About the game
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 2012's Black Ops II. It was released on PlayStation 4, Windows and Xbox One on November 6, 2015. A cut-down version with multiplayer only, made by Beenox and Mercenary Technology, came out on PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 and was the last Call of Duty on those consoles.
The game is set in 2065, 40 years after Black Ops II, in a world shaped by climate change and advanced technology including cybernetic enhancements. Like earlier Black Ops games it follows a group of black ops soldiers. The campaign is built for four-player co-op, with bigger and more open levels and less corridor shooting, and the player character has cybernetic abilities. A standalone Zombies mode and a Nightmares mode, which replays the campaign with zombies in place of most enemies, are included.
Multiplayer introduced a momentum-based movement system with thruster packs, wall running and sliding, and a Specialist system where players pick one of nine soldiers, each with a special weapon or ability. A tenth, Blackjack, was added later. Gunsmith and Paintshop let players customise weapons, and Zombies has its own progression system with Gobblegums that give temporary bonuses. Dead Ops Arcade and Freerun are bonus modes.
It was the second game on Activision's three-year development cycle and uses a heavily modified version of the IW engine. According to a report by Jason Schreier, the game was first meant to have an open-world campaign, which was scrapped and caused a period of crunch. Jack Wall returned to compose, with Avenged Sevenfold providing an instrumental score called Jade Helm for multiplayer. The multiplayer beta ran on PlayStation 4 from August 18, 2015 and on Windows and Xbox One from August 26.
It was the first Call of Duty released after Activision ended its partnership with Microsoft and partnered with Sony, which got timed exclusivity on the downloadable content. Special editions included the Hardened Edition and the Juggernog Edition, which came with a mini-refrigerator, a season pass and in-game items. Four map packs followed, Awakening, Eclipse, Descent and Salvation, each on PlayStation 4 first and a month or more later on Xbox One, then Zombies Chronicles in 2017.
Reviews were generally positive, with praise for the gameplay, the Zombies mode and the amount of content, and criticism for the story and lack of new ideas. The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions were singled out for performance problems and missing features. It sold more than 6.6 million copies in its first week, grossed over 550 million US dollars in three days, was the top-selling game in the US in 2015 and has sold over 43 million copies. A prequel, Black Ops 4, was released in 2018.
The text above is adapted from Wikipedia and licensed CC BY-SA 4.0.
What critics said
Metacritic 81 out of 100 (Xbox One). Metacritic 81 out of 100 (PS4). Metacritic 73 out of 100 (PC). Individual reviews: IGN 9.2/10, Electronic Gaming Monthly 9.5/10, GamesRadar 9/10, Destructoid 8.5/10, GameSpot 7/10, Polygon 7/10, Giant Bomb 3/5.
Extra content
Four map packs and a Zombies remaster pack followed the game. Xbox One got each of them later than PlayStation 4.
- Awakening: Four multiplayer maps and the Zombies map Der Eisendrache.
- Eclipse: Four multiplayer maps and the Zombies map Zetsubou No Shima.
- Descent: Four multiplayer maps and the Zombies map Gorod Krovi.
- Salvation: Four multiplayer maps and the Zombies map Revelations.
- Zombies Chronicles: Eight remastered Zombies maps from World at War, Black Ops and Black Ops II.
Good to know
- The Xbox One achievement list is long at 98 because it includes the Zombies map achievements from the DLC and Zombies Chronicles.
- The PS3 and Xbox 360 versions have no campaign and are multiplayer only.
- A multiplayer-only Windows starter pack was released on February 16, 2016.
- The Collector's Edition bonus Zombies map The Giant is a remake of Der Riese from World at War.
- Back in Black, four remastered multiplayer maps, was a PlayStation 4 pre-order bonus for Black Ops 4.
Made by
Director Jason Blundell, Director Dan Bunting, Designer David Vonderhaar, Writer Craig Houston, Artist Colin Whitney, Composer Jack Wall.
