Call of Duty: Black Ops III Reviews
Call of Duty: Black Ops III was created in a three-year development cycle and it shows. This is basically five standalone games wrapped into one deep package. While it will have DLC released for it, there's enough content out of the box to keep players busy until the next Call of Duty and probably some time after that. The campaign is perfectly paced and entertaining throughout, the multiplayer is rich with customization and Zombies is refreshingly challenging. The only real black mark is a story teetering on the on the brink of pretension, but the existentialism of it is undeniably fascinating. Jam-packed with meaningful content, Black Ops III is the Call of Duty you've been waiting for.
While three years has given us some time to possibly forget how masterfully crafted Black Ops 2 was, Black Ops 3 is both the biggest and best Call of Duty game we've seen since then.
A phenomenal multiplayer along with a larger, improved zombies mode mean that, although the solo campaign is a slight misstep, Black Ops is the best call of Duty on the current gen consoles.
Campaign is dull and forgettable, but multiplayer is great fun and Zombies has had some real effort poured into it.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a big step forward on multiplayer play, the quality of the single-player story, the imaginative story paths, and the outstanding quality of the wide-open landscapes, and the wide variety of enemies. I suspect that Activision has a very good chance of restoring the series to record levels in comparison to the last couple of years.
Black Ops 3 makes up for a terrible single-player campaign with great multiplayer.
If you'd like to play a limp amalgamation of Deus Ex, Crysis,and BioShock with a multiplayer mode you've been able to play eight times in as many years, then Call of Duty: Black Ops III is definitely for you. For the rest of you, it's just another condom of a game to be spunked into and thrown in the trash.
Ultimately, Call of Duty: Black Ops III hits a lot of targets, but misses some, at times in ways that I struggle to understand. That said, it's fun, fast and it comes nicely wrapped with a ton of content and longevity. If you love first person shooters, you'll most probably sink a lot of hours into this game. It's not a revolution, but I can definitely define Treyarch's labor of love as a positive evolution.
Treyarch's latest instalment in Activision's blockbuster military shooter is packed with content and modes, some better than others
In ye olde days, Call of Duty games would throw a famous quote up on the screen whenever you died, to provide a moment of reflection between attempts. Now that I've laid Blops III to rest, I've found a quote that seems like an echo of my thoughts and feelings. "The crisis consists precisely in the fact that the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear."
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 piles on new ways to play without much concern for quality.
In a way, "Black Ops 3's" landscape of weaponry and corpses and layers of upgrades and economics signal the game's disposability, something meant as kindling in a bonfire of collective obsession and forgetting. Nothing this big and loud is meant to last, but nothing meant to last could bring this many people together.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is an insanely full featured game. If code was a physical thing, this game disc would be bursting at the seams with how much Treyarch has packed onto one Blu-ray. There's a little something for everyone here. Players looking for a dark, rich narrative have the campaign. Competitive players have a whole new way to play in multiplayer. Fans of roguelikes and horde modes have Shadows of Evil. Switching between all of these modes is extremely easy too, and it never felt like I was stuck playing one thing or another. Player freedom, customization, and choice are central to every element. Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 isn't just a great Black Ops game. It isn't just a great Call of Duty game. It's a damn good game overall.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III deserves your time – take a day off work to play. With two campaigns, world-class online combat and a deep and passionate step forward with Zombies (not to mention the fantastic Dead Ops Arcade 2), there is something here for everyone.
Activision's monolithic shooter series returns with a blast of new content and features – but the cracks are showing
No, it's not the best Call of Duty ever made, but the sheer volume of content on display largely makes up for its weaknesses in specific areas. A worthwhile story would have added enormous value to the overall package, but its absence doesn't undermine what is another solid release.
This year's Call of Duty is a mixed bag that will polarize opinion depending in which part of the game you find the most enjoyment. All of the previous mechanics that have made the franchise what it is today are still there and they feel as good as ever. If you play CoD for the campaign, Black Ops III is a low point featuring a confusing and uninteresting story, poor pacing, cheesy dialogue and over-the-top voice acting that results in a story that resembles what the outcome would be if you dropped the cast of Team America: World Police on the set of Inception or Source Code. Zombies once again provides a fun alternative, and the setting and new gameplay additions are enough to keep it feeling fresh for fans until the next DLC pack hits. Multiplayer is as well balanced as it has been for a while and provides the same fast-paced experience that is known and loved. The addition of increased mobility adds a new way to traverse the world and even helps to bring new life into game modes that we have been playing off and on for the past ten years, but this is hit and miss as only some maps allow you to truly explore what it has to offer.Black Ops III's biggest plus points are that it's the most content-filled and best looking release in the series yet, and there are enough new additions to the gameplay across all game modes to help freshen things up for returning visitors. It's a good game for sure, but it does very little to stand out from what's already available and, in some areas, doesn't live up to the standards that the franchise has set over the years.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 feels like a progression of the series as opposed to the advancement past entries from Treyarch delivered. Still it is hard to argue with how much is packed into this release, and I found myself exploring it all over and over again. The sheer amount of content makes up for the lack of innovation in some areas, and while I don't think it stands out as much as Advanced Warfare, it still keeps me playing a series I never thought I would care about year in, and year out.
The campaign could have been so much better, but while throwaway characters and lackluster scenes hurt the single-player product, there is no denying that Treyarch did a solid job with the multiplayer options. Killing zombies will become your favorite pastime and a great change up from all those online deathmatches you'll have against players around the world. It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still a good time.
An fantastic singleplayer campaign with a multiplayer component that's both familiar and slightly evolved in all the best ways possible. You'll be hard pressed to not enjoy this game for the singleplayer story itself. One of the best stories ever created.