A few months ago, Megabits of Gaming was asked to contribute a monthly column in Charged Middle East – a leading Dubai-based gadgets and games magazine that provides news, reviews and features on the latest home and consumer electronics.

Each month, Megabits takes a look at a new release in a gaming franchise and considers how its evolved over the years and what makes it great!

Here’s the first of the articles from the December 2010 issue. For more about the magazine, check out its Facebook page after the jump.

Hot on the heels of EA’s first foray into modern day combat with its Medal of Honor franchise, November saw the much-awaited release of Activision’s Call of Duty: Black Ops. US developer Treyarch – the brains behind Call of Duty 3 and Call of Duty: World at War – takes the reigns for the latest outing, hoping to surpass the astronomical sales seen Modern Warfare 2, the biggest selling title in the series’ history.

Virtual war is clearly big business. Black Ops’ predecessor amassed sales of over $1bn within just a few months of its release, and gamers have spent billions of hours online to keep it top of the most played charts. The launch trailer suggests that Black Ops is going to be bigger and better than ever before – new environments, weapons and vehicles, all accompanied by Treyarch’s typical grittiness and gore.

Award-winning actors Gary Oldman and Ed Harris lend their voices to the game – the former reprising his role as Viktor Reznov from World at War, with Harris cast as one of the main characters, CIA operative Jason Hudson. And what’s more, the zombies return to liven up proceedings.

It’s all quite a contrast to the series’ humble beginnings in 2003. Back then, World War Two was the theatre and the British, US and Russians were the players. There were no FAMAS assault rifles, sentry guns or UAVs – just good old rifles and pistols.

It’s inevitable it will be a huge success as it sticks closely to the original’s winning formula: the combination of its trademark arcadey feel with a strong narrative and immersive graphics and sound. The franchise doesn’t claim to be a tactical shooter like Codemaster’s Operation Flashpoint games, nor does it add paranormal elements like the Wolfenstein series – every edition is simply a fantastically atmospheric wartime shooter that’s forgiving on its lower difficulty settings but reassuringly frustrating on its toughest. WWII-based Call of Duty took you through 24 missions across four interconnected campaigns – but there was plenty of variety to keep things interesting, from large-scale frontal assaults to stealth and vehicle missions.

What’s more, you could almost justify the many hours wasted playing it by saying that you were actually learning something thanks to the authenticity of its weapons and environments. The pacing was unparalleled, putting you right in the midst of the D-Day landings, or the epic battles in Stalingrad and Berlin.

Perhaps its charm and longevity comes from its pick-up-and-play appeal; it’s not necessary to contort your fingers into some inexorable position to master the controls. Or maybe it’s the fact that once the compelling single player story-led component is complete, gamers can rest assured that they will get their money’s worth through the exhaustive online multiplayer options.

From your typical Death Match mode to the Capture The Flag or Free For All games, there was plenty to keep you coming back for more, as you pit your wits against others from across the globe. As the sales of its series suggest, this war-themed FPS somehow manages to bring people together unlike any other game.

All too often, titles are dubbed “Classics” or “Must Haves” but few would bet against Black Ops quickly shooting to the top of the charts. It may be set in the depths of the Cold War but it’s certainly the most hotly-anticipated title of the year.