Ah, this month’s (or was it last month’s?) worst kept secret finally gets an official trailer. Pretty slick stuff so far – the horseback section should be amazingly cool to play if it’s done right. The most amusing thing about the whole future weapons aspect of the trailer and the older guy narrating it was it reminded me of Metal Gear Solid 4 in terms of tone. Maybe that’s just me, but I bet a few other people will make that comparison soon enough…

Anyway, I loved the first Black Ops because even with the darker tone, it was the funniest CoD in terms of the breakneck pacing and crazy bonus content in single player (I didn’t venture online at all). That said, I’m REALLY hoping that Activision doesn’t wall away the fun though a pay system that screws me and folks like me out of an otherwise cool experience. Now, I don’t take the franchise so seriously that I bend over backward to praise everything and not think about the stuff that’s flawed. Nor do I bash the franchise (and other well-made shooters like it) for basically doing the same stuff year after year because, hell, it works. If you’re an adrenaline junkie and love big, crazy roller coaster rides with screams and explosions and splashes of blood mixed in with dead serious storytelling where need be, it’s always been fun to blast through a CoD game over a weekend or so and have a gab-fest the next week or so with friends who’ve also enjoyed what’s been served up.

That said, Hey, Activision! Where the hell is that CoD zombies game compilation? You know, the RETAIL disc one with Call of the Dead, Moon, and every other bit of Zombie content from the series? I say it would sell like hotcakes, especially if you guys rounded up the cast from Call of the Dead and made a new campaign-based game with them appearing as playable characters (single, co-op and multiplayer modes). Get on it and get back to me. No charge for the idea (as usual)!