Call of Duty: Black Ops – First Look

The Cold War generates heat anew in the upcoming Call of Duty: Black Ops, the latest title in a multibillion-dollar video game franchise.

Players spy on suspicious activity while piloting a Lockheed SR-71 recon aircraft over the Ural Mountains; on the ground, they tackle a radar station lodged in the lofty terrain, flurries whipping in the wind. You hear the click-click-click as your character adjusts the sights of his modified military crossbow to take out the enemies. A firefight ensues, then a dizzying rappelling scene and — guns blazing — a feet-first, window-shattering breach of a control room.

In an exclusive preview of one level, game developer Treyarchwanted to demonstrate “the game is epic in scope,” says studio head Mark Lamia. In Black Ops, due Nov. 9 for the Xbox 360, PS3, Wii and PC (not yet rated), “our writers are focused on (a) story that has meaning and character and will be multi-threaded.”

Treyarch’s mission is to match the firepower of megahits Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare and Modern Warfare 2, the first games in the series to move beyond WWII. Activision publishes the series, which has totaled nearly $4 billion since 2003; Modern Warfare 2 has sold more than $1 billion since November 2009, and set a opening-day record for any entertainment launch with $400 million in sales.

Black Ops will be closely watched: It’s the first Call of Duty since Activision fired the co-founders of the original developer, Infinity Ward in March Vince Zampella and Jason West have since sued Activision for royalties and rights to Modern Warfare, and Activision has countersued.

“We don’t spend a lot of time thinking about what is going on outside of what we are doing in the studio,” Lamia says. “The team is working extraordinarily hard to, after many Call of Dutys, really upping our game and making it the best we possibly can.”

Treyarch uses motion-capture technology employed by James Cameron in Avatar. “Instead of individual motion-capture, voice-overs and then facial animations, we actually capture the performances of the actors,” including more realistic facial muscle movement, Lamia says.

Moving the action to the Cold War “offered us diverse locations and conflicts,” Lamia says. “We will stay true to the Call of Duty ethos of taking (characters) around the world and dropping them into hot spots.”