The three-dimensional craze isn't going to stop any time soon as Activision announced that Call of Duty: Black Ops will be 3D compatible on every system (Xbox 360, PS3 and PC with the proper NVIDIA chipset) when it launches on November 9.

I got the chance to swing by the W Hotel in San Francisco last week to check out Black Ops in 3D. While I'm not a huge fan of having to wear glasses to get the 3D effect, there's no denying that Call of Duty uses the technology as well as any other game I've seen.

An Activision representative showed me two campaign levels in full 3D glory: WMD (a level that we've been seeing since E3) and Numbers (something brand new). If you haven't seen WMD, then you probably haven't seen much from Black Ops at all. It features the SR-71 spy plane and a bit of recon elements as you direct troops from above, but the benefits of 3D didn't make themselves known until later in the level when the player-controlled character landed on the ground. There were two instances that really wowed me when it came to showcasing 3D. The first was when the scoped crossbow made its first appearance. The effect of the scope was so awesomely pronounced that I felt like I could actually look see inside of it when the gun was in the standard "fire from the hip" position. The glass was noticeably recessed from the metal encasing of the scope and the depth was a cool showcase.

A familiar sight in WMD.
The other instance occurred during explosions. Particle effects really do jump off the screen given the right situation. Sparks and bits of shrapnel looked great in my time with the game and given how many explosions there are throughout any Call of Duty game, I'd say that's a pretty important effect to get right. Thankfully Treyarch seems to have done exactly that.

Now, I could go into a lot of detail about the new level called Numbers, but I won't. I don't want to spoil any of the story for you diehard fans out there. So instead what I'll do is give you a teaser of the tone that Black Ops is trying to set. The beginning of Numbers opens with an interrogation. More accurately, it begins with a player-controlled interrogation. As you beat on your prisoner trying to pry information out of him, your character notices a glass window to his left. An on-screen prompt appears so you can interact with the panes, which I immediately assumed would allow your character to smash the prisoner's head through the glass. Not so. Instead, pressing the left trigger allows your character to punch the glass himself and remove a single shard. "Maybe he's going to cut the captured soldier ever-so-slowly", I thought. No, instead he inserts the shard into the poor bastard's mouth and proceeds to bludgeon either side of his face as the razor sharp object slices the inside of his mouth causing him to shriek in pain. It was gruesomely awesome and set the stage nicely for the rest of Black Ops' intensity.