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The next instalment in the juggernaut that is the Call Of Duty franchise goes on sale from midnight tonight as Black Ops III is launched worldwide.
As is becoming customary these days, there are big, fan-led events being lined up around the world as players count down to being able to get their hands on the new game.
So, should you make the effort to go and queue for a midnight launch? Or stay up late at home and download it digitally? Well, here’s a few things that might help you make such a decision.
Black Ops III, though a separate strand of the Call Of Duty universe from last year’s Advanced Warfare, has embraced the futuristic nature of last year’s game. The year is 2065 and the world is a very different place politically and technologically.
The biggest way this manifests itself in Blacks Ops III is the new powers soldiers have over their bodies via technology. We’re talking cybernetic limbs and extensions to physiology you expect to see in a Deus Ex game. Human augmentation is very much a thing in Black Ops III, and as a result it means the ability to run up walls and jump further than ever before, as well as better vision on the battlefield.
A real shake-up of the entire format of the series; for the first time the Campaign mode is opened up to players – you can choose the order in which you play each level. This is designed to encourage more co-operative campaigns (which we’ll get to in a second) between friends by enabling them to choose the order in which they play the various missions. It’s got a hint of open-world sounding to it, we have to say.
As already touched upon, another big upgrade to Black Ops compared with last year’s Advanced Warfare is the introduction of co-operative campaign. This allows a group of up to four players to play the story mode of the game together.
Zombies are back with a vengeance in Black Ops III, as the above trailer shows, with the setting essentially given its own game this time around. Rather than just a single mode where the aim is to survive, Zombies looks more in-depth and broader as a game mode, which considering its popularity can surely only be a good thing.
If you like an uphill struggle, there’s also the new Realistic mode for COD veterans to try their hand at. Essentially Realistic mode means if you get shot, you die. It’s supposedly so difficult that there’s even an achievement called “No One Will Believe You” which players receive upon completing the game in that mode. Challenge accepted.
Assassin’s Creed has already started a much-needed breakdown of gender boundaries in video games with its female main character Evie Frye in Syndicate, and now COD is following suit. Jason Blundell, from developer Treyarch, said the team took inspiration from Sigourney Weaver’s Ripley in Alien when it came to female characters in the game.
“It’s interesting, because the movie Alien, that was actually written for a man but then they hired Sigourney Weaver and just left the script alone,” he told IGN.
“That’s why she comes off as such a strong, confident character. So we did the same – we wrote a gender-neutral script and the actor brings their personality and gender to the words … but it doesn’t pander to either.
“Then the other reason was talking to our military guys – they were really pushing the fact we’ll be seeing a lot more women in military roles going into the future. We’re talking about 2065, not just in support roles, but in active combat. So we have a female protagonist, but also on the battlefield as well – there’s women there too.”
Hopefully now you’ve decided whether or not to brave the physical or virtual queues tonight for the midnight launch.
