10 of the Best – Call of Duty: Black Ops famous faces

As Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation hits PlayStation Store, here's who to look out for in this star-studded game.

The legendary horror director
The director almost single-handedly responsible for the zombie movie genre pops up in Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation. Playing himself in Call of the Dead mode, George A. Romero is at the helm of a film shoot on a boat when a genuine zombie outbreak threatens to engulf him and his crew.

Romero fights off wave after wave of frostbitten, undead crazies before a shocking twist occurs on the boat, one that'll have you diving behind the sofa...  

The action star
He's experienced life as a blue alien in Avatar, battled artificial intelligence in Terminator Salvation and hacked his way through giant scorpions in Clash of the Titans. Now, Sam Worthington faces something even more perilous: the threat of nuclear war as lead character Alex Mason in Call of Duty: Black Ops.

Listen out for Worthington's harassed tones as he endures interrogation, double-crossing and brainwashing, the effects of which leave a lasting impression in history.

The award winner
CIA agent Jason Hudson, one of the main playable characters in Call of Duty: Black Ops, is a man with a murky past. Ed Harris, the award-winning actor, has spent much of his career playing men who walk moral tightropes. It's no surprise that Harris' voice meshes perfectly with the role of Hudson.

Play as Hudson, the Vietnam veteran now working in the shadows, and you'll get a totally different view of the game, one of conspiracy and sacrifice for the greater good.

The vampire slayer
Buffy undergoes a career change, as the vampire slayer becomes a zombie killer. In Call of the Dead mode, you get to play as Buffy star Sarah Michelle Gellar aboard George A. Romero's ship of the forsaken.

Specialising in handguns and attitude, Gellar makes a long overdue return to screens thanks to Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation.

The Hollywood hard man
One of the most gnarled faces in Hollywood is becoming more recognised thanks to his starring role in the movie Machete. In Call of the Dead mode, play as Danny Trejo doing what he does best: blasting through zombies with a determined grimace and a red-hot trigger finger.

Use a special gun that restores life to the undead, and listen out for his trademark, no-nonsense one-liners. Attention zombies: "You just messed with the wrong Mexican!"

The nightmare killer
The face might not be quite so familiar without the terrifying make-up, yet Robert Englund is one of the true horror greats – although he's more used to invading nightmares as Freddie Krueger than fighting off zombies.

Make those rotting invaders feel like they're trapped in their own Nightmare on Elm Street by picking up a sniper rifle that fires rockets. One, two, Freddie's coming for you...

The rapper and actor  
Hip hop artist and actor Ice Cube plays Joseph Bowman, Mason's right-hand man in Call of Duty: Black Ops. Ice Cube starred alongside George Clooney in the 1999 movie Three Kings as a quiet yet fearless soldier who could be relied upon in tight situations.

True to form, Bowman is also a brooding presence who rarely wastes words when bullets will speak for him.

The born survivor
If anyone is accustomed to the grisly situation in Call of the Dead mode, it's Michael Rooker, better known as Merle Dixon in the US TV series The Walking Dead. Rooker spends the series somehow managing to outrun and outgun the zombie apocalypse, standing him in good stead for the events on Romero's boat.

Rooker is like a bear with a sore head – and destroying these shuffling corpses proves just the tonic.

The rogue commissioner
Batman's staunchest ally, Commissioner Gordon, shows up in the campaign mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops. This time, however, the shield of justice is gone as actor Gary Oldman plays a demented British scientist responsible for a deadly nerve agent.

Keep an eye out for a familiar face from Call of Duty: World at War, too. Oldman also revisits his role in that game when Mason befriends a grizzled old Red Army soldier.

The iconic president
As well being a playable character in the Nazi Zombies multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops, John F. Kennedy is a constant presence in the campaign mode. He authorises missions and archive footage of him sets the tone. At one point you even meet him, as Mason is personally briefed by the 35th US president.

Call of Duty: Black Ops even goes so far as offering its own theory of the shooting of JFK in a haunting finale.

Familiarise yourself with the shadowy world of 1960s conflict in Call of Duty: Black Ops, then get set for zombie-splattering action by downloading Call of Duty: Black Ops Escalation to your PlayStation 3 from PlayStation Store.