Call of Duty: Black Ops 3

By: Robert Murphy

The original Black Ops was a corner stone for the Call of Duty series as it not only took steps to tell it's own mind bending story with tales of espionage and mystery. As for Black Ops 2, the game offered up an enhanced multiplayer experience rich with some of the first in depth customization players could make to their characters. With all this in mind, I made the leap to see if the third iteration to the series would prove to have some memorable ear mark to it's gameplay just as it's predecessors have had before it.

Starting out with the fan favorite, Black Ops 3's multiplayer experience takes off in a few new directions when it comes to making your own unique character. The same solid customization styling is present and it allows you to upgrade your weapons, perks and other gadgets to your preferred play style. Now however, players can select from a variety of super soldier characters that come with their own abilities to help you gain the edge in multiplayer. Through regular leveling you will be able to unlock more of these characters but are granted a few available characters at the start. It's almost like choosing a hero in League of Legends and with some characters having abilities such as explosive arrows or access to intense kinetic power armor it creates a whole new avenue for players to watch out for. The system of choosing which soldier and switching in between them is quick and simple which helps when changing between various game types that might be better suited to someone else's abilities.

This sense of exploration though is fairly limited as the variety of characters are few and far in between. Each of the base soldiers has two options to choose from such as the Battery who has the choice of either a grenade launcher or the kinetic armor ability that I previously mentioned. This is great because the nine base soldiers become eighteen given that they each have two choices to decide upon but that later unlocks come on so slowly that I felt little need to try them out. I personally found myself ignoring my characters ability half the time and was more focused on the good old running and gunning aspects I've come to know so in the end it just felt like dead weight. The same goes for the final score screen that depicted who came in first, second and third and making a grand show of it, I felt like screaming "get me to my next match, please!"

The maps players will be battling it out on are just as unique as the new characters players will be using. Each map feels balanced with multiple layers to it as well as a variety of ways to travel from point A to point B. One map in particular, Hunted, had had an underwater tunnel leading from inside of it's tropical bungalow to the outside and I hadn't even known it was there until I ran after an enemy inside of it. Popping in and out of the water or jumping over a waterfall onto a nearby bridge was the most exhilarating experience I've had with a map in quite some time. The new wall running functionality is also taken advantage of in each map, lunging to a nearby edge and unleashing bullets while running is a first for my Call of Duty experience and while it isn't wholly new it is incorporated well with the maps you have to choose from here.

Of course, traditional multiplayer isn't the only way to play matches with friends or strangers in Call of Duty these recent years and the classic Zombies mode makes it's comeback. Classic may actually be the term for the zombie horde mission this time around as you and three other members will fight your way through the streets of some sort of noire style crime solving venture called Shadows of Evil. The four characters playing through this escapade being voiced by Jeff Goldblum, Ron Perlman, Heather Graham and Neal McDonough all fight through back alley streets dressed and playing their parts to the "T" but things are not as simple as they once were in previous zombies stories.

There has always been an underline hidden story or objective to be accomplished in the zombie game modes of the past and now it is no different but with the added twist of a few new curve balls thrown into the mix. There is a bit of a learning curve when things first out as you start crammed into a small space trying to figure out what this or that does, I spent about five minutes starring at the new bizarre plant that looked like something out of Little Shop of Horrors. There were also new transformations, automatic player perks and item drops that are hidden throughout the map to unlock the gumball function in the Zombie main menu. After a few matches things start to become more clear and while it is initially confusing, it is a worthwhile experience considering the deranged nature of this now revamped game mode. 

As an added bonus to Black Ops 3's story mode, zombies has made it's way into the story by having it's own zombie mode to playthrough. Once players have beaten the game they're treated to an alternate storyline where instead of a global terror threat there has been a zombie outbreak. The story is paced completely different from the original story but made the chore of going through the main campaign worth the few hours of gameplay.

After a brief attempt at customization the main campaign drags it's way through the usual amount of dog fights and mow down sequences of it's past but not before ripping off every single one of your limbs in a gruesome torture scene. Yes, the first few moments of the campaign are fairly bleak and make a point to mark out how dangerous moving forward into a world of massive communication and robotics could one day become, a message I somehow dug up from the mundane experience I had with this story. The characters, including yourself, are all linear from the get go and never strike out as worth while characters to be spending an entire game chasing after. In attempt to use the success built on the success of Advanced Warfare Christopher Meloni lends his voice and appearance to an in game character but never warrants any attention or provides any memorable narrative like Kevin Spacey before him.

Moments where I was enthralled by the campaign came from the full benefits of cybernetic upgrades. With the simple push of a button players will be able to hack into just about anything their hearts desired and being that the game is based on a future where everything is connected, it covers a lot of ground. Depending on your selected cybernetic load out players will be able to hack into enemy robots, hack their cybernetics, turn their turrets against them or blow up small squadron of drones in an instant. The upgrades were a small joy to behold in sea of sub par enemy encounters and challenges that were presented here.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 makes multiple strides toward trying new things for a series that has seen so many titles over the years and is one that people often may question picking up title after title each year. It's a symptom that many series are currently suffering from and while not everything panned out smoothly, there are glimmers of potential strewn throughout the game that with a little work could prove to be fantastic new additions to the future of the series.

Good:

- Specialist offer a brief but enjoyable aspect to multiplayer

- Multiplayer maps are balanced and beautiful

- Zombies goes in a bizarre yet compelling new direction

Bad:

- Campaign is a chore

- Multiple new ideas are clearly tried here and there but do not pan out

- Multiplayer has little lasting appeal

Scully Rating: 7.0 out of 10