Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 Beta Impressions

The only studio ever bold enough to place a beta out has been Treyarch, though that really hasn't happened in a long time. It would seem that with their first next generation title the studio is attempting to nail the multiplayer which has always been the key reason for the franchise being so successful. This will also be the first time that Call of Duty content will be sponsored or marketed only for Playstation as it's traditionally a Xbox first title. Personally I've played every entry of the series and have done that all on the Xbox, so this is a bit of a shift for me. I'm not particularly sour of this change, but I'm not fond of it either though over the last few titles my interest in the series has died out quite a bit.

I remember playing World at War so many years ago and the beta event for that was also great. It was nice to try out the game and get some impressions about the title before actually not picking up until a few months after since Call of Duty 4 was far better. Since then we're at a point where the finale in their new trilogy after World War II finishes up with Black Ops 3. With that I began playing some matches and did a livestream as well since I traditionally do one for all the new release dates for Call of Duty content which I won't be this year. I honestly wasn't too fond of what I played within the beta and that continued in returning trips to try it out. My impressions were also largely down within the Demolition mode which was a favorite back in the day since it has been absent in recent titles.





While the basic feeling of the series is there it does bring new movement systems into play which are essentially dumbed down abilities from Advanced Warfare. There's a jump meter which has varying movements of height to it, the sliding ability which all Call of Duty titles now use and you can swim! That was sadly the most fun I had since I loved the swimming portions despite feeling they were mostly out of place. Another aspect to mention is that traditionally Treyarch titles are ugly, not awful to look at, though they have never looked as clean as the other studio's titles. The gritty look works at times, but that style is still here in small amounts yet they've really improved small environmental additions. This includes details within the world around you like the statues, animal life and plants.

The actual gameplay feels like a slower version of the Advanced Warfare and like the slow cousin of Titanfall. The move is decent at times when getting places, but it feels sluggish and doesn't work well most of the time. They also have introduced new class perks that are selected at the start which layer on top of the custom classes you know well. I chose glitch because it sounded ridiculous and it's indeed a cheap ability to have. Sometimes I just appear behind people since it teleports you back in time or other times I just appear in order to fall to my death.

This was just a quick article about the beta since I really don't want to get too into many comments about what's available so far. The beta is of course just a beta so many things will change by the time of release with tweaks by Treyarch. At this point I'm at all interested in the game from the beta presented and if I do buy the game it'll be because of the zombies aspect. The multiplayer in this title is far behind other titles I have played this year with even the maps being rather bland and boring on top of the alright movement system. The game is just another Call of Duty that has been adjusted a step back, yet I'm sure many will love this tweak to the franchise. Once more I'd like to mention that these are just thoughts during the beta and not at all comments on how the final title will display as a full product come November.

Impressions Made on Xbox One during Beta