Call of Duty: Black Ops III

Overview

Call of Duty: Black Ops III is a 2015 first-person shooter developed by Treyarch and published by Activision. It is the twelfth entry in the Call of Duty series and the sequel to Call of Duty: Black Ops II. It was released on PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One on November 6, 2015. A feature-limited version made by Beenox and Mercenary Technology, with multiplayer only, was released on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was the final Call of Duty title released on those platforms.

The game is set in 2065, forty years after Black Ops II, in a world shaped by climate change and advanced technology, including cybernetic enhancements. The campaign is built for 4-player co-op, with bigger, more open levels and less corridor shooting. Finishing the campaign unlocks Nightmares, which replays it with a new narrative and zombies in place of most enemies. There is also a standalone Zombies mode, the top-down Dead Ops Arcade, and Freerun, a parkour-style mode.

Multiplayer adds a momentum-based movement system with thruster packs, wall running and sliding. Alongside the Pick 10 class system, players choose from nine Specialists, each with a special weapon or ability, and a tenth, Blackjack, was added in a later update. A Gunsmith and a Paintshop let players customise weapons.

Black Ops III was the second game under Activision's three-year development cycle. It uses a heavily modified version of the IW engine from Black Ops II. It was the first Call of Duty released after Activision ended its partnership with Microsoft Studios and partnered with Sony Computer Entertainment, which secured timed exclusivity on downloadable content. The multiplayer beta ran on PlayStation 4 from August 18, 2015.

The score was composed by Jack Wall, who returned from Black Ops II, with Treyarch audio director Brian Tuey. The instrumental track Jade Helm by Avenged Sevenfold was included for multiplayer, and the Zombies soundtrack has songs performed by Elena Siegman and Malukah for each map.

Critics gave the game generally favourable reviews on PlayStation 4 and Xbox One, praising the gameplay, the Zombies mode and the amount of content, and criticising the story and lack of innovation. The older console versions were singled out for performance issues and missing features. It was the top-selling retail game in the US in 2015, sold over 6.6 million copies in its first week and more than 43 million by December 2024.

Screenshots

Game details

Genres

First-person shooter

Publisher

Activision

Series

Call of Duty

Engine

IW (heavily modified)

Developer

Beenox and Mercenary Technology (last-generation version); Treyarch (main game)

Modes

Single player

No

Local multiplayer

No

Online multiplayer

Yes

Release dates

Editions

Buy this game

Achievements

Achievements32 (1,210G)

Total

32

Gamerscore

1210

1000G without online

No

Online note

No campaign on Xbox 360, so the list is multiplayer and Shadows of Evil Zombies only. Multiplayer achievements include Welcome to the Club (level 10 in a public match), I Did It! (level 55), As You Were (prestige once) and Now What? (prestige ten times).

Trophy list shared with other versions

No

Other versions

The Xbox One and PS4 lists include the campaign; the 360 and PS3 lists do not.

Gamerscore, base game

1000

Grind

• Now What?: prestige ten times
• I'm Special, Meat for the Grinder, Highly Adaptable, Seen Some Things: every specialist, boot camp, game mode and career challenge
• The Beginning of the End: every ritual in Shadows of Evil

• The Beginning of the End In Shadows of Evil, complete all Rituals. 50G 35.1% of players
• From the Shadows In Shadows of Evil, spot the Shadowman fives times in one game. 25G 38.42% of players
• Not out of GobbleGum! In Shadows of Evil, purchase and chew every type of GobbleGum in your Pack. 50G 20.88% of players
• Sorry, we’re DEAD In Shadows of Evil, kill 10 zombies that are inside of a store in one game. 35G 7.5% of players
• Strike! In Shadows of Evil, use the rocket shield attack to kill at least 10 zombies in one burst. 35G 12.78% of players
• Beat CoP In Shadows of Evil, summon the Civil Protector in every district in a single game. 50G 8.48% of players
• The Spider and the Fly In Shadows of Evil, kill 10 zombies ensnared by a Widow’s Wine grenade. 25G 21.66% of players
• Margwa Party In Shadows of Evil, kill 2 Margwas in a single round. 35G 22.68% of players
• Parasite-Seeing In Shadows of Evil, kill 5 Parasites while riding on the train. 35G 18.44% of players
• No Mercy In Shadows of Evil, kill 5 crawling zombies in under 3 seconds. 35G 31% of players
• Crackshot In Shadows of Evil, kill a zombie from over 50m away. 35G 19.45% of players
• Packing Early In Shadows of Evil, complete the Pack-A-Punch ritual during wave 1. 90G 6.29% of players
• Welcome to the Club In Multiplayer, reach Sergeant (Level 10) by playing in a Public Match. 20G Needs online 90.42% of players
• Tactical Specialist In Multiplayer, get 10 Medals based on Specialist Abilities. 20G Needs online 12.03% of players
• Deadly Specialist In Multiplayer, get 10 Specialist-based multi-kill Medals from any of the Specialist Weapons. 25G Needs online 10.37% of players
• I Did It! In Multiplayer, reach Commander (Level 55). 20G Needs online 27.98% of players
• Wallcrawler In Multiplayer, kill an enemy while wallrunning 10 times. 40G Needs online 28.88% of players
• I'm Special In Multiplayer, complete all Specialist Weapons Challenges. 75G Needs online 4.91% of players
• Meat for the Grinder In Multiplayer, complete all Boot Camp Challenges. 50G Needs online 5.89% of players
• Highly Adaptable In Multiplayer, complete all Game Mode Challenges. 75G Needs online 4.23% of players
• Seen Some Things In Multiplayer, complete all Career Challenges. 75G Needs online 4.7% of players
• Bloodthirsty In Multiplayer, earn 10 Bloodthirsty medals (5 kills without dying). 100G Needs online 64.78% of players
• My Brother’s Keeper In Der Eisendrache, the one must be erased. 75G 4.83% of players
• Der Meisterbogenschuetze In Der Eisendrache, obtain all of the ancient bows. 40G 6.19% of players
• None Left Standing In Der Eisendrache, kill every type of zombie using a minigun. 20G 4.19% of players
• Take a Bow In Der Eisendrache, upgrade the Wrath of the Ancients. 20G 8.44% of players
• Not Big Enough In Der Eisendrache, trap and kill a Panzersoldat using the Ragnarok DG-4. 20G 4.97% of players
• Time to Slam In Der Eisendrache, revive two players protected by the Ragnarok DG-4. 15G 4.54% of players
• Quick Off Your Feet In Der Eisendrache, wall buy the BRM. 5G 6.06% of players
• That’s a lot of Jigawatts! In Der Eisendrache, electrocute 121 zombies. 5G 7.23% of players
• Fling Me to the Moon In Der Eisendrache, use every Wundersphere twice. 5G 6.13% of players
• Death From Above In Der Eisendrache, kill a zombie while being flung by a Wundersphere. 5G 7.19% of players

Playable today

Online

Online multiplayer runs over Xbox Live. The Xbox 360 Store closed on 29 July 2024, and Microsoft said online multiplayer was not affected.

Reception

Aggregates

Outlet	Platform	Score	Scale
Metacritic	Xbox 360	70	100

Critics

Outlet	Score	Scale
IGN	9.2	10
GameSpot	7	10
Polygon	7	10
Destructoid	8.5	10
EGM	9.5	10
GamesRadar	9	10
Giant Bomb	3	5

Notes for collectors

• The Xbox 360 and PS3 versions were made by Beenox and Mercenary Technology and have no campaign. It was the last Call of Duty released on those consoles.
• The Xbox 360 list has 32 achievements worth 1,210 gamerscore. Twelve are for the Zombies map Shadows of Evil, ten for multiplayer and ten for the Zombies map Der Eisendrache.
• Ten achievements need online multiplayer.
• IGN criticised the missing campaign, the poor graphics and the long waits in these versions, but still found them fun to play.
• Sony got timed exclusivity on the game's DLC, so the map packs came to PlayStation first.

Credits

Region

US

Time to beat

about 9 hours