Treyarch have kept details of the multiplayer aspect of their latest Call of Duty under a pretty tight lid. As the successor to one of the most actively played multiplayer games this generation, it has some pretty big shoes to fill.

Thankfully, it seems like Black Ops has really big feet.

At a recent press event, Treyarch unveiled their multiplayer system – and it looks like it’ll bring some welcome changes. 5 big ones, in fact.

The first big thing – and new to the series – is the inclusion of multiplayer bots in a mode called “Combat Training,” that has its own progression system. This will be especially beneficial to people who don’t have their consoles connected to the mysterious interwebs, as well as those who’ve just had enough of pre-pubescent jackasses calling them queers. Apparently you can play this mode with friends – effectively giving you actual private games – provided you have at least one bot in the game. This is probably the best news about the game I’ve heard to date, because Modern Warfare 2 quickly put me off, forcing me to play with morons I don’t want to play with.

The game also features a new currency system, called COD points. thankfully it’s not tied to any actual monetary value; instead they’re earned in game as you play, and can be spent on challenges or in Wager Matches, another new addition.

Wager matches are free-form game modes designed to be "adrenaline junkie fun." In a Wager Match you take the COD points you’ve earned and you can gamble it against other players. You’re to place in the top three on the final scoreboard – or you lose your bets.

These are the types of wager matches :

One in the Chamber: In the match everyone spawns in with a pistol, one bullet and three lives. If you kill someone you get to take their bullet. If you fire and miss you’re left with melee.

Sticks and Stones: You spawn with a crossbow, ballistic knife and a tomahawk. If you hit a player with the tomahawk you instantly bankrupt that player.

Gun Game: You get a series of progressive weapons in this match. With every kill you get a better weapon. The first person to progress through all of the weapons wins. If you get knifed you get sent back one tier.

Sharp Shooter: In this mode all players start with the same randomly selected weapon. You get to use that gun for a fixed amount of time and then everyone gets switched out to the next weapon. With each kill you earn a perk and eventually a scoring multiplier.

Here’s a trailer for the Wager Matches.

The game will be getting a theatre mode that sounds like it was pulled straight out of Halo 3. every player gets some storage space on the cloud where screenshots, films and custom game settings can be uploaded. These, along with your recent matches are searchable, viewable and editable. judging by the amount of COD videos on Youtube, this is going to be a pretty popular feature.

The last – and for me most pithy new feature is the ability to decorate your gun with decals, clan tags and the like. You can also create and edit emblems using a Forza-styled livery editor. Completely useless to me, but I’m sure it will make those who play a little more competitively pretty happy.

I’ve insisted that I won’t be getting Black Ops, that I’ve been let down by Call of duty too many times – but Treyarch is really making this game incredibly difficult to ignore. The multiplayer aspects of this game are beginning to sound like they’re unmissable.

Sources : 1up, 1up boards