‘COD: Black Ops 3’ Announces ‘Free Run’ Mode, Loyalty Rewards, And 11 Multiplayer Modes At Launch
Treyarch hosted another Black Ops Friday livestream today to discuss more details about Call of Duty: Black Ops III for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and the PC. The developer introduced an all new time trial-type of competitive mode for players to tackle, along with dishing details on how many multiplayer modes will launch with the shooter and more.
Free Run originally started out as a development tool for Call of Duty: Black Ops III for the development team to learn how to build maps around what characters can do with the new movement system. The lead level designer built spaces and made them more and more challenging to discover the limitations of how characters move and best build multiplayer maps. Eventually, other designers started playing a game of “Horse” to see who could make it through the levels without touching the ground. Those came together into Free Run, which is meant to be a fun and challenging way to teach players how to move.
“There’s so much nuance to [the Black Ops III] movement system that isn’t really readily apparent even if you play a lot of multiplayer. There’s so many tiny details that you have to learn that are going to make you a better player. Free Run was developed as a way to push those boundaries, those tiny little details,” Multiplayer Game Director Dan Bunting said in the livestream.
Free Run is a parkour like mode that is slightly reminiscent of Mirror’s Edge. It’s single-player only with the multiplayer feel handled via leaderboards to provide the competitive aspect of trying to best friends’ times through the course.
Black Ops III players will need to manage their thrust meter throughout the course to ensure they don’t run out and can successfully perform all the jumps and wall runs. There are also weapon challenges located in different parts of the course. This requires players to pick up a weapon and shoot targets while on the run. Missing the targets completely incurs a time penalty while taking a shot and missing incurs a one second penalty as well.
Meanwhile, Treyarch confirmed the number of multiplayer playlists that will be available in Black Ops III at launch. There will be 11 “Core” modes total including Team Deathmatch, Domination, Demolition, Kill Confirmed, Hardpoint, Capture the Flag, Search & Destroy, Uplink, and Safeguard. That last one is a new mode that alternates between teams escorting a non-combat robot into enemy territory.
There are still more modes included such as Gun Game and the ability to create Custom Games. That’s in addition to the Hardcore mode Treyarch introduced for Black Ops III last week. This will be available for a limited selection of modes to start, but will be expanded to more modes based on feedback from fans. This mode introduces one shot kills, provides a limited HUD that removes enemy markers, and takes away the mini-map, ammo-counter, and equipment slots.
Black Ops III will also reward players who played previous Call of Duty games such as Black Ops II, Ghosts, or Advanced Warfare based on far they progressed in those games. If you reach level 10 in any of the previous three games, you get a special emblem. Those that reach level 31 and above will get three emblems. Finally, those that Prestiged in any of the three games will receive a special weapon cammo that is made from some of the Prestige icons from Black Ops II.
In order to receive these rewards, players will need to reach the required levels in Call of Duty: Black Ops II, Ghosts, or Advanced Warfare by 9 p.m. PT on November 5, 2015 per the official FAQ. They will also need to link their PlayStation Network, Xbox LIVE, or Steam account to a Call of Duty account by the same time. The loyalty reward will only be available for the PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC versions of Black Ops III.
[Images via Call of Duty]
