheless. The Blackbird section of Slaughterhouse also had something approaching an RTS element, with the player guiding a four man squad into cover and away from a hostile convoy.

Developer pedigree

While World at War didn’t get quite the same rapturous critical reception that greeted Modern Warfare and its sequel, it was still a damn good game in its own right; WaW was also the fourth most played game on Xbox LIVE in 2009. Given that Infinity Ward is effectively out of action for the time being, Black Ops offers a real chance for Treyarch to assert itself as the King of Call of Duty.