The most insane COD to date…but is it enough?
It’s that time of year once again, another Call of Duty descends upon us. Some say it shouldn’t be a yearly outing, while others depend on it to get their shooter fix for the holiday season. This time round, Treyarch takes us to the 3rd instalment in the Black Ops saga and what a game it is…
The campaign is the craziest in any Call of Duty by a country mile, it’s a mixture of The Matrix, Assassin’s Creed and every thing in-between…and that’s just for starters. As far as it goes, it’s the most inventive campaign in years and is more than welcome. It will feel familiar to just about everyone who has played a COD game in the past few years, but there’s something unique about it that makes it stand out from the others, it’s hard to put your finger on…but this is definitely a different game from what we’re used to playing.
Multiplayer does feel very familiar though and is where I think most will spend their time, the new maps and customisable options are superb. The different perks and classes really mix things up and let you make your player be whatever you desire. You get the usual game types to try, it doesn’t try and reinvent the wheel…but it does enough to satisfy. Also if you are lucky enough to get the Nuk3town map, there’s a superb Doctor Who reference where shooting the limbs off the mannequins will get them to move when you aren’t looking, just like the Weeping Angels. I’ve included a YouTube video below to show you this and just how creepy it is…
Of course, it wouldn’t be a Treyarch COD without a Zombies mode. Black Ops III obviously has this, even Monster Energy drinks have double XP ringpulls just for the Zombies mode. This one is a little different, it doesn’t have just zombies…but also other monsters thrown in for the hell of it, the 4 characters you play are all killers in some way and have been chosen to endure the nightmare that awaits them. It handles like any other Zombies mode, but there are some differences like the previously-mentioned enemies, but also you can become a beast for a limited time that looks and feels like The Darkness creature from the game of the same name.
There’s only one map for the mode, unless you get the Collector’s Edition and/or Season Pass which lets you get the second and is a remake of Der Riese from World at War and the original Black Ops. Despite that, the first map is more than enough to entertain for now and is a real challenge for newcomers and veterans alike, but one thing is certain..it’s damn fun.
The visuals of Black Ops III are impressive to say the least, the levels, characters and high-octane action all look highly detailed. I did come across a few glitches in the campaign, like frozen enemies and friendly AI that doesn’t seem to acknowledge them in their frozen state, resulting in a need of a “Restart from Checkpoint” to resolve it, but this has only happened once or twice, other than that I didn’t really come across anything else that could be deemed buggy. Voice-acting is well done as in all COD titles, while the soundtrack is also impressive.
The Verdict
Treyarch have outdone themselves this year with what can only be described as the craziest Call of Duty to date. The story is off-the-wall madness, the multiplayer will satisfy fans and the Zombies mode adds a whole new challenge with it’s new enemies and setting. Black Ops III really does feel like a whole new COD, one that I hope we continue to see grow in future instalments.