Call of Duty's Black Ops Three: Haters Gonna Hate

So hated upon, but actually a quality game.

Everyone loves to hate any Call of Duty game. If you disagree with me look at how many people disliked the Infinite Warfare trailer on YouTube--over three million dislikes, and the game looked great. From this alone, it's easy to see that it’s popular to think these games are lame. Black Ops 3 is the first Call of Duty game I’ve bought in years. I played Black Ops 1&2 but never really got to play, and by extension experience, those games in their entirety. So I offer you a pretty fresh look at the franchise; i.e. no biases here, I'll hope.

Click the photo above to purchase the game on Amazon.

Let’s start with the story: I thought the Black Ops 3 story was pretty dang interesting, with all new characters and technology that made things more exciting. Cutscenes in between levels have an interesting art style, which expresses the emotional state of some characters and the physical state of places you visit. As for the essentials, dialogue fills you in on everything you need to know. In all reality, these cutscenes seemed more like really artistic slide shows, but I really enjoyed them. Some dialogue in game was lame though, and sounded weird because of the voice actors, but that rarely happened and didn’t really bother me. Another thing about the story progression is that you can create and choose your Loadout at the beginning of each mission, and there's ammo all over different levels so you can use your Loadout out the whole time. I thought this would make the game too scattered and that the gun you choose would get boring, but this is not the case. The more you use your gun, the more upgrades and paint jobs you get for it. I thought this was a cool addition to the Black Ops 3 because I got to use my favorite weapon throughout the whole game, which means I was able to make it even better and better each time I used it. 

Yet another detail I'd like to discuss about the overall progression of the storyline was the music. The music in this game, as in most other games, is done well and fits the theme and plot of the game. Basically, it does its job and attempts to put the gamer in the right mindset for the tone of diverse situations that occur in the game. However, just because it does its job, does not mean it was fantastic.  I actually thought it was pretty standard and, really, nothing special.  It helps tell the story and that's it.

Controlling the character in Story Mode, Multiplayer, "Nightmares" mode, "Zombies" mode, and Arcade feels great, with both new and old mechanics. Because of this, I'd say that the gameplay is fun. In Story Mode and Multiplayer, you can unlock new guns, mods, abilities, and costumes; this is one of my favorite features of the game, as it gives you the ability to make the character whatever and whoever you want. With that, the Character Creation in the certain parts of the game is also stellar because you can choose what your character looks like from presets and between male and female trait options. I thought this added depth to the main character, as having such a hand in creating the subtleties of my character made me want to invest more time in the game to unlock cool things for her or him. So, in short, if you buy this game, you get your money’s worth.  And why is that? There’s a bunch of fun and interesting things to do in the game that allow you to truly experience it with your custom character. Good stuff, if you ask me!

Now, let’s move on to specifics about special modes of gameplay you can choose from in Black Ops 3, starting with Multiplayer and "Zombies."

AH! ZOOOOMMMMBBIES!

The online multiplayer in this game is really fun and fast-paced, and you can earn new guns and upgrades by getting kills, head shots, and by using your character's abilities. I played a lot of the multiplayer and the great looking maps that came with the game and loved it. "Zombies" is another game mode where you have to survive waves of zombies and save points to open doors get better guns and upgrades to your guns and character but if you die you lose everything and start over. I think this game mode is pretty fun, but lacks the customization of the other two main modes, which disappointed me. There is a reason why they did it like that and it turned out great overall but that one thing bothers me from time to time while playing.

This is a fantastic game mode.

Next up is "Nightmares," which might be my favorite mode. "Nightmares" gives you story missions with zombies instead of those involving people. It also provides a new and maybe even more interesting story than the one in Story Mode. This game mode isn’t that scary, but is scary enough to make you want to look behind your back in the game (and in real life...) a lot and it’s almost necessary to do that. I think that’s great though, and that fear factor almost seems like more fun than the main story, in my opinion. Once again, my complaint is no customization and you’re forced to use a certain character that I personally do not like. But this game mode is still fun, with a variety of guns dropping from enemies and a new story to get invested in. Oh, and some of the writing is really lame and almost cringeworthy. You'll get past that once you start blasting zombies again though, so it's wicked fun regardless of this drawback.

Then we have Dead Ops Arcade 2, which is a top down shooter zombie survival game that is awesome. You travel from area to area trying to survive collecting gold, new weapons, and upgrades, all while killing zombies. The story is kind of funny and interesting and is a lot of fun to play with friends, so try it out. 

Free Run is the last and most boring game mode in Black Ops 3, but still somewhat challenging and cool--I guess, if you’re into stuff like that. You find yourself in certain obstacle courses, where you run, slide, jump, swim, and shoot your way to the goal. (When I say "shoot" I mean shoot targets, not enemies.) There’s a couple different courses that are cool, but I don’t think this mode very fun unless you’re bored, or if you and a friend play and compete to get the best time. Even then, you'll probably be done with it after a couple tries because it’s pretty lame... Someone might really like it--I'm just not a fan. 


If you want to spend $60 on a game, a get a big bang for your buck try Call of Duty: Black Ops 3.  It has its drawbacks, but I'd say that it's a good game overall that is at least worth a try.  Now for the ratings:

Overall: 90/100 Music: 60/100 Gameplay: 100/100 Story: 70/100 Graphics: 70/100

Thanks, Pragmus fans.  Stay tuned for Pragmus' next video game review.

Andrew Cherrington
(Pragmus Pi)
Video Game Reviewer