Robot and zombie wars in ‘Call of Duty: Black Ops III’

It must be a challenge keeping “Call of Duty” from going stale. There are only so many headshots you can land before every target, every mission objective, starts feeling the same. And yet every year, we’re bestowed a new game offering an experience that, while not the next evolutionary step for the genre, revitalizes a franchise that has become synonymous with stellar first-person shooting.

Treyarch’s “Black Ops” story arc has been taking risks with the established formula since 2010. Like its predecessor, this year’s “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” takes another step towards full sci-fi with a story firmly embedded in a dystopian vision of the future. Perhaps in an attempt to become the most complete “Call of Duty” experience in existence, it has also built its modes around the elements that have made the series so compelling. But does the resulting product hit the lofty mark it has set up for itself?

Hive mind

As the first of “Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s” three main modes, the campaign takes us to a future world where military technology has become so advanced that robots rule the battlefields. Additionally, not only are injured soldiers outfitted with robotic prosthetics that transform them into killing machines, they are also linked to the Direct Neural Interface (DNI). This allows them to mentally communicate with each other… and with computers.

Let’s get to the point: the narrative plays out like a Michael Bay movie. It’s noisy, chock-full of explosions and tough, angry soldiers shouting tough, angry lines. This, coupled with sci-fi technobabble, renders the story largely incomprehensible. “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” does ask questions that should mean something to a world on the cusp of developing the technological marvels shown in the game. Sadly, the central theme gets lost in the cacophony of gunfire and things going boom.

Thankfully, “Call of Duty: Black Ops III” excels where it should: the shooting. It may not be a realistic simulation of combat; you’re basically a cyborg Wolverine fighting wave after wave of enemies that lack variety in appearance and behavior. But it is a total action game, where bullets come at you from all directions and the bad guys rarely pause for breath before commencing their next assault. This may turn off players who crave entertainment with a more controlled pace. But for those who enjoy being in the thick of absolute pandemonium… well, you’re in for a treat.

Many of the set pieces take you to breathtaking, open locales designed to accommodate countless A.I.-controlled allies and enemies. These areas also happen to be the perfect playgrounds for teams of up to four players.

Yes, the campaign supports cooperative multiplayer. This amps up the chaos but also makes the challenge more forgiving, as you can revive fallen comrades to continue the fight. It certainly beats respawning at the checkpoint every time you die.

The new Cyber Core abilities work particularly well in co-op. These are unlockable special skills you can use in battle to turn the tide to your favor. Three trees are available to cater to various playstyles: Control, which lets you hack robots and computer systems, bending them to your will; Martial, which allows you to perform superhuman feats of speed and strength; and Chaos, which wreaks havoc on the opposition by confusing them with illusory targets, summoning nano-bees that set flesh-and-blood enemies on fire, and immolating robots with a thought.

Imagine one of your friends scrambling your enemies’ combat sensors, leaving them vulnerable to the turret another friend has just hijacked. You realize the turret won’t kill all your foes, so you charge into the fray with the force of a freight train to finish the job. It’s coordinated anarchy at its purest, and it’s glorious.

Call of Duty: the MOBA

While the new traversal methods are introduced in the campaign, it’s in “Call of Duty: Black Ops III’s” multiplayer where they shine. You can run on and bounce off walls, double jump, and slide out of harm’s way. The excellent design of the gorgeous multiplayer maps allows players to take advantage of these abilities. For example, by ricocheting between two walls, you can reach a desired location faster, and maybe even get the drop on an enemy who isn’t expecting death to rain from above. Or you can escape a barrage of bullets by sailing over a rooftop. All this ensures the action is always as fluid as it is frenetic.

Also new to the series is the character system. This has you select from a variety of “Specialists” to take into battle. Ranging from a goateed douchebag to an honest-to-goodness robot, these are similar to what you would call heroes or champions in MOBAs. Each of them has a pair of unique and powerful talents, one of which you can pick. For instance, a certain Specialist has a choice between ripping into foes with his blades, or going invisible. Another can barbecue his opponents with a flamethrower, or emit a blast of heat to stun them. It would have been nice if the abilities didn’t take so long to recharge between uses. We could benefit from more Specialists and abilities, too. These would have added more variety to an otherwise solid multiplayer mode.

Sin city

Things take a turn for the weird in zombies’ Shadows of Evil.

Shadows of Evil combines 1940s noir and a Cthulhu-esque mythos in a game of exploration and survival. As one of four miscreants (portrayed by Jeff Goldblum, Heather Graham, Neal McDonough, and Ron Perlman), you’re tasked with defending yourself – and your team in co-op – against swarms of undead. All the while, you’ll be unlocking new areas in your attempt to thwart the evil that you have unwittingly summoned into the world.

The unsettling Morg City grows larger with every discovery. This, combined with the sense of accomplishment every time you survive another onslaught of man-eating horrors, is as rewarding as completing a particularly trying area in “Dark Souls.” And, oh, you can temporarily transform yourself into a multi-tentacled, lightning-hurling monster, too.

But there’s a second zombies mode: Nightmare. This is basically a retelling of the campaign, only with zombies instead of robots. It’s slower than the original, yes. But you’re also not dodging 10,000 invisible bullets every two seconds. You feel you have more agency in this version of events; despite limited Core abilities, despite the fact that there are hordes of ravenous zombies shambling your way, you have more control over the situation. In this sense, Nightmare trumps the “proper” campaign, which can all too often degenerate into an unfathomable mess.

Paint it black

Treyarch was certainly ambitious with “Call of Duty: Black Ops III,” and we can see that in its feature-rich modes. While the least impressive of the lot, the campaign supports cooperative gameplay that’s made even more satisfying thanks to the incorporation of Cyber Core abilities. Multiplayer is as good as you’ve come to expect from the series. It certainly helps that the maps are as beautiful as they are fantastically designed for dynamic combat, and that the Specialists diversify an already tried-and-tested system. Shadows of Evil is a jazzy occult mystery with buckets of blood thrown in, while Nightmare is a more fulfilling reimagining of the game’s main story.

The outcome is a package that, while disjointed, lives up to the franchise’s high standards. It’s no big leap forward for “Call of Duty,” but it’s definitely one hell of a ride. — BM, GMA News

Rating – 8/10
Platforms: Microsoft Windows, PlayStation 4, Xbox One. Also available on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360, but minus the single player campaign.