Eat your heart out Rambo.

As I watched the developer from Treyarch play through parts of Call of Duty Black Ops, I couldn’t help but feel like I was watching a movie, and in many respects, I was.

Call of Duty has become one of the biggest selling game franchises of all-time, and after the wildly popular Modern Warfare 2, the series is back in the hands of Treyarch (Call of Duty World at War), and looks to take the storyline back a few decades but bring the gameplay and experience leaps and bounds forward.

Call of Duty Black Ops is set during the Cold War, and while there was no official time period set, fans of the franchise can expect ultra-realistic missions and an incredible attention to detail. The unique thing about this game is that you are playing during a time period where you are fighting in a war, but the player does not actually fight the war. To make sense of that prior statement, players will delve into a game that uses Cold War concepts as a backdrop while experiencing a 100% original plot, with each mission containing specific missions and narrative.

For the single player experience, the developer let us know that this story is one of the most deep and complex storylines in the history of the Call of Duty franchise. He stated the team has come up with an “incredible narrative,” and that this year’s story focuses intensely on character development.

For instance, for the first time in the franchise, your character has a voice of his own and will interact vocally with other characters throughout the single player campaign.

One of the levels that was showcased was titled “Payback,” and players will have total control of a helicopter as they blow up literally everything in sight.

The graphics were simply stunning, but it was the little details that made the game that much more appealing to me. For instance, players will be able to hear a little alert when missiles are closing in on your helicopter, or players will be able to read the facial expressions of some of the characters in the game as Treyarch implemented Full Performance Capture to help get across the extra emotion needed to have a truly cinematic experience.

FPC is essentially motion capture 2.0, with a more intricate focus on facial movements and subtle body language. To put things into perspective, the company did their motion capture work using the same system, FPC, and at the same facility, House of Moves, as James Cameron used for this silly little independent film about blue people called “Avatar.”

Yeah, that “Avatar.”

As for multiplayer, the people from Treyarch weren’t able to speak too much about it, as there will be a later reveal for the multiplayer aspects of the game, but they did say that there will be a co-op option that features local split screen for two players and up to four players online. They also said that this year the game will focus on giving players “unlimited possibilities for customization” in order to help players create an online identity. This means the Create A Class feature will be amped up as well as socialization and interaction.

Things are looking great for Call of Duty Black Ops, and according to the developer, this is the “best game Treyarch has ever made.” Considering that the last time they took the reins for a Call of Duty title their team of 250 was split across three different titles and now they all focused solely on Black Ops, I’d say that notion is hardly going to be considered an understatement.