Black Ops lets you actually control that SR-71... but to say that is probably a bit misleading. It's hard to say what real control you'll have over the action (since the assembled media was merely watching someone else play the game), but after a lengthy suit-up and runway sequence, an on-screen prompt actually commands you to pull back on the left stick to make the plane fly. From there, it looks like things are on auto-pilot--it's probably safe to assume that you won't be doing any serious flying. Once you're up in the air, you'll be checking out enemy targets and letting a ground-based strike team know when it's safe to move up. After a few minutes of that, though, control switches to a man on the snowy surface, armed with a crossbow. Obviously, that's handy for stealth kills, but a quick switch to explosive-tipped bolts makes the crossbow a bit... more destructive. Later portions of this sequence showcased rappelling down to get the jump on some unsuspecting commies (or, at least, I assume they're commies) by breaching through a window. Like Modern Warfare 2 before it, this breach takes place in slow-motion.
The other sequence took place in a warmer climate--specifically, it appears to take place in the city of Huế during the Vietnam War. The VC are moving on a CIA facility with what looks and sounds like everything they've got--seriously, it looked like the entire city was exploding around you. The situation starts off bad, with the helicopter you're fast-roping out of getting shot down as you're attempting to get on solid ground. In addition to the aforementioned Dragon's Breath ammo for your shotgun, the player also commandeers a radio. After quickly identifying himself as a Special Operations Group tough guy, the player is then able to call in helicopters to strike against buildings filled with bad guys. This, as you might expect, leads to more explosions.
A lot of this stuff figures into the second piece of video released to promote the game, but there's something about seeing it uncut and in motion that sells it better than any slick piece of edited video can accomplish. It's the framerate that does it, which--for these short sequences, anyway--already appear optimized to hit somewhere near the 60 frames-per-second mark. Treyarch is also promising some form of four-player cooperative play, and you can bet that you'll see proper competitive multiplayer, as well.
It's obviously going to be awhile before anyone can write about a Call of Duty game without bringing up the mess surrounding the extremely loud departures from Infinity Ward earlier this year, but Black Ops already looks like it's ready to rise above that business and move on. A new group of screenshots taken from these two areas has been released by Activision and you'll find them below.
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