Two Days with the Black Ops 3 Beta

Image courtesy of Treyarch

Over the weekend, Activision opened up the previously closed Call of Duty: Black Ops 3 beta to everyone on PS4 (as it was originally only available to those who pre-ordered the game). I am admittedly not the biggest COD fan on earth and have always been bad at its multiplayer. Even though my opinion on the series has remained the same over the years, I always find myself drawn towards it for some God-awful reason. I do usually like the single player campaigns, as I find that they have a goofy charm to them, but could never for the life of me enjoy its insanely popular multiplayer the same way everyone else could. But, for reasons unknown, I always seem to pick up the newest entry every single time. This leads to me following the same emotional path each year, something I like to call "Failing to like COD in Four Easy Steps". It is as follows:

1. A new game is announced
2. I think, "Maybe this will be the one!"
3. I play the new game
4. I realize, once again, I've made a horrible mistake

I just can never, ever get into it. Is it because I'm bad at it? Well sure, that does play a large part. But for me, its biggest crime is that it's just not fun to play when you're bad at it. I've played countless shooters in my day, and there have been plenty of them that I'm not good at, most notably of which is Halo. I'm passable at it, but I fluctuate between good and downright awful at it at the flick of a switch. Thing is, I'm always having fun, regardless of how well I'm doing. Heck, to me, COD isn't even fun when you're winning. It's too twitchy and it feels like each player is make of paper; get shot twice and BOOM you're dead. I never feel like I have the time to defend myself or be tactical. I just run around the maps like everyone else hoping to run into someone and shoot them before they shoot me.

But I know you're all asking the same thing: if you don't like COD, why did you play the beta? Easy:

1. It was free
2. I had nothing else to do over the weekend

Please understand, I'm not a COD hater! I just don't like it. But that won't stop me from playing a free version of it!

Black Ops 3 does try to do some cool things to change up the COD multiplayer formula. Instead of customizing some random character that means absolutely nothing, BLOPS 3 gives you multiple characters to choose from, each with their own unique personalities, designs, power-ups, and voices. Yes, you heard me: COD's multiplayer characters now have voice over! And you know what, it's pretty cool! Running around and hearing your character interact with your teammates in-game is a nice touch. Your specialist (as they're called) is allowed one of two special abilities, which can either be a more powerful weapon or "power-up" of sorts. The one I used, a badass looking lady named Battery, had armor that reflected bullets for a short time. Another character had the ability to come back to life after being killed. Imagine my surprise when I thought I actually killed a dude for once, only to have his lifeless corpse pop back up and kill me dead. They are a cool addition but I didn't feel like they really changed up the rhythm or tide of a game too much.

I played a bunch of the modes that COD is known for, like Team Deathmatch, Domination, and Kill Confirmed. The game plays just as fast and smooth as previous entries, and the shooting remains tight. Fans of Advanced Warfare will be happy to know that the ability to double jump is back, as is the ability to swim I also checked out a new game mode called Safeguard, in which each team takes turns escorting an A.I. robot across the map. It was cool and a nice, tactical change of pace for the series, except for one small thing: the robot always reached its destination, as it continuously regained its health after being disabled. I don't know if there were any other rules for the mode, but the game ended in a tie as neither side could stop the robot. Again, this is a beta, and Treyarch mentioned they are messing around with is and that the beta was a great place to do so. Hopefully it gets fixed up, because I thought it was a pretty cool addition.

For a beta, it played very well (except for that one time it completely broke) and looks to be in good shape when it ships this November. For better or worse, Black Ops 3 is more Call of Duty, which means you'll either love it or hate it. But the thing is, you're probably going to buy it. Why else do they keep making them year after year, and sell millions of copies? COD has a HUGE fanbase and I don't see that ever changing any time soon. Thing is, this Fall has some really, really big games coming. As for me, I know exactly what I'll be doing in November, and I have convinced myself that this is the year that I finally heed my own conscience and NOT buy the new Call of Duty game. Hooray for me! And my wallet!

I just don't like Call of Duty's multiplayer. Nothing against the series, as I see its appeal and respect it as a well designed and polished video game. But it's not for me, despite my endless attempts to change that. Do you like Call of Duty? Well, congratulations! Black Ops 3 is more of what you love, with some cool tweaks. It's gonna sell out the wazoo for the 186th time in a row, regardless of what I or any other person says. So go get hopped up on Moutain Dew and kill some racist 14 year-olds online. I'll just be over here, playing something else.