In this iteration, combat has largely become futuristic. Most soldiers carry a short-ranged jetpack and have neural implants that make them into a sort of super soldier. These implants help train the soldiers through historical virtual reality combat as well as disable and destroy robotics. Robotic technology around the world has become the main focus of global military research. Now most, if not all, countries have constructed and continue to utilize robotic drones, soldiers, and other cybernetic systems to conduct war. This results in most countries employing special forces units to wage war behind the scenes, and conventional warfare has largely been phased out.
Unlike in the last two installments of the “Black Ops” sub-series, “Black Ops III” has little connection to the previous storyline, and lacks a branching ending like “Black Ops II.” The characters are stereotypical, but not unbelievable in terms of personality and decision making. Even the player character has a personality with morals and beliefs, albeit ones the player can’t choose him/herself.
Despite these small character drawbacks, the campaign can be exciting as dozens of enemies will fight the player in large rooms and terrains with futuristic scenery. The graphics are good, although not heavily updated. However, Treyarch still manages to pull off a needed next-gen feel that makes the game passable in terms of graphics, producing clean and atmospheric environments.
The gun play in “Black Ops III” is as tight, jerky, and responsive as ever, which makes for a crisp and satisfying FPS experience. Players are able to maneuver their way across the map by running on walls and rooftops as well. The jetpack and free-running allow for quicker, more tactical ways to take down opponents and move across the map.
As players rank up and win matches in multiplayer, they can earn credits. These credits can be cashed in at the Black Market. Ten credits can unlock a “normal” loot chest and thirty can unlock a “rare” loot chest. This is pretty similar in the way crates work in the game “Counter Strike: Global Offensive,” where these crates, once unlocked and opened, will reward the player with uncommon to rare camouflage and paint colors, special weapon mods, and skins/clothing for the multiplayer characters that cannot be unlocked through normal gameplay.
The addition of Specialists in the game makes “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” feel a lot like “Team Fortress 2,” or perhaps the new up-and-coming game “Overwatch,” where the player can select from nine different characters to play as in multiplayer matches, each with their own special abilities and dialogue. This makes for a different experience than any past “Call of Duty,” which is a godsend in a franchise barren of any real innovation or change, even if they’re ripping off of another game’s ideas.
The Zombies game mode hasn’t changed much since the last installment besides how weird it’s gotten. It’s still very much the same in terms of gameplay, and is really a footnote in the game, but players tend to appreciate this mode the most and thus the developers appeared to have sunk a lot of development hours into the mode for their enjoyment. There are several different maps to choose from to fight the zombie hordes, with the simple objective: survival.
There is a wide variety of maps and subsequent game modes in multi-player, each of which are fun in their own way. The most popular is usually Team Deathmatch, but other modes such as Search and Destroy and regular Deathmatch can test the player’s skills in a different way and still be very enjoyable and addicting. The different modes also reside in two larger modes that affect the overall experience: Core and Hardcore. Hardcore mode removes the player’s Heads Up Display (HUD) which shows the player how much ammo he/she has left and the mini map. This mode also makes bullets deal more damage overall. In this mode, players cannot regenerate health like they can in Core. All of these features make the gameplay feel more realistic.
“Call of Duty: Black Ops III” is another “Call of Duty” game. It’s exactly what gamers expected it to be and how it would be received by the community at large. With few positive changes and a story line that has practically nothing to do with the last installment, the only justification for buying this game is the multiplayer and zombie game modes for their addictive and simple nature. It’s very easy for many gamers to simply wait for the price to go down since most won’t pay $60 for something they may play for a week and soon forget. Overall, the game deserves a 2.5/5 for it’s lack of any real innovation. It’s an average game for average gamers, which is largely who publisher Activsion is marketing to, when they should attempt to add substance to their game and give Treyarch the time to make something unique for all gamers.
