‘COD: Black Ops 3’ Delivers In Multiplayer, Underperforms In Campaign

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 made a blockbuster entrance to the gaming community on November 6, reportedly making $550 million in its opening 72 hours. But amidst the hype on the Call of Duty:Black Ops 3, did the game really deliver? Was it able to live up to the expectations of the gaming community?

Visually, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is quite a phenomenon, and is of course the most stunning in the whole Call of Duty franchise. The maps are tons better and more detailed from older Black Ops titles, and with the beautiful steel-colored character running about in 60 frames per second, it is a feast for the eyes. Gadgets 360 ran Black Ops 3 on the PC and were surprised at the results, too. If you plan to savor Black Ops 3 on the PC, Gadgets 360 recommends to run at 2560×1440 pixels or even 1920×1080 pixels, if you’re not too fussy about the graphics. This provides smoother gameplay, and could bump the game to as high as 125 frames per second.

On to the more important aspects of Black Ops 3, reports are coming in and are united in saying that Black Ops 3’s campaign story is severely underwhelming. Well, severely might be a rather harsh word to use, but if you’re running alongside other AAA-titles such as Fallout 4 and Halo 5: Guardians, then you must at least try to compete. Call of Duty’s previous Black Ops titles were tied to a plotline that relies heavily on conspiracy-theory laced plotlines with giant twists. However, with Black Ops 3, the player is left with a huge question mark on the head, unsure what is happening and how to proceed.

Black Ops 3 started with a 100 percent human main character in the year 2070, working alongside cyborg humans and robots. However, a catastrophe befalls our Black Ops 3 protagonist and this results to him/her having to result to technological hullaballoo to be able to survive. While the main idea of Black Ops 3 was very interesting, big on artificial intelligence, immortality, and what it means to be “human,” Black Ops 3 ultimately failed to delivery on its storytelling. With the huge amount of information to take in in terms of plot setting and background information, which is bombarded on the player through loading screens, Tech times feel that the player is left lost and unattached to the Black Ops 3’s story line.

While the Black Ops 3’s campaign gameplay is all very interesting, since new abilities are possible thanks to cybernetic augmentations, the campaign bit only feels like a long preparation for the multiplayer mode. Albeit a little slow and unmoving, the campaign is still worthwhile to finish, especially taking into consideration that it will be setting the whole of your Black Ops 3 multiplayer experience. To distract yourself from the lackluster plot of Black Ops 3’s campaign mode, better invite 3 more of your friends for an online co-op play to take advantage of the beautiful and unpredictable gameplay Black Ops 3 has to offer.

The true gem of Black Ops 3 lies in its multiplayer. Choosing among various Specialist characters is a thrill, and creating various gameplay possibilities with the new Specialist abilities is just pure joy. Wall-running and thruster jump mechanics are also a joy to play with, providing numerous tactical possibilities. With the intricate maps designed with the new mechanics in mind, it’s a fresh take on the Black Ops 3 that players will be delighted to explore.

And even though Black Ops 3 failed to deliver a variety of new and radical modes, the Safeguard and Zombies mode are two gems that Black Ops 3 could polish up some more. The Zombie mode is a good choice for Black Ops 3, creating what once was just an Easter egg in World at War into a full-pledged mode. But even though the game is tons of fun with a lot of unlockables to work for, it could use some more work in terms of the pacing of the whole game, to make it stand out as a real runner amidst countless sterling Horde modes out there. But what makes it so beautiful is, again, the possibilities you can try. There’s always another path to take and another weapon to try to survive just a bit more.

Safeguard is also another challenging new mode in Black Ops 3, pushing players to really work the team harmony to achieve victory. While it takes up more time and effort to play, especially on huge maps, it’s an escort mode that is so much better than escort modes lying out and about, notes Lazy Gamer.

Overall, the multiplayer mode of Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 really saved the game’s underwhelming plot line. With hours of fun and bloodbath waiting to be played out, shelling out the $59.99 is really worth it.

[Images via Activision]