Darkness has taken over - Black Ops 3 Review

Darkness has taken over

by Abhishek Singh, technology editor

Activision has branded a name in entertainment that will forever remain a juggernaut in the gaming box office. With over $550 million dollars made in the first weekend, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 continues to strive in the long run franchise.

Black Ops, the darkest and grittiest universe in the franchise has returned with with Black Ops 3. Treyarch has improved significantly since Black Ops 2 while still bringing loads of innovation with the campaign, multiplayer and zombies. While this isn’t a perfect package, it delivers nostalgic feelings back from the original Black Ops.

The story picks up in the year 2065 in which technology has started to augment inside of people’s bodies to keep them enhanced. The theme for Black Ops 2 was the heavy reliance on technology and the negative outcome that it leads too. Black Ops 3 has leaped hugely on reliance to technology that leads to another problem. I was excited to see what Treyarch can do this year with its campaign but was extremely disappointed. One thing that I loved about Black Ops 2’s campaign was self choice. It made a different ending because I was writing my own story. This year is back with the linear gameplay that states an open area gameplay but honestly it added nothing. Coop isn’t as fun because there is no sense of purpose. The story is very lackluster and quite confusing. It seems the story was forced upon the player because I was beyond bored and for the first time, I was happy the game was ONLY six hours.

Multiplayer has never been better. While last years Advanced Warfare brought Exo Suits to the table, it seemed to get mixed reactions from fans. This year, Treyarch perfected the formula which allows players to cater toward the classic and new movement. It feels good because of the wonderful three lane design Treyarch always adds. Black Ops 2 had added new systems like Pick 10 and scorestreaks and all of these seem to return to Black Ops 3. My favorite edition is a love-hate relationship which is called the paintshop. The paintshop allows players to create 64 layers on each side of the weapon with different colors and patterns like emblems. I was loving this feature, but one thing that left me shocked was the lack of downloading and sharing the camos I made or the community made. I would have loved to rock a batman camo on my weapon but I can’t because it doesn’t allow the player to download it.

The reason I find this disappointing is because I am not the best artist that can create these camos. I hope this changes in the future. I can’t help but also talk about the biggest edition to the game which are called specialists. These are something that stand in between scorestreaks and create a class and allows players to gain a special weapon or ability that they can activate a couple times in a match. My personal favorite is Sereph with her pistol. It’s a fun and satisfying killing machine that can be used to gain advantages for score and the team.

Zombies is close to every Call of Duty fan, and this year isn’t any different. Zombies have been improved and innovated on but for some reason seems to be lackluster for me. Shadows of Evil is a huge map that has multiple choke points and flank routes but it seems to be lazy because it took them three years to only make one map. I just can’t grasp that concept because I loved the Black Ops zombies map because it had variety. However, the gameplay is fantastic. It is at core an amazing zombies experience that will only get better with time.

Overall, the multiplayer and zombies hold the entire game up. It is clear that this game is filled with content and amazing gameplay, but some of the aspects disappoint. I wouldn’t be surprised if Black Ops 4 is announced, but maybe it is time for the Black Ops series to rest. Let’s all hope that the next Treyarch title is finally new and fresh.

Final Verdict: 8.5/10