It was fully expected that “Black Ops,” the latest game in the “Call of Duty” franchise, was going to sell millions of copies and make hundreds of millions of dollars. Pre-orders for the game were off the charts, even higher than those of its predecessor, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.” Even more impressively, IGN reported that “Black Ops” sold 5.6 million copies and made $360 million in North America and the UK — in one day.

The real unknown about the game was the quality of it. The game was developed by Treyarch, the studio behind “Call of Duty 3” and “Call of Duty: World at War.” The games were pretty good, but never quite matched up to Infinity Ward’s entries into the series, including “Call of Duty,” “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare” and “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2.”

When I first realized that I would have to review “Call of Duty: Black Ops,” I was not very excited. I was afraid that my word limitation wouldn’t give me enough room to say how mediocre it was. Now my worry is that I won’t have room to sing its praises. “Black Ops” delivers a fantastic single player campaign, the return of the insanely fun co-op “Zombies” mode and a perfected version of the multiplayer in “Modern Warfare 2” — making it my surprise game of the year.

The campaign of “Black Ops” actually stands out, which is kind of a rare occurrence in the series. It tells the story of Alex Mason, a Black Ops operative that is being interrogated about his past missions. The story is told through a series of flashbacks, which works very well since the story jumps from time period to time period.

On top of that, Treyarch has captured the finesse of Infinity Ward’s action setpieces and has a slew of its own that is exhilarating.

The campaign is short (my normal playthrough took only five hours), but the story is expertly told and there are some really nice twists that make it the best campaign since “Call of Duty 4: Modern Warfare.”

On top of the campaign, Treyarch put a lot of work into the popular “Zombies” co-op mode from “Call of Duty: World at War.” The normal arcade-style game mode makes a return in “Kino der Toten,” where up to four players take out wave after wave of Nazi Zombies.

Another mode entitled “FIVE” allows up to four players to fend off zombies in the Pentagon by playing as John F. Kennedy, Richard Nixon, Robert McNamara or Fidel Castro. It’s not very different from “Kino der Toten” besides some hilarious VO’s for each character as they slay the undead.

The third mode is called “Dead Ops Arcade,” which is a top-down, twin stick shooter that plays like “Geometry Wars” with zombies. All three modes are great fun to play by yourself or with up to four friends.

The multiplayer of “Modern Warfare 2” makes its return here and is actually improved by small changes. It’s the typical level-up system seen in the past, but has small changes, which includes tweaks to certain perks, the removal of some perks and killstreaks, and the ability to buy attachments for weapons with “Call of Duty Points.” These small tweaks and changes make the multiplayer that much more fun because even inexperienced players can have a chance to do well.

One of the changes that Treyarch made was adding in-game currency called “Call of Duty Points.” These points are earned in multiplayer matches and are used to customize your weapons, your personal emblem and your avatar’s face paint. Instead of these things being automatically unlocked, you can choose how you want to spend your points the way you want. I love my M16, but I’m a terrible sniper. Instead of having a sniper rifle and never using it, I can leave it on the market and spend my points to get awesome attachments for my M16, like my precious Reflex sight.

The other thing that Call of Duty Points adds to “Black Ops” multiplayer is Wager Matches. Wager Matches are multiplayer modes that players pay and entry fee of 10, 1,000 or 10,000 points to wager on their performance in a certain match. If you finish “in the money” (in the top three), you net a profit on that match and get extra points to spend. Finish out of the top three and you lose your entry fee. It’s a risky mode, but it’s a great way to earn points if you finish in the money.

Of these matches, “One in the Chamber” is the highlight. In this mode, players receive a pistol with one shot, a knife for melee attacks and three lives. If you miss your one shot, you must rely on a melee kill. Every kill earns you an extra bullet for your pistol. The last three to survive or have the most points will finish in the money. While there is a lot of camping in the beginning stages of matches, it gets very intense once you get down to the final two or three, especially if you’re still in the game.

Another added feature to “Black Ops” multiplayer is Combat Training. This mode allows newcomers to the series’ online multiplayer to practice their skills against AI and get a feel for “Black Ops” multiplayer and all of its components. This mode is definitely not a pushover; the AI in Combat Training is pretty good depending on the difficulty you put them on. It’s a great way to bring newcomers into online multiplayer. Not only does it teach them about how to play in the match but it gives them a chance to mess around with the different weapons and get a feel for what their niche is. For online multiplayer, especially the competitive Call of Duty version, this can be extremely helpful and save you from obscene ridicule from the ever-so-friendly online crowd.

The final new addition is the brand new Theater mode. It’s set up pretty much the same as the “Halo” theater. The game records your recent multiplayer matches, and you can then go back and watch your performance to see other people’s strategies, assess your own performance or record clips of your sweet kills and post them to your file share for other players to see. This can help you see what you’re doing wrong and make adjustments or increase your bragging rights online.

All of these things amount to an incredible package that shows Treyarch put everything they had into “Black Ops.” The game is not perfect. There is the occasional visual hiccup, along with some problems with infinitely respawning enemies in the campaign and rare hard-crashes. But besides those things, “Black Ops” delivers everything “Call of Duty” fans could ask for and then some. I thought it would be just another “Call of Duty” game, but Treyarch pulled it together and gave shooter fans a reason to answer the call of duty for another year.

SCORE: 9/10