They’re great for chasing down or escaping from enemies, reaching objectives quickly, and navigating levels without overshooting your target. “The new thruster pack movements feel smooth, easy to control, and offer tons of precision. In multiplayer, everyone has a thruster pack regardless of their loadout – similar but different enough from last year’s Advanced Warfare that learning to use it effectively was a new challenge. On the other, it would’ve been better if they weren’t so easy to miss that I didn’t even get a double-jump for my whole first playthrough.
CALL OF DUTY 3 BLACK OPS 3 UPGRADE
On one hand it’s commendable that Treyarch wants to give us the option to ignore the new mobility skills and play a more classic style of Call of Duty – there’s even a tech upgrade that allows you pick up any weapon you find, just like the old days. On closer inspection, I found them locked away in an odd part of the tech tree. I was surprised and disappointed to find that many of the great high-mobility mechanics Treyarch revealed for Black Ops 3’s multiplayer, such as firing while performing other actions or wall-running, at first seemed disabled in campaign. I’m not up for the challenge, but if you want to fight for every single inch, Realistic mode is excellent at running you through the wringer. “Using powers effectively is pretty much mandatory if you want to even try to survive the new “Realistic” difficulty mode, where one bullet is often enough to take you out. Also, his bees distracted enemies, giving me time to line up my charge ability (which can be tough to steer) and hit multiple enemies in one blast. When we needed specific enemies dead as soon as possible, his powers took care of it. He could ignite enemies with the wave of a hand, set loose a swarm of bees, and more. In my playthrough, my co-op partner was the “blow things up” guy – a ranged damage dealer and disabler. These powers really shine when you throw another player or three into the mix. I haven’t seen this kind of utility in a Call of Duty game before, but it’s a terrific addition.
Invisibility was fun for sneaking into better cover and useful for giving me time to revive downed allies. Other favorites include an area-of-effect ground pound, which was especially satisfying to use after leaping from up high. My most-used skill was a charge ability that sent me flying across the battlefield at incredible speeds, killing weaker enemies and staggering the big ones. My powers of choice enhanced my up-close-and-personal combat skills – an altogether underexplored style in Call of Duty. Learn about Martial Cybercores in the video above. The gun you pick will likely stay in your hands for the entire level. Plus, this leaves enough points to beef up your trusty primary weapon, which feels more important than it ever has. Even then, you can usually only use one type per level, so committing to one path is important. Each power tree promotes a certain style of play, and you don’t earn enough points to level up all three paths unless you choose to sacrifice extra perks, weapon upgrades, and more. Killing more robots (and other enemies) is actually quite fun thanks to the new powers, which come in three flavors: blow things up, beat things up, or control your enemies and have them blow things up for you. It’s disappointing, because Black Ops 3 begins to explore some genuinely interesting and taboo topics: What happens when people no longer own their thoughts, or when they don’t receive the mental health care they need? The answer: kill more robots! Without getting into spoilers, I’ll say that Black Ops 3 didn’t spend enough time making me care about its characters before it tried to cash them in for an emotional payoff. For example, you can’t use enemies’ dropped weapons because they’re registered to someone else’s brain – hence Black Ops 3’s focus on cool new combat powers.
It introduces both terrific new abilities and important new limitations that changed the way I thought about playing Call of Duty. This ubiquitous technology allows humans to mentally interact with computers, weapons, and other people. Black Ops 3 settles on “Direct Neural Interface,” or DNI for short. The six-hour story is set in the not-too-distant future, and, like most similar sci-fi fare, it includes its own techno-gibberish to get used to. Likewise, the option for four-player co-op and the new focus on playing how you want make the campaign and Zombies modes more rewarding and fun to play than they’ve ever been. Multiplayer still has the depth fans expect by now, but the addition of unique Specialists makes every player more important.
CALL OF DUTY 3 BLACK OPS 3 PC
Watch the first 15 minutes of Black Ops 3 above.īut the most remarkable thing about Black Ops 3 isn’t its tone it’s the sheer amount of content which, at its best, is some of the greatest I’ve seen in Call of Duty (note: the Xbox 360 and PS3 versions lack many of the features of the current-gen and PC version).