#CALL OF DUTY BLACK OPS III REVIEW PS3 SERIES#
Tiny bits like your character exclaiming “I’m heading down below” is how you know you’ve activated an alternate way of doing things.īeing able to play as a female soldier (which I selected) is a first for the single-player mode and feels good, even if many other series have already done this. This isn’t like some huge old-school Halo level (even Halo 5 isn’t like that anymore), but the attempt at choices is refreshing nonetheless. Instead of being limited to a forward-only path like most shooters, the levels have been opened to include sections above and below, as well as with paths to the right or left. The much-touted “play how you want” design is a step in the right direction, regardless of which way players actually choose. Whether it’s opening a door (a welcome change from always waiting for another soldier to open it) or dealing with ammo, the blue button was second only to the triggers. In fact, I don’t think I’ve held down the X button (on Xbox One) more in a CoD game. On the other hand, this does lead to a lot of conveniently placed loadouts. All the future weapons are tied to each soldier, so there’s no more picking up ammo or weapons. The biggest change is subtle but effective. This makes the beginning of the campaign a slog since you can’t really do much beyond moving faster for a short period of time by hitting the right button, which isn’t nearly as cool as nanobot bees. Further, acquiring everything will take nearly the entire first playthrough. In the next mission, nearly all the cool abilities (like controlling nanobot bees) are gone, and you’ll need to earn them back. What I didn’t realize until the later missions is that this was a case of giving players a taste of how it feels to be all-powerful. At first, as I discussed in my review in progress, the potential for cool new abilities is terrific. A host of new abilities can be accessed with a built-in Direct Neural Interface. (Or the third one, after the actual historical Cold War and then in 2025 for Black Ops II.) After an accident leaves a soldier known only as “the player” near death, he (or she) is revived and enhanced. Set in the year 2065, the world is on the brink of a new Cold War. And fun is still on display with every bullet that leaves my assault rifle with a tremendous thud. So with that out of the way, accepting that CoD is now more about options and content than a beautiful look is the key to just having fun. Hallways and other structural staples look bland at times or, worse, like wallpaper patterns. (Maybe a tad crisper.) Facial animations have that annoying rubbery look. When was the last time a mission culminated with a set piece that just had to be seen to be believed? That’s the biggest hurdle for embracing the current-gen installments.īoth Advanced Warfare and Black Ops III look disappointingly older-gen. Still, it’s hard to escape the feeling that this is no longer a series that wows with amazing visuals and spectacle. Black Ops III sports co-op play, a female player option, more cool abilities, and the promise of more player control. A new engine was debuted (finally) and a tighter narrative was featured, as were new futuristic abilities like hacking, EMP grenades, and vertical boosts.Īll of this was a necessary evolution of the series. Last year’s Advanced Warfare starred Kevin Spacey as a power-mad military industrial-complex CEO (is there any other kind in games?), but the real star was new developer Sledgehammer, who joined Infinity Ward and Treyarch as the third Call of Duty maker. (Or this year, thankfully, 9:01pm for those on the West coast.) Like clockwork, every November the newest iteration drops. Then Modern Warfare exceeded expectations, setting a new standard for immersion with tight gameplay, bombastic spectacle, killer graphics, and as a result, record game sales.Ī decade later, CoD still has vets lining up for midnight launches alongside new recruits. Back in the day, Call of Duty 2 was the “you are there” WWII experience on the Xbox 360. Like other franchises, Call of Duty has had a bumpy transition from one generation to the next.
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