{"id":83397,"date":"2015-11-12T04:30:30","date_gmt":"2015-11-12T02:30:30","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/?p=83397"},"modified":"2015-11-12T04:46:39","modified_gmt":"2015-11-12T02:46:39","slug":"call-of-duty-black-ops-3-ps4","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/reviews\/83397-call-of-duty-black-ops-3-ps4","title":{"rendered":"Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 (PS4)"},"content":{"rendered":"

Treyarch (who make the quirkier Call of Duty <\/em>titles) have delivered a loaded sci-fi barrel of laughs with Black Ops 3<\/em>.<\/p>\n

With the explosive campaign, boosted online and classic zombie mode, there is a lot here to keep you busy.<\/p>\n

In other words, Treyarch have looked at different sci-fi games and selected some cutting-edge parts to upgrade the CoD-<\/em>machine with.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/p>\n

The campaign is set 40 years after the events of the previous Black Ops,<\/em> in a world devastated by natural disasters, forcing humans to gather or consolidate in massive cyber-cities.<\/p>\n

You take on the role of a special operative, who after being dismembered by an evil Chappie, is mechanically rebuilt into a cyborg supersoldier.<\/p>\n

Being a supersoldier means you can now jump onto a wall and dash along it before jumping back onto the ground or a parallel wall.<\/p>\n

You can also thrust into the air for a short period (thanks, Destiny<\/em>). This introduces a fun platform element to the game, an effort to dilute the repetitive run-and-gun drudgery seen in every Call of Duty <\/em>for far too long now.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/a><\/p>\n

The protagonist is also jacked into the Direct Neural Interface, a kind of matrix which allows one to manipulate and communicate with machines as well as other humans connected to this system.<\/p>\n

Players can now hijack instruments like turrets and drones to lay waste to dozens of enemies around.<\/p>\n

There is, thankfully, a 4-player max co-op mode in the campaign, zombie mode and online multiplayer.<\/p>\n

The usual corridor-shooting has been swapped for impressive and expansive stages that look a lot like the various planets\u2019 designs in Destiny, <\/em>such as the snowy industrial complex on Earth and the ruined city claimed by greenery on Venus.<\/p>\n

The Destiny <\/em>influence is so strong I actually wouldn\u2019t be unreasonable calling Black Ops 3<\/em> a fun Destiny<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Stages, character model-design, abilities, gameplay and overall look and feel have been emulated.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/p>\n

The campaign was great fun. The momentum-based movement system helps break the monotony of advancing through swarms of enemies, as well as your various cyber-abilities which let you immolate robots (who are a lot of fun to shoot to pieces), release a hive of machine fireflies to burn humans and various other cyber-spells you want to discover for yourself.<\/p>\n

A realistic difficulty mode has been added to the campaign, in which one measly bullet will kill you.<\/p>\n

The campaign has a few recognizable actors in it. With\u00a0Christopher Meloni<\/a>\u00a0as Commander John Taylor,\u00a0Rachel Kimsey<\/a>\u00a0as Rachel Kane, Katee Sackhoff<\/a>\u00a0as Sarah Hall, Tony Amendola<\/a>\u00a0as Dr. Yousef Salim and Sean Douglas as Jacob Hendricks.<\/p>\n

Sports fans might recognize Seattle Seahawks<\/a>\u00a0running back\u00a0Marshawn Lynch<\/a> who\u00a0makes a cameo as a villain.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/p>\n

There is an individual experience-based levelling system in all three modes \u2013 campaign, online and zombies – which gives you access to more weapons, perks, customization and upgrades.<\/p>\n

This means three ladders to climb and a lot of hooks to keep you glued to the controller\/mouse trying to augment each character as much as possible.<\/p>\n

I haven\u2019t properly played a Call of Duty <\/em>game in several years, but the basic formula remains for the multiplayer.<\/p>\n

The basic movement and procedure of a round feels pretty much the same, despite all of the handy augmentations.<\/p>\n

A lot of bells and whistles have, however, been added, mainly inspired by Destiny,<\/em> from what I could gather.<\/p>\n

The standard game-modes remain such as Team-Deathmatch and Free-For-All as well as the Pick 10 system form Black Ops II<\/em>.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/p>\n

Don\u2019t get me wrong, sameness isn\u2019t always a bad thing; the game is highly enjoyable and smooth.<\/p>\n

Despite many hard-core gamers discounting this franchise as a run of the mill, low-skill shooter for the masses, it is intrinsically a solid FPS.<\/p>\n

Of course, a lot of work has been put into making multiplayer feel varied and evolved.<\/p>\n

The whizzing acrobatics described earlier also of course apply to multiplayer gameplay, having short aerial-battles reminiscent of The Crucible in Destiny <\/em>and running at each other along a wall all-guns-blazing is great.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/p>\n

Online there are various classes one can choose from called \u2018Specialists\u2019, each with their own back-story and abilities.<\/p>\n

The 9 Specialists include characters such as a hooded archer that can shoot explosive arrows and scan the area around them, to a sniper that can shoot chain-lighting which bounces from foe to foe.<\/p>\n

There are a few Specialists that can only be unlocked at higher-levels.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/a><\/p>\n

A kill streak affords the usual map-scanning and artillery functionality as well as a special class-based special move that is unleashed using the top two shoulder buttons\u00a0\u2013 just like in Destiny<\/em>.<\/p>\n

These range from slamming the ground causing an insta-kill shockwave (just like in Destiny)<\/em>, to scanning the area around to reveal enemies.<\/p>\n

A swarm of killer robot bees can be unleashed on a victim and you can split yourself into several illusions.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/a><\/p>\n

As for Zombie mode, two stories have been introduced, Shadows of Evil <\/em>and The Giant<\/em>.<\/p>\n

Shadows of Evil<\/em> introduces a new tale and characters whilst The Giant<\/em> continues the previous Black Ops\u2019 <\/em>zombie mode story with the same characters.<\/p>\n

Zombie mode was a big part of my teenage life, so it\u2019s nice to see the fundamentals have been left unchanged in this instalment.<\/p>\n

Zombies spill out of ruptured plank-defences as each round revolves around eliminating all undead pursuers.<\/p>\n

New areas are unlocked by paying the toll at each gate, each newly-opened area exponentially increasing the chaos and number of attackers.<\/p>\n

\"Call<\/p>\n

New touches include being able to temporarily transform into a tentacle-ridden monster that can easily crush surrounding enemies, gumballs which provide perks and again an experience-based system that allows you to purchase more guns and upgrades.<\/p>\n

All-in-all, I was very impressed by how much quality entertainment has been brought to the table this time.<\/p>\n

Call of Duty<\/em> tried hard this time with Black Ops 3<\/em> to address its cookie-cutter existence and succeeded in a rather borrowed manner.<\/p>\n

But it must be said that whilst all of the added treats are great fun, it\u2019s still relatively the same stuff, only in a different game – a highly enjoyable one at that.<\/p>\n

Score: 8.5\/10<\/strong><\/h3>\n
\n

In other news<\/strong><\/h3>\n

The Fallout 4 Pip-Boy Edition isn\u2019t all that S.P.E.C.I.A.L.<\/a><\/p>\n

Rugby League Live 3 (PS4)<\/a><\/p>\n

Fallout 4 Review Roundup<\/a><\/p>\n

The biggest buyouts in gaming history<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After being dismembered by an evil Chappie, you’re mechanically rebuilt into a cyborg supersoldier.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":230,"featured_media":83399,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[587,16347,13497,643,15397,1239,1853,457,2362,10065],"class_list":["post-83397","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-reviews","tag-activision","tag-blops-3","tag-call-of-duty-black-ops-3","tag-cod","tag-pc","tag-playstation-4","tag-playstation4","tag-review","tag-treyarch","tag-xbox-one"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83397","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/230"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=83397"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83397\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":83409,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/83397\/revisions\/83409"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/83399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=83397"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=83397"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mygaming.co.za\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=83397"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}