Tumbling down the plot hole
After finishing Black Ops 3 I sat there amazed and thought to myself "what a complete load of nonsense". The fact that I was in stitches during the last mission over the woeful writing and acting when the game was attempting some big emotional payoff with characters I feel as though I passed in the street says it all really. Treyarch try, they always do but by God they went a bit mad here. The plot goes all Deus Ex with a metaphysical AI and a living tree, I wouldn't be surprised if they consulted David Cage during development on the plot "more emoshuns". It's lofty aspirations just cannot be achieved in such a short campaign, characters have relationships that are barely even let on during the game. I spent a huge portion asking; what? Who? Where? Why? Not because I wasn't paying attention but because the game jumps from tone to tone within a second. One minute your character punches his comrade to the ground and the next he's saying they only have each other now.
Déjà vu
What's more disappointing is that the missions are mostly all forgettable, unlike most previous entries there lacks standout set pieces or creative missions. I can still vividly remember spectacular moments from the Modern Warfare series - the tanker mission, all ghillied up, the emp blast, the plane crash, the tube chase. What's this one got - a section where you pilot a aircraft, not unlike Advanced Warfare or Ghosts. Ghosts, even that had some stand out missions. Going the Co op route clearly has restricted the scope of set pieces when you can have 4 players running around. The best mission is one where you relive the events of a attack on a train and try and rectify the mistakes that were made at the time in order to learn how the event could of been prevented. It's creative though again nothing within the mission actually stands out above the idea.
Shooting you a dead look
Gunplay is solid and the biggest hook the story has. It's always been satisfying in COD but the same tired formula gets well.... Tired. There's attempts to mix things up and the push on abilities and tech trees are welcome though it's not long before you realise you can just stick to a couple of abilities for the whole game. I played through on Hardened first time and used mostly the same gear and abilities for the entire game, which isn't necessarily a knock but does show up some of the game changing PR nonsense going on. Wall running is in but it's befuddinggly hidden behind a obtuse skill set on one menu not even explained to you. It's somewhat sad to have to say that the most enjoyment I had was from the hidden dead ops 2, which like in the first Black Ops is pure unrivalled fun.
The longest thread
This engine has to go, it just does. Hats off they've made it last a long time and every release every year I think this engine is on its last legs, but how many sets of legs does it have. Lighting hides many a sin, namely texture work and drab environments. I somewhat feel that Advanced Warfare had more going for it aesthetically, with much more on screen at once. The whole series peaked at the Modern Warfare franchise and ever since there's an innate feeling of everyone else playing catch up, as if they can recapture that magic. The whole future setting sets it so far apart from the grounded harsh weighty feeling the game made its name on, there's no cohesive world. Military jargon is thrown at you at an alarming pace it's no wonder I can even comprehend half the things being said. I can only wish things go back to basics, return to the present day setting, or failing that back to WWII. The future may be Black but for all the wrong reasons. What can we look forward to next year, Ghosts 2. Yeah, I never thought I'd say it but after this one I can't bloody wait.
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