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Same “Call of Duty” formula, better features

“Black Ops 3” gives solo gamers a reason to buy game

The newest iteration of the “Call of Duty” franchise, “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3,” has maintained the tried and true formula of other “Call of Duty” games while also adding several new features both old and new players will appreciate. 

The original story mode of “Black Ops 3” is both fun and cinematic. Certain missions, however, have drastic difficulty spikes, which are both tiresome and annoying. For instance, there’s a mission in the game where the player must destroy an airship with a mini-gun, while also avoiding missiles, turret fire and rolling exploding balls. At this point, the game became more frustrating than challenging. Despite a decent storyline, certain plot holes make the final mission entirely unnecessary and leave a number of unanswered questions — because of its twist ending, the only way to really understand the story behind “Black Ops 3” is to look it up online.

Nightmares — another campaign, which opens up for the player after successfully completing the original — consists of levels swarmed with zombies and the occasional robot or human. However, Nightmares can be called a new campaign in only the loosest of terms — it is nothing more than levels and cutscenes from the original campaign with zombies and a voiceover narrating a different story. It is a nice addition, but it would have been served better if the levels were re-skinned or the cutscenes changed to match the pacing of the voiceover.

Although the story modes, which can be played cooperatively, are a nice addition, most people buy a “Call of Duty” title — especially one developed by Treyarch — for the multiplayer and zombies maps. Similar to that of predecessor “Call of Duty: Advanced Warfare,” the multiplayer of “Black Ops 3” contains wall running, jetpacks and power slides. However, this iteration has also incorporated a class system where special abilities become available depending on the character chosen. The multiplayer of the game can be really fun, but it is important to note that in order to enjoy it, you’re going to have to either die a lot first or not care about getting kills for a while.

The zombie experience has been expanded significantly, offering a very large map, new power-ups, new enemies and an easier story to follow. Zombies in “Black Ops 3” has kept the classic zombie style that was in the older Black Ops and not the Exo-zombies from “Advanced Warfare.” Overall “Call of Duty: Black Ops 3” follows the same “Call of Duty” formula so many love, while also being a worthwhile purchase for those who are not a fan of competitive, online multiplayer games.

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