Review
Played on: Xbox Series X
Released: 2015
Although it’s been a while since I first played Call of Duty: Black Ops 3, I recently replayed it through on hard difficulty for fun. I realise I haven’t reviewed a COD title on my blog for ages and this replay is an opportunity to fix that!
Next to COD4 that revolutionised shooters, my all-time favourite game in the franchise is the first Black Ops, review here. This sub-series continued in a new direction with a plot moving away from the Cold War of the 1960s to an 80s and futuristic year of 2025 in the sequel. Yes, 2025 was the future in 2008. While I enjoyed Blops 2, review here, and have since forgiven it for the shift to a future setting, Blops 3 is probably the one that goes deepest into the futuristic sci-fi setting.
It’s connected to the Blops titles prior it with the not-so-distant future setting but also delves deep into a strange world of time travel and the memories of the main characters. It’s one of the weirdest COD plots made, really spinning your head towards the end. Yet, here lies its strength to deliver something a bit different. Funnily enough the preview trailer for this year's Black Ops 7, seems to go back to the Blops 2 & 3 plotline!
Let's circle back here though, and take a closer look at the third one!
Taking place in 2065, another 40 years after Blops 2, it sinks even further into a complete shift to sci-fi. There’s a third Cold War going on between the two superpowers of the future. In an aftermath of the drone attacks utilised in Blops 2, the world's air power is basically redundant and the need for special ops soldiers on the ground is once again applicable. Another major development in warfare is robotics. Which in turn makes the battles through the campaign a tough one with not only small armed robots turning up, but also massive ones with extreme firepower.
A result of a heavy injury on the battlefield the player character is modified with cybernetics, similar to Advanced Warfare which I reviewed here, but in addition there’s a neural interface in Blops 3. Allowing you to get an upper hand on the battlefield, using it to see enemies through walls and weak points in the environment. Your character can be upgraded through a small hub level prior to each mission, with weapons and equipment automatically levelling up as you use them. Choosing your equipment and upgrading it will give you an upper hand on tricky missions.
As you delve deeper into the campaign, taking part in virtual flashbacks on your neural interface, allowing you to try out scenarios where you stop attacks before they happen. Realising that the line between reality and the virtual world begin to blur. Especially the late missions take unexpected turns and really dig deep into the strangest end psychedelic environment designs COD has delved into. The movie Source Code, with Jake Gyllenhaal, seems like an inspiration for how the timeline of the flashbacks work, a neat inspiration!
A notable change to the earlier titles in the franchise is a focus on a wider level design. It's also one of the extremely rare COD titles you can play coop in the main story, and not only two players but up to four players can take on the campaign! Thus, there's a need for areas that are larger to battle in. While it’s still a linearity to the level structure, with corridors leading to open areas, they're a welcome addition. Reminiscent of how Halo 3 cleverly managed this balance act.
One such area comes to mind in Blops 3 and that's an Asian styled area of small village builds where you can traverse the rooftops or dive down between the fountains and dry garden designs to battle it out. Really neat! There's also a massive underground facility, accessed through a gigantic round cylinder hole in the ground, which as you delve deeper brings out a dark side to the story. Managing to make robots creepy.
Playing on my Xbox Series X, Blops 3 has never been upgraded in any way since the Xbox One release, resulting in a soft 900p resolution. That said, the lighting, size and amount of detail in each level is still impressive. It still looks pretty, often with dark nights and neon lights taking a prominent appearance. As usual with COD titles, there's massive amount of finer detail in each level, making exploring around them a visual treat.
I can clearly see an evolution in the effects and lighting compared to Advanced Warfare prior to it, but the latter had more variation in the environments and perhaps comes off as better package overall.
With such heavy budgets and always sporting some innovative ideas and an incredibly well-presented story, it’s hard not to enjoy each COD campaign. But it's easy to see where Blops 3 might have alienated some fans. Although Blops 2 shifted halfway into the future setting, resulting in some annoyance on my side back in the day, this third sequel delves altogether into a sci-fi future. People who enjoy the throwbacks to cold war eras like the 60s, 70s and 80s, won’t find any of that here.
Over time I’ve come appreciate futuristic COD campaigns and enjoyed them a lot. I must admit the clever plot twist and weirdness of the later levels in Blops 3 is intriguing!
However, there's little that makes it stand out. Sure, there are some intense firefights against robots and pretty visuals of dark nights and neat lighting to accompany it. All combined with the fast and amazing COD signature gameplay and an upgrade system, but overall, each level blends into one and the result is title that doesn't uniquely stand out as very memorable.
