It has been a long time since I last was heavily invested in a Call of Duty game. I used to play the series on a fairly regular basis years ago but after the disappointing Modern Warfare 3, I have not really played much if anything of the Call of Duty games since then. When the PS4 beta opened up to the public for a few days I thought it would be a good time to jump back into the series, after playing the beta for a few days I came back liking what I had played.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is obviously the third Black Ops game in the series and compared to the previous entries it is very different. Black Ops 3 is expanding on what last years Call of Duty: Advance Warfare added to the series with a futuristic setting and quicker gameplay. The beta was only for the multiplayer aspect of the game, so I did not get to check out any of the story content but everyone knows that Call of Duty is about the multiplayer. Compared to the last time I played a Call of Duty game’s multiplayer, Black Ops 3 is different in a lot of ways.
The addition of different classes of characters called specialists. Each of these specialists have different characteristics and different abilities they can use in matches. The one specialist I played primarily was the Outrider specialist, who is quick and agile and uses a bow for there special ability. The bow is basically a one shot kill where you can hit an enemy with it and you can add bonuses to the ability like adding explosive damage to hurt surrounding players. Another specialist named Prophet uses a weapon that when charged can shoot lightning and possibly chain to other enemies. It should be noted that these abilities are unlocked over time and can be sped up by killing other players. Overall I found that these specialist abilities actually feel a bit under-powered. The bow requires you to draw it back before you can fire the arrow, and when you have to do something like that in a twitch reflex game like Call of Duty, you are dead before you can even fire off an arrow.
The basic game-play of the beta felt faster than the last time I played Call of Duty multiplayer. With the futuristic setting each person has thrusters that let them jump high and reach high places quickly. Instead of having to run up a staircase to chase an enemy you can now just thrust yourself up to the top of the stairs and get the drop on the person quicker than ever before. Players can also slide on the ground a good distance and also swim underwater. In a lot of ways the game-play reminded me Destiny’s multiplayer but slightly faster. The core game-play of Call of Duty is still present in Black Ops 3 but with the additions to movement this year the game feels quicker than ever.
Due to the futuristic setting, the weapons are somewhat futuristic as well. The guns are all futuristic, but none felt sci-fi like, with pretty much all the guns felling similar to something you would find in previous games just with a new coat of paint over it. I never found a gun that seemed overpowered compared the rest. I found some of the shotguns to be really good and cool, they never seemed overpowered due to their lack of range but in levels with close quarters combat they were lethal with one shotgun being a one shot kill with a well placed shot. I also found the gun customization to be very deep with you having the ability to put decals on your gun and customizing it to your desire which made each gun feel unique.
Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 seems like it is changing things up more than previous entries with even faster game-play and setting that compliments the quicker game-play. The addition of specialist is intriguing and while I am not sold on the idea, it could give new depth to the game. With the game a few months away from launch, there is still some things that can change and some balancing to be done. For the first time in a while, I feel like that Call of Duty franchise is really changing things up from previous entries. Overall, I liked what I played from the beta and feel like Black Ops 3 has a lot of potential when it comes out later this year.