Ah yes, November is almost upon us, heralding the arrival of both Summer and this years Call of Duty offering. We’re back around to Treyarch this time, meaning we’re in for another Black Ops game. These have been the best CoD offerings of late, so I had high hopes going into this weekends beta on Xbox One. What a fool I was.
The biggest change to this years offering is the inclusion of Specialists, characters that give you a special weapon or ability to help you wreak havoc on the battlefield. I spent most of my time using Prophet and his special weapon Tempest. He was pretty cool. The Tempest is a nice mechanic that shocks the first enemy hit and then spread to others nearby. This netted me more than a few easy triple kills.
I tried a handful of the other Specialists as well but I found Prophet to be the most rewarding of those I unlocked. The addition of “characters” rather than nameless soldiers also opens up a few new possibilities for Treyarch in-game. The witty banter that preceded most games between these characters was a nice touch and reminded me heavily of Evolve‘s pre-game dialogue.
Treyarch have also introduced a focus on always having your weapon ready. This is fairly important as Black Ops III also brings in a whole heap of new ways to traverse levels with wall running and a trusty jetpack. Wall running is fun at first but becomes standard fairly quickly, especially if you’ve played Titanfall (remember that game?). The new boost slide is interesting too but it’s been done before. Play a few rounds of the crucible in Destiny and you’ll find plenty of Hunters sliding up to you ready to shotgun you in the face.
When I first started playing this I failed hard, much like I did in Advanced Warfare. The new mechanics always give these games a steep learning curve, but once you’ve gotten used to them it becomes like any other CoD game. When I eventually got used to the new movement (it took about 5 games) this happened:
Otherwise Call of Duty: Black Ops III is like all other CoD games post-Modern Warfare. After 30 minutes of game time it feels like any other one you’ve ever played. All guns within a class feel generally the same with a pretty comparable time-to-kill. The only things that really vary are fire rate and damage but these all balance out anyway so personal preference reigns supreme.
The knife has been removed from melee combat meaning that melee kills are no longer one hit unless you’re behind your target. That’s a nice touch, but the knife is now an equipable secondary weapon and god damn is it broken. I faced entire teams of people sprinting about and knifing. It wasn’t pleasant.
The game is a huge let down graphically speaking. It’s a blurry mess most of the time, but at least they’ve ventured away from the browns and grays on some of the multiplayer levels. The levels themselves are designed pretty well with Evac being my favourite. The new movement type does draw attention to the flaws in level design though with a few “Why can’t I go there” moments.
Overall, Black Ops III is just another CoD game with a sprinkling of new content. Despite this it will likely be a top seller for this year. Hooray.
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