Black Ops

Call of  Duty: Black Ops

Call of Duty: Black Ops is a 2010 first-person shooter video game developed by Treyarch and published by Activision for release on November 9, 2010.

Officially announced on April 30, 2010, the game is the seventh installment of the Call of Duty series and the third game in the series to be developed by Treyarch.

It was initially only available for pre-order on PC, Xbox 360, and PlayStation 3; however, Activison has since confirmed that it will also be released for the Nintendo Wii.

In Japan, Black Ops will be published and distributed by Square-Enix.

Gameplay

The game features new equipment for the series, such as a scoped crossbow with different kinds of ammunition as well as Dragon’s Breath rounds for shotguns.

The throwing knife has been replaced with a ballistic knife.

During the campaign, the player will pilot aircraft: an SR-71 Blackbird and a Hind helicopter have been confirmed.

The dismemberment feature, showcased only in Call of Duty: World at War, can be seen in the teaser trailer, and appears to have been made more detailed and violent.

In multiplayer modes, vehicles will return but with a different handling to that in World at War.

Some PC specific features that were taken away from Infinity Ward’s Modern Warfare 2 will return, such as lean and dedicated servers.

“Create-a-Class 2.0″ will allow enhanced customization with appearance items as well as the usual perks.

New killstreak rewards include a napalm strike, an RC explosive car and guided missiles.

Also, for the first time in the series, players will be able to record and save clips from online gameplay.

Setting

Black Ops is set in multiple wars between 1968 to 2010.

Players take the role of black ops operators involved in missions behind enemy lines, taking place in various locations in the Cold War such as the Ural Mountains, Laos, Cuba, Vietnam, and 1980′s Iran.

As SOG operators, playable characters will have much more significant roles on the battlefield than their previous counterparts who were often common soldiers. In this way, the player characters will have their own traits such as voices (during in-game sequences) and shadows.

Black Ops is a direct sequel to Call of Duty: World at War and one of its main characters Reznov (the sergeant during the Russian campaign) returns.

Development

In May 2009, publisher Activision was rumored to be looking for licensing regarding Vietnam War-era music which led to speculation that Call of Duty 7 would be set in Vietnam.

In May 2009, Treyarch employee David Kim revealed on his LinkedIn profile that he will work as a senior animator on Call of Duty 7.

In November 2009, only a few days before Modern Warfare 2′s release, Activision officially announced a new Call of Duty title for 2010 through their third quarter financial call.

In February 2010, a casting call for Call of Duty 7 led to speculation that the game would be taking place during the Cold War era with some battles taking place in South Vietnam.

On April 30, 2010, Black Ops was officially announced.

Treyarch is working only on the game and nothing else currently, unlike past practice. However, it has different teams, each working on separate game modes.

Treyarch is using a motion capture technology similar to the one used in James Cameron’s film Avatar, which allows accurate facial expressions, capturing the whole performance of the actor.

The studio also consulted special forces veterans from both belligerents of the Cold War: Major John Plaster (US Army-Ret.) who served in the MACV-SOG during the Vietnam War, and former Soviet special forces operative Sonny Puzikas.