For the first time since World at War, Call of Duty finally allowed itself a beta. Running primarily for people who pre-ordered the game, it was initially scheduled for just a few days; however the folks behind the scenes not only extended the runtime of the beta, but also eventually made it open to anyone with a passing interest. Along with the opportunity to stress test the servers a little more rigorously, it also gave the community a chance to have their own say in regards to balancing issues and potential glitches. With this foresight, can the people at Treyarch improve it?
As in all recent Call of Duty games, there’s more than just the multiplayer and campaign to work through. Black Ops 3 is no different; in fact it might well feature the most content in the series to date. A quick checklist includes the main campaign, the multiplayer, zombies, a free running time trial mode, dead ops arcade and nightmare mode which is basically the campaign, but with normal enemies replaced by zombies, which is surprisingly much more difficult.
The main campaign is often a solid place to start, letting you learn the games’ new mechanics whilst enjoying many an elaborate set piece. Whilst not directly carrying on from the previous Black Ops storylines, it does feature certain narrative ploys that are indicative of the past Treyarch titles. There’ll be out of body experiences, supernatural entities and a foreboding sense of mystery culminating in a ‘what the hell just happened’ finale. It doesn’t turn out to be the most original story out there, and if I’m honest, some of the script work was more than a little cringe worthy at times too.
But that’s not to say I didn’t have fun, along with the potential for four player co-op at all times, there’s also an RPG system that lets you create loadouts and unlock abilities such as the incendiary fireflies or temporary invisibility. Along with customising what you take into a mission, you can also change your appearance and gender too; whilst there isn’t an enormous selection of choice, each ‘face’ is animated and rendered beautifully in-game. The only real issue here is that a lot of the abilities in each tree do the same sort of thing; I don’t particularly need multiple ways of briefly disabling robots when one of them simply destroys them outright. I would rather have had just a few that are easier to switch between as opposed to a slightly clunky selection wheel.
Onto the multiplayer then, and so far so good it seems. Even with the 3D movement, importantly it still feels like a Black Ops title, yes you’ll occasionally get shot from above by some ninja but it’s much less stressful than how it happened on Advanced Warfare. Every gunfight doesn’t escalate into who can boost jump and aim at the same time, essentially meaning that whoever bought a Scuf controller had a sizable advantage. Fluidly wall running around and across the map can indeed create interesting angles of opportunity, but it feels more like a useful method of map traversal than a way to win gunfights. Chaining together several walls before gliding effortlessly through a window to finally kill ‘that guy’ with an LMG is oh so satisfying when it happens, but the majority of fights start and end firmly on the ground.
The weapons themselves feel suitably distinguished from each other, whilst still keeping the archetypal format of single shots, burst fires and fully automatic variants. Thankfully it seems there’s going to be a greater focus on Assault Rifles and SMG’s once again, however that’s not to say that the other categories are useless. It’s more a case of, if you want to achieve a one shot kill, you’ll have to work a little harder. Sniper’s seemingly have little to no aim assist anymore, hopefully severely cutting down the times you’ll lose a fun fight in close quarters with one. And after recently jumping on Black Ops 2’s Nuketown, that’s a must.
Whilst most of the multiplayer offerings are fairly familiar, besides of course being able to run on walls and fire guns underwater, there are also a few new additions that feel pretty significant. Namely the Specialists, no longer are you a nameless grunt online; instead you pick a character and decide whether you’ll want to use their offensive or defensive power in-game. Much like a ‘support scorestreak’ (which aren’t a part of Black Ops 3) you’ll fill your specialist meter over time; with kills, assists and objective play further reducing the time it takes to earn. It’s an interesting concept, yet it can add an extra layer of chaos to the already frantic matches.
There are already more than enough ways to frustratingly die in Call of Duty, whether it’s being sniped at shotgun range or people sitting in dark corners for the entire match, sometimes death can feel a little cheap. Unfortunately, some of the offensive Specialist weapons only add to this, the ‘Tempest’ and the ‘Annihilator’ are prime examples of more one shot kill frustrations. Whereas the other, defensive powers such as ‘Glitch’ which teleports you back to where you were standing before add a whole new layer of meta game. It’s also encouraging to see people using the defensive ones just as much as the others. There’s a lot of variety in them and being able to see the character in-game and know what they could do feels like another level of the learning process.
Most of the maps on offer are incredibly well designed and the classic ‘three lane’ style is commonplace. Once you’re competent at the wall running and thrust jumping, you can often find many sneaky, alternate routes tucked away that might help too. In some cases, it’s possible (although not entirely useful) to almost complete a lap without touching the ground leading to many ‘learning the ropes’ style private matches. It’s far from Advanced Warfares’ chaotic nature and seems to reward skill when traversing the areas instead of brute speed. As always there are some purposefully tedious head glitch spots on each map, but you soon learn to flank around them by taking the longer, yet often safer route. Each gun feeling genuinely unique certainly helps with keeping things constantly fresh and it’s good to see people using all kinds of attachments and perks due to the removal of Lightweight and Toughness from the game too.
Shadows of Evil is your one stop shop for zombies this year, and thankfully, it’s a good one. On top of adding a levelling system, you can also unlock attachments and camos for weapons too. New temporary power ups come in the form of GobbleGum’s and once again, you can customise a pack of five before a match. One thing to note before jumping in and getting slapped senseless by round four, is that due to the ever intriguing zombies storyline (of which I won’t spoil here) you don’t have any thrust jumps or anything crazy; sliding on your knees is about as close to advanced movement as you’re really going to get here. It might feel a little jarring of a transition between modes, but it’s the classic experience everyone knows and loves. Besides futilely having a clueless stab at the main ‘Easter egg’ and seeing how long you can survive for, there’s also plenty new content to explore along the way. You’ll grab new weapons, drink new perks and even turn into an electrifying octopus, and that’s not counting facing off against three-eyed bosses, flying insects and ritual keepers.
So yes, there’s a lot of content in Black Ops 3, so much so that it feels like three unique games in one. The RPG and levelling up system of all three modes, combined with the co-op nature of them all, can make it a tough decision on which one to play. The Specialist weapons are a double edged sword in that they’re irritating to be killed by, but can be fun to use yourself and the story might not be my favourite in the series but the polished design and addictive gameplay all round will keep many, including myself, coming back for more over the next year.
