Call of Duty: Black Ops - Exclusive Preview (1/2)
By James Farrington (10.12.10)
In Toronto this past week I was given an in-depth look at “Call of Duty: Black Ops” in 3D. I did not get any hands-on play with the game but was shown the new 3D tech in a lengthy demo with Jay Puryear of Treyarch.
| The first level from the sigleplayer campaign I was shown is called “WMD” and the demo began with the player controlling a pilot climbing into an SR-71 spy plane and taking off. The player controls both the pilot of the plane and some ground troops the pilot is guiding from the SR-71. From the spy plane the player looks at the ground troops through a view screen/camera and places markers for the ground troops to follow. However it looks like the game expressly tells the player where to place the markers. From the plane the player can also order the ground team to take out enemy targets. In moments of heavy action the perspective switches to the ground team and brief gun battles play out with silenced assault rifles. Throughout this part of “WMD” the perspective switched multiple times from the pilot to the ground team with a cool zoom-in and zoom-out effect. The 3D in this level was not that pronounced except for the joystick of the plane noticeably “popping” out from the screen during take-off and the view screen the pilot looks through also seemed to have added depth. |
Next I was shown another section of the “WMD” mission that followed a ground assault on a control room in a snowy mountainous environment. This section of “WMD” also showcased some stealth gameplay and a new silent weapon: the scoped crossbow. There are a few cool sections in “WMD” involving repelling down a cliff face leading to a slow-motion assault on a small structure that involves swinging/smashing through a window to take down the enemies inside quickly and silently. After the stealthy infiltration an all out assault on a control room ramps up the action. A brief defense scenario follows the assault where the player has to defend themselves from a few waves of enemies.
The control room scene is then followed by a thrilling jump off the side of a mountain—cool stuff. I was also shown the new “dive to prone” move during “WMD.” This new maneuver sends the player controlled character diving from a standing position directly into prone. Dive to prone also works in a stealth situation as the move was used during the demo to avoid detection from a guard with a dog. I should also note that dive to prone is present in multiplayer. The 3D in this section of “WMD” works well with the scope of the crossbow really popping out from the screen and certain particle effects have added depth. A scene where the player pulls out several heavy-duty electrical cables looked particularly cool with sparks spraying off the screen. |
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