Call of Duty has always been known for its summer blockbuster esque campaigns, it has intense battles, great characters, and huge awesome set pieces and memorable moments. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 takes some of these elements and mixes it with a dark, brutal campaign with deeper meanings if the player pays close enough attention. The only games that have ever touched on these subjects are probably the first two Call of Duty: Black Ops games and Spec Ops: The Line. The story delves into the psychological trauma and horrors of war and how the government and technology are more dangerous than we think.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 kicks off by putting you into the shoes of your nameless custom created character who is tasked with rescuing a prisoner from a military base with your CO, Jacob Hendricks. You are then introduced to an elite squad of characters led by John Taylor (Played by Christopher Melonie from Wet Hot American Summer and Law and Order), who used to fight alongside Hendricks. This squad has a DNI (Direct Neural Interface) chip in each of their brains that connects them all together, whatever one of them sees the rest can see as well. The DNI also records what people have seen in the past, so say you need information about a terrorist attack, you track down the terrorist or someone who knows where the terrorist is and you basically suck all of their memories out of their brain and now you have all of their memories and any information they might have about the terrorist attack however the person you just got those memories from will now die a pretty vicious death and you may see things you really don’t want to see.
Events eventually transpire and you and Hendricks now have DNI chips in your brain and you have special abilities that allow you to take out enemies in numerous ways which opens up a variety of different ways to play the campaign, I still haven’t experimented with all the abilities but that’s because a lot of them are kind of throw away or I can’t mix and match the ones I want. All of the cyber core abilities are separated into three categories, Chaos, Martial, and Control. Each category has quite a few really awesome and useful abilities, but you can’t mix and match between categories, you select the one category you want before each mission and your stuck with it. It only allows for one strict play style in that play through, if I wanted to feel like the ultimate bad ass I should be able to mix and match to create my ideal loadout like in Dishonored but I can’t and it really kind of ruined it for me and I only stuck to the Chaos abilities because those are the ones I used the most. Not to mention, when you’re switching between the abilities you have in game, the game doesn’t pause or slowdown like when you switch weapons in GTA 5, it kills the momentum and fluidity of what’s going on around you. You just stand in the open and look through this clunky menu while enemies rain grenades and bullets upon you. You can level up your character in campaign and once you reach level twenty you can use all of the abilities whenever you want but the problem is you won’t reach level twenty unless you beat the game roughly one and a half times on hardened or two + times on lower difficulties. It really is a questionable design choice that has no benefit to it anyway whatsoever.
Another questionable design choice is that you have to equip a perk in your loadout to wall run and use your thrusters, which is a core function in multiplayer that is equipped by default in multiplayer, so when I was playing the campaign and had no idea I had to equip stuff to wall run until almost halfway through the game I was a bit frustrated. It takes away from the flow and momentum of the new movement system.
Throughout the campaign, you will obviously use these abilities to take down the overwhelmingly large amount of enemies in the levels. It took me roughly 15-20 hours to beat the game on Hardened by myself and there were so many times I just wanted to punch a wall because of all the enemies, some of which are robots who aren’t scared of you and just walk towards you because they know they’re disposable enemies so they will just walk towards you and it’s incredibly overwhelming because some of them are legit bullet sponges. Sometimes it felt like the game was trying to make me slow down by throwing large amounts of enemies or bosses at me, like it was saying “Hey, you’re moving a bit fast we don’t want you beating this game too quickly so here’s 100 robots to deal with for a few minutes!”. There is literally a section in the game where robots continue to spawn and you just have to push through them while a boss tries to gun you down at the same time, I’ve never had this much frustration with a Call of Duty game on Hardened and I kept just thinking to myself, what is the reason for this? Are the trying to make me feel like that technology is taking over and the robots are going to replace human infantry? It’s a cool idea, and one that might work if done right but Black Ops 3 doesn’t really nail that idea because I just end up frustrated after dying six times in a row instead of actually thinking about the reasons the story might have for this endless horde of robots.
Call of Duty has always been about immersing the player in an awesome story surrounded by amazing set pieces, and Black Ops 3 isn’t an exception to that except when you’re playing the new addition of four player co-op. I was skeptical about the co-op from the start, I didn’t want people trying to mess around by killing themselves and than I have to walk over and revive them, taking me out of the experience. That’s mostly what happened when I played co-op, none of us knew what was happening in the story, we were constantly reviving each other and it really took away from the CoD campaign experience I’ve come to know and love. Black Op 3’s story is something you really have to pay close attention to understand, and co-op serves as an incredibly large distraction. Co-op adds nothing to the story and felt like an unnecessary addition.
I’ve been focusing mostly on the negatives, but Black Ops 3 does have a great story to enjoy when played alone and it’s probably one of the best in the series. I don’t want to talk too much about it because it’s hard not to spoil it, but if you enjoy a good dark, brutal story about war, loyalty and friendship, and technology than I can’t recommend this enough but I can’t promise you won’t be confused by the questionable design choices or get frustrated by how difficult the game can get.
Multiplayer is one of the most defined features in the Call of Duty franchise. Black Ops 3 manages to create new additions that expand upon multiplayer without revoking its core mechanics that are so loved. It does an excellent job merging the feel of Black Ops 2 with that of Advanced Warfare in order to create an optimal mixture between the two. You will need to play more tactically than usual in order to stay alive, constantly checking corners and doubling back, and the new boosting power is the most developed yet.
As you hold “A” your boost depletes, but will refill after a few seconds. Certain perks will accelerate the recharge process. The boost can be used to gain access to high places, to slide quickly across the ground, or to wall run along flat surfaces. You can fire your gun at any time, making it ever more important to be constantly aware of your surroundings. It is a great feeling to slide into an enemy’s legs, finishing him with a melee.
Unfortunately wall running is not executed as well as it is in Respawn’s Titanfall, in which I felt grounded, almost attached to the wall, like it and I were one and the same. It is satisfying to traverse across almost the entire map in Titanfall, downing enemies as you go, but in Black Ops 3 I felt as if I was punished, not rewarded, for wall running, shot down immediately due to being in plain sight. I didn’t feel that same sense of exhilaration or power as I ran across the side of a massive steel structure.
Furthermore, the maps in Black Ops 3 felt uninspired to me, at least for a game that focuses so much on “futuristic movement”. There are some quite interesting ones. Aquarium and Combine are great, and Redwood is reminiscent of the Star Wars planet Endor, populated with large trees and small army outposts. However, it feels like none of these maps were designed with mobility in mind. Places that are wall run accessible feel tacked on, and most maps are too big to move across quickly, even with boost capabilities.
The guns, however, feel smoother than ever, and aiming and firing is a breeze, with no deadzone lag and ease of control. You start with few but powerful weapons, and can level up to gain access to even greater ones. The starting assault rifle, the KN-44 Auto, is a very solid choice, even at later levels. Assault rifles and SMGs are definitely the favored weapons in general, but shotguns, pistols, launchers, and sniper rifles are all also present. I did find that the shotguns were fairly underpowered, especially considering the massive size of the maps. There were few close range quarters in which a shotgun could be proved useful.
Customizability is still a huge part of the multiplayer experience, and there will always be some modification or perk that grasps your attention and clamors for a chance on the battlefield. Numerous attachments can be unlocked as you play, and it’s important to balance your loadout since you can only equip so much at a time. Perks and scorestreaks are also present, as usual, and I liked choosing different ones depending on my current playstyle. Certain perks and scorestreaks are better for snipers and others are better for those who like to rush in gung-ho.
Each weapon can be personalized with its own camouflage, which are earned by achieving certain thresholds throughout the campaign, multiplayer, and zombies modes. Lower tiered camos can be earned by, say, getting 100 head shots with a certain gun, while higher tiered camos can only be obtained by performing some secret task. You will also earn cryptokeys as you play online. 10 keys will unlock a common case with common or rare camos and 30 keys will unlock a rare case with even better ones. Keys can only be earned by playing. That is, they can not be bought with real money. Also, all skins are cosmetic only. There are no unfair advantages in using one skin over another.
Specialists add novelty to the multiplayer experience. You play as a specialist, and choose one of two abilities to employ in a game, which vary depending on the specialist selected. These abilities charge up as time passes, but charge faster as you gain points, completing objectives or getting kills. Abilities range from weapons, such as a bow with explosive arrows or a flamethrower to perk like skills, such as “vision pulse”, which illuminates nearby enemies, or “glitch”, which propels your character back to a recent location in a bad situation. I enjoyed unlocking specialists as I played, and I felt like their abilities were accessible so rarely that they did not interfere with the main multiplayer gameplay.
This year Treyarch, the original creator and master of zombie mode, has returned with the new map, Shadows of Evil. Zombies is different this time around, and that’s a good thing. Rather than return to an era of nazi zombies, Treyarch has formulated a fictional American location from the 1960s, called Morg City. Inspired by classic film-noir and brought to life by gorgeous set pieces and smooth jazz music, Morg City is breathtaking. It’s incredibly easy to get eaten alive by zombies on the first round just admiring the work put into it. The theme is sin and punishment, and all four playable characters are reflected thus. A murderous dancer, a rogue detective, a cheating boxer, and a twisted magician are brought together to pay for their sick murders. They must pay with their lives, surviving onslaught of zombies until they cannot last any longer. Each character is voice acted perfectly, and each responds to a situation with different lines and moods.
Shadows of Evil is *challenging*. Winding alleys and narrow roads can easily become your grave, and the infamous pack-a-punch machine is locked behind an ultra challenging conquest of performing 5 rituals. You can occasionally become a tentacled beast, and will need to utilize its abilities to begin these rituals. It takes time and focus to determine the sequences that you must complete with the beast, and you can only use it in limited amounts of time, making for a steep learning curve.
The new zombies mode also adds a leveling up system so that you can customize guns and perks in the form of magic gumballs before every game. It isn’t as in depth a system as the multiplayer, but it certainly isn’t unpleasing to have. I wish that a zombies story mode had been added, especially since Treyarch had hinted about a story in trailers and the like, but alas, no such thing exists. Nonetheless, zombies has taken a step in the right direction. It is challenging, rewarding, and fun. I definitely suggest you coordinate with three others, either online or via split screen.
Speaking of split-screen, I was ecstatic to find that Treyarch remembered those of us who still enjoy local parties just as much as online ones. All three game sections of Black Ops: campaign, multiplayer, and zombies can be played via two player split-screen online or four player split-screen offline. Of course, the frame rate drops significantly when playing in split-screen, but this is expected, and the option to play with other people all on one console is appreciated nonetheless. I have good memories playing four player split-screen gun game in the original Black Ops, and I’m glad that Treyarch decided that it was worth the time to keep that available.
Summary
Overall, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a great game despite its flaws. The campaign could be more but still manages to be a great experience if you look past the first few missions. Multiplayer is a blast and makes up for the inadequacies found in Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare. If you’re a fan of Call of Duty, this will appeal to you. While the formula doesn’t take risks, it still works. We could judge this game based on innovation or other changes but the fact of the matter is that it’s fun and that is what is reflected in our score. You’ll enjoy it.
Cade and Tristan is a shared byline ICXM used for 1 article co-authored in 2015 covering game reviews. See the individual contributor profiles for the writers behind these collaborations.