Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Overall, Black Ops 3 is an outstanding entry in the franchise.

I like what's been done with the campaign, both in terms of bringing in the multiplayer-like loadout features and in taking the story in a thought-provoking, Science Fiction direction, and I love that so much replay-ability is built into it.

Black Ops III is the deepest Call of Duty experience to date. With not one, but two campaigns, new multiplayer modes and more robust customization, and a Zombies mode that will suck in even the most casual of players, Treyarch has once again found a way to raise the bar.

For as much flack as the Call of Duty series has rightfully received over the recent years, Black Ops 3 completely destroys every preconceived notion - it’s far from a recycled version of the previous installments. From top to bottom the game is excellently crafted with a series of new features to complement a robust campaign plot with all types of crazy twists and turns.

Black Ops 3 isn't the best Call of Duty game ever, but it's the biggest and most feature-packed game we've seen out of the series yet.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a big step forward on multiplayer play, the quality of the single-player story, the imaginative story paths, and the outstanding quality of the wide-open landscapes, and the wide variety of enemies. I suspect that Activision has a very good chance of restoring the series to record levels in comparison to the last couple of years.

At $60, it's almost too good to be true. Black Ops III is the deepest Call of Duty ever. That I do know.

Black Ops III is its own game, and the most robust offering in the franchise this generation.

What we have here is the best Call of Duty single player experience to date. The multiplayer is solid too, though the much-talked re-design has resulted a multiplayer experience that really doesn’t differ all that much from the previous ones. [Nov 2015]

The biggest, if not best, Call of Duty game yet. Black Ops 3 offers great multiplayer (with perfect balance in maps and weapons) and an ambitious campaign -sometimes confusing- with coop mode for 4 players. Zombies, Free Run mode, Nightmare mode and Dead Ops Arcade complete this experience, which seems too familiar for veteran players.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III hosts a large range of new and game defining elements, from a compelling new zombie storyline to a fast new movement system, as well as fleshed out new campaign characters and diverse multiplayer specialists, making the title a must buy for both a series veterans, and new players alike.

Yet again we are offered a campaign that is short and lacking innovation, but at the same time the multiplayer modes alongside the greatly improved Zombies mode are a return to glory for the franchise.

I enjoyed connecting Black Ops III‘s wall runs and slides and paranormal cyber-abilities across just shy of a dozen enormous, immaculately crafted levels, far more than I didn’t buy the narrative reasons the game gave me for doing so. And really, when have the Call of Dutys, steeped from the beginning in spectacle, ever been about telling plausible stories?

Black Ops III offers few surprises, but even so, it's a great package. The campaign sometimes feels like it's trying too hard, but is ultimately solid and enjoyable. Zombies mode is a nice bonus. But really, it's the multiplayer that steals the show. It doesn't stray far from the usual formula, but it's been honed and polished to perfection to deliver seriously brilliant multiplayer competition.

I was legitimately surprised with how much I enjoyed Black Ops 3 as a whole. For a series that has felt so stagnant for so long, it’s nice to see a big step forward in the franchise. It reminded me why Call of Duty is one of the most influential series’ on the planet, even if it didn’t reflect that for a while.

Treyarch give us an idea about how crazy the future can be in terms on war and super soldiers using the technology as an advantage. It's a shame that besides all the new improvements made in the game and multiplayer that feel like something totally new, due to a boring campaign and empty characters, this Call of Duty is a step back in the narrative and far from perfection.

While both the story and the multiplayer will likely be divisive—we’re a long, long ways from Modern Warfare or the original Black Ops here—I’m glad to see Treyarch taking risks, trying something different, and impressed that even with all the changes, the core game still feels very much like Call of Duty.

Call of Duty Black Ops 3 marks the comeback of Treyarch into the CIA's dirty programs with an amazingly large solo game. With so much content, we can only regret that the devs haven't spent more time on rejuvenating the multiplayer.

Treyarch gives us more than our money's worth with an innovative Call of Duty entry that ups the ante in every possible way.

Treyarch's Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 offers the most complete and mature campaign we've seen to date, delivers a seamless multiplayer, and brings back the funny Zombies Mode, which this year comes with a lot of secrets and mysteries to uncover.

The biggest CoD game yet released. Three are its legs, and all of them are equally important. Maybe the campaign is the weakest leg and the multiplayer the strongest, but any of them is noteworthy.

This is basically five standalone games wrapped into one deep package. While it will have DLC released for it, there’s enough content out of the box to keep players busy until the next Call of Duty and probably some time after that. The campaign is perfectly paced and entertaining throughout, the multiplayer is rich with customization and Zombies is refreshingly challenging. The only real black mark is a story teetering on the on the brink of pretension, but the existentialism of it is undeniably fascinating.

In the end it is still Call of Duty and if you aren’t a fan of the run and gun mechanic then you are probably not going to be a big fan. However if you’ve ever enjoyed any Call of Duty game since World at War you are going to love this. Easily the best multiplayer I’ve experienced in years along with a strikingly unique single player campaign plus a bucket load of extras and a massive community to enjoy it with. You can’t go wrong picking it up this year.

With Call of Duty: Black Ops III, Treyarch has delivered a massive and feature rich shooter that offers nearly unparalleled value and replayability. It also happens to be the best Call of Duty game of this generation, and one of the best in general.

A phenomenal multiplayer along with a larger, improved zombies mode mean that, although the solo campaign is a slight misstep, Black Ops is the best call of Duty on the current gen consoles.

Despite a campaign that struggles with occasional mundane shootouts that bring the out-of-this-world story down to earth, the overall Call of Duty: Black Ops III package is incredibly strong, with something for everyone. Whether you’re into traditional multiplayer mayhem or zombie survival, you’ve got lots of choices that are fun solo and even better with friends.

An insanely full featured game. If code was a physical thing, this game disc would be bursting at the seams with how much Treyarch has packed onto one Blu-ray. There’s a little something for everyone here. Players looking for a dark, rich narrative have the campaign. Competitive players have a whole new way to play in multiplayer. Fans of roguelikes and horde modes have Shadows of Evil.

Treyarch had some extra time to create Call of Duty Black Ops 3, and it is definitely noticeable within the game. All modes are worthy of playing and there is so much content to discover besides that. People will love playing Black Ops 3 for a long time to come.

Black Ops III might not be the absolute best Call of Duty experience ever, but it's certainly the biggest, and probably the most fun. It's the new gold standard for Treyarch too, the game that best shows off their strengths (and works around their weaknesses) as a studio. It's a weird, confident, fresh take on the Call of Duty formula, one that truly excels in online multiplayer but also manages to provide a campaign that's well worth playing through.

Black Ops 3 is three great games in one. The formula is enhanced to maintain the leadership in FPS. This Call of Duty has a few new ideas to feel surprisingly good, such as the co-op mode or the Specialists. The Campaign wants to provoke but it's too pretentious. The Multiplayer mode proves again that it is the king. And the Zombies mode gets the importance that fans were demanding. But overall, everything in this game is more conservative and cautious than we would expect from the wonderful Treyarch Studios.

With two full story campaigns playable with up to four players, an action packed multiplayer experience, an addictive little twin stick Easter egg gem and a punishing zombie experience, Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is hands down amazing value for the buck.

Black Ops III is a game with a huge amount of content, and all of it is solid and well-developed. Again, we didn't enjoy the campaign as we used to do back in the day, but the zombie and the multiplayer modes can be the best ones we've played in a few years. If you've ever loved playing CoD online, this game can be the reason to come back or to keep on playing it.

Even with its abstract and convoluted single-player campaign, Black Ops III is one of the best Call of Duty packages in years thanks to excellent refinement of the series’ multiplayer, and the return of Treyarch’s well-loved zombies mode.

Even though some of it feels more of the same when compared to Advanced Warfare, Black Ops III's unconventional experiments sits atop refined shooting mechanics and smooth controls, resulting in some excellent gameplay. Toss in a ton of replayability to be gained from both the short campaign, Zombies Mode and multiplayer, and this is one of the strongest entries of the franchise to date.

It has a gigantic amount of content. It doesn’t matter if you usually buy CoD for its multiplayer or single-player campaign, you will have a lot to play, and we mean A LOT. The fast-paced gameplay is also still there, with a bunch of new mechanics that help keeping the experience fresh. Technically it’s starting to show some wrinkles, and the storyline could be better, but among arcade shooters this is still the top of the line. Now let’s see where the series goes from here.

Despite its innovations, Black Ops III doesn’t manage to surprise us. This new Call of Duty is a nice and solid videogame with an extraordinary multiplayer experience, but its single player-cooperative campaign is a weak one. Moreover, Black Ops III is the deepest Call of Duty ever.

I'm just going to get right into it -- this is the weakest campaign yet from Treyarch.

Suffice to say, if you love the series you’ve already picked this up anyway, and if you’re on the fence or have spent considerable time away from the franchise, as I had, then rest assured that not only is the entry barrier fairly forgiving for newcomers but the game also offers up enough challenge for veterans and, above all, is immensely fun, and this is coming from someone who doesn’t really get FPS games.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is packed with content. Two campaign, zombies, multiplayer and various enjoyable extras. Unfortunately weak but imaginative Campaign and some multiplayer issues keep Black Ops III from excellence.

In the end, Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a good shooter that falls somewhere between "safe" and "chancy."

It’s a solid and well-polished shooter.

This was meant to be the Call of Duty that revolutionized the way in which we approach the campaign, but what we received instead was some sort of experiment that did not fulfill its goal. The zombie and multiplayer modes are, without a doubt, the strongest elements Call of Duty: Black Ops III has to offer.

The campaign is a letdown, but Black Ops III offers so much you can ignore it and still have a blast. [Christmas 2015, p.66]

Despite some questionable multiplayer level design and an absurd story, Black Ops III is a return to form for COD - so long as you play it with friends rather than alone. [Christmas 2015, p.69]

Folks who have a single-minded, fashionable dislike of the series will recognise a handful of meaningful changes to the formula, but nothing that will keep them jacked in for long. Being in the middle-ground of the love-hate CoD spectrum, we’ll happily play this for months. [January 2015, p62]

It’s ridiculously entertaining and has almost escaped the oo-rah jingoism so closely associated with the brand - it feels like the next great leap could allow it to break free from the shackles of convention and do something completely radical. As it is it’s polished, entertaining and well worth a try, even for lapsed Call of Duty players.

Treyarch brings its ‘A’ game to Black Ops 3, refining the ideas that helped make the Call of Duty franchise tremendous. You wish the story was stronger, because it feels like a missed opportunity to explore a unique topic...But you can live with that, because the rest of this game is so much fun.

Treyarch didn’t try to reinvent the wheel. Ton of content and a pretty polished CoD experience. Campaign could be better, but it’s the multiplayer that really counts, and this time around, it delivers.

The campaign could have been so much better, but while throwaway characters and lackluster scenes hurt the single-player product, there is no denying that Treyarch did a solid job with the multiplayer options. Killing zombies will become your favorite pastime and a great change up from all those online deathmatches you'll have against players around the world. It isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination, but it's still a good time.

Black Ops III deserves credit for delivering a wider game than Advanced Warfare (or Black Ops II, for that matter), but it’s not necessarily a deeper one. More meaningful, fundamental changes to how we experience the game were passed over in favor of a maelstrom of strange new ideas. It’s just plain weird...I happen to like weird, though, and Black Ops III does enough to carve out its own identity.

The addition of online co-op gives the campaign mode a great boost. There are some irritating connectivity issues in co-op and zombies though. The competitive multiplayer is much smoother and reliably packed with maps, modes and a dizzying array of unlocks. You'll struggle to find a shooter with more value than this year's Call of Duty.

Campaign is dull and forgettable, but multiplayer is great fun and Zombies has had some real effort poured into it.

It’s hard to imagine what else they could have done to make this a great multiplayer game, but that’s not in dispute. Treyarch still knows how to make things happen. As for the single-player experience, I doubt that many people will remember it by the time the next game is released.

While Ghosts may have bitten the bullet, Black Ops III reloads the franchise into a new, brighter era.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is an interesting game with a campaign that might be a bit disappointing, but additional modes - especially multiplayer - make up for the shortcomings. Developers put a lot of effort to try and please everyone, forgetting perhaps that its quality that matters, not quantity.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a good third chapter for the Black Ops series and features a long story mode that could have been just a little better in details. The game offers a lot of content, but suffers from the balancing of weapons, abilities and specialists across all the game modes.

Black Ops III is a return to form for the Call of Duty franchise, and two of the three main components are as good as they’ve ever been. The story mode remains a disappointment, but there’s so much content and endless customization packed into the competitive and zombie modes that you’ll have no shortage of things to do for many months to come.

Black Ops III does exactly what’s expected and plays like a charm, but also feels like something we’ve already been playing for 10 years. The campaign also drops some stitches here and there, but the game makes up for that with the high quality production values and the huge and versatile package it offers.

It provides plenty of bang, bang, boom for your buck, and whether you're a long-time fan or partial to the odd shooter, Black Ops 3 should keep you more than busy until Infinity Ward returns with Ghosts 2, Modern Warfare 4 or whatever the hell it is they're working on next.

No, it’s not the best Call of Duty ever made, but the sheer volume of content on display largely makes up for its weaknesses in specific areas. A worthwhile story would have added enormous value to the overall package, but its absence doesn’t undermine what is another solid release.

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a well-crafted game, but we feel that it's missing something to entirely accomplish its goal.

This new Black Ops is not a revolution in the series, but what it does it does really well.

Black Ops III has upped its game, giving exciting updates to the fan-favorite Zombies and the classic multiplayer, but the single player doesn't measure up to the same standard.

This massive, wonderfully diverse Call of Duty theme park is best enjoyed with a friend (or three). Going alone dampens the fun, but either way it's still worth the price of admission.

From the big marquee features to the small touches and hidden modes, Black Ops 3 features an awful lot of content, and every aspect of it is designed with cooperative play in mind. It can feel a bit disjointed in places, but it’s a broad and expansive game with plenty to enjoy, especially so when playing with friends.

It's more and more a saga that clings to its hardcore fans: the campaign feels somehow tired and overcomplicated, and the cooperative doesn't add a real challenge to the mix. On the other hand, Treyarch shows once more its unique ability to master the competitive multiplayer and fill it with content, with noteworthy resuslts.

Despite the fact that it has a personality problem, Black Ops 3 is the most full-featured and content-rich Call of Duty to date. It feels like 3 individual games in one.

Underneath the glamour, it feels like just another Call of Duty game - to the delight of existing fans, but the chagrin of players seeking new turf.

Both the single player and online modes are fun but don’t expect to be blown away. Despite a great story and a couple of very enjoyable missions the campaign as a whole is a tad boring. [13/2015, p.50]

Compared to past entries, keep in mind that Black Ops III falls squarely in the middle of the series in terms of overall quality.

Call of Duty is the Coca Cola of the game industry. Popular, unchanging, and tastes good to most, but it’s still the same stuff.

Call of Duty: Black Ops III isn’t the best game in the series by any stretch, but it provides some safe and familiar shooting action and plenty of bang for your buck. So long as you aren’t a franchise hater, you’re probably not going to go wrong.

While the story marks an interesting step in a new direction for the shooter series, the mechanics stay very conservative. With the added gadgets you get more variety, but the level design doesn’t demand these mechanics too often. And while the multiplayer is as solid as always and content-rich I miss fresh and creative modes.

As a package, Black Ops III is a muddle. It is packed to the gills with things, certainly, but none of it joins up. [Jan 2016, p.114]

Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 is a game of two thirds that gives us a fantastic multiplayer experience and an ever addicting Zombies mode, coupled with a poor single player. Hopefully Treyarch’s next entry can finally give us a commendable campaign to boot.

There’s plenty to do, but you can’t rid yourself of the feeling that there has never been a release in this franchise more dedicated to a certain kind of player. If you’re part of that crowd, rest assured that you’re going to wholly entertained. Everyone else might want to think twice.

Black Ops 3's biggest point of recommendation may be the breadth of content there, and that's a valid point of view. But Treyarch doesn't meaningfully move the series forward here.

This year's Call of Duty has a disappointing campaign, but is ultimately saved by its multiplayer modes. The increased movement and specialist classes add some much needed variety, and Zombies is a real treat this time around.

Call Of Duty’s most concerted effort to break the usual formula is unfortunately the most unsatisfying sequel in years, especially the badly flawed story campaign.

In its undead modes, and the first 10 hours of multiplayer, it excels. But in its campaign, it merely crawls forward. Black Ops III doesn't offer anything remarkable to the series, but does just enough to maintain the Call of Duty status quo. The franchise, however slowly, continues its inexorable march.

Black Ops III is a proof that it is not always necessary to change the basics at any cost, when you don’t bring a better solution. Especially in single player the creators attempted to make a revolutionary change and unfortunately it ended in disaster. Multiplayer, fortunately, stands on the same principles as in previous parts; it works excellently and entertains players for many hours, even though it brings nothing substantially new. Finally, MP is the only reason, why to play Call of Duty this year.

The game is filled to the brim with content, most of it disappointingly or needlessly executed.

It’s a grand and gaudy spectacle of incoherence that will likely be difficult to remember, but was a sight to see while it lasted.

Black Ops III is the classic fan game: if you still love the series, you’ll love this one. But if the relationship is fading into routine, if the spark has gone, those old habits and nervous tics are really going to nag at you. You will go through the motions, but quietly – guiltily – you will already be looking elsewhere.

Perhaps some pockets of the still-large Call of Duty fanbase will enjoy different parts of it more than I did, but as I add it all up, Black Ops III is a pretty even mix of positive and negatives. It's OK.