Treyarch reveals COD: Black Ops details
"It's time," says developer.
Developer Treyarch believes Call of Duty: Black Ops will finally put the studio on level pegging with IP pace-setter Infinity Ward.
"We've taken some creative risks," studio boss Mark Lamia told Official Xbox Magazine (scanned by WePlayCOD and picked up by VG247). "We want to do something different than we've done before.
"It's time," Lamia added. "We want the game to speak for itself."
Those creative risks Lamia mentioned included letting players pilot helicopters and empty rounds of missiles (the series has previously limited players to manning a mounted mini-gun).
Other vehicles will return but "not in the way you remember them from [World at War]," according to the preview.
In Black Ops, you're an elite soldier on a hush-hush mission with orders to get the job done under any circumstances. The magazine preview mentioned that you will come into contact with North Vietnamese troops at some point.
Another headline new feature is four-player co-operative play. Treyarch revealed that there will be dedicated co-operative servers to power this.
Multiplayer will of course return, and Treyarch appears keen to gain ground in this area. Internally multiplayer was up and running very early, and feedback from World at War has been fastidiously researched.
Matchmaking has apparently been altered to make playing with friends easier, and character creation will use kit and perks to offer more customisation than before.
Treyarch changed the subject when OXM asked about a wave-based Nazi zombie mode.
A multiplayer beta is being "considered".
Last week USA Today took us through a similar opening portion of Black Ops. Details spilled from that preview include the double-viewpoint storyline, revelation of a crossbow weapon and a spot of cliff-hanging.
Call of Duty: Black Ops is due for release on PC, PS3 and Xbox 360 on 9th November.
Head over to Eurogamer's Call of Duty: World at War review for an idea of what Treyarch is capable of.