Call of Duty: Black Ops III Reviews
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.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 4 is a great and very important multiplayer return for the series, which was surprised us by the variety of modes and the general fun of the gameplay. It's like three games in one, and they're very good.
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The sheer length of this review should tell you that Call of Duty: Black Ops III is filled to the brim with content. While there are some low points and pacing issues, the campaign's customisation, freedom, and verticality make it excellent to play with friends. Meanwhile, mutliplayer has more customisation and replayability than ever before, and Zombies is brilliant in its complexity and difficulty. While Ghosts may have bitten the bullet, Black Ops III reloads the franchise into a new, brighter era.
Black Ops III has upped its game, giving exciting updates to the fan-favorite Zombies and the classic multiplayer, but the single player doesn't measure up to the same standard.
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.
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.
How you feel about Black Ops 3 as a package will depend on what you're looking for in a shooter. If your focus is on competitive play, then this will be your favourite CoD of recent years. If you and your mates love to smash things up in co-op, Black Ops III gives you plenty of opportunity, so get stuck in. Yet it's hard to escape the nagging feeling that this would have been a better CoD had Treyarch focused less on the co-op and the extras, and a little more on delivering their best CoD campaign to date.
If you are the type of player that skips a couple years or only focuses on Treyarch's installments of the game, this would be the one to pick up. The customization aspect is a very nice addition, and the campaign feels long enough and worth the time investment.
Call of Duty: Black Ops III flips the script a bit by serving what's arguably the weakest campaign in the Black Ops series but redeems itself with a fresher and more content-filled multiplayer with its online and zombie modes. The addition of new specialists and faster, more fluid movement within more layered maps adds plenty of extra polish to the game's traditional mechanics. Zombies mode also gets extra depth in terms of both production and gameplay. Although it doesn't revolutionize shooters per se, it's one of the more polished entries in the genre this generation.
Black Ops III is a return to form for the Call of Duty franchise, and two of the three main components are as good as they've ever been. The story mode remains a disappointment, but there's so much content and endless customization packed into the competitive and zombie modes that you'll have no shortage of things to do for many months to come.
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.
Another year, another Call of Duty, Black Ops 3 is nonetheless a generous package that hits all of the right marks. Campaign is decent enough and Zombies is good fun, but it's the multiplayer that will keep you hooked.
Black Ops III is a very well made game, and one that gives you a great deal of content to reward your purchase, but there's a feeling here that the developers are maybe playing it too safe, and this long into the franchise's lifespan, we're in desperate need of a re-invention.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is the most extensive Call of Duty game ever made, but not without its flaws. Dour storytelling and purely incremental changes to multiplayer prevent it from reaching the legendary status of its predecessors.
A rollicking, ridiculous ride that is pure nonsense, but generous in both amount and quality and a campaign that isn't as jingoistically brainless as usual.
The online experience was a mixed bag, but Black Ops 3 is perhaps the most comprehensive Call of Duty game we've played in years. Buoyed by fantastic visuals and a steady frame rate, it's a gorgeous game that is fun to play. Whether you're a veteran of the series or a newcomer, there's more than enough content to warrant checking out Black Ops 3.
While the campaign is lacklustre and Zombies is over-designed, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 succeeds thanks to the multiplayer's perfect mix of structured maps, diverse specialists and liberating movement.
I see little reason why longtime fans of the franchise would be disappointed with Black Ops 3. It may not draw in many new fans, or convert those who've never been big Call of Duty fans. But there's more than enough here to keep the game's existing community locked in digital combat for another twelve months.
The addition of online co-op gives the campaign mode a great boost. There are some irritating connectivity issues in co-op and zombies though. The competitive multiplayer is much smoother and reliably packed with maps, modes and a dizzying array of unlocks. You'll struggle to find a shooter with more value than this year's Call of Duty.
Treyarch has shoehorned an almost overwhelming amount of content into Black Ops III, with two sizable co-op capable campaigns, a gothic horror-flavoured zombie mode and an e-sports-driven multiplayer component that should keep fans of the franchise occupied for quite some time. Constantly getting humiliated at the hands of superior players has never been so much fun (note to self: get good!).