DUBAI: Call of Duty Black Ops 3 should have everything going for it. You play a cyborg soldier of the near future with a vast array of weapons and magical (sorry, technological) powers to boot.
Faced with row upon row of enemy soldiers and robots you can mow them down with hot lead, dash in to use your robotic fists or hang back and use your cybernetic hacker powers to fry their circuits or sic nanobots upon them.
Ideally, you’d need to use a combination of those abilities in a variety of interesting ways to clear a level, but you don’t. You can pretty much rely on a tried and tested formula for each and every circumstance.
Part of the problem is that there are too many optional elements in the game — you can pick only a handful of your dozen unlocked cybercore powers for any given mission, for instance, so the missions have to be designed so they’re playable whatever you choose.
Combine that with CoD’s quirk of zeroing in on an enemy when you press aim, and you can reliably waltz through missions by headshotting enemies with an LMG at sniper ranges. There always seems to be spare ammo lying around when you need it.
There are a few more tricky exceptions, but not many.
The core game experience has seen some minor improvements to movement, with options such as wall running (if you pick that enhancement for a mission) and powerslides, but it doesn’t make up for dull solo gameplay with a bland opponent who may be a villain or may be a hero.
Fortunately, few people are going to buy Black Ops 3 for the solo campaign. Call of Duty is all about the multiplayer, and here things are considerably better.
Rather than a nonentity you play in the solo game, you get a choice of character types with a good selection of loadouts.
Battlefields are designed to take advantage of the new movement abilities, with plenty of options to take high ground or find cover on the low ground. It’s possible (though difficult) to pull off some spectacular takedowns — or be hit by them.
It’s fast and fun, although not terribly innovative.
Rating: 7.5/10
